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Published: June 17th 2017
01 Ground Hornbill
The hornbill decided to come with us on our game drive.Geo: -24.7979, 26.278
This morning Lotta, Paul, Mukesh and I left at a bit before 7am for our morning game drive. Tony and Nicola left this morning to go to Zimbabwe. Just as we were about to drive out of the wetland area, the Southern Ground Hornbill flew onto the car. This bird frequently visits the lodge and belongs to a breeding program at a nearby lodge, but seems to spend more time here than there. It was more than happy to sit on the vehicle as Paul slowly drove. We had a little laugh at the novelty of the bird. Then Paul stopped and shooed it off the car – this is supposed to be a wild game reserve. It wouldn't look good to other guests if they saw us driving around with a bird on the vehicle!
The bird then jumped onto the centre console and we laughed again. We had to get going with our drive, so Paul picked it up and put it on the ground and drove off. It didn't follow us.
Soon after Paul found a pack of Wild Dogs, it is such an exciting sighting to see them. I was hoping that they wouldn't run
02 Jump
The Ground Hornbill is jumping into the car. off straight away. At the moment they were resting. Their stomachs looked quite full and they must have recently eaten. There were about a dozen in this pack. A few of them did start to wake up and sit up, listening intently with their big ears. We watched them for about twenty minutes and then decided to leave as they were very inactive.
The game reserve at this time of the year is so dry. We then saw a very dark coloured adult giraffe. Then the elephant sightings began. At first we saw a very dust covered mother, her small calf and a few other elephants. The young calf was quite curious and was try to smell us as it raised its little trunk. It was quite adorable. Driving a little bit further along we saw more elephants. These ones were on a hill and I found this to be quite unusual and I hadn't before seen elephants on hills, just flat ground. There were many elephants to watch in this area.
Ten minutes later we arrived at a dam that was quite picturesque with a couple of dead trees in the middle. A few minutes after arriving the elephants
03 New Friend
Mukesh's new friend. also started arriving. We watched the breeding herd as they approached the dam. Paul positioned the vehicle in such a way that would give us the best view of them approaching and drinking at the dam.
The breeding herd was following the matriarch. They walked right past the front of the vehicle and straight to the water's edge and began drinking. Every single elephant was busy drinking as they stood ankle deep in mud. The very young ones were struggling a bit, as their short legs sank into the mud. One of the younger elephants also threw some muddy water over its body. About fifteen minutes later the herd walked away and out of sight.
We continued driving and stopped soon after at some caves. Here we got out and stretched our legs for a little walk with Paul. Our next wildlife sighting was at a pan. Here there was a dazzle of zebras and a bull elephant that was busy drinking.
On the other side of the pan we noticed more zebra and a herd of wildebeest. The wildebeest walked to the water's edge and drank water as they huddled together. Meanwhile the bull elephant was still drinking water.
04 Listening
The wild dog listening intently with its big ears. We drove around to the other side of the pan and it was from here that we noticed a Black Rhino. They can be quite shy, so we were very quiet as we hoped that it would come closer to us.
Ever so slowly the rhino did come out of the bushes and closer to us. I really appreciated this special sighting. Its horn was very short; I'd assumed it would be longer. We didn't stay too long with the rhino as we didn't want to scare it. Back at the dam, another bull elephant had arrived and we watched him as he drank.
Nearby we also saw a couple of warthogs, watched a dazzle of zebras and a herd of impalas as they drank. It was now time to start heading back to the lodge. Just before we got back, we stopped to watch a couple of male kudus. It was now just after 12, time for lunch and a rest.
We left for our afternoon drive at about 4 and our first stop was to go and see if the wild dogs were in the same place. The wild dogs were in the same place and still sleeping
05 Resting
Lots of wild dogs resting. – their recent meal must have been a big one! A few of them did get up, have a stretch and listen for any nearby sounds. Fifteen minutes after arriving here and realising that they were not going to be active, we drove on.
Later on we stopped to watch a couple of giraffe. As it was a warm afternoon we enjoyed some cold ciders as Paul drove us around the game reserve. As we drove along a small dirt track we noticed the rear end of a white rhino as it ran away from us and deep into the bush. We stopped at a small pan to look at a bull elephant and then we noticed a male lion behind him. On our way to driving closer to the lion, we briefly stopped to observe a shy female rhino and her calf.
There was a sleeping lioness and the male was sitting up. The male looked like he had been in a few battles over the years, as his face was quite scarred. We didn't spend long with the lions as they were quite inactive. On the radio there was a report of a nearby leopard. This was
06 Looking at Us
One of the wild dogs put its head up and looked at us. really exciting, as leopards are rarely seen. We slowly approached the area and saw the other two vehicles. The leopard was moving and they had lost it. We slowly drove around hoping for a glimpse. It came into view and then lay down for a moment, but it was in thick bush and nearly impossible to see.
It was now time to start heading back to the lodge. Our last sighting for the drive were some White Rhinos. There were two adults that crossed the track in front of us and walked off into the bush. Then more rhinos appeared. This time two adults and a young one. For a few minutes they were blocking the track and just standing in the middle. We were more than happy to wait and watch them.
Tonight was Mukesh and Lotta's last night with us. Tomorrow morning they were going to Pretoria to continue their South African travel adventures on their separate ways, while Paul and I were returning to work. It had been great to see them again and to share with them the magic of where we now live. We spent the evening having a barbecue, as we sat under the
07 More Dogs
More dogs in the pack that were also sleeping. stars.
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