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Published: June 17th 2017
02 Behinds
A mother white rhino and her calf facing their behinds towards us.Geo: -28.21, 32.0059
This morning we were all woken up just before 5am and had to be ready to leave at quarter past five. It wasn't too hard to get up as it was already light outside. Paul quickly drove us to Mpila and we didn't stop to look at any animals. The three of them were going for a bush walk and had to meet the guide at 6am. The plan was for me to go for a game drive while they went for their bush walk.
We arrived at the reception just before 6am. There was no-one else around.... 6am came and went. We were not happy. This was a big stuff up! This was a waste of valuable early morning game drive time. We left at 6:20am for our own morning game drive and would be stopping here on our way back to have a few words with the staff.
Our mood improved once we started to see some wildlife. The first sighting was a mother white rhino and her calf. This wasn't the best white rhino sighting, as they were walking away from us and we just got a view of their rear ends. Further along in an open
03 Kudu
A male kudu with the morning sun light on him. area we stopped to watch a few antelopes. There were kudus and impalas here. The male kudu had Red Billed Oxpeckers hitching a ride on its back.
The next stop was Mphafa Hide. Here we got out and stretched our legs. The hide overlooked a dried up dam. The view wasn't great, but we had excellent bird sightings, with birds flying all around us. We took many photos.
Further along I asked Paul to stop the car because I thought I saw something in the distance. It could have been rocks, bushes or animals. Through the binoculars it was confirmed that I had spotted a herd of buffaloes. Then the sightings became even better. Walking towards us on the track were white rhinos. Paul stopped the vehicle as we watched them get closer to us. They were just a few metres from the car – very exciting. We held our breath and didn't speak, as we didn't want to scare them.
When they reached the car they then walked off the track and onto the grass and started eating. We left them to continue our drive and just a few minutes later we spotted some more white rhinos. These ones
05 Morning Light
The early morning light on this magnificent male kudu. were in the distance and not as good a sighting.
We then arrived at a lookout point with a view of the river. This river was also nearly dried up. There didn't appear to be any animals about at first. Then on a closer look we noticed a small herd of impalas had appeared. They were walking towards the little bit of water and then drinking. At the other side of the river there was a troop of baboons that were on the move.
There was no rush to move on, so we stayed here for a little while and then our patience paid off. Near where the impalas had been, a male lion appeared. He quickly walked towards the middle of the river. I was hoping that he would chase the impalas that were now on the other side of the river. He walked up to the little puddle, sat down and drank water. The lion then walked back into the bush and was out of sight.
Paul continued our game drive. The next scheduled stop was at a picnic sight/lookout to make toasted jaffles and coffee. Along the way we saw a vulture standing in its nest at the
06 Grazing
Impalas grazing on this bush. top of a tree and a single giraffe.
It was at a bit after 10am that we arrived at the picnic/lookout spot. From here there was a great view of a river and just like the rest of the river, it was virtually dried up. We had planned to make a fire to cook jaffles on, but that wasn't a good idea as it was really windy. Instead we had coffee, rusks and fruit. We went for a little walk around the area, took in the view of a group of vultures and a single white rhino sitting in shallow water and then continued driving.
There was another pair of white rhinos spotted and these ones were sitting under the shade of a small bush. Then we saw more rhinos. This time there were four of them standing under trees quite a fair distance from the road. Another white rhino was spotted! It was also sitting in the shade.
We had now reached Mpila. While Paul went to speak to the manager about this morning's screw up, while Juliane, Maxim and I enjoyed a cold drink from the shop. The person who took the booking yesterday for this morning's bush
07 Entrance
The entrance to Mphafa Hide. walk had not informed the guide and that is why no one had been there at 6am. In the end he received a refund for the bush walk and a complimentary evening game drive for this evening. We arrived back at the lodge just after midday.
After a quick lunch, I had a snooze due to the heat and early morning start making me tired! At four the others all drove back to Mpila for their evening game drive. I wasn't interested in an evening game drive. Instead I chilled out in the living room and watched TV!
Once the weather had cooled down, I went for a walk outside and enjoyed the colours of the sky as the sun was setting. Later on I also completed packing, as tomorrow morning we were leaving for a new game reserve.
The others returned at about 8pm and had said that the game drive was okay. We had dinner, sat outside and enjoyed the sounds of the bush.
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