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Published: June 17th 2017
01 Weaver
A Southern Masked Weaver - one of many in the trees outside the lodge.Geo: -28.21, 32.0059
This morning I had a sleep in as I didn't want to go on another early morning game drive. The temperature was so much warmer here than it was at Ithala. I got out of bed at about 8am and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Paul had taken the others on a morning game drive once he had found the car keys! There was a bit of a panic this morning and it wasn't made any easier by the lack of electricity. Using our head torches we managed to find the spare car key. This was a lesson learnt to be more organised in the evening before the electricity is turned off.
Soon after I got up, the cleaner arrived to clean the lodge. I walked around outside the lodge – but didn't stray too far as it was unfenced in a big 5 game reserve! As I walked around I observed so many birds. They were very active – flying from branch to branch and chirping. The birds were not bothered by my presence and this gave me a chance to take many photos of them.
As I was photographing the birds, I would constantly look around in the
03 Black
A black, white and dark grey coloured bird. hope of seeing some animals. Then I noticed a few zebras close by. They didn't stay, they were just walking through the area. I sat on the deck, as I ate breakfast and did some reading. There were still birds surrounding the lodge and I actually enjoyed observing them.
A little while later, a large male baboon walked past and eyed the lodge. Frank the cleaner had warned us of him being the naughty one. Unfortunately for the baboon, I had closed all the doors - he wasn't taking any of our food!
Occasionally I glanced up from my book to take in the scenery and in the hope of spotting animals. At about 50 metres away from me I noticed a couple of warthogs. There were four of them, but only one of them had their lower body covered in fresh, wet mud. They were all busy eating grass and digging into the ground with their tusks.
Later in the morning I began to prepare lunch and tried to use the wifi which was so slow that I gave up. They returned from their game drive at lunchtime and said that the sightings had been amazing. I was a
04 Yellow
A mainly yellow coloured bird. bit jealous, but I had enjoyed my sleep-in and chilling on the deck. After we ate, we all had a rest. This hot and humid weather was quite tiring!
We rested until half past two. Before our afternoon game drive we had to go into town for some more grocery essentials. On the way out of the game reserve we only saw a warthog and a few impalas– the other animals were clever as they all must have been resting in the shade. It was about a half an hour drive to Mtubatuba. This town was extremely busy. Paul refuelled the car, while I quickly ran around the supermarket.
We were all quite relieved to be back in the reserve at about 4pm. Our afternoon game drive was very successful. It started with a young bull elephant that walked towards us, snapped off a tree branch, ate the leaves and then walked away from the road. Paul drove us to the Masinda Trail Lookout. From here we had a great view of the park and saw zebra and impala.
We then drove towards Mpila Rest Camp. Paul parked the car in the middle of the bridge and we looked out
05 Zebra
One of the zebras that walked past as I sat on the deck. both sides of the car. The river was virtually dried up, but wide and full of animal tracks. On one side of the river there was a buffalo standing on the edge of the dry river eating the reeds. Then we noticed another buffalo about two metres above this one on the river bank. It was slowly making its way into the river. We quietly watched the pair of them eat.
Looking out the other side of the car, we saw that a white rhino had come into view. It had a wet belly, long thin horn and was drinking from a small puddle. The rhino then went back to where it came from. A few metres away from this rhino, a white rhino mother and her calf appeared. The pair of them walked across the dry river, with the mother in the lead. When they reached the other side, the young one was hiding behind its mother as they both drank from a puddle.
Back to the buffaloes, who were eating as they slowly walked closer to us. I wasn't as interested in them, so I went back to watching the rhinos. The male rhino then reappeared and this
06 Swallow
A Lesser Striped Swallow. time he walked across the river. When he reached a shallow muddy puddle, he sat down, rolled around in the mud and then sat again. I could not believe it, but then more white rhinos appeared from the same side of the river as the other ones had. This time it was a mother and two calves. They stepped into the dry river and all drank from a puddle on the side. I felt privileged to see this sight – of six white rhinos at the same time.
It was now about twenty to six, we were supposed to be back by six pm, so we had to leave all the animals at the river and start driving to our lodge. On the way back we drove via a river lookout. From here we saw a bull elephant crossing the dry river, a black rhino on a hill, another bull elephant walking away from the river, two more bull elephants walking across the river and two white rhinos in the reeds as they walked towards the river! This was such a busy area, I wished we could have stayed here for longer, but we were running late and didn't want
08 Spurfowl
A Natal Spurfowl - a local bird. to get in trouble with park rangers.
For dinner we had a barbecue and a spotted hyena kept us company, as it constantly patrolled the area in the hope of being fed. Tonight was an extra early night for me, as we had to leave at 5:15 in the morning....
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