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Published: January 23rd 2013
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We woke up for our second day of our game drive.
After breakfast, we loaded into the truck and headed back to the game reserve. I thought we would be going to a completely different part of the reserve, but I was told we would stay in roughly the same area. They didn't want us to go to the area where they hunt animals... Just as well, who needs to see that?
The area might have been the same, but what a difference a day makes... On this morning, there were no animals around. It was quite eerie seeing nothing when the day before there was an abundance of giraffes, baboons, and impalas. This could only mean one thing... that there were lions in the area and the others has scattered in order to save themselves.
We drove around for a couple of hours seeing the odd animal grazing and looking lonely. We also saw a bunch of destroyed trees. We were told that their demise was a result of the elephants. They would scratch themselves against the bark as well as strip the bark and eat it. Pretty soon, all that is left is a barkless tree
that eventually crumbles because it doesn't have the support of the bark to say upright.
Katuku chatted with several drivers, asking them if they saw any lions that morning. No one had. We continued to drive and finally we pulled up under a tree and lying there, as if they were waiting for us, were two lions... a young male and a young female. Amazing!
There we were, less than 15 feet away from these creatures, and they didn't seem to care that we found them. They kept their eyes on us and they dozed, opened their eyes to see if we were still there, and then went off to sleep again.
Just like the day before with the elephants, we found ourselves all alone with these beautiful animals. What a wonderful gift to be given. We hovered for 20-30 minutes and then we figured we would leave them alone.
It's funny, because there seems to be this competition among safari-goers. The first question they ask one another is, "
Did you see lions?" When you answer yes, the second question is, "
But did you see the kill?" For some strange reason, seeing a lion take down
Trees That Collapsed
This is an example of what happens to the trees after the elephants remove the bark. They eventually collapse. another animal and kill it, is a huge deal. I was only too happy not to witness that before lunch.
As we drove away from them, we started to notice other animals in the distance... a herd of wildebeests, zebras, impalas, giraffes, and even an antelope.
We may not have saw "
the kill", but we did manage to find 6 or 7 vultures feeding on a baby impala. It wasn't pretty, but I guess that is how it is. How many other safar-goers can see that saw that? HA!
It was close to lunch time, so we stopped under another shady tree and broke out the food. It was pretty cool to sit there and watch the giraffes, wildebeests, and baboons wander by in the distance.
As we were packing up our lunch, we noticed the storm clouds on the horizon. The sky was turning black in the distance and Katuku suggested that we start heading back slowly. He told us that if the rains come hard, the paths and roads would be mudbowls, and we could be stuck in the reserve for a couple of days. We agreed to head back, hoping to see the
leopards and hyenas on our way.
The rains came fast and hard as we bounced through the mud on our way to the main gate.
That is when we got the call from another guide...
A leopard was spotted taking down an impala. The question was, did we want to go back and try to find it? Of course we did! We turned the truck around and sped through the rains. Both Dayna and I were holding on as Katuku drove like Steve McQueen in
Bullitt. It was so cool.
We got to the bridge where the leopard was seen, but we couldn't find him. Then suddenly, we saw the back half of a cat-like animal walking down a fallen tree trunk and then it disappeared behind a bush. We were told it was the leopard. Now, whether it was or not, we are saying we saw half a leopard. No pictures, but we know what we saw!... Or we know what we wanted to see.
We sat for the longest time, hoping he would reappear. He didn't.
We decided to head back to camp.
We never got to see the hyenas, but
that's okay. It gives me something to look forward to when I go on safari again before I come home. Besides, hyenas are very shy and tend to hide from humans.
In Africa, there is a thing known as
The Big 5. It consists of the rhino, the leopard, the lion, the elphant and the buffalo... To date, Dayna and I have see 3 1/2 of the Big 5. All that is left is the rhino and the front half of a leopard.
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Eleanor
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Amazing!
I am in awe of these photos. It seems so National Geographic, but I know you are there and living it. Fantastic! No wonder you love your life. I am just jealous.