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Published: February 8th 2008
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The Highway to Fairy Glen
Interesting rocks along the way - couldn't resist taking a picture. An early morning Today was a fun and exciting day, although touristy. When one has been in Africa, it is always nice to answer yes to "have you seen...". So, today, was that day that allows us to say yes, we have seen an elephant/giraffe/rhino/antelope.. in Africa.
The morning began early, around 6am as the tour van was due to pick us up between 6:30 and 6:45. It showed up around 6:50 and we were the only two on the van. It was a quiet trip out, and the driver was great to point out a few landmarks. One interesting feature is a 3.9km tunnel we travelled through. The tunnel went straight through the mountain. The return trip, we took the road that went around the mountain, and that was scenic.
Fairy Glen Game Reserve We arrived at the Fairy Glen Game Reserve around 8:15/8:30. We paid for our day, then were ushered up to the lodge for breakfast. On the way in, we had our first sitings of the elephant, rhino and lions. It was an exciting start. Breakfast was good, then we loaded onto the safari style vehicles to begin our drive around the reserve, with hopes
we would see many of the African creatures listed on their website:
Elephant
Rhino (white)
Giraffe
Wildebeest
Springbok
Bontebok
Hartebeest
Zebra
Klipspringer
Ostrich
Lion
Waterbuffalo
Gnu
And a few more.
Tortoise and Springbok The first animal we saw on the drive was a tortoise. A few people chose to hold it, however most of us chose not to as he was oozing a liquid (care to speculate??). We found out it was a male as his underneath shell was gently curved inward. Next to be spotted were the Springbok's, the official animal of South Africa. They are a small antelope and apparently, delicious to eat (haven't tried that yet).
The scenery around the area was beautiful, with the mountains in behind. From the website, the reserve is set at the base of the Brandwacht Mountains and is surrounded by Cape Fynbos vegetation. When we arrived, there were so many clouds covering the tops of the mountains, and it was quite cool. By 10am, most of the clouds were gone and it was very warm!
Giraffes Anyways, back to the animals. After the springbok, we saw the 2 male giraffes. Both are around 3 years old. Did you
know a tongue on a full grown giraffe is about 50cm long, and that, according to the guide, the only animal he has seen that has been able to clean his own ears with his own tongue. Another interesting fact, is that giraffes cannot have their heads down for more than 6 minutes, otherwise they will die (something to do with a mechanism controlling blood flow around the brain). So when they sleep, they will rest their head against something, like a tree. The guide, Jacques, was full of many interesting facts.
Rhinos The rhinos were near the giraffes. There were two, a male and a female. They were white rhinos. White rhinos have one horn, whereas the black have two. The white are found in the open plains styled environment, and the black in and amongst the bushes. The other fact learned, is that the white rhinos travel with their babies in front of them, as they need to keep an eye on them as their eyesight is not that good. Black rhinos travel with their babies behind them, as it is easier for the baby to follow behind mom in the thick bush.
Hartebeest Following the
rhinos, we saw the Hartebeest. One of the tour guides that was accompanying our group, said he had been on the drive/tour about 8 times and this was the first time he has ever seen them. We were lucky today. The Hartebeest are shy creatures and avoid all the other creatures in the park as well as, obviously, us. The small herd had 2 young babies with them. In fact, a few of the antelope type animals had young members today.
Steenbok & Waterbuffalo The next interesting animal to be seen was the Steenbok (think that is the right name). From there, the Waterbuffalo. There were 4 of them in total, a large black coloured one and 3 smaller brown ones. One of the brown ones was lying in the middle of the road and didn't want to move. Finally it stood up, but wanted to challenge the vehicle. After a few minutes of rolling towards it and backing off a little, with a lot of honking, it finally stepped off the road.
Bontebok, Zebras, Gnus, Ostiches After the waterbufallo, we saw the Bontebok, Zebras, Gnus and then ostriches. The Bontebok have a white rump as well as
white on its face. The white on the back end is to fool predators as to which end is the front , which is what they need in order to make the kill. The Zebras were in bounty and saw a few babies. The Gnus are "the ugliest creatures" and legend has it they are comprised of features of many other creatures. Then, the ostriches were next. Apparently, each male ostrich has 4 mates and each of those mates mothers. And, did you know, that the female ostriches do not have any vocal chords (therefore, a very quiet group for the male). When ostriches are hunted, all their parts are used, nothing goes to waste.
Elephans & Lions The next exciting creature was the elephants. Two large males, around 20 years of age each. Their names are Dlasseria and Letaba. Finally, the lions were the last creatures to be viewed. We were allowed off the vehicle and onto the viewing platform to see them. They were brought to the reserve as cubs, when their mother had been killed by hunters. The three lions have no hunting skills, so are not given live game to eat.
After all this
Safari Vehicle
Here is a photo of the 'brother' vehicle to the one we travelled in today. Very bouncy, so you have to hold on tight! excitement, and many photos later, we headed back to the lodge and had a nice lunch. After lunch, another hour plus drive back to the hotel, we were tired and into our room around 3:30pm. That summarizes a very interesting day. This will be the last entry for at least a couple of days.
Tomorrow we travel again We leave for Guinea late tomorrow and arrive on Sunday. Not sure what the internet connections will be like, but as soon as I can connect, will let you know how the flights went.
Take care!
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