More safari!

Yawn! 5:30 comes early. I was actually up about a minute before the knock on our door. I woke up because our room had gotten too warm and I had to use the bathroom. I thought I had time to pee and get another hour's sleep. Fortunately, the coffee is very good here.

And it was well worth the early morning. A couple of minutes into the drive, still within walking distance of the camp, (as in I would still be able to find my way back) our spotter noticed some lion tracks. The spotter and driver both got out of the jeep and tried to follow the tracks. It was a bit frightening to know there was a lion nearby, and we lost sight of both our guides. But it turns out there were tracks going 3 directions from a crossroad, so we just randomly picked one and moved on. A few minutes later, the driver heard over the radio that another jeep had found the lions, so we headed over. A male and 2 females, all in their prime, with beautiful full coats. We were able to sit and watch them for quite a while before heading off again in search of more animals.

We found a warthog wandering down the road, and watched him for a minute or so before he wandered into the bush. A little more driving, and we saw a couple of giraffe a ways off in the trees. I took a couple of quick pictures before the driver told us someone about a half hour drive away had spotted and was tracking a cheetah. Cheetah are very rare. There are 12-15 of them in the Sabi Sands (the private reserve we are in now) and only 1 mating female within 65,000 hectares. Kruger National Park (next door) has about 150 over 30 million hectares. Apparently they are built for speed, not fighting, so they aren't very good at fighting off predators, so the numbers are dwindling. So the driver explained that we had a 30 minute drive, and a 50-50 chance of seeing a cheetah. This excited the others in the jeep, so we headed off and cut my visit with the giraffes short.

Along the way, we passed a small lake, and we stopped for a few minutes. I saw a couple of hippos in the water and was scanning the water for more, and waiting for a full head to come up above the water. UG called my name and pointed to the left of the jeep, zebras! Ah! Zebras on the left, hippos on the right, what do I do? What do I watch? And then there was a tree next to the water upon which was perched some bird that was exciting the people in the jeep. An African fish eater? Too much going on!

After a few minutes, the driver got word that the cheetah was still within sight, so we kept going. We got close to the other jeeps and then backed off. There's a rule about no more than 3 jeeps watching a specific animal, so waited around the corner for a few minutes until we heard that someone else had moved on. We got a few minutes of watching the cheetah laying in the grass. And she got up and started wandering around. For a few exciting minutes she tried to chase some impala. But as fast as cheetah are, impala can get away if they have enough of a head start, so they tend to keep their distance. We also got to hear the noises the impala make to warn others of a predator. Eventually, the cheetah wandered across a property border where we were not allowed to follow her.

On the way back to camp, we saw something called a water buck? This animal is recognized by the white circle on it's bum, like it sat in wet paint.
Back at the camp, the field was clear of impala. Apparently they were only there yesterday to welcome us. I sat by the pool and read my book while UGG went off on a bush walk. He was shown plants and things, but no exciting animals. After he came back, he pointed into the field and said, "hey, there are giraffe out there!" And sure enough, there were 3 giraffe at the back of the field. Later, the field was visited by 3 elephants, which I watched for a while before getting dressed for the evening game drive.

As we approached the jeep pick up area, we realized there was another half dozen elephants in the ravine that separates the front pool from the "viewing field". We watched them for a few minutes before getting into the jeeps for the third time.
The first thing we saw on this outing was a large male elephant. Someone asked why this male had no tusks. The driver wasn't sure, but said it's very rare for a male to not have tusks. I replied "then how do you know it's a male?" Stunned silence ensued as 5 faces turned and stared at me. Did I mention the 27kg penis?

We moved away from this elephant and found a large open field with about 20 elephants on the far side. We parked in the middle and eventually the elephants surrounded us. There were even a set of twin babies! That was amazing to see so many of them calming eating grass, watching us and moving on.

Once they moved past us and we were not longer surrounded, we left the field. A little while later, we encountered some wildebeast in another field. One of the other guests said they are known as "tourist buffalo" as apparently it's common for tourists to see them from a distance and think they are buffalo. Yesterday, the ones I saw while we driving were very close, and clearly NOT the same as what we saw in the field. The animals that were pointed out when we arrived were at a distance. So I believe what I originally thought was buffalo actually was buffalo, but they were not the same as what I saw in the field.

Then we found another leopard and followed it for a what seemed like a very long time. We finally left it alone when it went off to hunt. Then we went for our night cap and got to watch the sunset while standing still. There was a herd of impala playing on the far side of the field we stopped in.

Driving back, our spotter managed to find a cameleon on a branch in a bush in the dark. That man has amazing gifts. We then passed another herd of elephants (or maybe the same, it was dark!). We startled one who had been drinking some water, and got trumpetted at. But he was much smaller than the one last night so it wasn't as frightening. Or maybe we've become pros?

After dinner, a visiting scorpion expert showed us some specimens he's collected in the area. Apparently, they glow under UV light, so are very easy to find at night. I am kinda glad I don't have a UV light. I am especially glad UG doesn't have a UV light.