Up at 5am and out by 6am – it was great to see the sunrise on the savannah – the colors were simply spectacular – a fiery burst of orange rising above the trees.
We drove around and witnessing the animals wake to a new day. We found lots of carcasses of wildebeest — their bones picked clean by the predators who feasted on them the night before. Albert drove us again to the giant herd of wildebeest migrating to the river. There were thousands upon thousands congregating and moving forward in their annual journey for greener grasses. From a distance, the land looked like it was cloaked in a sea of black as the herds upon herds of wildebeest made their way like a swarm of ants across the plain. In some areas the sea of black was broken with clumps of black and white striped zebras or darting gazelles and impalas. Since each group eats different parts of the grasses, they work in tandem as the wildebeest have the keenest eyesight, while the zebras have the greatest hearing, so each helps the other try to avoid the predator cats laying in wait to eat them. During this time the cats are well fed, and so are the hyenas, and the vultures.
We stumbled upon a huge male lion snoozing in the grass, his belly huge with game. The sound of the motor made him lift his head for a beautiful picture. Then he rolled on his back, his paws akimbo, revealing a better view of his swollen belly and huge, purple balls. I was able to get a close-up picture of his huge paws. We decided to let him rest as the engine’s noise increased he tipped his head to watch and gave us one last photo of his beautiful face.
Then we watched the wildebeest before stopping amongst them for breakfast. We stood and watched eating fresh fruit, yogurt and granola, and cookies. Veta and Albert ate bacon sandwiches and sausage. We drove around a bit and found the horns from a topi sitting in the grass, who knows what happened to the rest of him. Albert jumped out to retrieve it for the lodge. I put it on my head and danced around ala Ed Gein (the serial killer upon whom Psycho is based). We watched the wildebeest heard some more until Veta asked to drive to another section. She was tired of watching the wildebeest. Albert obliged and drove us to another area where we watched a huge clump of rocks on the bank of a river that upon closer inspection revealed ears and pinkish jowls – the “rocks” were hippos lazing in the sun.
A little further we saw two herds of elephants munching on some trees. There was the cutest little baby elephant in the middle. But the big thrill of the day was watching a huge pack of hyenas. We stumbled up a group of 4 snoozing in the tall grass, but them more heads popped up and the truck was surrounded by twelve inquisitive hyenas with ears up and staring in our direction. They started to run and then we saw them join another group of five. Some were drinking water from a muddy watering hole and another was running about carrying the leg of a wildebeest in his mouth.
We saw vultures feasting on the remains of another wildebeest left behind by some other animal, probably a lion, but as we tried to get closer to snap a picture, they flew away. Guess we interrupted their meal.
Around 1pm, we arrived back at the lodge, exhausted. We will have lunch and then head back out at 4pm for another drive. More guests are coming today, so Veta and I will have to share our private car with two new guests. Albert is going to try to convince the new people to agree to staying in the park all day tomorrow so instead of coming back for lunch, we will take our breakfast and lunch with us and eat in the park so there will be no need to return until the evening for dinner…fingers crossed that they will agree.
Now I am going to try to rest. I have not been able to sleep very well. More to come this evening…
Happy days!!!!!!! The new guests were put into a different car so we still have our private car and can decide where we want to go. WOOOOOHOOOOO!
We took off around 4pm and ran into a huge herd of elephants and stopped to look at them and then we turned and saw a female giraffe. It was odd because she was very young and small (for a giraffe) and they usually stay with the group and do not go off exploring by themselves. Veta was thrilled to take a lot of photos of her favorite animal. Groups of giraffes are called towers FYI.
Then we were off in search of cats. We passed another safari truck and the guide told Albert that they had been looking at 3 cheetahs before they crossed the river. He pointed out where. Then Albert told us to hold on because we were going to go very fast so we could cross the river and still have enough light to photograph them. Whenever we had to slow down due to the rocky trails the tsetse flies would swarm us. Veta alternated between spraying them and the air with bug spray or beating them off herself with a blanket. Either her blood was tasty to them or the wild motion attracted them because the tsetse swarmed her even trying to go up her knows. When they bite it hurts because they stick a stinger in you to draw blood. In the end she wrapped a scarf around her head and face ala Michael Jackson or a Chinese woman trying to avoid the air pollution.
We raced and thumped and bumped our way searching for the elusive cheetahs. It was all rather exciting and an adrenaline rush searching through the high grass. Albert spotted the three from a distance perched on a rock like three statues. He stopped so we could get a photo in case they moved before we got closer. We were lucky because they seemed to like the attention. Other jeeps pulled up as well and everyone was shooting photos as if they were paparazzi filming a drunken Lindsay Lohan. The three cheetahs sat posing for their photo op. Albert told us they are about 16 months old and were just kicked out by their mother. They are two brothers and one sister all alone in the world and having to hunt for themselves. Albert noticed they were peering at a group of wildebeest just below. There was a little one, which the three could possible overpower. Then one came down off the rock and the other two followed. They hopped on top of a closer rock with a better view of the wildebeest. Then when climbed down and started crouching in the tall grass below, but still with a good view of the wildebeest. We were so excited we were about to see a hunt, but then three more safari trucks pulled up between the cheetahs and the wildebeest to take photos. They ruined the moment because the cheetahs became distracted by the cars and retreated.
We drove off in search of other animals. It was late; almost 7pm so we headed back to the lodge because dinner is served at 8. Another exciting time in the bush…tomorrow, unfortunately, is our last day. I plan to do a walking safari with Nathoo in the morning at 7pm. Veta will have a late morning and then we will head out with Albert around 9:30AM and stay in the park until evening. Hope I stumble into a Rhino.