Africa 2017-Day 5

Day 5- Going to the Dogs

Today we got up even earlier and left in our land rovers  at 6 sharp in search of the elusive wild dogs.  Eric was definitely a man on a mission flying down the bumpy tracks (for Toby and Marty-faster than I drove in Big Bend) through the brush, stopping occasionally to look for tracks.  We were working with the rest of our group with their guide, Doc.  At one point, all four guides and trackers left us to traipse off into the bush to find “the scent”.  

It was very disconcerting watching them speak some African tongue to each other and then all gesture in different directions apparently all sure of the dogs’ hiding place.  They can’t all be right.  This went on for 3 hours during which we had a few short respites to see a few birds (in horrible light), 

 

steenbok, 

a few warthogs, 

a cool monitor lizard that I found (those new eyes again) in a tree, 

which then jumped or fell to the ground 

and scampered into a nearby pond, 

some baboons at a distance, 

and two male impalas that were in a head butting war (Eric was too focused to stop and watch this, though).  

Doc stopped with the rest of our group to view a newborn (4 days old) giraffe calf, but again, Eric plodded onward much to our chagrin.

We did spend a bit of time with some elephants who seemed very curious of us.  They were so close, we could have petted them.  I tried uploading a bit of video.  Hope it works.

After leaving the elephants, we pressed onward in search of you know who.  At roughly 9:30, We spotted a dark shape in the distance on the road, the wild dogs!!!  There was a pack of 6 dogs that had been chasing impalas all night, and seemed now to be exhausted.  They have black and brown pigmentation with huge pointed ears.  Another major feature is their long skinny legs. African wild dogs have evolved into a light build, long legs and endurance to become effective hunters.  The pack could certainly have used a shower, they smelled horribly.  Doc thought one of them was separated from the pack and had some GI problems.  Got to watch out for bad impala.

We left the dogs to head back to camp.  After driving around in circles for 3 hours we all were quite disoriented, thinking we had at least an hour drive back to the camp.  To our surprise, we were no more than ½ mile from our starting point.  The dogs had been in our backyard all along!

Back at Chapungu, we had our breakfast and did any last minute packing for the trip back to Jo-burg.  On the access road out of Thornybush we had a few nice sightings including a group of wildebeests that posed for us while the driver was kind enough to pull over.

The two German couples with whom Jeri and I spent the last three days were on our flight to Jo-burg.  At the baggage claim, we said our auf wiedersehens to our new freundin and met our shepherd from OAT who got us to our hotel here for the night.

Tomorrow we fly to Victoria Falls in Zambia and then go overland to Chobe in Botswana.  We get to sleep in tomorrow-don’t have to leave until 8:30.

Africa 2017- Day 4

Day 4

Got a great night’s sleep, even slept through our wake-up call.  Fortunately, Jeri  was already awake.  Today was our first cloudy day.  The last two mornings were clear and pretty warm (as soon as the sun came up).  The overcast kept the temperature down and made photos difficult.  We were in the hunt for hippos and rhinos today, but saw several birds on our journey.

The hippo sighting was a bit disappointing.  Reminded me of our platypus sighting in Tasmania.  Hopefully, the Okavanga Delta will be more productive.

We finally tracked down the Rhinos and they were pretty spectacular-up close and personal with 2 white rhinos. The rest of our group was already there, and posed for a photo op as they made room for us.  As you can see, they are not really white.  White is a mispronunciation of the Afrikaner word for wide, weit (like the German).  Happily, they had no interest in goring us with their horns, but merrily munched on the grass no more than 5 feet from our truck.  

When we returned to the camp, we had an added activity for the day. A nature hike.  Eric and “Doc” (the other truck’s guide) met us with shotguns in hand to protect us in the wild.  We were warned to walk in a single file no more than 1-2 yds. behind the person in front of you lest the stragglers be picked off like a sick, old impala.  We were also given hand signal instructions to keep from having to talk. Then off we went into the bush.  Eric and Doc took turns relating stories of African culture and medicine while we walked through the thicket.  They explained the uses for various plants and trees (a toilet paper tree and tree bark for medicinal purposes like the Marula tree), showed us an aardvark’s burrow that is often time shared with warthogs, and dung balls made my various dung beetles.  

Any discussion of the African bush has to include termite mounds.  These mounds can get incredibly high (this one is about 10' which is on the small side) but only 1/3 is above ground.  It is not uncommon to find them 30 feet deep and 100-150 feet in diameter.  This is a deep underground system of tunnels where the termites live and breed.

We made it back just in time for lunch (phew, I bet you were worried we were going to be starved here).

After lunch I sat on the deck of our tent to write the blog.  This allowed me to keep one eye out for any game traffic that might mosey on by.  We were treated to a nice, but brief, sighting of a large male kudu just before we had to leave for the afternoon game drive. 

Eric had heard there were wild dogs somewhere in the park and he decided to make this mission in life (at least for today. Off we went on the bouncy, rutted roads at about 30mph in search of the wild dog.  We managed to get him to stop to check out some giraffes, some not-so-skittish warthogs, impalas, and even a few birds.

Wild dogs, we have since learned,  are not that easy to find.  After driving around for what  semed to be literaly, all day, Eric finally gave up.  As we continued to drive through the park, we noticed several trees that were loaded with vultures.  He told us that this meant that there was a fresh kill nearby, and we began to bushwack through the thick brush mowing over trees and trimming branches along the way.  But, alas, we failed again. 

We travelled to the southernmost end of Thornybush to the border of Kruger N.P., tracking the wild dogs, but were skunked.  We did have the most amazing sighting that neither Jeri nor I had any inkling of.  Our guide stopped to speak to another group in a passing vehicle and I noticed the woman guide sounded American.  I asked her where she was from, and she told us New Hampshire.  Asking her to be more specific, she asked if we knew NH at all to which I responded, “pretty well”.  Turns out she grew up in New London,  and although I wasn’t her oral surgeon (I did her brother’s wisdom teeth), Keith Rogerson took out her 3^rd molars several years ago.  Unbelievable, in the middle of the bush in Africa, crossing paths!

We did find a leopard on the hunt for an impala.  It was fascinating watching the big at try to stealthily approach the prey. At the last moment, the leopard was found out, and the impala sounded its warning grunts, and the leopard turned and slinked away (I think he was embarrassed about failing in front of an audience).  Given our track record today, I know how he feels.

Tomorrow, one final game drive (chasing the wild dogs again) then back to Jo-burg for an overnight before heading to Botswana.