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 3rd 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.
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