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We were told by the lodge staff that animals roam through the lodge grounds at night. We were warned not to leave the tent at night unless accompanied by a guard. Although we have been escorted to and from our tent early morning and at night, we encountered nothing except those pesky but cute Vervet monkeys and a family of wart hogs. This morning about an hour before our 5 am wake-up call, something came through. Everyone heard it but no one knew for sure what it was. It did not thrash through the bushes. Instead it had very quiet steps but it made a sound that I wouldn't call a roar. It was a deep, rather long throaty rumble. Some said it was a leopard. Others thought it might have been a lion. I would guess a hippo. Yet I cannot imagine a hippo being so quiet moving about. Still, it could possibly have been a really big waterbuck. We don't know exactly what it was, but truly, Stan and I both felt the hair stand up on our necks in the dark. Tessa and the rest of the kids in the camp slept right through it.
We almost saw a leopard today on the morning drive, but we didn't! I think we want to see one too badly. We found leopard tracks and our guide got a radio call from another safari vehicle saying they found one. We high-tailed it to that area. Wow, was that ride fun! We were going fast, I mean fast, over the dirt trail, jumping and bumping. Stan, Tessa and I were in the last row of seats mounted up high on the land Rover with no seat belts. I could just imagine the three of us being thrown up and over backwards and landing in the dirt as we bounded over some of the hills in the trail. This ride was definitely better than those at Disney!
Still, we found no leopard. The guide in the other vehicle said the big cat was in a tree when they saw it but got spooked and ran away. Waaaa!
Maybe we will find him during the drive this afternoon. We did see more elephants, giraffe, and various deer-like daikon, kudu and impala. We also saw what I called a big gorgeous grasshopper, but I was told it was a locust. Do see the photo of it. He was truly wearing his colorful finery today. We found a skinny "walking stick" too. He was a little tough to photograph since he looks so much like a dry blade of grass!
You know, we are always told to keep our tent buttoned up tightly when we are not there because the monkeys have learned that good stuff can be found in the tents. Well, today between lunch and our late game drive, while Stan dozed on the deck outside the front entrance to our tent and while Tessa and I were visiting the main area of the lodge to upload pictures and the "blob", monkeys sneaked into our tent and snatched Stan's brand new shiny red camera!!! Sneaky rascals! Now, we guess somewhere there is a bunch of Vervet's, taking turns wearing my sunglasses and snapping selfies of themselves with Stan's camera. Rascals!
THE EVENING GAME DRIVE WAS IT! The weather was much more pleasant than on the evening before. It was a little cooler and the air seemed clearer. We travel new territory with each drive. This one was a bit more hilly and green. It wasn't long before we rounded a bend toward a long pool in the river and found four "old man" bull Cape buffalo resting in the river. Rex, our guide, said that old bulls often separate themselves from the herd if they cannot keep pace with the females and the younger males. These guys had done just that.
We found a big beautiful herd of impala and a few random waterbucks. We visited a small lake and finally found hippos. There were probably 8 or 9 in the water. They only came up for air every few minutes for a moment or so and then went back down to avoid the sun. I caught one with my camera in a giant yawn!
We stopped at a nice place for our toast to the sunset and had such a nice time chatting with our South African family friends—sadly, I don't know their last name, but Antoine is the father, Kate is the mother, and kids are Emma, Mark and Tobin. Only Tobin lives at home still. He is the sixth grade and will go to boarding school like his older sister and brother did when he begins 8th grade. Mark is still in high school, but Emma is in her first year of pre-med studies. I told them I referred to them as gentry farmers and they got a big laugh out of it. They leave our camp tomorrow. We will be sad to see them go.
After our drinks, it was time to return to camp. The sun had gone down and we busied ourselves with watching for bats and finding dark spooky things like stick-o-saurus or the bush-a-saurus rex in the strange looking bushes by the side of the trail. We had stopped listening to the chatter between our guide and tracker. But as we drove on, our vehicle suddenly began to pick up speed making time to some unknown spot. Leopard! They heard on the radio a leopard had been spotted. We stopped our nonsense fun and peeled our eyes on the ground and under the bushes! When our Land Rover arrived at the spot, the leopard had been lost, but our tracker motioned our guide to drive on. Daniel, the tracker, had a big spot light and as we drove over brush and small trees, he scanned the light to the left and right. Suddenly he said, "There it is!" Yes, through the bushes we could barely catch glimpses of the cat's spots as he slinked through the underbrush. Even though our vehicle made a lot of noise as we drove over the rough land, thrashing over and through bushes, the cat never lost its concentration. She was tracking an impala. We were of no concern to her. We drove on and kept up with her, finally getting to see her clearly and up close. Brilliant in the spotlight and framed by the darkness and underbrush, she was a beautiful sight. What an amazing experience! How exciting to see such a beautiful, graceful and stealthy animal at work! I still get chills simply thinking about it! We all got great photos - Tessa captured "the ultimate photo" of the safari! I'm using it as the featured photo of today's post.
- comments
Mary Mattson A remarkable day!
Cody Great picture, LOVIE!!! how exciting!
Shea Wow!!!! So exciting fun, intense, and Awesome!!!!!!!! Great times!!!!!!!!! Love it!!!
JoAnn this has to be a great trip for MS Tessa! Be safe- see you soon