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Today's excitement began immediately. As we drove down the steep side of the first small stream bed we usually cross on game drives, the profile of a walking cat could be seen on the crest of the other side. Stan was the first to spot it. Instead of continuing up to the top of the other bank, we turned and drove up the creek bed, getting small glimpses of the huge leopard as we crept along. Suddenly, there he was, emerging out of the bushes lining the stream and right out into open view just feet away from our vehicle! Holy Cow! I've never seen anything so beautiful! We followed the big cat as he checked his territory and also refreshed his claim on the territory, stopping to leave scent here and there. Our guide said this male is about seven years old and has been successful in defeating and chasing away all the other males in his huge territory. He is the main man for all the females in this area, and boy, is he gorgeous. Marius, our guide, said he will probably reign supreme another six or seven years. What great pictures! Tessa was within 2 feet of the big cat as he swept past our Land Rover.
But that is not all. Before the morning's drive ended we encountered all of the Big Five!! Almost immediately after the big cat we proceeded to see a new herd of Cape buffaloes. Then we found an unusual grouping of three male rhinos. They have a funny story too. Usually, male rhinos do not accept other males. They fight for females; only one wins and the others leave or die. The big male in this group adopted a young male a few years ago when the younger one's mother was poached. Although he was still nursing when his mother died, thankfully he had already learned to eat grass as well. Against all accepted animal behavior knowledge, the older bull looked after the younger one. He protected it and taught him to survive. They now are buddies and have also accepted a third male as a friend. If one of the younger ones gets out of line, the older one is quick to straighten him out.
Ok, so now after seeing this trio we are up to four of the Big Five all in one game drive - leopard, elephant, Cape buffalo and White rhino. --- In case I have not explained earlier, these animals are called the Big Five because they are the 5 most difficult and, more importantly, dangerous animals to hunt on foot. They are found in eleven African countries: Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Namibia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo and Malawi.
We drove back toward camp and took a road down toward the river that runs in front of our chalet. We saw a pack of wild dogs on a sand bar next to a bunch of reeds. Wow, with our binoculars, we could see the pack of about ten had just killed a big water buck! Wild dog sighting is very, very rare. They are superbly camouflaged and also are very skittish. They are highly successful hunters, however, because they hunt in packs, applying strength in numbers. They eat as they attack sometimes eating 40% of the animal before it actually dies. We learned later, that camp staff who was not on a game drive at the time, learned of the dogs' attack on the water buck from horrible sounds the dogs made.
As we watched from a distance, suddenly, all dogs looked up! Apparently the two brother lions we saw yesterday heard all the commotion of the kill and came to snatch the prey. Moments later, one lion then the second lion emerged from the thick reeds. They strode up to the dogs, grabbed that water buck and dragged it away into the reeds for themselves. All the wild dogs could do was watch and back away. They finally left to hunt again. By this time, vultures had learned of the kill and were gathering to wait and have their share of clean-up once the lions abandon the remains of the carcass and finally leave.
Sheesh - the Big Five and wild dogs!! All in one morning!
We have new guests at the lodge. Last Thursday, Friday and Monday are official Easter holidays in South Africa. So folks from SA ended their long holiday weekend and went back to work and school. We have new guests from Paris, Malta, and Belgium. There are still more new comers we have not yet met, but chances are, we will know them before we leave tomorrow! Our philosophy: let no stranger go un-encountered!
Yesterday was Marius' 22nd birthday. At dinner last night, we all sang happy birthday to him. Then three of the young women who serve on the cook staff, came out with a birthday cake for him. They did a pretty little dance and sang a sweet-sounding native birthday song. Then they fulfilled a local birthday tradition and rubbed flour all over his blushing face. Cute tradition!!
This is our last night here, not only at this lodge but our last night in South Africa. How bittersweet. We still have two more game drives: one tonight and one again tomorrow before we are transferred to the Nelspruit International Airport where we will begin our long journey home. Yes, I think we have had our fill of early morning and late evening game drives, at least for now. And we have seen enough Impala and Kudu to last a lifetime. But we have loved every moment. We went into this thinking how much we would enjoy watching Tessa enjoy this experience, and yes, that is exactly what happened. But Africa is such a mind-blowing place! Please excuse my choice of descriptive words, but in this case, mind-blowing seems to fit just right. We thanked God for these few days of incredibly rare and special time with Tessa. In the ten days of 24/7 togetherness, of course, we safaried and learned to track and find incredible animals but we also met many wonderful people from all over the world, had long chats, and had time to tickle and play new games. We had time to get totally crazy and act silly, to laugh until we cried and to get to know each other far better that we ever had before. Our time was everything we hoped it might be, but I must admit, Stan and I could not help but to also very selfishly enjoy South Africa, the land and the animals purely for ourselves too.
Tessa is a great, amazing little girl who is growing up so fast - when I sit still, I can almost see her growing taller before my eyes. She is so smart. She never pushes herself out front, yet people are attracted to her and kids cannot resist her even though she does not do a thing to bring attention to herself. She was born with a soul that people love and want to be near. I know she learned a great deal from this experience. I watched her grow and glow. I know she enjoyed it all. I watched her take pictures and pride herself in knowing the names of animals that some of the adults in the group did not. She took time to look at the grasshoppers, and the tiny flowers. She got to see a Blood Moon and the Milky Way - possibly for the first time ever. I think she is thrilled by stars as much as I am. And child that she may be, she never once complained about anything.
The evening game drive was fun. We were looking out over a vast field of grass, learning about a tree stump so frequently rubbed by Water Buck and Cape Buffalo that it shined as if polished, when our tracker, Moses, saw something way, way off near a stand of trees. How did he do it?? The movement he saw was a mother leopard and her youngster, about one year old. They were walking toward us, obviously on a mission toward water perhaps. They walked right past us. Our ranger drove our vehicle to a point where we might get a closer look and we surely did. The mother kept walking, uninterested in us. But the youngster stayed behind. As we were taking pictures of him walking just two feet from our vehicle, he seemed to become a little agitated and took that stance that house cats do when they are ready to pounce, you know crouching with eyes concentrating on the target and a little wiggle in the rump - but two of us on the left side of the truck were his target! Maybe it was a game to him; maybe he had enough attention. We got the clear message that it was time for us to move along.
Later the nice young woman in our truck from Paris spotted something moving far, far away in the grass. We stretched our eyes to see. It was a hyena. We tracked it and got to see her up close. Hyenas are a curious contradiction - beautiful and vicious animals placed by nature in charge of clean-up.
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