Day Twenty-Seven: Morning Safari, Free afternoon
All ready to go at 6 am this morning so we were on our way and again I was with 5 others in Tracker Den's vehicle.
He asked us what we wanted to see and we said "cats", of course! We just didn't feel we had seen enough of them! Sylvia piped up that she also wanted to see elephants as we'd only seen the one on the river safari and those are her favourite animal.
So Den was on a mission. We started on the same road down by the river and spotted waterbok, impala, Cape buffalo, hippos and plenty of birds. Den was looking carefully to the left, away from the river, trying to spot any cats that might be trying to make their way down. Then he got on his radio and got wind of a pride of lions in the area and he took off like it was the Indie 500!
We thought the drive with him the first day was rough and wild but it was nothing compared to the way he was driving now! We got thrown around and bumped and bounced off our seats and it was everything we could do to hang on! He was grinding the gears through sand, coming up on other safari vehicles and forcing them to move over so he could pass and taking the initiative to keep right on going if a vehicle came at us from the opposite direction. He would just smile and wave and he always had this awesome smile on his face. He was lovin' what he was doing! His mantra was, "No cats, then no tea and coffee!" (the traditional mid-safari break). We were all on board with that so he was good to go!
Finally, we pulled up to where a few other vehicles were stopped and there, before us, was a pride of lions lying and sleeping among the trees about 80 feet away. Some lifted their heads to see what all the excitement was about and then would lazily put them back down again. They were lying in pairs, heads touching or mothers were lying with their cubs close by. We were snapping pictures like crazy because we had never seen so many in one spot out in the open like that - totally uncaring as to what we were doing.
After we had a good turn at the pictures, Den moved on so that other vehicles could get the same viewing opportunity. We then went and had our "coffee break" and felt so good to have seen such a sight. After the break, Den said it was time to find a leopard and off he went like a crazy person again. And again, he got us to where there was a freshly-killed impala hanging up in a tree where a leopard had left it secure from the hyenas and where it could keep an eye on it from a bush nearby.
We tried our hardest to see the leopard in the bush but it was not to be so we moved on. We found out afterwards that it had actually walked out shortly after we left and strolled to a different bush nearby to get closer to its kill but we missed it. And those in our group who were there and saw the leopard walking weren't able to get the shot as their tracker driver was moving the vehicle and it was too shaky for them to get a focused shot.
All ready to go at 6 am this morning so we were on our way and again I was with 5 others in Tracker Den's vehicle.
He asked us what we wanted to see and we said "cats", of course! We just didn't feel we had seen enough of them! Sylvia piped up that she also wanted to see elephants as we'd only seen the one on the river safari and those are her favourite animal.
So Den was on a mission. We started on the same road down by the river and spotted waterbok, impala, Cape buffalo, hippos and plenty of birds. Den was looking carefully to the left, away from the river, trying to spot any cats that might be trying to make their way down. Then he got on his radio and got wind of a pride of lions in the area and he took off like it was the Indie 500!
We thought the drive with him the first day was rough and wild but it was nothing compared to the way he was driving now! We got thrown around and bumped and bounced off our seats and it was everything we could do to hang on! He was grinding the gears through sand, coming up on other safari vehicles and forcing them to move over so he could pass and taking the initiative to keep right on going if a vehicle came at us from the opposite direction. He would just smile and wave and he always had this awesome smile on his face. He was lovin' what he was doing! His mantra was, "No cats, then no tea and coffee!" (the traditional mid-safari break). We were all on board with that so he was good to go!
Finally, we pulled up to where a few other vehicles were stopped and there, before us, was a pride of lions lying and sleeping among the trees about 80 feet away. Some lifted their heads to see what all the excitement was about and then would lazily put them back down again. They were lying in pairs, heads touching or mothers were lying with their cubs close by. We were snapping pictures like crazy because we had never seen so many in one spot out in the open like that - totally uncaring as to what we were doing.
After we had a good turn at the pictures, Den moved on so that other vehicles could get the same viewing opportunity. We then went and had our "coffee break" and felt so good to have seen such a sight. After the break, Den said it was time to find a leopard and off he went like a crazy person again. And again, he got us to where there was a freshly-killed impala hanging up in a tree where a leopard had left it secure from the hyenas and where it could keep an eye on it from a bush nearby.
We tried our hardest to see the leopard in the bush but it was not to be so we moved on. We found out afterwards that it had actually walked out shortly after we left and strolled to a different bush nearby to get closer to its kill but we missed it. And those in our group who were there and saw the leopard walking weren't able to get the shot as their tracker driver was moving the vehicle and it was too shaky for them to get a focused shot.
Everyone was disappointed. We, because we missed all the action, and
them, because they couldn't show us the proof. "No picture, no
proof!". (Jungle law!)
We started heading back to the main gate and, just before we got there, we finally saw elephants on the left, about 150 yards away. Sylvia yelled, "Stop!" and happily snapped away at the small family....3 little ones, 2 females, and a male. So, Den had accomplished what he set out to do and we happily showed him our appreciation! (Tips, people! Come on, this is a clean blog!)
Back at the lodge, we hungrily ate up our buffet breakfasts and enjoyed a good coffee and then looked forward to a relaxing day by the pool....there is so little spare time, it was a real treat. I did some writing, of course. Others shopped, some had massages, some went to the Safari Lodge pool to check it out, some stayed by our pool and some went back out on an afternoon safari to track down more elephants (rumour had it that the group of 7 who had passed on Victoria Falls did a self-drive game drive and came across a herd of at least 400 elephants!!!) Sylvia was not letting that go without seeing it so she and Brian, Richard and Alesa headed out on another drive to find them. (And apparently they did....drove right through a massive herd of them with a little trepidation but totally exhilarating for Sylvia!)
For dinner, the group all headed over to the sister Safari Lodge to their buffet for a change of pace and enjoyed a great meal with some good laughs and more G&T's!
Tomorrow.....Hallowe'en and another relaxing day....ahhh......JT
We started heading back to the main gate and, just before we got there, we finally saw elephants on the left, about 150 yards away. Sylvia yelled, "Stop!" and happily snapped away at the small family....3 little ones, 2 females, and a male. So, Den had accomplished what he set out to do and we happily showed him our appreciation! (Tips, people! Come on, this is a clean blog!)
Back at the lodge, we hungrily ate up our buffet breakfasts and enjoyed a good coffee and then looked forward to a relaxing day by the pool....there is so little spare time, it was a real treat. I did some writing, of course. Others shopped, some had massages, some went to the Safari Lodge pool to check it out, some stayed by our pool and some went back out on an afternoon safari to track down more elephants (rumour had it that the group of 7 who had passed on Victoria Falls did a self-drive game drive and came across a herd of at least 400 elephants!!!) Sylvia was not letting that go without seeing it so she and Brian, Richard and Alesa headed out on another drive to find them. (And apparently they did....drove right through a massive herd of them with a little trepidation but totally exhilarating for Sylvia!)
For dinner, the group all headed over to the sister Safari Lodge to their buffet for a change of pace and enjoyed a great meal with some good laughs and more G&T's!
Tomorrow.....Hallowe'en and another relaxing day....ahhh......JT
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