Day 9

Day 9

1^st stop the bottle shop! Purely medicinal of course. Our resort is fabulous, but because of the timre of year it’s very quiet, and we have been the only people in the bar at night. Also collected our laundry which we had left at the local laundrette on Sunday  Clean clothes all round J

Then a 75km drive this morning took us to Thornybush Reserve in Central Kruger for a guided safari with a professional tracker. Before this we stopped for lunch at “The Garden of Eden” an oasis in amongst the  African savannah. Quite odd to see rain forest plants growing in such arid conditions. A lovely lunch set us up for the afternoon/evening safari

We arrived at Thorneybush at 2.30pm where we were met by Thomas, our guide & driver, & Nicolas our tracker. Our vehicle was a long wheel based land rover with seating for 10, however there was only the three of us, which was lovely. Own own private safari.

There are not enough superlatives to describe what we went on too see. The weather was quite cool, 19c, & somewhat cloudy, and a little breezy too. This actually affects the animal’s behaviour and makes them less inclined to be seen.

Thomas set off on the track of some Lions, passing on route a female warthog & her baby J , and also a Bustard.  We spent the next 45 minutes searching fruitlessly for the lions to no avail, although we did find where they had been laying up earlier in the afternoon.

After another 20 minutes we came across a group of rhino feeding, and Thomas guided us to within 10feet of them. We all managed to take some lovely photos to be posted later. Reluctantly leaving the rhino we carried on our search for Lion. We then came across a group of Baboons complete with young, and a solitary male buffalo. Next we came across a herd of over 200 buffalo, resting in the grass. As we came closer, we saw that one was about to give birth. As we began to watch it was apparent that our presence was causing her some distress ,so we moved away a short distance; but still within viewing distance. Ten minutes later the calf was born, the rest of the herd carried on obliviously. Mother buffalo studiously licked her calf clean, and continued to do so as we left her in peace. What an unbelievable experience! Our guide Thomas with 15 years of experience had never witnessed such an event before. So how lucky were we?

& yes I have lots of photos too.

Our drive continued deeper into the park, and deep into a sandy gorge, where we came across a recently felled tree blocking our path. Thomas wanted to carry on as the tree had been felled by elephants with the last half hour, so Nicolas was dispatched with tree loppers to remove some of the smaller branches to allow us to force a way through, which we did, his driving skills were amazing.  A further 10 minutes followed and then we were rewarded with our first sighting of a large matriarch female elephant, and distant sightings of her herd of a further 12 females & juvenile males enjoying themselves at the waterhole. The younger males were particularly exuberant, and frolicked in quite deep water, until the large matriarch decided enough was enough and angrily trumpeted at them and then she moved in behind us a little to close for comfort. So we moved on.  In between times, we had many sightings of antelope, impala, water bucks, eland and lovely yellow billed hornbills (Same as Yazu in Lion King) plus Vevet monkeys and guinea fowl. A small herd of wildebeest were seen grazing beneath some acacia trees. There are no large hers of them in this part of Africa, because they prefer grazing on large opens plains, like those found in the Serengeti or Masi Mara. Another solitary male giraffe was grazing nearby. It is now the rutting season for the grazing animals here so the males animals are  now on the prowl looking for receptive females.

 

By now the sun was setting and it was becoming quite chilly, and we began to head back, when suddenly Nicolas spotted a female cheetah hunting nearby. She was completely unmoved by our presence and continued to stalk her prey, a small impala. We followed her for about half a mile, whereupon she sat down within 20 ft our vehicle. We watched her for a further 10 minutes before leaving her in peace to search for her dinner.

We returned to our car about 6.30pm in complete in awe, and full of admiration for the skills of our two guides. Thomas’s off road driving skills were phenomenal, and we drove into terrain which you would believe would have been impossible to navigate.  The park gates were locked so we had a further 10 minutes wait whilst a guard was dispatched to open them. We passed this time by a study of the fabulous skies of the southern hemisphere, including sightings of the Southern Cross, Venus, Mars, Sirius, Gemini, Scorpio, and the Milky Way.

Another fabulous day. J & it only cost the equivalent of £50 each, but our memories will be priceless.