Game drives are so yesterday! Today I tried
different ways to experience the African bush. Up (again) at 5am – yes, it’s a
holiday, but no, at game reserve lodges no-one sleeps in, that’s what afternoons are for – I went out with super-guide Chris for a nature walk. It sounds
very tame, but please note that we were accompanied by Maybin, a camou-clad guard armed with a rifle, and there were serious instructions about keeping safe in case of
a confrontation.
The big animals were not our focus this
morning and, apart from being trumpeted at by a stroppy elephant we drove past,
we saw none on our walk, fortunately – Maybin’s instruction is to shoot to kill
if an aggressive animal approaches within 5 metres (which seems pretty close to
me). The closest encounter we had, as it happens, was with an antlion which,
despite the name, is the small larvae of a kind of fly. Having done a
lifetime’s preparation for Africa courtesy of David Attenborough, I was able to
score points with Chris for being able to identify the antlion, the hippo skull
we came across and the calcium-white hyaena droppings – but I still learned a
lot too.
Elephant dung infusions as a cure for
asthma, for example, doves using ant-sprayed formic acid to rid themselves of
fleas, leopards at risk of attack by baboons during the day, but vice versa at
night… Chris knows so much, and is keen to share. So it wasn’t an eventful
outing, but it was fascinating.
Once back at the lodge, though, things got exciting. Wandering along from our suite towards the main building for
lunch, we had to take a side entrance because there was an elephant and her
calf in the way. The resort is unfenced, and this sort of thing is not unusual.
Today the eles took their time poking about right outside the building – at one
stage it looked possible they might enter – feeding on grass and leaves. The
mother even stepped very delicately over the railings to stand on the path, the
better to reach seedpods in the tree over it. This was a bitter inconvenience:
she was blocking the way to the bar where we’d planned to have a beer. Tch!
But a waiter went the long way round to
fetch the drinks for us, and we settled down to our lunch on the deck as the
elephants began to move off. Then, a shout and a clatter of breaking crockery:
we rushed to see, and it was an unsuspecting waiter, bringing a tray of
desserts from the kitchen, being surprised by the eles at close quarters and
not unnaturally taking fright. The real tragedy was the waste of the pudding portions –
it was quite the best lemon meringue pie I’ve ever tasted.
Returning to my table, I was advised that
an opportunistic vervet monkey had just laid hands on my meatball, and that I
should start again with a fresh plate. Talk about novelty hazards. Though, of course,
here it’s just par for the course.
After all that drama, we had a quiet afternoon of what's officially known here as DNA time - Doing Nothing at All - although, with a herd of elephants grazing in front of and sometimes literally right below our suite and pool, it was far from dull.
After all that drama, we had a quiet afternoon of what's officially known here as DNA time - Doing Nothing at All - although, with a herd of elephants grazing in front of and sometimes literally right below our suite and pool, it was far from dull.
And then, believe it or not, it got even better. We left the
canoe and got into the LandCruiser that met us, and Chris took us bumping and swaying
along rough tracks through the bush to find something special for our last game
drive here. Elephants got in the way of the best spots for our sundowner, but
thanks to having to drive on – and, of course, Chris’s tracking skills and the
sharp eyes of spotter Jimmy – we suddenly found ourselves just a few metres
from a magnificent leopard lying beside a log in all his spotted glory.
Of course I had the wrong lens on my
camera, the wrong settings dialled and my hands covered in mosquito repellent – but I
saw him perfectly as he rose and unhurriedly crossed in front of us to
disappear into the bushes, and I did grab an ok photo for proof. And after him
there were genets and civet cats, a final dinner on the lantern-lit deck by the fire-pit with
frogs and hippos providing the soundtrack, and chocolate mousse for dessert.
What a great day.
1 comment:
I saw the leopard photo before I read the words, and I thought - that photo looks 3D. I don't know why. It looks like a stereoscope, somehow. Of course, I'm not wearing my glasses at the moment.
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