Many of the areas where we drove should have been under water. We got stuck in the sand once, and twice had to go off road to get around the deeply rutted sandy road. Whereas during my previous visit we climbed into our mokoros (dugout canoes) to explore the delta by boat from the back of our lodge, this year's outings required a 15 to 20 minute drive to the water.
This wasn't the best African safari I have experienced, but it was wonderful nonetheless. I got to spend time with three friends from the United Kingdom. And I experienced some amazing things.
- Getting to see not one, but two, aardwolves was a special treat. This
was my 7th safari in southern Africa, and the only time I have seen an
aardwolf. This photo shows an aardwolf pup peering out of its den.
- On our final game drive the morning of our departure, we saw a newborn giraffe with its mother. This giraffe was so young that its umbilicus was still attached.
- A male lion was just a few feet from our vehicle when it started to roar. What an experience that was!
- For the first time, I saw sable antelope. Our first sighting was of a single antelope, but later in the trip, we saw numerous members of this rare species.
- Our last camp, known as Kwando Lagoon, was situated on the Kwando river, which was full of hippos. They grunted, groaned and snorted all night. Some nights I could hear a hippo just outside our tent pulling up vegetation to munch on.
- We had stopped along a river to watch a group of elephants drinking and spraying themselves with mud, when one of them, a bull, started walking toward our vehicle with great determination. It never charged us, but it gave every impression that it wasn't happy with our presence. Unhappy elephants have a particular gait that shows their agitation. Our guide quickly started the engine and we made a quick escape.
- We watched a brief fight, complete with lots of roaring, involving two adult lion brothers. One had been mating with a lioness the day before, and apparently the brother wanted in on the action. Both lions sustained minor injuries on the face, but eventually the younger brother gave up his attempts.The female, for her part, lay in the shade watching her two suitors fight over her.
- After lunch each day, we were given a break of a couple of hours during the hottest part of the day, when most animals are no active. I was sitting on the small porch attached to my tent, reading. A small herd of animals browsed nearby. One of the elephants appeared at the corner of the tent, pulling branches from some shrubs. It wasn't long before this young elephant was standing right next to the porch, pulling up vegetation growing underneath the tent, which was on an elevated platform. It was so close it could have reached out and touched me with its trunk. I remained motionless until it moved on.
- Another special moment was seeing an adult male lion babysitting his four little cubs while mama lion got some rest.
- We spent time watching two cheetah brothers chowing down on a freshly killed warthog one evening.
- As
we left our second camp early one morning, we were treated to the sight
of a pack of five African wild dogs. These long-legged members of the
canine family are endangered, so it was quite a treat to not only see
them, but be able to safely follow them until they found a sunny spot
and settled down for a nap. The alpha female of
the pack had sustained a serious neck injury in a fight with a member of another pack. She moved slowly and kept to herself. We also watched as the alpha male paid close attention to his 'girlfriend' in the pack, who also suffered a neck injury inflicted by a jealous alpha female. - We had stopped on a sandy road to watched a couple of bull elephants sparring and pushing each other around. The incident didn't take more than a minute. One of the elephants then backed down and walked away. The other bull then turned its sights on our vehicle and actually started charging us, running down the road behind us as we sped away as quickly as sandy road would allow. Our guide believed the aggression was the result of he bull coming into musth, a time when bull elephants are in a heightened state of aggression due to very high testosterone levels.
- We got to see sitatunga (I love that name!), a marsh antelope that is very shy. Other antelope included the tsessebe, red lechwe and the common impala.
- My friends and I spent time with a couple of groups of meerkats. These cute little animals stay in their burrows until the air outside warms up. When they first crawl out of the dens, they turn their bellies to the sun to soak up the warmth. Then they begin looking for breakfast. Favorite foods include grubs and larvae, and we spotted one lucky meerkat eating a frog it had caught underground.
- Being up high is an advantage for meerkats, as it provides a better viewpoint for spotting potential predators. So these cute little members of the mongoose family could frequently be found sitting atop the shoulder or head of anyone sitting nearby. I had two of them sitting on my outstretched legs, until they began to squabble and darted away.
As we flew to the landing strip nearest our lodge in the Kalahari Desert, we could see large areas of blackened earth below. Some areas were still burning, with flames visible from the air. Once on the ground, we could see and smell the smoke. In a couple of places flames were visible, and smoke filled the air. The lodge where we stayed for four nights had been evacuated just a couple of weeks previously, and another lodge had been lost to the fire. I develped a nagging cough and sneezing from the smoke. I felt sorry for the lodge staff and for the animals that were subjected to the poor air for more than a few days.
In addition to hearing a lion roar from just a few feet away, I heard the trumpeting of an irritated elephant from very close as well. We were driving back to the lodge one evening. Apparently an elephant, unseen in the dark, wasn't happy with how close we were. Let's just say that the trumpeting of an angry elephant is very loud!
Despite some close encounters with wild animals, I have never felt afraid during my several trips to Africa on safari. Most of the time, animals intend no harm. The lion's roars aren't directed at humans, but at other male lions in the area. Elephants trumpet and bluff charge to remind us humans how big and powerful they are. (Of course, elephants have killed people, but such occasions are rare). Cheetahs aren't a threat to humans, Leopards, which are rarely seen in Africa, have killed people in India. I trust our guides to get us out of harm's way, and I have a pretty good idea of when a wild animal is feeling a need to attack.
We have started talking about next year's African safari, but no decisions have been made. Wherever it is, I'm sure it will be amazing.
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