We were up at 4am….you all know the drill by now. The five of us loaded into the Landrover and left the camp by 5:45am. It was very overcast and muggy, and sure felt like rain. Our first stop seems to be at the pond with the hippo every day. He almost doesn't look real, since all he does is rise up a few inches, then submerges. What a life.
Tinyiko got a call that a leopard had been spotted and it may have made a kill. Passing the herds of impala and Cape buffalo, we were the first to see a male leopard, who had just hauled his dead impala up a tall tree. Panting heavily, he sat on a branch a few feet away and watched the now limp animal. Then two more safari vehicles drove up, tipped off by Tinyiko, who communicates with a central dispatcher. Our camp shares territory with the Sabi Sabi Camp, but also used to share with Mala Mala Camp. However, the agreement must have been dissolved with Mala Mala we were told.
Anyway, the leopard had recovered from the earlier kill, and proceeded to play with the impala, just like a domestic cat might play with a mouse. We have never seen this behavior before today, but our driver said it is most common. Then he proceeded to pull the hair off of the hide to access the meat. Then suddenly, it began to rain lightly, and the leopard stopped eating and crawled into the most dense part of the tree. He would never leave this fresh kill, but he did not like getting wet. The rain eventually stopped as fast as it had started. Lucky.
We did not like the rain either, so Tinyiko handed out hooded ponchos that seemed to work great for a while. That's when we came across some southern ground hornbill birds. These rare birds weigh about 8 pounds, but have a wing span that exceeds 40 inches. Reading the bird guidebook Tinyiko leaves in the console, we read that these birds are on the brink of extinction. These days, their numbers are about 15,000 in all of Kruger.
We had another leopard sighting….a male hiding in the grass. Several Landrovers pinned the big cat in, and it hunkered down so low, we could hardly see it. The leopard could care less. A mile away, the herd of impala grazed as if nothing had happened to one of their own this morning. Just another day of the cycle of life in Kruger National Park.
We were back to camp by 9:15am, where we sat down to a breakfast with the usual starters and omelets filled with ham, cheese, bacon, onions, and mushrooms. Toast was served also.
Bill needed time to process photos, so he opted out of the bush walk. If you have the same guide, the walks can be repetitive. The internet has remained spotty and we had trouble downloading the Kindle. Yanna, the young Dutch assistant, offered to take the device to her office and try to update it there. We said we would bring it back at lunch and let her give it a try.
While Bill was working on photos, it was time for 'fun with monkeys". The small troop of vervet monkeys paid a visit to our balcony. While sitting there reading, they approached one by one watching me sit there. So I went inside and opened a small package of snack mix, lining up a row of the treat on the railing. The largest female came right down from the tree limbs and plucked each and every morsel up, stuffing them into her fat cheeks. Bet she will not share with her babies. The troop hung around waiting for more handouts, but I wanted to save some for later. Eventually they left to look for more guests on their balconies.
We headed for the pool, which we remembered as being ice cold. Not dressed for swimming, we just relaxed on the lounges in the sun for a while.
Lunch was served at 2pm, and the starters were little taquitos with a sweet and sour dip. The usual platter of cheese, crackers, ham, salami, and fruit was served, along with drinks. Today the main was a savory beef stew pie, which was covered with a phyllo dough and baked until crisp. Bread and butter completed the meal nicely. The rain had picked up, and it was coming down so hard it sounded like falling gravel hitting the metal roofs. Then it stopped, and the sun peeked out. Some wart hogs and two nyalas wandered past our veranda so close we could have touched them. Trying the Kindle online at lunch time seemed to work, as the updates began to activate. Having enough to do, we decided not to bother Yanna as we think we got it to work more or less.
The afternoon drive began at 4pm. We got a new guy from Australia, who was most peculiar with his behavior. Not the typical safari guest, he broke about every rule the driver had told him, except for actually getting out of the vehicle, which he claimed he might do just to see what would happen. Tinyiko said go ahead, but let us get our cameras and video ready to film what might happen. Then our guide said no, do not do that. All joking aside, these are wild animals and unpredictable.
The first stop was to see the leopard with the dead impala. He was still there protecting his kill but had already consumed much of it. Giving him some space, we saw wildebeest, the always present impala, a giraffe, and some rollers. We came upon the lions who were running about and eating. That's when the rain really started to come down hard. It was so heavy, it was blowing sideways right at us. Of course, there is no windshields up on these vehicles, so the rain hits you head on. This time those ponchos did nothing, as they leaked miserably. A decision was made to abort the mission, and go directly back to camp. That gave us one hour to dry off and download some photos. No sundowners in the bush tonight.
Dinner was at 7:30pm, with time for a cocktail. This time we ordered Knob Creek on the rocks, finding it a good way to warm up a bit. A better warm up was the puree soup with croutons and fresh bread. Small salads were next, followed by roasted chicken with mixed veggies and rice. At the end of the meal, a shot of Amarula was served in small glasses. Slices of a layer cake were brought topped with whipped cream and a red maraschino cherry. We were early to bed before 10pm. What a day.
Bill & Mary Ann
