This is probably the best time to discuss mosquitos, malaria, and yellow fever. Malaria is a concern in this part of Africa with two types of mosquitos that carry the disease. Certain types can transfer yellow fever as well. The female is the culprit because she needs the blood of animals or humans to nurture her eggs. When bitten by the infected mosquitos, malaria is transferred through the saliva of the infected insects. We have studied the pros and cons of taking anti-malarial drugs many years ago. Our doctor said not to leave home without it when traveling to many places around the world. We wisely took his advice and were given prescriptions of malarone for one of us, and doxycycline for the other. We have never had a problem with either drug, but we did have a dear friend that had a negative reaction to the malarone having hallucinations during the night among other weird things. So now our doctor has put us both on the mild antibiotic for 10 days, taking it before we leave and finishing them after we get back. It has worked so far and as long as we have been doing safaris, we have never gotten sick. To back up the protection, the lodge provides everyone with bottles of insect spray suitable to this area. And just to be sure, we bring our own too.
Day three has arrived with another early morning game drive. We are glad to get up early to give us some time to work off line. The wifi signal comes and goes, but staying in Lodge #2, Buffalo Thorn, our signal is better because we're located closer to the camp's office.
Did we mention that there are no televisions here, at least not in the cabins. We sure don't miss it, but there are two families now with teenage kids that can stream sports shows and whatever with their cell phones. We overheard one of the dads telling his daughter not to do that, because she was using too much bandwidth. That just lowers the chances of the other guests to maintain connections with full bars. Kids will be kids, we guess. She said OK with a smile, then probably went off and did it anyway.
At our morning game drive, there were still three of us. There was another couple that were to join us, but their flight was cancelled due to a fire at Heathrow International in London we understand. They will arrive later, but when we don't know. Our driver Ben got better at stopping for ALL wildlife today. We may have casually mentioned to Joseph last night that we had missed some photos because he did not always stop. Joseph may have passed the word to him. Sometimes the guides are so used to zeroing in on the big game, they don't think we like to see it all. A good guide or ranger learns that they need to project the feeling that we are all seeing these sights for the very first time. For the guides, we cannot imagine the repetitive nature of their job. The same goes for the cruise directors on a ship. The best of the bunch maintain that enthusiasm of a first time experience regardless of the number of times they have been there.
Anyway, first thing we saw was a full grown female leopard cub sitting under a tree and calling its mom with small noises. Then the mom came and went up a tree. She had just killed a duiker (a small impala-like animal) and had hauled it up that tree. Shortly, the other two camp vehicles joined us where we watched them for quite some time. Then we moved along to make room for more jeeps. The female leopard had a name – Tengile and was born in 2017. Ben keeps photos of every leopard in camp and they all have names as a way of identifying them. We always suspected that, so now we know.
Next we stopped at the pond with the grey heron, crocodile, thick knee birds with pretty small yellow weaver birds flying in and out of their nests. A large eagle flew overhead, but we did learn it was an African harris hawk with a very wide wingspan. A gorgeous small kingfisher sat on a limb, displaying his colors as we watched him turn around over and over. One gray go-away bird sat in a tree nearby as well.
A Lion Sands Lodge guide stopped and gave Ben and Joesph info on a male leopard's tracks that were found earlier. He was going north, as many of the larger animals like to do. We ended up driving the main dirt road for a long way to access this possible sighting. This time of day, several private vans and cars were on their way out of the park to go to the airport or go shopping for the lodges. We had to pull over to let them pass by us.
Our driver stopped briefly to view what was left of an old giraffe that died not long ago. Only the animal's pelvis bones were left as animals had taken off with the rest of the bones. Many of the carnivores like lions, leopards, and hyenas can chew and eat the bones for the calcium it provides. Nothing is wasted. We passed by a huge termite mound, another one of nature's marvels. Our guide did not seem to know a lot about how it works, but we did. Having seen these in abundance in Australia, we knew that it is a termite city in the action. Really interesting.
We made our coffee and snack stop where they put out cans of nuts, rusks (cookies), the oatmeal squares and fruity biscotti. Most everyone had coffee with milk or sugar, while one of us tried the coffee with a shot of Amarula. So much better, this can be habit-forming. Some of the group needed a bush stop, while the rest enjoyed watching the cavorting impala nearby.
On the way back to the camp, we saw one warthog in the grass, and the same young female leopard from this morning. She was busy playing with butterflies, while the young one had climbed the tree for the rest of the morning. We also saw a grey hornbill, black and white magpie shrikes, and another large hawk – African Harris hawk. Another duiker was in the grass near the leopard kill, unaware one of his buddies was up in the tree dead as a doornail. After passing a very wet warthog, we were back to the camp in time for the 9am breakfast.
There is never a small breakfast, unless you request it. We always begin with the yogurt and granola with fresh fruit on the side. A tray includes cheeses, salmon, grapes with jams and marmalade. One of us had the French toast with fried bananas in the center. Bacon on the side also. Then one of us ordered an omelet filled with onions, ham, bacon and cheese. They don't seem to be familiar with swiss cheese, so cheddar is the back-up. Toast was served as well as two croissants with butter and cream cheese. During our meal, the manager of the lodge checked to see how we were doing so far, which the answer was splendid, thanks. We also inquired about the two thermoses with the lodge name of them. She said they were gifts for us to keep. Much appreciated.
We finally discovered the new library that was added beginning two years ago. It was really nice and a perfect spot to do internet work with better speed. Also, with the dozens of books related to this area of Africa, research could be done as well. The best part was sitting under the ceiling fan keeping us cooler. We did see a big screen TV on the wall behind us, but no one was watching. You know what? We have not missed it either. The camp's infinity swimming pool was across from the library, so we got to watch the rest of the group relaxing in the water with their special drinks from the nearby outdoor bar set up. Next to the pool area with lounges, towels, and a shaded pergola, there was also a spa corner that provided various services like massage and beauty treatments for the guests. We did plan on swimming, but there was never enough time. To tell the truth, we suspect many of the pool guests were snoozing on the lounges. Can't say we blame them.
Four o'clock came around quickly, as it always does. Today a new couple joined our little group in the safari vehicle by the names of Greg (British) and Cecile (French). They were from the London area and looked pretty snazzy in their new safari clothes. Now we are outnumbered with three UK folks, who shared lots of info of where they live.
Ben announced that we were going to look for two leopards this afternoon. We began with the pond close to the lodge where we always see the perched grey heron (he looks like a statue) and the hundreds of weaver birds. We learned that the male weaver bird is the one that builds the nest. Two wart hogs were visiting the water hole despite the croc still being submerged in it. One gray go away bird sat on top of a dead branch watching everything. Some thick knees and some smaller waders were drinking by the edges.
The healthy herd of impalas were busy grazing, also close to the camp. A bit further up, we saw the female elephant with a two-week-old baby hiding under her. Like it or not, the baby was trying to nurse as the mom strolled away. All of the animals are so cute when they are this little. They are also quite vulnerable to predators. If they can survive until they are full-grown, these elephants can live to be 60 years old.
Two waterbucks were out in the open also grazing. They're the ones with a white bullseye that goes around their backside. Ben said they call them toilet seat waterbucks. Yep that sure describes them well. Further into the drive, we saw a white male rhino in another muddy pond. We all noticed that the horn had been trimmed to almost nothing. This was done deliberately to keep the poachers from killing them for the horns. Since their horns are basically made from keratin, they will eventually grow back like our fingernails or hair. Oxpeckers arrived to groom the rhino while cattle egret watched. Picking off ticks and other insects, these cleaning birds will also eat blood if the animal has a wound. Unknowingly, the birds aide in healing those wounds. The lazy rhino allowed these birds to enter their ears for cleaning. The ears were so large, the birds disappeared for a few minutes,
Ben continued on to find more rhinos, which was a long ride. These were grazing in an open field and the female had a newly born baby. The little one was very interested in us and the vehicle, as we think it is so young, it is almost tame. All three of these white rhinos were covered with mud, keeping the insects off of them. There was a large pond nearby where an old windmill was standing. Sure made for a nice picture with some birds like Egyptian geese, plovers, a grey heron, lapwings, and a long-tailed shrike that were cooling off in the heat of the afternoon.
As we continued up the bumpy road, we began seeing some of the African whiteback vultures perched high in the tree limbs and their smaller cousins, the brown headed vultures. This was the area where the elephant carcass laid that we saw on Saturday's PM game drive. Now there were literally hundreds of these large and ugly birds picking at the carcass. Some smaller brown ones were there for their share of the rotten meat. We stayed long enough to get some fabulous photos of the two hyenas that were ripping into the meat, while keeping the vultures away. The odor began to drift towards our vehicle, so we left the area when our new guests began to complain.
Our guides set up a quick sundowner drink session where we got acquainted with the new folks. On the way back to the lodge, we saw many brush hares, and a rare sighting of a spotted genet, a pretty little animal that is cat-like with a banded tail. The last time we saw one was when the owner was BBQing meat at the camp's dining room several years ago. The genet slipped around a corner, and when he was handed a chunk of meat, he took off in a flash.
As we neared the lodge's gate, to our surprise there were four full grown rhinos right there. We did not need to spend all that time searching for them…..they came to us from the Mala Mala game lodge. One of the guides heard about a new leopard kill nearby. The same female, Tengile, that had killed a duiker earlier in the day, had struck again. She had hauled her kill up a tree. It was either an impala baby or a kudu. Joesph could not find her nearby, but we can rest assured that she was watching all of us.
Back at the camp, we went to dinner in the lower boma dining area which was lit with dozens of candles. We began with two Windhoek draughts, and found our table set for two before the crowd arrived. Starters were bowls of a veggie pureed soup with croutons. There was no salad tonight, Fresh baked bread slices were served with butter. Then a plate of steak, mixed veggies, and rosti and seasoned potatoes arrived next. Sure tasted good. Dessert was two glasses of a chocolate mousse with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Ended the ample meal with one shot of Amarula, then it was off to bed. Had to get our beauty sleep to be ready for tomorrow's activities.
Bill & Mary Ann
