Thursday 9/7/17 Thornybush

I don't understand how every game drive can be better than the last, but honestly it is true.  Last night we saw a troop of 5 baboons - this is a small troop as there can be 100 members in some.  The funny thing was that Lana was telling a story about baboons and just as she said the word, we saw them!  Everyone started calling her our good luck charm.  We told her to start thinking of a rhino.  She said she would pray to St. Christopher, St. Anthony, and St. Francis on our behalf.  We stopped to see a nest of community spiders.  These spiders are only 2 mm long, but can make a huge nest depending on the number of spiders (sometimes in the hundreds).  The nest is always started by two females.  We saw a Cape turtle dove - it has a perfect black ring around its neck.  We then stopped by a large termite mound and Chewie gave a mini lecture on the importance of termites to the ecosystem here.  Termites are estimated to have been on the earth for 250 to 300 million years.  They are the decomposers of leaf matter, wood, and animal matter.  They break down everything and return it to the soil.  They process up to 80% of all organic material, which makes for rich soil, which is helpful to plant life, which feeds the herbivores, which are fed upon by the carnivores - a perfect cycle.  So, in actual fact, the termites are the VIP's of the African ecosystem.  The other interesting thing is that the mound that we see is just the excavation - carrying out one grain of soil at a time.  The termites live underground.  Their living quarters can be a maze 50 to 60 feet in diameter with the mound at the center of the circle.  They are master engineers - the mound has a central "chimney" and some smaller ones.  The air in the chimney heats up as the sun rises and pushes hot air into the tunnels, which also pushes oxygen into the home.  At night, the process is reversed and carbon dioxide is pushed out of the nest.  It is an amazing ventilation system and they are able to keep the temperature at a consistent 29 degrees Celcius.  Everything is done for the good of the colony.  They work 24 hours a day and do not sleep.  The queen is the only one who lays eggs and she is kept busy as she can lay as many as 30,000 eggs per day.  She also controls what type of termite is produced from the eggs, depending on what is needed for the colony.  She can make workers, soldiers (only 5%), or reproducers.  The queen lives most of her life underground and most of them are blind.  The queen can live from 20 to 50 years. When she dies or when the rains come, the reproducers take to the air and when she gets to a new home, the wings fall off and a new colony is started.  The queen and the soldiers are the only termites fed by others - the rest have to fend for themselves.  We passed by a wooden stockade - Chewie said it was an abandoned boma - a holding pen used when they are moving animals in or out.  The last time it was used, it housed a black rhino population that they were bringing in to the park.  

Chewie carries a rifle in the front of the truck, which is only used in case of extreme emergency to protect human life.  It is housed in a green case.  Chewie told us that they get 30-35 inches of rainfall a year and most of it in their rainy season which is their summer (our winter).  The trucks sometimes get stuck, but the deal here is that the first ranger to call for help to get out of the mud is issued a pink Hello Kitty rifle cover, which he has to carry for 30 days.  After the first time, the price is a 6-pack of beer to the rescuer.  We saw a black bird with a long tail called a fork-tailed drongo.  They wait in the trees over the impalas.   When the impalas walk through the long grass the insects are disturbed and fly and the drongos swoop down and pick them off.  We stopped by a water hole and saw an Egyptian goose, a great blue heron and a blacksmith lapwing.  We then saw a dwarf mongoose pop his head out of his home - an abandoned termite mound.  Lana was apparently praying hard because we came around a corner and saw a male black RHINO!  It was amazing!  Chewie estimated that it weighed about 1800 pounds, but at that, it is only half the size of a white rhino.  They tend to be very tempermentel so we kept our distance.  They are solitary animals so you usually only see one at a time.  The black rhino is considered to be one of the five most dangerous animals to approach on foot.  We loved watching him as his ears rotate independently - definitely paying attention to us.  About five years ago there were about 15,000 white rhino in South Aftrica and 350 black rhino.  Chewie won't give any newer statistics because poachers are a huge problem and we wouldn't want them to have any details about where to find them.  Apparently, the rhino horns are most coveted in Viet Nam rather than China now.  I will put on some pictures if I have time this afternoon, but I want to do the write up for this morning's drive first.  We will be leaving right after the game drive tomorrow morning so we will have to pack up this afternoon before lunch.