Thursday 9/7/17 Part B

So on this morning's game drive our first sighting was of some giraffes.  They really are beautiful creatures.  They can look in any direction and never have to lie down or sleep.  Lions have two basic methods of taking down a giraffe,  The herd it towards a rocky place and get it running and wait for it to slip and fall or they surround it.  A lion or two will go in every few minutes to nip at it, the giraffe gets stressed and when it is exhausted, it will eventually fall and then the lions will attack it.  The lions have adapted their hunting for different animals.  We then saw a lilac-breasted roller.  Around the corner, we saw a zebra with a bird on its back - a red-billed oxpecker.  They are found on most of the big animals as they eat the ticks and parasites off of the host.  We saw a pearl-spotted owl - just a tiny one - sleeping on a branch of a brown ivory tree with a very twisted trunk.  Next to it was a weeping Boerbean tree.  We were driving along a grassy area and Conright spotted a small herd of white rhino - super cool!  Chewie said you don't say a herd of rhino, but a crash of rhino.  The other thing I learned is that is a parliament of owls if there is more than one.  We saw a Wahberg's eagle at the top of a tree and then a few wildebeest . We drove by a water hole and spotted the head of a hippo, who was trying to stay cool.  We also saw a Swainson's spurfowl.  There were a bunch of crested Frankolins near by and Chewie said that Monica calls them stupid chickens as they make quite a bit of noise and they are always waking her up in the morning.  We saw a magpie shrike and a red-crested cuckoo.  They make a clicking sound and then try to impress the female by soaring up into the air and diving straight down head first - he turns and flies up just before his head touches the ground.  His nickname is the suicide bird.  We saw more giraffes, including a baby.  Their skin is tight around their ankles - kind of like pressure socks - prevents the blood from pooling around their ankles.  We passed a site with a bunch of scattered bones.  A Cape buffalo died last year due to the awful drought and was eaten by a lion.  We saw a black Burchell's starling, which looks like it has a lovely blue area at the top of his wing, but it was caused by the sun shining on his feathers - quite beautiful.  We stopped to see a huge bunch of helmeted guinea fowl.  They had lovely turquoise heads - they reminded me of a mini cassowary (from Australia).  We stopped at another water hole to watch 5 Cape buffalo come for a drink.  Another one came from a different direction, but obviously he was not welcome to share the water hole by the older five males.  At one point the leader of the group came to chase the interloper away.  At first it was a stand-off, but then they clashed horns and the younger one backed off.  It was quite exciting to watch.  We saw another Cape turtle dove and it was calling.  Chewie said the call is "work harder, work harder", but he prefers to think it is singing, "drink lager, drink lager".  We also saw an emerald spotted wood dove - the song is "my mother died, my father died, everybody's dead, dead, dead".  I guess that is a mournful enough song for a dove.  We spotted another tree squirrel.  The first time we saw one, Juanita misheard what Chewie said and thought she heard cheese curl.  Now every time we spot one, some shouts out - "cheese curl!"  It is quite funny.  We saw another magpie shrike and then a baby and mom giraffe.  The baby was only 7-8 weeks old.  Our last stop this morning was to see the male lion that is the father of the 3 male cubs we saw last night.  He was magnificent - only 7 years old, but in his prime.  The average age is 11 years.  I'm not sure if I told about last night's sighting of 3 18 month old lions - all brothers.  We were watching them in the dark and all of a sudden, we heard the mother call from a distance.  We tracked them for a while and saw the reunion with their mother.  They nuzzled each other and then walked right by the truck to go into the bush.  As they walked by, the mom stopped and looked right at me.  She was 3 to 4 feet away.  I stayed very still and averted my eyes and eventually she walked on.  It was a bit unnerving, but quite exciting at the same time!

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.

Wednesday 9/6/17 Part D

The rest of this morning's photos are of the leopards, the cub eating an impala, a warthog at the waterhole ( I just took a video of a group of them taking a mud bath at the edge of the waterhole), and a nyala.

Wednesday 9/6/17 Part C

We woke up at 5:30 this morning to make our 6 AM drive through the bush.  OAT certainly does treat us well.  There was coffee or tea before the drive and then when we boarded the jeep, we had blankets and hot water bottles for our hands as it was quite cold.  We were lucky again as we saw a white backed vulture nest.  Apparently there is one chick, but it was hunkered down due to the chilly morning.  We also saw a Burchell's coucal (bird), a tawny eagle.  AND then we saw a LEOPARD!!  And not just one, but a mother and a 7 month old cub.  Chewie explained that the mom had made a kill early this morning and she was teaching the young male how to smell out where she had hidden it.  We followed them for quite a while and saw when the cub discovered the dead impala hidden behind a tree.  The mom relaxed while the cub ate his fill.  It was totally amazing!  We stayed there quite a while and watched.  We did not stay long enough to see, but the female would eat after the cub.  She was very patient with the cub, but she knows he has to learn all aspects of the hunt as he will be on his own when he is 3 years old.  We also saw a red-billed quelea (bird), a crested Francolin (bird) and a slender mongoose.  We stopped for bush coffee, tea or hot chocolate with ginger biscuits or lovely muffins cooked by our chef, Godsave.  We eventually made our way back to camp about 9:30 and then had breakfast, although I just had yogurt and fruit and I was quite full already.  For those who were hungry, there was a full English breakfast available with eggs cooked to order.  We have until 2:45 until lunch so I went to shower and then have been out here working of the blog, but being interrupted by the most magnificent sights:  a tiny baby nyala, a group of warthogs giving themselves a mud bath in the water hole, and a monitor lizard.  Apparently our days here will be similar: 5:30 wake-up, 6 game drive for 3 hours, time on your own, lunch at 2:45, game drive at 3:30 for 3 or 4 hours, back to camp for drinks and then dinner.  Last night's dinner was a BBQ with kudu being one of the meat options.  It was a tiny bit gamey so I stuck with the butternut squash soup, homemade bread, spiced cabbage and roasted potatoes with a lovely fruit dessert.  BTW. on the topic of food, yesterday's lunch was homemade lasagna, salad and fruit shortcake for dessert.  I hope you all will recognize me when I come home weighing 400 pounds!  Today's pictures are of a tawny eagle, a yellow-billed hornbill, and two shots of a Cape buffalo.  More to follow.

9/6/17 part b

Here are some more pictures from yesterday:  an elephant, a momma elephant and her baby, an impala, the full moon and our spectacular sunset.

Wednesday 9/6/17 Thornybush

OMG!!!  Our first game drive last night was totally awesome!!!  I am just going to list some of the things that we saw and I will try to get some pix up also.  We saw a small bird called a purple roller bird,  a hairy thorn bush which the natives use as toothpicks, a common duiker, a terrapin, which is a fresh water turtle (did not know that only turtles that live in salt water are properly labeled as turtles).  We learned the difference between black rhino, white rhino, and elephant dung.  We saw African wild dogs - we saw a pack of 5 and there are less than 400 left in South Africa so we were very lucky. They are actually the #1 most endangered animal in South Africa and their nickname is the painted predator.  This group had 2 males and 3 females.  We also saw a vervid monky, a scrub hare, many nyala, a tree squirrel (about the size of our chipmunks, a pack of hyenas, a civet cat, which is not really a cat but is related to the mongoose.  AND then we saw ELEPHANTS!  It was magical!  There were quite a few in the herd including a mom and her 3 year old baby, who was copying everything that mom did.  If mom tore a branch from a tree to strip it of its bark, baby did the same (just not as nimbly).  We also were so lucky as to have a full moon last night and we had the most gorgeous sunset when we stopped for drinks - also great views of the Drakensburg mountains.  The pictures today are of a young nyala, our table setting at lunch with a zebra napkin holder, a view from my seat in the safari jeep with Chewie driving and Conright spotting, a purple roller bird, Chewie giving a lesson on identifying dung, and an African wild dog.

Tuesday continued

We had an hour's plane ride to get out in the bush and then another hour by van and then another  hour by safari jeep to get to our lodges at Serondella.  The ride here was an adventure in itself.  On the fast ride by van, we didn't get to stop, but we saw an African Fish eagle in a tree and a Steppe eagle on a huge nest in another tree.  We also saw zebras, giraffes, warthogs, impalas, baboons, monkeys, vultures, kudus, Cape buffalo, a horn bill bird and probably some others that I can't think of right away.  We settled into our lodges (very beautiful) and then walked around to the viewing sites around the lodge.  I am sitting on the deck now while writing the blog and we just saw three adult and one baby warthog come to the water hole for a drink.  We will have lunch in a few minutes and then we will go on our first game drive.  Monica is our hostess and Chewy is our guide for the game drives.  They both seem very enthusiastic and we are all excited to go.  We (Dave and I, Lana and John) are here at Thornybush on the pre-trip with Juanita and Greg from Maryland and Vicky and Mike from California.  I will try to get back to the blog (hopefully with pictures) after the game drive if there is time or after dinner if there isn't.  First impressions:  Smiling people everywhere, lovely light green colors of the leaves (it is early Spring here) and of course the marvelous elephants.