Out of Africa: Day 3 (Morning)

The morning game drive was all about BIG cats.  Within minutes of leaving the lodge, we found ourselves mixed up with a family of lions.  One old male, two females, and two cubs.

I'm sure I stopped breathing for 20 minutes.

Old male shown in photo below is rolling in elephant poop to disguise his scent from other lions.

We had now seen THREE of the Big Five:  elephant, rhinoceros and lion.

From here, our guide took us on a speedy journey to the north of the park at the border of South Africa and Botswana where he skillfully found four of only five cheetahs in the entire park. 

The cheetah is pretty elusive, and therefore it's hard to move them from park to park for breeding purposes.  At Madikwe Reserve there are no female cheetahs left; only four brothers who roam the park  as a unit, and a lone male who sticks to himself.  There are no wild female cheetahs in the world available to introduce to the park because other conservation areas/reserves are holding onto theirs.  The female cheetah must be wild, or it will be killed by the others.

It wasn't a high-visibility sighting, but it was fun trying to find them. 

After the cheetahs, it was back to our cool lodge for a huge breakfast.

Almost.  First we had to fix a flat tire, then breakfast.

Our house.

The baboons are quite clever.  It's necessary to close every door and window while you're out, or else they will wreak havoc inside.  We closed everything, but forgot to do the pin on one bathroom door.  Luckily, Abby and I happened to return to the room and scared about 15 of them away before they could do too much damage . . . they only dumped my toiletry bag and ate my multivitamins. Not sure if that will make them healthier or make them sick.  :-)

The watering hole next to the lodge:

Elephant strolling by the human swimming pool:

Elephant strolling near the lodge bar:

Out of Africa: Day 2

Day 2 was all about the rhinoceros.  We stumbled upon a family--mom, dad and baby.

Rhinos are on the verge of extinction.  20,000 white rhinos are left in the world, and only 4,000 black rhinos remain today. 1,004 of them were lost in 2013 to poaching.   

 In traditional Chineese medicine, the rhino horn is considered to have medicinal value, and for this reason, rhinos are poached in Africa (where 93% of the rhino population can be found) and sold to TCM practitioners in the East.  The value of one rhino horn can bring in upwards of 300,000 USD.  It's worth more per kilogram than gold.

If nothing is done to stop the poaching, it is estimated that rhinos will be extinct sometime between 2025 and 2027.  If you want to do something to help, check out SAVE THE RHINO.

Early morning coffee in the bush . . . the AM game drive starts at 6:15.

Below is a brown hyena.  They are extremely rare and elusive.  This one has a kudu leg in its mouth.

Check out the stunning autumn leaves.  Such a strange thing to leave spring in Amsterdam and arrive to a fall, that feels like summer, in Africa.

More beautiful kudu.

More beautiful zebra.

Blue wildebeest:

Out of Africa: Day 1

Our trip to South Africa was so layered with scenic and outdoor experiences as well as cultural-historical ones.  Fortunately, we've truly been off the grid without cell and internet coverage, but this has the downside of having been unable to share a lot of what we've seen.  We just arrived home today, after an amazing eighteen days, and I'm excited to get snippets out soon. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd get out some photos from our four-day safari at Madikwe Game Reserve in the northeast part of the country.  This was truly a lifetime experience for all of us, and I can't think of a better way to have capped off our trip to South Africa.

Madikwe Game Reserve is committed to conservation efforts, preserving the natural habitats for native animals and helping save species that are now endangered, like the rhinoceros and wild dogs.

We'll fee lucky no matter what animals we see; it's just fun to observe them in the wild.  This is not to say we won't be searching hard for the Big Five (elephant, leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo and lion).  Let's see what we see . . .

Elephant poop.  

It's less disgusting than you might think.  Elephants have terribly underdeveloped digestive system so their poop is mostly undigested grass, not fecal matter.

 

Elephant poop is funny:

 Zebras,  Lots of 'em.

Guineafowl.  Not the brightest, but I think they're super cute.

Kudu.  The white lines along his hide are called "disruptive camouflage."  

This is a termite hill.  Now I fully comprehend what they can do to my house.  Remarkably, the mound that we see here is only 20% of the work done by the little buggers.  80% is below ground.

 Impala tracks:

Abby and Reese tracks, next to the impala tracks:

Sunset refreshments in the bush.

Looking for tracks.  And termite hills.