The intro picture is of a skull to remind the reader that is a brutal life in the bush. Some pictures below are a bit gruesome so be prepared. For the morning game drive, the couple from Singapore decided to sleep in, so it was just LG, Leslie and me in the truck. From that point on, we had our own private safari. The routine was a
wake-up knock at 5:30 AM, followed by a stumble to breakfast at 6 AM and the
beginning of the game drive at 6:30 AM.
We drove out of the gates for 100 yards and then LG stopped the car and
listened. All the male drivers sped off
in a hurry, but LG listened first to gather information. She was able to hear the morning roar of the
lions off in the distance. That allowed
her to drive us right to where Scotty the lion was. He is one of the four brothers but he lost
the tip of his tail somewhere in the bush.
We watched him wake up and then walk off into the tawny colored grass
until he faded into the distance. Then
we drove over to his brother who was still asleep. Soon enough Stubby walked out of the grass,
came over to his brother and gave him a big nuzzle with his head. The two of them sat side by side for about
ten minutes as we saw the sun turn from red to orange as it rose into the
sky. From there we drove for only a
short distance before we came upon a fresh kill by painted dogs. The term, “wild dogs,” has fallen out of
favor as it implies feral dogs of the domesticated type of which the painted
dogs are only distantly related. There
were eight of them in the pack, four adults and four pups. The pups were about three quarters grown and
seemed to be able to eat as much as the adults.
They had killed an impala which was a quarter devoured when we
arrived. Five minutes later it was half
gone and the adults were full. A black
backed jackal came over to try to steal some tidbits but the pups kept chasing
him away. The adults fanned out and
watched for danger while the pups gorged themselves. We soon took off as several cars had
arrived. These were private campers that
drove their own vehicles but did not usually know the roads that well. We passed an old cape buffalo skull that
had the remnants of horn moths coming out of the horns. This skull would be a waypoint for us as we
passed it a few more times over the next few drives. The birds continued to be spectacular as we
saw three huge ground hornbills.
Then we saw a lone slender mongoose but later we saw a colony of dwarf
mongooses living in an old termite mound.
They were so cute and very energetic.
Right around the corner was a lone lion munching on a kudu carcass. The kudu was in the base of a bush and the
lion’s butt was sticking out. We guessed
that he was trying to keep the kudu hidden from any competitors. We saw kudu, impala, wildebeest, birds of all
kinds and then stopped at a small grove of Baobab trees. The biggest trees had been gouged out by
elephants looking for moisture and food.
It was a wonder that these trees were still alive after suffering so
much damage. I found a big snake skin
and LG said that it was from a Mozambique Spitting Cobra. We were happy it was just the skin. Then there was a red billed hornbill making a
commotion while on the side of the baobab.
He was feeding his mate and their chick.
These birds nest in the cracks of trees and will sometimes cover up the
crack with mud to prevent any predators from getting to the nest. The female is trapped inside with the chick
and she will pluck out all her feathers to make a soft base for the chic. By the time the chick is mature the male will
break them loose and the female will have regrown all her feathers. We then came upon some Roan Antelope. They are one of the largest antelope species and this area is the southern tip of their range. As such they are very rare and this group had a baby with them. There are links to the videos that I took interspersed through the pictures below
It has been 125 days since we began our Migration
