Family on Safari - Week two

Monday afternoon, we landed in Hoedspruit and found our driver, while Jae picked up his camera rental for the week. Then we took the world's bumpiest ride to the Thornybush Game Lodge. The place is gorgeous. Wow. Super duper wow. We had lunch in the open-air lodge restaurant area, got checked in, found our cabins, and almost immediately had to be back at the lodge for our first game drive! They served tea and snacks to fortify us (and always had something gluten-free for me), and then we were off. Our guide team was Sarah and Kenneth (tracker). She drove like a champ (while she talked to us, and listened to the radio, and paid attention to the animals). Kenny sat at the front of the jeep on a little platform, looking for animals, footprints, and/or droppings for us to follow. Over the course of the week, he even gave us 'poop' lessons, Hahaha! We found out after we left on Friday that Sarah had been awarded Safari Guide of the Year -- and we were not at all surprised.

On the first day, there were six of us in the jeep -- our family and a young couple on their honeymoon. The Monday afternoon ride was their last trip with us before they left to go stay in another lodge. Mom did an amazing job climbing in and out of the jeep all week! 

John and I brought our good camera and binoculars, so we traded off for each ride. By the end of the week, I found I wasn't taking as many pictures, just enjoying the scenery and the experience of being out there with the animals. 

There were inyala and impala everywhere, and we saw lots of hornbills every day (aka Zazu from Lion King). But the first thing we saw was a leopard hiding in a bush, eating a kill! Well, first we didn't see much except for the tail curling in the grass, but if you looked *really* closely, you could see the body of the cat -- and we could hear the crunching! Can you spot the leopard (and its curly tail) in this pic? This was our introduction to the off-road driving and frequent calls of "lean in, everybody" that it took to get out and see the animals. 

We drove on for a bit, and saw an elephant eating dinner -- they pull small trees and shrubs up from the ground and eat the roots -- and a rhino with a baby! (But I will not post rhino pics or talk about where we were in the park, because there are too many poachers out there and I'm not about to help them.) 

After that, we drove toward the sound of lions roaring... and discovered that they were actually *mating*, which can be noisy. We learned all kinds of interesting lion-mating factoids, including that they copulate every 15 minutes for DAYS, because lionesses don't ovulate regularly; ovulation is triggered by the act. The whole thing takes less than a minute, then they lie down and rest for a while, and then go again. And the male lion has a barbed penis (OUCH), so he sort of growls and bites her as he's about to finish so she doesn't attack him. Lion anatomy 101! Another jeep pulled up behind us to watch the spectacle, and the little boy in the jeep had some questions. Those poor parents! LOL (The yawn in the photo is actually an indication that she's ready to 'go again.' But no X-rated pics on the blog!) 

Every evening, before heading back to camp, we would stop for sunset drinkies. (See photo at top.) Sarah and Kenny would set up a full bar on the front of the jeep and serve alcohol, tea, water... and more snacks. Bouncing around in a jeep looking for animals is hard work! We all became very fond of Amarula, a cream liqueur that comes from the Marula tree, which is found all over the bush. It's yummy in coffee, or on ice. (Which reminds me, we need to go looking in the liquor stores in Barcelona!) 

By the time we got back to camp, it was dark, so we had to have a 'ranger' walk us back to our cabin with a giant flashlight. We never saw any scary animals on those walks, but I was glad to have someone with us just in case. Then we had to have the ranger come back and get us to take us back to the lodge for dinner, and again back to our cabin afterwards. It was a little tedious, but it was worth it. 

If you're counting, we saw four of the "Big 5" (leopard, elephant, rhino, lion) on the first day! The only thing missing was the cape buffalo. But I was also excited to see giraffes and zebras and whatever else was out there. 

I was also keeping a running list on my phone of the animals we saw on our game drives, so I'll add them to each day so you can see. I also added some notes whenever Sarah or Kenny told us something interesting, like the fact that leopard spray (when they're marking things) smells like popcorn. :)  

Monday PM:

• Impala, Inyala
• Hornbill - vascular constriction using beak (Hello, Zazu!)
• Leopard eating impala! Leopard spray smells like popcorn! 
• Dwarf mongoose pair
• Kudu - females and one male 
• Sjambok pod tree
• White crown shrike
• Bull elephant 
• Rhino and baby 4-6 weeks old
• Male and female lion mating
• Starling - brave walking near lions

Tuesday morning (and Weds, Thurs, and Fri) , the wake-up call was at 5:30am. Still pitch black outside, and COLD! Fortunately, by the time we were dressed, the sun was up enough that we could walk to the lodge without a ranger. We had coffee/tea and snacks, and got back in the jeep. For the morning rides, we had hot water bottles and fleece blankets, so as long as you had a hat, it wasn't too cold. And as soon as the sun got a little higher, it was warm enough to start removing those (four) extra layers. 

We started with giraffes. YAY! (Good morning! -->) They're so weird but elegant-looking. And they really blend into the bushes - you'd think they would stick out, but sometimes they were really hard to see! Giraffes also have really tough tongues so they can eat the leaves off the spiky branches, and it doesn't hurt them at all. And they are the only animals that walk with both legs on the same side instead of a diagonal gait, because it would constrict their hearts too much. The heart already has to work hard enough to get the blood up to its head!   

Then we saw something that many people never get to see in the bush - a pair of wild African dogs! They were goofing off and playing, and a hyena was watching from not far away. The hyena was waiting for the dogs to make a kill so it could grab the leftovers... but the dogs decided they wanted to play with it too! The hyena was not amused. They all ran off together. (This is one of Jae's pics - he took probably 10 or 20 pics for every one of mine.) 

After the wild dogs, we spotted a couple of cape buffalo, another elephant, and a vulture up in a nest probably feeding chicks. So that was the big 5, and it was only our second game drive! But I still hadn't seen any zebra. 

Tuesday AM: 

• Giraffes
• Wild dog pair playing 
• Hyena following, playing with wild dogs
• Jackal in the road (FAR AWAY) 
• Wooly neck Stork
• Cape buffalo
• Elephant breeding herd with little baby 
• White-backed vulture in nest
• Waterbuck with impala
• two Hippos barely above water

Every morning, we'd go back to the lodge after the drive and have breakfast, and then it was nap time, and then lunch, and then at 3pm it was tea time and then afternoon drive, then dinner, then in bed around 9pm. It wasn't the most relaxing vacation I've ever had... but it was worth it! 

Tuesday afternoon we started by going back to the area where the leopard had been to see if he was still there. (His name is Lucky.) We found him up in the tree branches, panting from the heat. He had wedged the last of his kill in a lower branch for later. We sat and watched him for a while, and then went off in search of other friends. I was also writing down what we saw every day -- especially the different birds -- so I'd be able to remember later. I've pasted them in here so I don't have to say "and then we saw this, and then we saw that..." 

We came upon a big bull elephant (teenager), pulling up more tree roots. We saw another giraffe, some Cape wildebeest, and then a mama elephant and her little calf! It was probably about a year old. <-- SO CUTE! Sarah said that while most of the animals aren't bothered by the jeeps because they've been acclimated, elephants are actually smart enough to tell there are people inside, and have been known to stick their trunks (and sometimes tusks!) into the jeep to check things out. We didn't get that close to mama and baby, just in case. 

Our last sighting for the day was a herd of Cape buffalo, including some youngsters. Sarah drove the jeep right into the middle of the herd. Again, they were basically unbothered by us, although a couple of them raised their heads to have a look. 

Tuesday PM - lots of interesting birds

• Iridescent starling
• Lilac breasted roller - multicolored - almost doesn't look real!
• Natal spurfowl (like quail) 
• Leopard (same one) named Lucky now up a tree 
• Dwarf mongoose 
• Battalia eagle 
• Elephants (many, including big boy) 
• Magpie shrike
• Giraffe 
• Blue wildebeest (only in groups of ~10 here) - no big migration 
• 
  Elephant with 1yo baby
• Cape buffalo with babies (40+ in the group)
• Scrub hares

But then, instead of going back to the lodge for dinner, they had set up a huge dinner for everyone in the bush! There were tables and chairs from the lodge, as well as glasses, plates, and flatware, and even the full bar, surrounded by torches and paper lanterns (and a nicer-than-expected portapotty hahaha). It was a huge buffet with all kinds of salads and grilled meats. Then we went back to the lodges and went to bed. (Here's what the table setting looked like -->) 

Wednesday morning  we saw more elephants, and then a couple of warthog moms and their babies. Mom caught some kind of cold (from Jae, who was getting over it by the time we got to Kruger), and was coughing a lot. Turns out, her coughing noises were scaring the elephants! We had to back away slowly and she had to hold her breath a bit and cough into the blanket to keep it quiet.  

We came upon [redacted number] "teenage" white rhinos. They have zero predators, but they have evolved to have horrible eyesight, so anything that moves nearby scares them. But one of the ones we saw wanted to "play" with us - he sort of jumped out into the road playfully and waggled his head. It was cute. 

 As I said before, I don't want to talk about how many rhinos we saw or where, or show pictures of them, because there are too many poachers, and even though this is a tiny little blog, you never know. None of my photos are geo-tagged. Sarah told us that poachers will find guides when they go into town on their day off, and offer them lots of money for info on the rhinos' locations, or ask them to drop care packages in the bush, so when the poachers are hiking for days, they can find food or water. She said it's a lot of money, and for some people it might be hard to say no. 

Weds mid-morning I had scheduled a hot stone massage in the spa at the lodge. Wow, it was amazing! The walk to the spa was funny - it was at the farthest point away from our room (along the central path) as it could possibly be. I was sure I was getting lost until I finally saw the sign. I'd never had a hot stone massage on my back before. A little spicy, but then it felt soooo good. I felt like jelly when I walked back to the main lodge for lunch.   

Weds AM

• Crested barbet 
• Elephants 
• Black snake eagle - atop a tree
• Wildebeest (we didn't stop) 
• X teenage white rhinos (fewer than 3000 left worldwide!) 
• Impala group
• Steenbock -- live alone, very small. Don't need water
• Warthogs - 2 moms and 2 babies

John decided not to come along on the Weds afternoon drive, so I had the binoculars and the good camera all to myself. Sarah started telling us more about the trees and birds. We saw a couple of hippos in the pond, but they were hiding from us. We happened to find the rhinos again, and one of them was playing "king of the hill" ... but he got down when we drove up, so no pics. We were just heading back to the lodge when we came upon a couple of lionesses and their cubs. Watching them, it was clear that the moms wanted to go off and hunt, but the kids wouldn't stay put where they were told. The moms walked right past our jeep - so close my camera couldn't focus! - but then the kiddies decided they wanted to go too. So we followed them down the road a bit, and watched the moms lie down and try to convince the cubs to stay put, before moving on again. 

 

Weds PM

• Nobthorn tree - big with yellow blossoms that smell perfumey
• Grey taraco "go away" bird
• Hippos - 2 in the water. 
• Banded mongoose
• Same teenage rhinos 
• Yellow-billed oxpecker (yellow is rare. And extinct out of this area) 
• Tamboti tree - most poisonous tree out here, but bushmen used its sap to help remove teeth 
• Four female lions and two cubs!

 

By Thursday, there was only one more animal that we still hadn't seen that I was really hoping for -- the zebra! 

 

The lilac-breasted roller is one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen. It doesn't even look real. We saw it a few times, and were able to get some pretty close-up pictures. This is way zoomed in with my phone - John got a better one with the good camera. They're like little neon rainbows! 

 

After that, we finally found our less-pigmented friends. :) I just love zebras! We sat and watched them for a while, and then further down the road we saw a giraffe and some zebras eating breakfast together. No predators here, just herbivores having a nice meal. On the way back to camp we went by the hippo pond, and we were kind of surprised to find a crocodile sunning itself on the bank instead.  

We also spotted a duiker, which is the tiniest antelope species - not much bigger than a mid-sized dog like a border collie. They're super quick, too, so we didn't get to see it for very long!  

 

Thurs AM

• Crowned lapwing
• Swainson's fur fowl
• Green woodhoopoe (black with orange beak) pokes beak into sticks to feel the movement of the insects inside 
• ZEBRA! 
• African hoopoe
• Common duiker - omnivorous antelope (eat rodents) 
• Giraffe + zebras
• Black-backed puffback bird - click and sing
• Hippos underwater
• Crocodile
• Marsh terrapin

  

When we went back to our cabin after breakfast, there were some inyala hanging out on the path and on our doorstep. We waited patiently for them to move along so we could go inside. 

 

 

It was also warm enough on Thursday to use the outdoor shower at our cabin. The indoor one 'feels' outdoorsy, because it's got windows on two sides, but there's also a nicely shielded outdoor shower, with cotton robes provided and hooks for hanging towels. It felt very risque, even though I knew nobody could see me. 

 

On our last evening drive, we finally got to see more than just hippo 'bumps' in the water (although we never did see them on land)... one of them decided to put on a show and open his mouth as wide as he could!  

As we were heading back to camp we could hear lion calls... deep and low and reverberating. So Sarah decided to find the source. When we got there, he decided he'd made enough noise
and flopped his head down to rest. We waited a bit, but he refused to oblige us with a roar, so we left. Of course, the folks in the other jeep said he picked his head up and roared again right after we departed. Sigh. 

 

The sunsets in South Africa were really stunning. We tried to get pictures of them, but the photos just don't do it justice. 

 

Thurs PM 

• Helmeted Guinea fowl
•  Blue waxbill
• Groundscraper thrush
• Red-billed buffalo Weaver - communal nests. 
• Kudu 
• Inyala 
• Elephants  and babies (teenage male tried to scare us in the road) 
• Tawny eagle
• Giraffe
• Hippos 
• Pearl spotted owlet
• Male lion - darker mane = more testosterone, more aggressive. One of four brothers. Just under 210kg. Brother of the one we saw mating. All born on Thornybush and left. Of 11 brothers who left, six survived, and four came back. 
• Fiery-necked nightjar - sounds like a whippoorwill

Friday morning, I was debating whether I wanted to get up early and go out or sleep in, but it was our last safari ride, I had to go! We were rewarded with another sighting of the lion mamas and cubs, but this time they were all passed out, with full bellies! 

 

Just to prove that there are still plenty of impala left, we passed a huge herd of them on our way back to the lodge -- and again on our way to the airport. 

Fri AM

• Wild licorice - strong medicine for constipation. 
• Giraffes
• Elephant breeding herd  x2
• Trees release tannin to keep from being over-browsed. Trees talk to each other, esp with roots. Help each other through mycelium pathways 
• Steenbock 
• Same lion pride with mothers and 6mo baby girls. Lions have a low success rate 30%
• Elephant bull that wanted to play
• Impala came out to say goodbye

When we went back to the lodge, there were inyala munching on the grass on the property again... The staff works hard to keep the monkeys away, but the inyala don't really hurt anyone... Although our guide told us about one guest who thought it would be ok to reach out and touch a male, and got head-butted for her trouble. Ouch! Don't do it! 

 

We were so sad to leave Thornybush and say goodbye to Sarah and Kenny! We went back along the world's bumpiest road to Hoedspruit. We found some chairs in the shade, but just then a woman came out with a sign with my name on it... I had to go into the security room and let them go through my bag, looking for a large battery. (hunh? OHHHH. I had bought a rechargeable hand-warmer in 2020 (after we went tiny-house camping), and I brought it to the safari, but the battery was dead, so I stuck it in the outside pocket of my suitcase to throw away when we got home. Turns out it shows up as a large scary block on x-ray. So I just threw it out there. Problem solved!)  After the excitement, we thought we had time to eat lunch at the tiny restaurant at the tiny airport, but they called us to go through security right away (John had to slurp his milkshake without getting brain freeze. We took our sandwiches to go.)  We boarded our tiny plane and were in Johannesburg in about 2 hours. We went from a teeny tiny airport to super-sized airport with an international shopping mall and multiple airline lounges. 

 

But before we could go to the BA lounge, we had to get mom's leg looked at. (Remember the slip getting on the van at the Cape?) We found the airport medical clinic, and two lovely South African nurses attended to mom's leg. This included treating the scrape with betadine, which they haven't done in the US in decades. They wrapped her up and off we went. 

 

The security line was going to be a nightmare, but when mom went up to the guy to ask if they could at least get her a wheelchair, he offered to let us go through the VIP/crew line. (whew!)  We found the BA lounge and got some food, then went out shopping in one of the African specialty stores in the mall. The sales lady was so nice! Really, everyone we met was so nice and welcoming, the whole time we were in South Africa. We couldn't have asked for a better experience. (minus the leg injury...)   

 

We said goodbye to mom and Jae at Heathrow, and went off to find our gate for Barcelona. We didn't even bother going to the lounge this time - last time we did that at LHR, we almost missed our flight!  So we woke up at 5:30am on Friday in Kruger, and we were home in BCN by 3pm on Saturday. What a day! 

 

If I had to do it again, I'd probably be a little pickier about what to see in Cape Town, and maybe go to Johannesburg too... and maybe four days of safari rides instead of five. But it really was an amazing experience, and the four of us did really well together. I'm so grateful for the time we got to spend, and glad mom is in such great health that we could do it!   

Photos from week 2 are here.