So I am back on the road again after a restful 3 days off. Was really good catching up sleep but it is even better getting back on the road again. I went to go fetch my guests from the airport yesterday and knew I was in trouble when I met them. 4 young guests from the states, out for the world cup and looking to have a good time.
We got off to an early start and headed out on their first safari ever. I headed south to see if I could relocate the lion pride that had been seen the night before. On the way we saw lots of general game and a great sighting of 2 rhino calves and their mother. Eventually we found the big pride sleeping in the open. We watched them for a long while with one of the young females giving us the evil eye and threatening to charge us. After about 20 minutes, as it got darker they started to get up and stretch, then played with one another and then moved off. We followed them to a small pan where they all had a drink and then moved off to do their nights hunting. After following them for another 20 minutes until they got to the airstrip we decide to leave them and head home.
On our way home we saw beautiful spotted eagle owl hunting in the road. He suddenly leapt forward and pounced on a mouse. He then flew to a perch in a nearby tree and continued to swallow the mouse whole. They have an incredibly wide gape to allow for eating their prey whole and then after digesting all the usable parts they with cough up a pellet with the bones, toes and other indigestible material.
We got back to the lodge and then the trouble started, first we had a couple beers, then a couple glasses of red wine over dinner then back to beer after dinner and to add to the pain this morning we had a Mozambican Scab (a shooter with sambuca, tequila and Tabasco). Needless to say that when my alarm went off at 4.45 this morning I was not a happy camper.
Our morning again got off to a cracking start with a lioness right outside the lodge who we followed and watched her hunting wildebeest. She then lost interest and went to sleep so we moved off to go find the massive herd of buffalo that had moved onto the property last night. When we found them we were all dumbstruck by the size of the herd. There must have been 600 buffalo together. We followed them for about and hour just enjoying time in the middle of the herd. They reached a waterhole where stopped to drink where I saw the biggest set of horns of my life.
We got off to an early start and headed out on their first safari ever. I headed south to see if I could relocate the lion pride that had been seen the night before. On the way we saw lots of general game and a great sighting of 2 rhino calves and their mother. Eventually we found the big pride sleeping in the open. We watched them for a long while with one of the young females giving us the evil eye and threatening to charge us. After about 20 minutes, as it got darker they started to get up and stretch, then played with one another and then moved off. We followed them to a small pan where they all had a drink and then moved off to do their nights hunting. After following them for another 20 minutes until they got to the airstrip we decide to leave them and head home.
On our way home we saw beautiful spotted eagle owl hunting in the road. He suddenly leapt forward and pounced on a mouse. He then flew to a perch in a nearby tree and continued to swallow the mouse whole. They have an incredibly wide gape to allow for eating their prey whole and then after digesting all the usable parts they with cough up a pellet with the bones, toes and other indigestible material.
We got back to the lodge and then the trouble started, first we had a couple beers, then a couple glasses of red wine over dinner then back to beer after dinner and to add to the pain this morning we had a Mozambican Scab (a shooter with sambuca, tequila and Tabasco). Needless to say that when my alarm went off at 4.45 this morning I was not a happy camper.
Our morning again got off to a cracking start with a lioness right outside the lodge who we followed and watched her hunting wildebeest. She then lost interest and went to sleep so we moved off to go find the massive herd of buffalo that had moved onto the property last night. When we found them we were all dumbstruck by the size of the herd. There must have been 600 buffalo together. We followed them for about and hour just enjoying time in the middle of the herd. They reached a waterhole where stopped to drink where I saw the biggest set of horns of my life.
We then enjoyed an awesome cup of coffee which was much needed as the worst part of the hangover was starting to catch up with me. A rusk and some caffeine did the trick and I felt my second wind pull in. On our way back to the lodge we bumped into a herd of elephants with a young male that was intent on showing us who is boss, shaking his head in agitation and spreading his ears wide to make himself look bigger. We also bumped a huge lone bull elephant that calmly fed beside the vehicle while the 4 guys were manically taking photos of themselves and this giant. We also did a nice walk after breakfast this morning which was great, we spent some time looking at golden brown baboon spiders, talking about termites and smoking elephant dung.
Only 2 more drive left with these guys and we need to find a leopard, but first it is time for a well deserved nap to get rid of the last bits of my hangover cause I think tonight is going to be very much like last night…
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