November 14, 2012

1215

Been a while since I could write and a few travails along the road.  Had a nice final evening ride on Saturday with Albie.  Watched 4 lionesses lounging in the grass and then on the way back ran into the wild dogs.  Enjoyment of this was tempered by texts received from Gina that the girls’ flight out of Redmond was delayed due to an early snowfall and, apparently, Delta Global’s lack of preparation for the predictable event known as “winter”.  I was fairly convinced that they’d missed the connection in Salt Lake but they somehow ran to the gate and got on and throughout the night I got updates until they were on the plane to J’burg. 

Next morning, Albie reckoned that the dogs would be on the road very near to where we saw them Saturday night and he was right.  We found them right away in the barely dawn light in a light rain and followed them along for some time as they moved down the road.  We reckoned that there were about 11 pups and 8 adults – a pretty large pack.  We followed them as they headed east on the road and they chased a kudu cow for its life and then chased a warthog down its burrow.  The pups investigated a monitor lizard very cautiously.  All the pups seemed to be in good spirits and it seemed certain that a hunt would ensue.  They encountered some wildebeest rams who stood their ground and the dogs eventually left them alone after trying to fluster them.  Then, unbelievably, the dogs stumbled on a group of 4 lions who’d made a wildebeest kill right next to the road over night.  The dogs got very agitated and began running about and leaping into the air, while barking in the direction of the lions.  The lions tensed up but made no overt move – just went about their business of sleeping and eating and ignored the dogs.  Eventually the dogs all moved south in a hurry – off to continue their hunt – and we had to let them go.

Wild dogs expressing displeasure at nearby lions

Came to the end of the road with my time with Albie and he transported me to the airport in Hoedspruit.  Flight to J’burg was delayed but I made it there plenty early enough to meet the girls.  And Gina and Aislin arrived safely but with no luggage – the very tight connection at Salt Lake meant arriving in Africa with no luggage but it didn’t matter.  We were all so happy that they had made it we didn’t care if the luggage arrived or not. 

A night’s sleep and into the rental car – a KIA SUV – for the drive to the Kruger.  Because we were starting the trip on the south end of the park, we took a route that was unfamiliar to me and we also planned to stop at a department store in Nelspruit to get some clothes just in case.  But the drive through Nelspruit was difficult and poorly signed.  The KIA’s nav system was not helpful – not very intuitive and no manual in the vehicle.  After several stops for direction we did get through Hazy View and through the Kruger Gate into the park and eventually to Lower Sabie.  Aislin and Gina were both very tired so I prepped to go for a brief drive by myself when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an acacia thorn sticking out of one of the tires.  I pulled it and heard a slight hiss of air.  Sigh.  Changed to the spare, inquired about getting it repaired at the fuel station but the repair guy was gone for the day so I called it for the evening.

Next morning we went for a short, uneventful drive, dropped the tire, inquired about the bag and had lunch and a nap.  Patched tire was retrieved and I changed it over again. We went for a game drive led by one of the park rangers that evening and had a couple of very nice leopard sightings. 

Slept in a bit this morning, hit the road by a little after 5am.  Had nice sightings this morning – an African fish eagle eating a fish in a tree and two very nice lion sightings.  A good morning drive.  Lunch at about 1000 and then we found that the bag had been delivered.  It was like Christmas morning and Aislin and Gina are like entirely new people.  It took 3 days but Delta delivered the bag to a pretty remote location for us and we are grateful.  Thank you Delta.

African fish eagle eating lunch

A pair of lions nestled into the spring grass

Now a brief break for naps and catching up on stuff.  Clouds have moved in and it’s cool and threatening rain.  I’m going to try and post this (Lower Sabie is one of the few places in the camp with some sort of internet access) and then we’ll do one more drive.  Tomorrow we move on to Olifants Camp and I think we’re going to start the morning early in a nearby hide, watching birds and animals come down to the water for early morning drinks.

All very good stuff today after a couple of trying days.