17 May 2015
When the day
started we had packed up the car and set off once again in search of new
sightings. It was an overcast morning with a lot of wind that made it a cold
morning! It was most likely the reason for our rather quiet morning. However we
did come across a massive herd of elephants, including some very young babies.
We watched them feeding for a while when suddenly they grouped together and
raced across the road. The babies hidden in the middle were sprinting to keep
up while the elephants on the outside gave us a dirty look. The stragglers
behind the bundle of elephant even gave us a loud trumpet sound as if we were
doing something scary or bad. But we loved it!
It was even
better as on the other bank of the plains the elephants were crossing another
herd was walking. And when we looked more to our right, out of the bush on the
opposite side came another herd. This one at a run though, with the youngsters
looking as if they had a sprint race! We watched until we were getting too cold
in the fierce wind (and we were now in open terrain) and stopped for coffee.
Halfway the
morning we unfortunately had to say goodbye to Vicky and Ken, who would
continue their holiday in Cape Town. Thanks for joining our safari, it was
great having you!
The day
brightened at the end of the morning and due to the added sun more animals came
out to play. One of those sightings consisted of a cheetah. Well, we did see
half a head and a tail flick. And then a tail flick that compared to the head
and the most likely position of the body would be impossible to be the same
cheetah. There were two of them lying on the other side of the termite mound!
When we repositioned our car to get a better look, we were in luck as the
cheetah on top decided to roll over and instead of looking away it was now
looking straight at us. And we even spotted the head of its brother a few
times.
We were happy
with what we had, but it actually got even better as one of them stood up,
stretched and then disappeared from view. It wasn't long before its brother did
the same thing. We saw them move off in the direction alongside the road so we
proceeded to the next open area and got treated to two cheetahs walking by. It
was through the high grass, but we were able to get a good look, especially
when they briefly jumped up a fallen tree. We followed them from open area to
open area until they moved deeper and deeper into the bush and we lost them as
they camouflaged themselves from sight.
Other animals
seen: leopard tortoises (which took ages to cross the road), a lot more
elephants, waterbucks, impala rams going crazy for the females, bushbabies, a
well hidden white rhino, kudus, giraffes, warthogs, a wildebeest hanging out
with kudus, lots of hippos, buffalos, vervet monkeys, zebras, a small
crocodile, and a very large troop of baboons.
New birds we
saw today included a lilac-breasted roller, a purple roller, marabou stork,
little bee-eaters, and a group of lappet-faced, white-backed and hooded
vultures, eating something that was obscured by rocks. They gave us an awesome
display of vulture dueling though!
Unfortunately we
most likely also saw a poaching incident as we saw a helicopter circling and a
sniffer dog setting out as well as a vehicle full of rangers being deployed
close to where we saw all those vultures. The rangers weren't too keen to talk,
so let's hope it wasn't a rhino or elephant. Or any poaching at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment