18 May 2015
With a
breakfast on the go we started early this morning for what would be our last
game drive of this safari. On this trip we saw four large families of baboons
(one of them on the R40 down to Nelspruit!). The first one was soon after we
left camp and the sun hadn't really risen yet, so the baboon’s sat huddled
close together to keep warm. It was indeed a chilly morning! Our second family
was already awake a bit more as they were slowly starting to forage. Mothers
with babies holding on tight passed the car in search of food and youngsters
quickly crossed the road eyeing us wearily.
But it was the
third family that gave us a great sighting. Just like yesterday's troop of
baboons in the end of the day, these guys were all happy and playing around,
grooming each other and much more. Wherever we looked, baboons were
entertaining us. One brave youngster was even being chased by an angry mob of
vervet monkeys which he probably had disturbed while waking up. 7 vervet
monkeys versus 1 young baboon, he quickly went another way!
Our second
highlight was handed to us by a bushbuck (our new animal on this safari!).
Usually they are quite skittish, but this one came bolting out of the bush in
utter terror. So much so it didn't stop or flinch for our vehicle braking,
something they usually are very wary of! That, we needed to investigate and we
entered the next looping road that showed us the riverbed, which was about 20
meters in front of us. While driving down a common grey duiker came pelting out
in opposite direction as well. Looking down at the riverbed we didn't have far
to look to see what caused these animals to get lost: 4 hyenas were on the
prowl. We had a good view of them when they started walking up the bank and one
of them even coming very close to our vehicle! An awesome sighting!!
Other animals
seen: we are still not bored of impalas, kudus, two more bushbucks that stood
still long enough for photos, two giraffes hanging out with a bunch of zebras,
a lone elephant and two lionesses.
And we could
add some birds too: a tawny eagle chick on a nest and his/her mother or father,
yellow-billed and red-billed hornbills, crested francolins (noisy little
buggers!), a flock of chinspot batisses and pied wagtails.
Unfortunately it
was our last day and we really had to leave the park. Matt and Luisa returned
to Johannesburg where they would wait for their flight to Brasil to continue
their honeymoon around the world!! I hope they will have just as much fun as we
had on safari. Thanks for coming on safari and have a great time on you
travels!
No comments:
Post a Comment