May 21st.
Today, we had another set route drive. I was navigator, and since its
only Wolfgang and I here this week, I had to cover general game, predators, and
birds/raptors. All the jobs get splits between just the two of us now, so I
also had to check the car before we left for the drive. We left at 6, and it
was collldd again, after a few warmer days. But the Nissan (which they pronounce
NISS-an instead of NEEE-sawn) wouldn’t start! We woke up Andrew, and Wolfgang,
Lukas, and I had to push it like 500 feet while Andrew started it! We decided
we wouldn’t stop the car at any sightings today! Lol. Imagine not being able to
start the vehicle at a lion sighting! But it was actually a really nice drive,
great weather, and I was really enjoying it. The route sent us up to Garonga,
which I haven’t seen much of yet. Since it was a set drive, I was telling Lukas
where to go on the map by using a listed route and following along with the map
and GPS, so I got to learn fun Xan’gan names (which is one of the native
languages). Lukas also taught us a lot of plants and birds and how to ID them
as we were driving along. We were driving northeast for the most part at the
beginning, so we had a beautiful view of the sunrise! Right near the beginning
of the drive, we saw three hyena running down the road, which was my first
hyena sighting! We quickly lost them in the bushes, but that was great because
we haven’t seen any hyena in a few weeks. They move their dens very often, so
we aren’t sure where the clans have been moving lately. After that, we didn’t
see anything super spectacular on the drive. Some general game (antelope
species, giraffe, and zebra – LOTS of zebra) but no other predators. We did go
to a really beautiful platform over a dam in Garonga to take a look, but its owned
by the Garonga camp. The route took us until about 10, and then we returned
home. Wolfgang and I were on cooking duty. We made a “fry up” as they call it,
which is basically sautéing mushrooms, peppers, onions, scrambling eggs, and
cooking bacon and letting everyone assemble what they want. I chopped up my
leftover fillet from Mahlahla for myself cause I don’t like bacon, and it was
yummmyyy. After cleaning up, I headed into the data room and worked on getting
all the historical data from 2005 till now and started playing around with it
to look for lion movements over the years. We went on a general monitoring
drive at 3:30, in which we attempted to follow some ingala and ingwe tracks
(lion and leopard in Xan’gan) in a couple different places. The rangers, the
Makalali people, and anyone else driving around the reserve use Xan’gan names
for everything, so I am starting to learn them. This was to no avail. We headed
up to Garonga and looked for tracks from those hyena this morning, but we
couldn’t find any evidence. It was a really quiet drive, not many sightings,
but it was still nice. We watched
the sunset from a higher point on the reserve, and it was beautiful! I was on
spotlight after dark, and at one point I saw the reflection of eyes on a side
road. We raced down there, thinking it was the perfect size for cubs from a
leopard or lion. It ended up being a black-backed jackal, but man, that woke
everyone up! Haha. We found a lot of densely overgrown roads that aren’t used
as often, and explored a bit, but then we headed back home. Wolfgang and I made
potato and chicken curry for dinner. That’s funny, because I have never made
curry. I probably actually have never eaten curry! Apparently we did it
correctly, cause it was delicious and everyone liked it. We enjoyed our dinner
around the fire and talked for a bit. After killing the fire, we all cleaned
the kitchen, and then Andrew and Wolfgang went to bed. Lukas and I were
engrossed in conversation about approaching lions on foot, and what happens
when they visit you on a sleep out! We started hearing noises on something
large walking in the garden, and when we went to investigate, there was a large
giraffe making his way away from us, into the bush! I love that giraffe can
just wander into camp! A few minutes later, we had both gone to our rooms, but
I heard some other weird noises. I ran outside with my torch, and saw a small
nocturnal cat-sized mammal lumbering around. I went to ask Lukas what it was.
He said it was a civet, and we followed it around the yard for a bit. They have
long, large faces, but otherwise the body shape of a fat, bushy cat. So cool!
Then I headed to bed, to get some much needed sleep!
Most amazing sunrise!
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