June 4th.
Sleep out was a success! Kelsie
had gotten a migraine and gone to bed before we went to go out to the deck, but
Emily and Molly and I still went. We got up there around 10, and got settled
into our sleeping bags with our blankets. We talked for a while, and looked at
stars in silence, and listened to animals. We heard jackals, hyenas, impalas,
and a few lions! It was so cool! The stars were absolutely gorgeous, and it was
just so peaceful to sleep out there under God’s ceiling. We fell asleep around
11 or 1130, and it wasn’t too cold. I woke up around 4 and stretched out from
the ball I was curled up in. Unfortunately, the bottom of my sleeping bag was
now cold and wet with dew. I laid on my stomach and shone a torch around the
grassy clearing that was beyond our heads, but I didn’t see anything. Next
thing I know, Emily and Molly are waking me up because its 5:20. We clambered
downstairs, and I put the kettle on for some hot drinks to warm us up.
Everything was cold and wet, so we left it all up there to dry during the day.
We got ourselves all ready, and left at 6:15 for the drive. We thought to grab
blankets from the deck to put over our laps, which was a great idea because it
was FREEZING. The morning was moist and cloudy, and there was a lot of mist to
drive through. We had a set route, which took us through H26 and H90, two
smaller properties on the west side of the reserve. It was a pretty quiet
morning at first, because it was so cold! But, eventually, it warmed enough and
we started seeing some game to record. But the clouds never broke, and I don’t
think anyone took a layer of warmth off! We saw a herd of zebra drinking at a
dam, which was really interesting. The zebra were very cautious to approach the
water and took their time getting there. Then, one would lead and one would
look out for predators. They have a very cool system of behavior in their
herds! We also saw a really cute baby giraffe, and it was actually with its
herd/family, a herd of wildebeests, and a herd of zebra. It was cool to see all
three grazing amongst each other. Another interesting sighting was a male
impala, who was rutting. That’s what the males do to call the females. We heard
him first, then found him through the trees. Andrew said the way he was
calling, sounded like he was about to mate. A minute or two later, we saw him
and a female impala making their way through the trees. If you ask me, there
may have been a little hanky-panky going on in those bushes there! Later on, we
heard some impala alarm-calling a lot. We
went to investigate, as we had seen leopard tracks running up and down
that road. The impala were concerned about something behind them in the bush,
but we couldn’t see anything. Andrew walked in to try for a visual or a trail,
but to no avail. We know she was there because of the tracks, but if a leopard
doesn’t want to be seen, she’s gone! We looked for her for a little before
giving up for the day. We had a really nice drive, and got back around 11.
Then, the girls and I unloaded all of our stuff from the deck and cleaned it
all up. We then made lunch, which was a yummy fry-up of eggs, bacon, veggies,
and toast, with bolognaise/mince sauce leftover. So good! By 1, I was in the
data room working on my stuff for a bit, after trying to help Lukas do
something with the new data sheets to record sightings on. I had some time to
work before the 330 drive. Lukas took us, along with the two new rangers, Cara
and Jamie. Cara is from America, and Jamie is South African. They are starting
to learn how Siyafunda works! We headed out to see rhino, but when we got near
the sighting, there was a lion sighting in the block ahead of us. Naturally, we
headed in for the lions. We had to
drive through some pretty thick bush, trampling trees and breaking branches as
we went. Lukas walked in to see if he could get a visual of the lions. All the
sudden, we heard a fierce growl, and everyone just about peed themselves. It
was a very tense few minutes as we waited to hear if Lukas would return. Good
news, he did. The lioness was not happy with him though! We continued through
the bush to a clearing. There, we had the most amazing lion sighting ever. It
was part of the Makhutswi pride, one adult female, two one-year-old subadult
cubs, and three younger cubs. There were also four rhinos! We watched them for
probably 1.5 hours. The adult female had an open wound on her leg, so she went
and laid down away from the group. But the SAM/SAF were the best part. They
were so curious about the rhino! The rhino herd was having their own problems,
as it was a female and a female with her young male calf. But, additionally,
that mother’s previous calf, who was now getting fairly large, had been kicked
out of their group a few months ago, but was now with them again! There were a
few power struggles between the rhino, which were interrupted by the sub-adult
lions sneaking in to investigate. We got some really great visuals of the cubs,
one male of which had a swollen paw that he limped on. We saw him a few weeks
ago, and he had the injury then, as well. After watching them for a while, we
noticed that the SA’s kept sneaking towards the rhinos and getting chased off.
They were actually hunting! They had assumed the hunting posture and crept
along to the rhino group. They continuously got close to the group and got
chased off. Eventually, the rhinos moved away, but the lions didn’t pursue. They
turned and walked right past the vehicle, giving some soft “maos”, as they
turned to walk up to where the cubs were waiting. It was definitely an amazing
sighting. After that, we headed out to look for any hyena or leopards we could
find. We weren’t so lucky, but we did see a genet, a small nocturnal mammal
that is similar to a weasel. I had been wanting to see one, but unfortunately,
I didn’t get a good visual. It ran into the bush too fast. A little bit later,
we saw a small group of eland moving across the street. They are one of the
larger antelope species here. I had just mentioned how I hadn’t see them yet,
and there they were! We continued on a bit, and it got really cold. We headed
home, looking along the way for any hunting mammals. We did see a black-jackal,
but that was about it. When we got home, we had a little downtime before
dinner. I wasn’t feeling good after the bumpy ride home, so I laid down for a
bit. I went and ate a little and watched part of a DVD on African predators in
the TV room with everyone, then headed to bed early. I’m putting on Crazy
Stupid Love and snuggling up in my blankets ;) And the lions are calling
outside my door. Even though I don’t feel the best, Africa is still the bomb.
Zebras taking a lil refreshment break.
Sunset with a young male lion :)
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