My African Adventure: Day 23.

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.