SA - Safari, Part I

This is my last blog about our crazy year of travel!  Sad!  2011, you were a good year.  I think it's taken me this long to complete it because I didn't want it to end.  

On Christmas Eve day, we were picked up from our hotel in Port Elizabeth and driven out of the city and into Addo Elephant Park, which was only about a 1.5 hour drive, the last of it being the slowest because we were on a dirt road.  When we left the main highway and took the winding road into the park, we drove through this gigantic gate that opened for our car with a big electric fence that ran from either side of it.   You know that scene in "Jurassic Park" where they drive through the huge gate and into the park for the first time, and the lead guy says, "What are they keeping in here, King Kong?"  Yeah, it was like that.  

We could see the tents sprinkled over a hill as we approached, there were 11 tents on property and one main lodge.  As we drove in, someone greeted us to welcome us to the camp, and handed us a delicious glass of local iced tea, a flavor I'd never had before and I wish I could remember what it was (not rooibos).  She walked us into the lodge where she gave us a tour - the lodge wasn't too terribly big as there are not that many people on the property at any given time.  Because it was the Christmas holiday they were fully booked, and that was only 22 people.  She explained that the property does not have electricity, save for a generator that they run for a few hours during the day to power the computers in the office.  Other than that, all the light we have at night is from candles or the lanterns in our tents. 

After that we were escorted to our tent, along the way we were given instructions about how to get to and from the tents after nightfall - basically, not on our own.  We were instructed to ask one of the game drivers on the property to escort us to our tent just in case "something" was out there.  You see, there were no fences between the property and the animals.  Everything that was in the park had free access to roam, including the lions, which is part of the attraction really.  On the back side of the main lodge by the veranda was a watering hole that attracted all kinds of animal to come and drink.  Elephants, zebra, kudu, you name it.  However the random bull elephant (who always wanders alone) or buffalo could make its way into the tent area at night and also camp out - right in your way.  The game drivers are trained in all of this animal behavior and so they escort you to your tent to keep you comfortable and safe.  The only things they carried with them, however, were flashlights.  No guns or anything of the kind on the property!  I have no idea what exactly would have happened if we encountered an animal in our path at night because it never happened (whew!).  

Here is Stephen, standing on the front porch of our tent:

The view from inside our tent... it was warm and breezy and all you could hear was the canvas flapping and the grass swaying, the perfect napping spot (which I did every afternoon):

Our very first meal an elephant decided to join us for a drink at the lodge watering hole:  

This is looking down the walkway from our tent towards other tents - they really fit in with the landscape and disappeared into the brush:

This bush was everywhere - not sure what it was called but those are mighty big thorns!

There were two game drives every day, the first at 6:00 a.m. and the second at 4:00 p.m.  These drives are timed with sunrise and sunset and of course the feeding time of the animals, the time they are most active and you have the best chance of seeing them.

Here is Stephen at tea, just before our first game drive that afternoon:

You may have heard of something called "The Big Five".  This term was coined by big game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot.  These animals were chosen for the difficulty in hunting them and the degree of danger involved, rather than size.  These are deadly animals to see on foot!  The big five include the lion, elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and rhino.  Addo Elephant Park has all five animals within their boundaries, and we were lucky enough to see four out of the five.  We didn't see a leopard - they apparently like to stick to themselves and are not too fond of being around the human invaders in the park.  Not like the lions!  The lions are a bit of a show off.   :)

For the game drives, we climbed in special open air jeeps with front seats for the driver and passenger, and then two rows of stadium seating behind that.  Rule number one of open air game drives - when you see any of the big five, do not stand up.  As long as you are sitting in your seat, the animal sees you as a part of a larger thing, one big jeep creature, and does not bother you.  If you stand up, that movement separates you from the crowd as a stand-alone thing.  This is not what you want when staring into the eyes of one of the most dangerous animals to approach on foot.  My butt stayed in my seat!  

As we pulled out of the camp and drove over the first big hill, we saw our first herd - Cape buffalo:

The buffalo do not have good vision, but their sense of smell is excellent.  When the jeeps were upwind of the buffalo, they all turned to look at us - stared straight at us.  It was little unsettling:

The buffalo kick up bugs as they walk through, so birds tend to hover over the herd to take advantage of the easy catches.  Our game driver said it's often easier to spot the birds first, especially over a hill, and then find the herd second.  

We saw tons of mamas and babies on safari!  All different species.  This baby still looked wet, brand spankin' new to the world:

Baby with new little horns just starting to show:

The dirt path the jeep drove on most of the time - on the right tire side is a yellow mongoose running up the road:

A group of female Kudu:

Guinea fowl with baby fowl!

There is a pride of nine lions that live in the park, and our game driver heard over the radio from another driver that the lions were in a particular area.  Apparently they had caught dinner and were enjoying an early supper.  So we drove over.  Three of the lions were there - a female and two young males.  The females are the hunters of a pride, as they are smaller, swifter and more agile than the males.  They were hunkered down in the grass with their kill and it was amazing how easily they could disappear.  Every few minutes one would pop up above the grass line to switch positions and their head could be seen.  I took the picture below and showed it to our game driver, he said, "Oh!  They got a buffalo!"  

Buffalo dinner:

At one point the female got up and snap roared at one of the other lions.  Maybe he was eating too much of her kill?  Whatever it was she put him in his place and he got up and walked away several feet before he plopped back down again.

Another safari jeep watching the lions:

Our first elephant herd sighting:

It was a little chilly as the sun was going down, even though it was summer, but the jeep came stocked with ever fashionable ponchos:

Addo Elephant Park was founded in 1931 in order to provide sanctuary for the small number of remaining elephants in the area (only 16 at the time).  Now there are almost 600 elephants in the park and it is one of the most dense populations of elephants on the planet.  To create a greater degree of DNA diversity, the park brought in four huge bull elephants from Kruger Park, which is also in South Africa (and scene of this viral video, which is truly freakin' amazing).  Only three of those bulls remain in the park.  Apparently soon after their arrival in Addo, two got in a fight and one killed the other.  Bulls always wander alone, as this one is.  I can't even tell you how big he was, the picture doesn't do it justice as we were quite a ways away.  But from our vantage point, it looked like his body was moving slowly, as each sway of a leg took its time, but man he could cover some ground.  What looks like a lumbering creature can move.  About 30 MPH.  And his tusks were huge!  Especially compared to the other younger male elephants we saw.  You could see his DNA dominance written all over him.  

Driving back to the lodge:

When we got back from our first game drive, it was about 6:30 in the evening and it was Christmas Eve.   The camp lodge always looked beautiful completely lit up with candles, but on Christmas Eve it was really a particularly amazing place to be.  

Stephen heading to our tent for a quick change before Christmas Eve dinner, candles lit all of the walkways:

As we were walking up that pathway, going to change and head back for dinner, we had just come back from our first game drive where I had seen giant elephants and lions feasting and the sun was setting all around us, I remember saying to Stephen, "This is the coolest thing I have ever done."  So different than anything I'd ever been exposed to and so beautiful and wild, just amazing.

The champagne was flowing, glasses handed to everyone as we walked in for dinner:

Every other night we were there, we ate in the dining room at our own private table, but for a special Christmas Eve dinner the staff had arranged one long table in the lodge for all of the 22 guests to dine together.

The food at the camp was spectacular, I couldn't believe the bounty of fresh fruits and veggies always around, high tea every day, amazing meals like you see being hand fed to kings in old movies.  For Christmas Eve they offered two choices for the main course - a sampling of various local game, or a pasta dish that sounded yummy.  But I remember looking at that menu and thinking, "I didn't come all this way to eat pasta."  The game sample platter included fillets of ostrich, kudu and buffalo.  The ostrich was surprisingly de-licous, it has all the color and flavor of a beef fillet but is much lower in fat.  When I tried the buffalo, I thought, "hmm, the lions and I are having the same Christmas feast."  I'm not normally much of a game eater, but when in Rome...

After a lavishly delicious dinner, we all retired to the drawing room in various states of sleepy fullness.  I couldn't head straight to bed because the chef brought out glasses of port (my friend Amanda would have been so happy) and brie cheese with a honey glaze encasing.  There is always room in my belly for cheese.  After the final bite and sip by candlelight, it was finally time for sleep.  As our special Christmas present from the camp, our wake up call was delayed by an hour on Christmas morning.  One extra hour of sleep is always something that will make me smile!  So our Christmas Day started at 6:30 instead of 5:30.  I came prepared with a mild over-the-counter sleep sedative which I absolutely took on the first night.  I can't remember if Stephen did, but he was woken up by sounds... animal sounds.  He heard something breathing outside.  I was blissfully unaware of this!  The windows of our tent had a canvas cover inside, which he could peel back, but they also had a canvas cover outside that he could not reach.  And he was under explicit orders not to go outside.  So he just tossed and turned and tried to sleep.  I didn't let my mind wander as to what it could have been, but it was nice to hear the game wardens say that the animals see the tents as solid units, not something they could walk right through if they wanted.  Stay out of my solid unit, please!  

On Christmas Day, our first animal presents:  

Once again, our game driver got a call over the radio.  The lions, stuffed from their buffalo dinner the day before, were all by one particular watering hole.  Six out of the nine were there, so of course we headed straight there.  This is what we found:

The big male of the pride - look at those teeth!

As we were driving to the watering hole, just before we rounded the bend to get there, we saw one lone male elephant cruising along.  Our driver said he is most likely headed to the same watering hole where the lions were camped out for a drink, and that he is in for a surprise.  When we got to the watering hole, we weren't the only ones there, several cars had already arrived: 

(I am jealous of that camouflage camera):

Soon enough, the thirsty elephant appeared.  He stopped dead in his tracks and slowly raised his trunk to smell.  

He started walking around the perimeter of the watering hole, smelling all the while:

Eventually he decided that he was thirsty enough and that he was going for it.  The thing is, the elephant was on the right, the lions were in the middle, and we, in our open air jeep, were on the left.  If the elephant decided to charge, the lions would have to run our direction.  And they did...

When the elephant started running in, the lions got up, streeeetched, and started to move.  They were not scared at all.  Just a little annoyed.  

In their annoyance, a few let out a mighty roar.  Hearing a lion's roar in the open is distinctly different than hearing it at a zoo.  It vibrates through the air, encompassing everything around you, closing the distance between you and the lion.  This great beast is nothing but muscle, teeth, piercing eyes, and predatorial dominance.  

In a show of ultimate top-of-the-food-chain dominance, the lions showed absolutely no care that we were even there.  Every human eye and camera lens was focused on these powerful creatures, watching each rising breath and lazy stretch of paw, and they hardly glanced in our direction.  If ignoring is the ultimate act of dominance, lions staked their claim in this land long ago.  

The lions proceeded to move through the vehicles, they have a very haughty gait:

Then the elephant came over to brag:

He didn't even drink any water, I guess the bragging rights of chasing off six lions was good enough for him.

Ok, remember the rule of not standing up in your jeep when around predatory animals?  At the moment the lions passed right in front of and right behind our jeep, that was in capital letters in my brain.  You see, we were already in the top stadium seating row of the jeep, so our heads stuck up the most.  And then I'm thinking, what if I raise my camera?  Does that separate me from the crowd?  I mean, that lioness, the hunter, was RIGHT THERE.  We could hear her breathing.  So, I kind of froze.  I'd rather keep all of my limbs than get a picture of the lion five feet away.  Super hero Stephen to the rescue though - he (wisely or stupidly) grabbed the camera from me and started taking pictures, this is what he got:

Seriously, it was like we could reach out and pet them.  

Us in the jeep, after the lion experience:

The white butterflies you see to the left of my head were all over the entire time we were there, just everywhere, making the whole landscape move, they were caught in this picture accidentally:  

Why, yes, we are wearing safari hats.  

Part II to come..