SA - Safari, Part II

I mentioned in the previous blog how delicious the food was, just fantastic.  Here is Stephen at lunch one day:

Tea time:

Not tea time:

This picture hangs inside of the lodge, it's of a hunting party at the same lodge back in 1900.  Their hunting outfits were much better than ours:

Lodge veranda where we ate lunch every day:

Bird nests - I don't remember the name of the specific bird, but the males build the nests, trying to impress the females.  Once it's completed, the female comes and inspects it.  If it isn't to her liking, the male has to tear it down and start over!  

Morning action at the lodge watering hole:

In London, after we got back from our SA trip, we saw "The Lion King" musical.  Stephen's boss, Ryan, got us tickets as a thank you for letting him stay with us when he was visiting earlier.  Even if you haven't seen the stage show I'm sure you're familiar with the movie.  The two comic relief characters are Timon and Pumbaa - a meerkat and warthog.  After seeing warthogs in person I totally get where they got the inspiration for that character!  Warthogs are not cute really, they're actually weird looking things, but they have so much personality!  They reminded me of my dog, lots of spunk and always look like they're having fun.

These warthogs aren't fully developed yet, they have white tufts of fur coming out where their tusks will soon be.  The fur is there so that predators think they already have the sharp tusks and will maybe think twice about grabbing them.  

Mama and baby warthogs at the lodge watering hole, such cute little babies!

Warthogs run in packs.  The underside of the fur on the tips of their tails is white, and when they run together their little tails stick straight up in the air.  This is a way of communicating and so the group can see each other when running around.  It's hysterical to see them whip those things up and skip off.  "Ok guys!  Hey, let's go!  Woo hoo!"  

They are pretty skittish creatures, they are easy to catch, tasty little animals and they know it.  Always be on the move is their motto.  

Butt-scratching warthog:

Rolling in the mud is the best:

A turtle we found outside our tent:

Ostrich egg:

Monkeys are little bastards.  They are ultimate rummagers and everything has to be monkey-proofed, including the tents.  They had to install new locks on the doors of the tents because the monkeys figured out how to unlock the original ones.  Different tribes come into the camp and try to find any food they can, so the camp had to get very creative about how they store food trash.  If it's at all reachable, the monkeys will get it!  One night, while I was sleeping, Stephen heard them running around outside our tent.  He said it sounded so much like they were in our tent going through our luggage that he actually got up to check. No monkeys there thank goodness!  But as he laid there, he said it sounded as if they were building a wall made of rocks, and then knocking it down again.  Busy little buggers.  

We met a family from Ireland, the two sons were staying in a tent together and said that one night a monkey sat outside of their tent and played with the canvas window covering.  Apparently he discovered that part of it closed with Velcro and liked the sound of it.  So that monkey sat there, for hours, opening and closing the Velcro.  Rip... rip... rip... rip... rip... rip... rip... rip.. rip.  Ahh!  So annoying!  The brothers threw pillows and anything else they could find at the window, but the monkey always came back.  They were telling us this story as we were pulling away from the camp in a jeep and sure enough we could see their window, hanging half open where the Velcro was.  

Monkey family planning their next escapade:

Going out for another game drive :

Yellow Mongoose:

We came to a watering hole where a herd of elephants were, many whom were already there when we drove up and they just kept coming and coming.  By the time we left our warden said there were probably 50-60 elephants there.  

Drinking elephants:

This one elephant was swimming the entire time we were there, at least an hour.  He would literally roll over onto his back and stick his feet straight up in the air and spray water all around.  He looked like he was having the best time!   Stephen voiced the elephant's thoughts, "Dudes, I don't know why you are standing out there in the heat.  This water feels awesome!"  

This mama elephant had three babies.  The warden said she must be very fertile because it looked like she had them all back to back.  Elephants have a 22-month gestational period, so that's about 5.5 years straight of pregnancy!

When a baby wants to feed and the mama won't stand there long enough, baby elephants are known to throw little temper tantrums.  They blow their baby trumpets and run off after their moms to try again.

Baby wanting to feed:  

Because I know you're curious what an elephant looks like while peeing... that thing was a gusher, we could hear it:

This little baby was the youngest of the whole group, so adorable with long lashes!  He found this cement block to play with, they are about the same size and color!

Look at that face!  So cute.

When I was young I actually got to ride an elephant.  I have no idea where I was, but I was with my grandparents and it was some sort of outdoor fair or something.  Instead of ponies to ride, they had elephants.  What I remember most about that is elephants have very prickly hairs, something that you can't see unless you are very close to them.  

There were so many elephants and they were so close to us, it was one of my favorite moments of the safari.  Even our game drivers took out their cameras for pictures.  One actually did say that if we ever find ourselves in Kruger Park on safari, this would not be advisable.  The elephants there are known to be aggressive and charge.

Later that same day we came across a few other elephants sharing the same dirt road as our jeep.  They were cruising along at a much slower pace, and we had stopped to watch them when one of the elephants let out a very noisy fart.  Unluckily for us, the jeep was downwind of that fart.  It passed right over us.  Holy crap was that thing stinky.  For the rest of my life I can say, "I have smelled an elephant's fart."    

Mountains in the distance, that is not snow but sand:

We saw a black rhino in the distance, it looked like a moving boulder:

A black rhino is not really black, in fact it is not distinguishable by color from a white rhino.  The white rhino is so called because "white" comes from the Afrikaans word "wyd" or the Dutch word "wijd" for "wide", referring to the white rhino's wide, square upper lip.  The black rhino has a pointed, hooked upper lip and is called "black" just in opposition.  This poor rhino is critically endangered.  :(

Rainy lunch back at the lodge, a herd of water buffalo came in for a drink:

Ghostly flowers:

Elephant skull:

Mama and baby zebra:

The babies are extra fuzzy and knobby-kneed:

Addo Elephant Park is home to the flightless dung beetle, it is endangered and can only be found here and in one other park in SA:

The beetle feeds on elephant or buffalo dung after rolling it into little balls.  Of course I held it!

It tickles your skin when it walks:

Because this beetle is endangered, it is the responsibility of every driver in the park not to run them over with a car.  There are even beetle crossing signs:

Other creepy crawlies:

Hartebeests (their horns are supposed to resemble a heart):

Big male Kudu:

This ostrich was performing a mating dance for a female ostrich, which for some reason I don't really have a picture of.  The ostrich bows and waves its wings back and forth trying to attract lady attention. Well the dance wasn't working, so the ostrich eventually resorted to chasing the female around - at full speed.  This poor lady ostrich just wanted to get the heck out of there and enjoy some time alone!  He must have chased her for 10 minutes straight.  It was hysterical.  Eventually he gave up.  Better luck next time, fella.

Photo op for me and Stephen.  Our game driver took this picture, notice the sign next to us:

Lion tracks in the dirt next to us:

Our last afternoon game drive was cut a little short by a thunderstorm that was rolling in.  It was very fast moving, and all of a sudden these clouds were upon us and lightening that was in the distance was a little too close for comfort.  We were all the way out in the park and the driver had to move pretty quickly to get us back to camp.  Even then it was about a 45-minute drive.  An open air metal jeep is not where you want to be in a lightening storm.

This was the last picture we took before I put the camera away so it wouldn't get wet:  

The wind was really whipping around and there was a ton of lightening and thunder.  We were all quiet and just trying to get back to camp when, out of nowhere, I see this huge black rhino come charging across the field.  I pointed and yelled, "Rhino!  Rhino!"  In the middle of this coming storm we stopped the jeep to watch.  He was just bookin' it trying to get out of the storm and back to wherever he liked to lay his head.  This is a 3,000+ pound creature that can run up to 35 mph and I fully believe that we saw that thing running that fast.  This was the last animal that we hadn't seen up close and were really hoping to, and not only did we get to see it but we saw it at Olympic pace.  I wish I'd had my camera available to capture it, but if it weren't for the storm I don't think we would have seen it at all.  

Back at the lodge, watching the storm with a celebratory last night bottle of champagne:    

The next day, after one final awesome meal, we were picked up and driven back to Port Elizabeth where we caught a short flight to Johannesburg, and then the long flight on to London.  I will say, one thing that I really found interesting was that all three of the shuttle drivers we had, in Cape Town and to and from the safari park, when talking about their country and how we liked it, every single conversation turned to Nelson Mandela.  The love these three men had for their country was so apparent, as well as their respect for Mr. Mandela.  They all three had differing opinions on their country's current state, some positive and some not as positive, but the pride on their faces was really amazing to see.

On our first flight at the beginning of our trip from London to Cape Town, I remember switching my screen back and forth between whatever movie I was watching and the moving map showing exactly where the plane was in the flight path.  I distinctly remember watching that little plane symbol cross over the sea and onto the African continent.  I poked Stephen and said, "We are officially in Africa!".  Africa.  I still can't believe it.  As we flew back to London, I watched that little symbol cross back out of Africa.  I really, really hope I get to go back someday.