After first breakfast we were off again. We were maybe ten minutes out before Muzi spotted a couple of beautiful birds of prey.
The first was the African Black Eagle. While it looks very large and obvious in the photo, the truth of the matter is, without Muzi, we would have driven right by this nesting pair.
The next one is the Martial Eagle, which Matt told us was one of the apex predators of the sand forest and has remarkably keen eyesight. He said this specimen is likely a female due to the spots on its chest.
From that point, we left the sandforest and drove into the savannah, which was where we saw the density of wildlife that most matched up with our impression of Africa. There were seemingly herds of animals everywhere. Here are a warthog and wildebeest in close proximity. In the distance, we could see countless animals of a wide variety of species.
As we turned down a narrow road, we ran into our 3rd Big 5 animal, the White Rhino. In this case it was a mother and her calf. They posed for us a bit in the good light.
We learned that the White Rhino are identifiable not by their color, but by their square lip. While they are not threatened as a species, their cousins the Black Rhino are critically endangered with approximately 5,000 individuals left in the wild.
Reluctantly, we left the Rhinos to their breakfast. As we were driving off Matt described the anti-poaching team in Phinda as a very intimidating group of individuals. He said that if he were to fire his rifle (there is always a rifle on the game vehicle), we could expect several angry men with large guns to find us in a matter of moments. It was good to hear that Phinda was aggressively taking care of their rhino.
As we closed in on a herd of wildebeest we could see a much larger herd of larger animals in the distance.
At that point, we found our 4th Big 5 species, the Cape Buffalo. So, what designates an animal as Big 5, you ask? They are the five most difficult animals to hunt on foot. In particular, the Cape Buffalo is the most dangerous of the Big 5 as they are unpredictable and will charge without warning, especially when wounded.
I would not recommend messing with these guys. The big bulls are known for being able to fend off lion attacks.
We needed to cut our morning game drive short so that we could drive into Mtubatuba (easier than you think to pronounce: Em-tuba-tuba) to visit the Department of Home Affairs to finalize our wedding paperwork. On our way back to the lodge, we ran into some zebra. We noticed that our driver pronounced it more like zeb-ra than the American Zee-bra.
Back at the lodge, our friend, and incredible Hospitality Manager/Wedding Coordinator, Jess packed us a to-go 2nd breakfast. Afterwards, we met Phila, our driver, who'd be taking us on the 1.5 hour drive to town. Phila is an incredibly kind man from whom we learned a tremendous amount. He shared the story of how Phinda means - "The Return" in Zulu. The reserve was previously farmland that was being managed and restored. Over the thirty years that Phinda has been owned by &Beyond (the operator of all the Game Lodges we'll be staying at in Africa) they have introduced healthy groups of rhino, elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah and many other species. In fact, Phinda has had such success that they are shipping their rhino to other parts of Africa to repopulate the species and protect them from poachers.
Knowing that we were going to get married, Phila shared some of the wedding traditions of his tribe, the Zulu. Zulu men must provide a dowry of several cows to the bride's family in order to be allowed to marry her. Wedding celebrations are large-scale affairs where the whole town will attend, so a substantial amount of food must be prepared to feed all of the guests. He also spoke about Zulu beer, which has been made from sorghum since even before the Europeans came to South Africa.
In Mtubatuba, we spent a few hours in the Dept of Homeland Affairs where we were interviewed and our marriage license was approved. In a couple of days, we'd have our ceremony and be legally wed in South Africa. How exciting!
Back in Phinda, we were met by Jess and Mathilde from the Forest Lodge with some champagne to celebrate. It was very thoughtful, which we were beginning to see was typical for the whole Phinda team.
After lunch of chickpea salad, sliders and some incredible spring rolls, we showered and napped before it was time for more pre-game drive snacks. While sitting at the main lodge, we were treated to some giraffe coming to the watering hole for a drink. Usually giraffe are a very graceful animal, perhaps these pictures will show that's just not true when they are drinking.
After iced coffee and goodies it was time to hop in the vehicle and see if our good fortune would hold. On the road to the area where we were headed, we ran into another giraffe. This time a large male. Matt explained that the sore on it's neck was not related to fighting but actually to an insect parasite. Still, he was a beautiful specimen.
After the giraffe, we didn't see much for a while and we thought our luck had run out. At least until this herd of female and sub-adult male elephants came out of a grove of acacia trees. We completed our Big 5 checklist in only 3 game drives. Our South African travelling companions told us that it was beginner's luck and this wasn't typical of the game drive experience.
Unlike the other animals, Matt kept us a bit farther away from the elephants. Apparently they are strong enough to flip the vehicle over, and they don't mess around when they have calves nearby.
While the elephants were relaxed amongst the trees, when they were in open ground, the moved quite a bit faster. Perhaps they felt vulnerable with the calf that they had with them. Luckily it was relatively easy to keep up with them in the vehicle.
After spending a good half hour with the herd, they faded back into the trees. It's pretty amazing to see such large animals disappear as though they were never there. Over the radio, we heard that another vehicle had found some lions, but on our way to them, we got incredibly lucky. Behold, the charging leopard tortoise!!!
But seriously, grazing by some Cape Buffalo, we were fortunate to find 3 Black Rhino. Most likely a mother with an older and younger calf. Per Matt, the Black Rhino are identifiable by their hook shaped mouth (as opposed to the square mouth of the White). Knowing that these were very rare, this was a real treat.
We spent some time with the Rhino and then headed into the sunset towards where we thought the lions were. We were able to find them but they were not sitting and resting like the ones we saw the day before. These three lionesses were stalking two nyala who were standing on the top of a hill.
They would walk very quickly in direction of the nyala before either sitting or crouching in the grass so they would not be seen.
They even used the vehicles for cover. They got very close to us, but were totally focused on their prey. Our heart rates quickened, not from fear, but the intensity of the hunt.
Once it was dark, they struck. One of the lions came around the hill and drove the nyala into the other two, who were hiding in wait. The strategy and coordination was incredible. Muzi used a red light to illuminate the aftermath.
Once we caught our breath, it was time for our own dinner. We headed back to the lodge for a nice surprise. Boma! The boma is a traditional African enclosure designed to keep livestock in and lions out. We ended the day there with a fantastic meal of grilled lamb, sausage, fish with sides of pap (a Zulu corn) and mushrooms. Our friends from Cape Town gave us a whole host of suggestions for what to do when we headed to the Cape and the South African Wine Country. We ate and drank and talked into the night, telling and re-telling the stories of the day's adventures.
Exhausted once again, we headed back to our tent cabin. While drifting to sleep, we wondered if tomorrow could possibly top today...
Great stories!! Keep em coming! It's like I was there with you!
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing, I am tired now too
ReplyDelete