Day 10 - Sabi Sand to Capetown

An action packed day today, as we take in the morning game drive before driving the 7 hour trek back down to Jo'burg via the "Panoramic Drive." Woke up to another stunning sunrise. Ian had been holding camera-duty for most of the trip, but every now and then he'd hand it over to me to try a shot or two. Here's my attempt at capturing the sunrise...as I mentioned to Ian right after taking it -- looks an awful lot like sunset to me!

The morning drives always seemed a bit more quiet than the afternoon/evening drives (maybe the animals take after Ian) so we weren't expecting a ton of action. However, not long into the drive, we came upon a new leopard: Mbilo, a young female, just 2 or 3 years old. She was hungry and we caught her as she was on the hunt for breakfast. She let our vehicle follow her around the bush for a good 15 minutes or so as she climbed up rocks to see if there was anything nearby to pounce on. Made for some gorgeous shots:

She finally spotted a steenbuck and started stalking it -- sadly, she was too far into the bush for us to get a good shot of the stalking or attempted kill (the steenbuck got away). But it was still very exciting nonetheless.

We saw a bunch of small animals -- lizards, eagles, squirrel-like furry things -- good opportunity to work on the optical zoom. As we stopped on a overlook for our daily tea and coffee break mid-game drive, for example, we saw another yellow-billed hornbill picking up crumbs from our biscuits along with a pretty wicked lizard. Here's what the shot could've been:

Here's what the zoom let us do: (pretty amazing!)

On the tea stop, we also saw a small group of elephants start to make their way into the open field in front of us. They got about halfway through the field when their matriach apparently smelled our scent coming over the plains. They all stopped and after a moment or so, turned around and went back the way they came! Apparently we smelled or sounded too weird for them to chance being out in the open field like that.

We couldn't leave Elephant Plains without one more close-up encounter with elephants though! Just before we pulled back into the lodge, we literally ran into a herd crossing the road before us.

With that, it was time to end the game drive and leave Elephant Plains. It was an amazing 3 nights there and we would love to come back in the future sometime.


After a quick check-out, we jumped into the waiting minivan for our private 10-hour drive/guided tour through the Panoramic route back to Jo'burg.

In hindsight, we'd have to say that the Panoramic tour may have been our only "this may not have been worth it" activity on the trip thus far. To be fair, this could have been because the sky was a bit hazy throughout the tour, as you will see in some of the pictures below.

The trip started with a stop at the Three Rondavels, a highlight of the Blyde River Canyon viewpoints. It was very hazy, so we couldn't get a really clear shot, so you'll have to take us at our word that it was a pretty spectacular sight. :)

As our guide mentioned, the Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon in Nairobi. I wish we'd gotton more pictures of the drive up to the Canyon -- as with all trips, you never know that you've passed your best shot until it's too late!

After that, we passed a couple waterfalls (nothing too extraordinary) and arrived at the Bourkes Luck Potholes, where the constant swirling of water over the centuries created these really cool circular holes -- much like potholes -- in the canyon walls:

Here's a shot of Ian posing above the Potholes (I include this shot, even though it's not spectacular, for two reasons: 1, to prove to suspicious blog-readers that we actually did go here and didn't just cut and paste pictures from the internet, and 2, to prove that I did in fact take SOME pictures!)

Finally, we ended at Wunderview -- a viewpoint overlooking the area known as "God''s Window", or, as fans of "The Gods Must Be Crazy" would know it, "the End of the Earth." (rent and watch the movie if you have no idea what I'm talking about -- it's really really good!) Apparently on a clear day, you can see as far as 80 kilometers (some say all the way to Mozambique!):

With that, we completed our official tour stops and proceeded to sit back for six hours of driving until Jo'burg. However, Ian and I both agreed that the tour was made infinitely more worthwhile and interesting because of these next six hours. This is when our guide started talking to us about South Africa and random tidbits on politics, the economy, gender roles, racial tensions, the environment, tourism, and more. For example, he told us that as a coloured person (in South Africa, that is the term for people of black and white mixed race heritage), he was kicked out of the military because he was not black -- he found it quite ironic that the coloureds were previously not-white enough under apartheid were now not-black enough under post-apartheid (apparently the government requires that a lot of companies and organizations maintain a workforce of at least 90 percent black employees).

And of course, what's a South African day without a picture-worthy sunset -- I took this shot as we were driving on the highway, and even then, pretty spectacular.

We checked in for our flight down to Capetown, which, sadly, was delayed, which meant we arrived in Capetown, hopped into our rental Avis and then drove for an hour, on the left side of the road, on highways with very narrow lines and few streetlamps, at 1AM. Yes, I am indeed very thankful to be alive!

Day 9 - South Africa - Elephant Plains

Up with the sun again. Getting used to this 5:30am wake-up... so long as I have my 11:00am-2:00pm nap.
The sunrises are pretty spectacular here.
As we headed out on our morning drive, we didn't get more than 100 meters from the lodge before finding a few of our old pachyderm pals.A few moments later we spotted some vultures up in the trees.

The phrase "look alive!" ran through my head as we passed the carrion crew.

Eagles were out in full force this morning as well.
We saw some Southern Ground Hornbills jumping around on a log. Apparently there are only a couple thousand left in all of South Africa.
In the morning, monkeys don't mind hanging out up in the trees. The eagles don't start picking them out of trees until they've left their own perches and start soaring about.


Ah, zoom... what would I see without you.

We rounded out the "Big 5" with a rhino sighting (mother and child actually!) midway through the morning.
Here's a close-up of mom. She's got a bird in her ear... looks uncomfortable to me.


We stopped for some tea/coffee near a waterhole and watched some baboons playing on the opposite bank.
When walking around the bush, you have to pay attention or you might find yourself stepping into a large pile of elephant dung... which is pretty much everywhere.
Back on the road again, we saw a herd of impala, which are almost as ubiquitous as the elephant dung... though tastier for a hungry leopard I suppose. Check out the two tussling in the back of this photo:

We stopped by a waterhole full of hippos. Caught one in mid-snort:


Never did see one out of the water. Glad I didn't though, because as it turns out the hippo is the deadliest animal in the bush (to humans anyway.) More humans get trampled and killed by hippos than any other animal related fatality out here.
We saw a few lion tracks, but didn't catch up with the pride.
We got back, had breakfast, went on the bushwalk, and I went straight to bed. Ming went back to the gym again and then had a spa treatment (I still can't believe they had a spa in the middle of nowhere.) Before the afternoon drive Ming took the Land Rover for a spin.

I was the tracker.
OK, not really. Richard just let us take a few shots while it was parked outside the lodge.
The afternoon drive started off with a few lazy buffalo. These poor guys. They just sit around baking in the sun all day with insects buzzing all about them. When they don't have insects in there eyes, it's only because there's a bird perched on there face pecking at them. Seems like a miserable existence to me.

Once again we saw Salayexe, but this time she was sleeping in a tree.
We drove right under her, took a few photos, and she didn't even stir.
We moved on to let her rest (her cubs were probably sleeping nearby.) A waterbuck was posing not far off:
Wildebeest were grazing on the airstrip, a long field where the tiny planes landed for the super-rich folks who wanted to avoid the 1.5 hour drive from Hoedspruit and fly in directly.


When we caught up with Salayexe again, it was dark. She was active... tense in fact. Other predators were starting their nightly rounds.


Three hyenas, truly ugly animals, started making their way towards Salayexe and her cubs. We saw one flee up a tree to safety, and the other one dart off towards the riverbed. Salayexe stood her ground and let out a hiss (as cats do) when the threat came close. When the hyenas were about a meter away, Salayexe slinked away.


We left them like that. One cub up a tree, Salayexe and cub number two escaped on foot. Hyenas can't climb so it's likely that no cats were harmed that night. Richard said that the hyenas were probably looking to steal some food if Salayexe had recently made an impala kill or something like that. Regardless, it made for quite an exciting night.

Another outside dinner around the fire and we hit the sack.

Day 8 - South Africa - Elephant Plains

We woke up at 5:30am to our "wake-up knock" (no phone for a call) and headed directly to the Land Rover for our morning drive. Everyone was groggy, but eager to find out what the wildlife was up to. Eco-tourists going on these safaris typically hope to see the "big 5": elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, buffalo. Add to that your cheetah and wild dog (both much rarer in the Sabi Sand reserve) and you've got your "big 7".

Spotted a few large birds sitting in a tree silhouetted by the rising sun. I don't remember what kind these were. In fact, there were many times on the drives where I should have been writing down species and interesting wildlife tidbits given that Richard was narrating as we drove along. I was too enthralled to think of it at the time though.


Birds of prey were commonly seen perched on branches with an eye out for the slightest movement of their next meal. I never saw one swoop in for a kill though.


Saw a few zebra grazing along the side of the road.


The fun part of this particular drive, though, was watching the elephant herd stomping around, eating, knocking over trees, etc.


The babies were especially cute.


Sometimes the elephants would come quite close to the Land Rovers. If they felt threatened by us, they would flap out their ears to make them seem even bigger in hopes of intimidating us. When they realized we weren't scared, they simply turned around and ignored us. Generally, animals will try intimidation and avoid resorting to a physical fight (unless they see you as food I guess.)

When the babies try to be intimidating, they get even cuter.
After watching the elephants for a long while we stopped for some tea.
After a little more driving, we headed back to the lodge and had a little breakfast. Then we went on the bush-walk. Walking around, everything suddenly seems bigger than when you are in the Land Rover. The termite mounds, for instance, are massive (and they are pretty much everywhere.) As I understand it, two-thirds of the maze of tunnels that make up the dwelling is underground.
A close-encounter with some warthogs was the highlight of this walk. Ming was struck by how much warthogs really do look like Pumba from the Lion King. It was a comment that I heard two or three other visitors make. I realized, that the poor rangers must get tired of hearing that all the time... it was all I could do to keep Ming from bursting out into a verse of "Hakuna Matata." (ahem, I would like to chime in here that Ian was actually the one who eventually started singing the words to the song).


We headed back to the lodge, and I zonked out for a couple of hours before our 2:00pm lunch Ming went to the gym and worked out... I don't know where she gets the energy.


After lunch (which seemed to consist of similar food every day... kinda reminded Ming of summer camp), we set out for our afternoon drive. We came upon a lone buffalo at a waterhole, which stared at us for a looong time before ambling off.


Next we spotted our first giraffe. Richard explained that by some unknown natural phenomenon... once you have broken the first-giraffe-spotting barrier, you tend to see them everywhere. He was right.


We even saw a baby...


They are such strange animals...


Squirrel sightings were also quite common.


We saw Salayexe again on this drive. She was Richard's favorite of the 15 (or so) leopards in the Sabi Sand Reserve, so he liked to check up on her. Here's a shot to prove I was just a few meters away!

She was resting...

Never disturb your mother while she is resting...


The Land Rovers were often followed by these relatively small black birds which flitted from treetop to treetop as we lumbered along like a four-wheeled elephant. They follow the larger animals around the bush so that they might feast on the insects, which often accompany the slower beasts as they plod along.

As the sun was setting we ate pickles and cheese (an odd combination I must say) and had our sundowners. Before heading back to the lodge, though, we tracked down the fourth of our big 5 (having seen leopard, buffalo and elephants already.)

The pride was asleep. From what Richard was saying, it's not uncommon for these cats to sleep for 20 hours a day. To cool themselves, they'll raise their paws in the air. Doesn't it look like an oversized house-cat just itching to have its belly rubbed.


As night fell, they began to stir.


But they always looked half asleep.

So much for the king of beasts.


We let the lazy cats be and drove back to the game lodge. We had dinner outside around a nice fire and the occupants of each Land Rover (there are three that go out each time) told stories of their sightings.