South Africa 2

We are now at Madikwe, a game preserve north of Johannesburg, on the border with Botswana, with Bev&Chris, and their family and friends. Craig and I are very thankful to our friends for all their African travel suggestions, help, and the invitation to join them here. We had wanted to plan some type of safari, but the commercial ones are super expensive. Through their connections, we learned of the places we went to in Namibia, and we all got a special deal, in a beautiful big lodge here. Craig & I have our own large room, and e.g an outdoor shower, where you can listen to exotic birds, loud baboons, or trumpeting elephants while enjoying warm water!

Link to 2nd safari. Now in South Africa

Craig’s videos:
Bull elephant in must
Lion stalking Cheetah
White Rhinos
Lion brothers at poached Rhino


Standing on the deck, we have seen e.g. large herds of elephants including babies, lion(!), baboons, kudu, impala, warthog, and Craig saw a cape buffalo at a distance. It’s fun to observe animals at play, and amazing to see some display their dominance, even chasing very young ones away from the water hole.

Kevin is our Game Warden, and clearly a knowledgeable man. He takes us on early morning, and late afternoon drives in an open safari vehicle, meaning no roof, windows or doors. We are often out when the light is very low, and as we said in Namibia - wish we had had better camera skills & equipment. Am afraid I regardless will include LOTS of pictures as I couldn’t stop taking them, and Craig his videos.

The African reality hit us right away, as a rhino was poached the night before we arrived. This offered us the sight of a tired, full, and content young male lion, guarding ‘his’ meal. A bittersweet sight - the game wardens here had cut the very thick skin of the carcass open, so the animals could eat it.
A few days later, we saw this same lion, now sharing the kill with his older step brother.

The poachers are getting very sophisticated, and one is not to post any info or pictures of rhinos sighted in any media that can be searched. We have been fortunate to see rhinos here, and were told our blog is safe, so will add a couple of pictures after all.

Our first afternoon here, we saw many animals we first saw in Namibia, and Cheetah, now healthy and normal! Hyena and jackals on their way to the carcass, but not daring to get close due to the presence of the lion. I have been especially excited to see also baby elephants, as those we saw in Namibia were adults.
Except maybe the night when we first drove through a herd of cape buffalo (they are huge, and considered potentially dangerous), including their young (they were on each side of the road) and shortly thereafter were ‘surrounded’ by a herd of elephants, again with many young ones - at least one who was nursing! So we finally had to turn around, and what had been supposed to be a shorter than normal afternoon drive ended up being much longer. As Kevin told us day 1 - we are to expect the unexpected.

The morning drive this day also ended up different than planned, as we saw 3 male, and 1 female young lion, just before leaving the house. So Kevin got us all quickly in to the car, and off we went to get close up views of them; of scared impalas, wildebeest and spring bock running in various directions, as one male briefly gave chase. They are siblings, young adults now.
Later, we saw a mom with 3 cubs, late at night - but I saw the cubs all cuddling in a pile. No wonder they remain close also when they need to leave their pride.
Then there was a hyena next to the car, and 3 very tired cheetah, falling asleep as we watched, followed by African Wild Dogs (Painted Dogs), doing the same.

Now we know what an old, and therefore huge, male elephant looks like when in must. This is a phase each year when their testosterone levels increase. We had read about this in a book called ‘The Elephant Company’, and today learned they potentially ‘go berserk’ only when there are females around, and presumably if threatened. We gave this one his space, but he continued on his path right towards us, and passed within a couple of meters max of the car!

One night we had about a dozen giraffe observe our sun downer break, and the next morning, we gave a large herd of elephants their space at a water hole, while we had coffee.

We have been able to get within ~2 meters of male lions and huge elephants, because they are used to the safari vehicles, and don’t feel threatened. But the game warden needs to understand the various animals, to know when to back off etc. We all felt incredibly lucky to be here, to see and experience everything we did.

Facts and unrelated comments:
- all the termites in Africa weigh more than 3x more than all other animals here combined!
- the termite mound precedes the tree we often see next to, or around it. The mound becomes a moist bed for seeds to germinate in.
- the Bustard bird, the largest bird to fly, is becoming more rare as people grab them (to eat) when they slowly take flight.
- sunrise and sunset are gorgeous here, and ‘sun downers’ seem to be a part of  safaris
- we also see lots of beautiful, colorful birds of various sizes. Some at a distance, like a Snake Eagle - their talons are the size of a man’s hand, and they can kill large poisonous snakes in an instant.
- there are thorny bushes everywhere, but the animals reach through the thorns to eat the greenery, berries etc.
- we’ll always wonder what the outcome of some of the interactions we saw between animals will be. Presumably the courted female cheetah will give have cubs, and I hope the lions potentially eyeing another female cheetah will not succeed in getting her. Big cats apparently can kill competitors.
- Kevin was guessing the 2 lions would leave the rhino carcass very soon, and the hyena, the jackals and the various vultures will have their chance. The rhino skin is so tough the lions can’t tear through it.
- the front paws of male lions are huge!! The female lion communicates with others via gentle growls, which we got to hear!
- the wild dog is becoming rarer, and some have started to call it the Painted Dog in an effort to get people to understand the importance of preserving them and their habitat