I Bless the Rains Down in Africa

Day Two of the Safari: we were up early, even for us -- I got up at 5am, and the knock at the door came at 5:30.  After a quick pre-drive breakfast snack, we hit the road for our second safari drive at 6 am.  It had stormed the night before, but we were so tired we slept right through it.

We started the drive wearing rain ponchos, as it was a light rain, but it cleared pretty early into the drive.  It is a nice set-up that they keep the same people in the same vehicles with the same rangers and trackers. That way they tried to expand the animals that you saw, plus we all got to know each other.

The morning drive was definitely a bird morning.  We saw numerous birds, including two different types of eagles, as well many more impalas.

Our favorites for the morning were definitely the Kudus. The horns of the male Kudus deserve major kudos. They are quite impressive.  We also enjoyed seeing zebra (pronounced with the British "Zed" not the American Z) and wildebeests.  In fact, at one point we saw a herd of Impalas (the animals, not the Chevys) handing with two zebras and two wildebeests.  Luckily, there was no stampede of wildebeests.

At one point we saw a leopard turtle -- which you can see why it is named that from the link.  Justin stopped the vehicle, hopped out, and he told us all about it.  He noted that we could clearly why it is called the leopard turtle, to which I quipped,"because it runs about the same speed?"  Justin, thinking quickly, noted that I was wrong, and that the leopard turtle also dragged its kill into trees.  It was a pretty quick-witted response, and I gave him due props.

We also saw more elephants, more rhinos, some monkeys in a tree, some dwarf mongoose, and countless other animals.  The sight of a rhino relieving itself (both #1 and #2, as my beloved Nana used to delicately put it) is certainly something we will never forget.  There was also the pride of the impalas.  One male impala was standing near the road, not moving one muscle.  It looked like a very buff statue.

As noted before, birds were everywhere.

I think I mentioned it before, but this is definitely terrain is definitely not the Lion King savannah.  The South African Lower Veld is different than we expected -- lots of low scrub, solitary trees, even woodland, and plenty of water (streams, watering holes, etc.).  It made spotting animals difficult sometimes, but the landscape is beautiful.  We did see some large boulders, but we did not see Pride Rock.

After the drive, we returned to Earth Lodge for breakfast at Sabi Sabi.  Not sure I mentioned, but the place was even nicer than we hoped for.  While we only saw elephants there the first day, the setting remained magnificent.  The food was excellent.

Next on the agenda was a bush walk.  Nine of us went with two rangers and a tracker (Justin was one of the rangers, and Petro was the tracker).  Both rangers were carrying a gun, and they gave us explicit instructions for being out on foot.  We did not see a single animal (doesn't mean they were not seeing us!), but we learned a lot in our 45 minute walk, including tasting some berries, learning about elephant scat (more interesting in person than I can write about), and I learned how to fashion a toothbrush from the branch of a small tree.

We also learned about animal paths, and saw a mangled leopard turtle shell.  Petro believes that the leopard turtle served as a snack for a hungry lion, because there were tooth holes through the shell, and it was ripped about in half overall.

The walk was cut short (it was supposed to be 90 minutes) because a storm was blowing in.  While it was off in the distance, it was visible, and the wind shift announced that it was on its way.  We managed to beat the storm back to the Lodge.  It rained hard for a brief time, but ended relatively quickly.

Carol and I had a couples massage in the spa (I'm still trying to figure out the economic logic of a spa at a 12 room resort), and then lunch.  After doing some work, it was time for the evening drive.  The weather kept clearing, so it was a great evening to go out.

The highlight of the afternoon drive was seeing the Cape Buffalo, which got us to four of the so-called "Big Five."    We missed out on leopard (more on that for Day 3).  In addition, Carol and I would have liked to have seen a male lion, a cheetah (even if they never prosper), and giraffes.  Well,we will just have to go on another safari!

We also all met up as the Earth Lodge group (four vehicles) for the sundowners.  That was fun, and I'd love to post the group photos, so hopefully my hard drive didn't fry!  On the drive back in the dark, we saw some smaller animals, and several owls that were hanging out on the road.

Dinner was fabulous again.  We really enjoyed eating on the lawn (tables were set up) under the stars (which were big and bright, even though we weren't deep in the heart of Texas).  We had another fun table, and the food and wine flowed freely.  Dinner finished at close to 10 pm, and it was right to bed -- for an early rise the next morning!