Every game drive starts with high hopes and great expectations, and, in its own way, the drive exceeds those hopes and expectations. You just have to take it as it comes.
Sometimes the magic that is Africa shows itself in a plethora of animals. Sometimes you see an animal you’ve never seen before in the wild. Other times the magic is revealed in the sunrise or sunset. There are drives where the stunning views of the savanna/bush/whatever the territory are jaw-dropping. Sometimes it’s a combination of all those elements, or others.
Watching an elephant sneak under electrical wire supposed to thwart them. Seeing a kill (which I haven’t) or watching the big boys rip apart their kill (which I have). Coming upon cubs or babies cavorting with their brothers, sisters, mothers, and aunts. Eyeing a well-camouflaged animal hiding in the tall grass.
Any or all of these make an African safari a joy to treasure. Viewing wild animals brings me joy, whether it’s bald eagles, painted turtles, or great blue heron whilst kayaking the bays and creeks that feed the Potomac River, penguins, whales, and seals in Antarctica, black bears in Nelson County, Virginia, or polar bears and walruses in the Arctic. Those kinds of days make for really good days.
Just after we left the woods where Sirikoi Lodge is located, we saw a troop of baboons feeding, digging up bugs, and generally acting baboonish. After taking it in for a while, we moved along, out further into the savanna.
James got a call or text that a leopard had been spotted quite a ways a way, in another stunning area of the Lewa Conservancy that we had not yet been. Replete with high hills, dried creek beds below, gazelles and antelope of various size and species, trees and overgrown grass, it was the perfect hunting ground for a leopard to feed himself, and for us to feed our cameras.
(Editor: Any chance you could stop with the use of “leopard” and “spotted” pun? Writer: Honestly, with leopards, I don’t have much else to go on. Editor: Well, you don’t ALWAYS have to use a pun! Writer: Whimpers.)
Others had obviously gotten there first, but we were the third car in. Besides, that’s generally the code of the safari guide; don’t keep an important sighting to oneself.
The leopard weaved through the trees, up and down the dried creek beds, making it hard to keep an eye, and a camera, on him. It moves with precision and grace.
We followed along, shifting positions, but the leopard didn’t stay long in any one place. Just when you thought you had good sight lines, off he went, disappearing around a stand of tightly bunched trees and undergrowth, only to pop out again.
The leopard seemed to consider attacking a confusion of guinea fowl (group names are the best names – a dazzle of zebras, a raft of hippos, and more). Confusion of guinea fowl are pretty high up on the list of the best animal group names. But the guinea fowl were determined not to be an appetizer for the leopard, warning about the agile killer approaching, scooting away before the leopard could kill and buy off hunger for a little longer.
More safari vehicles were coming, so it was time for us to leave, satiated by getting to watch that loneliest of the big cats, a leopard. The only thing left was a male lion. Again, I told myself that between a leopard, a cheetah, hippos, giraffes, Grevy’s zebras, baboons, and more, that I could handle not seeing a male lion. Something aren’t meant to be.
Driving away along the valley, James noticed a Greater Kudu ambling his way down the rocky hillside into the valley. In my humble, yet correct, opinion, the kudu is the most striking of all of the antelopes.
(Editor: “Humble, yet correct, opinion?” You sure think a lot of yourself. Writer: I am more and more flexible about my opinions as I get older. But I am resolute about the graces and stateliness of the Kudu. I mean, they don’t call it the Lesser Kudu, they call it the Greater Kudu, and for a darn good reason.
Its spectacular spiral horns announced “look at me, I may not be a predator but I am a stately being.” The spectacular spiral horns, according to the very readable book, “101 Things to know when you go on safari in Africa,” reach a height of up to eight feet. It’s not the height that wows me, it’s the two curly-ques in each horn that are mind-blowingly beautiful.
I was thrilled to see one again after being quite take with them in South Africa in 2014. And yes, they are as magnificient in real life as I remembered. If you go on safari, don’t forget to give yourself the opportunity to see a kudu. I kidu not.
Dusk was falling hard, but James wasn’t ready to call it a day on finding a male lion. He knew that three bros hang out in the area. They’ve even started a Five Guys rip off, “Three Bros purveyors of locally-sourced fresh kills.” The french fries are pretty terrible and there is no vegan optons, but you know, it doesn’t really matter. The raw meat’s the thing.
James drove us up to the top of a hill, scanning the horizon with his binoculars. Suddenly he reacts. He sees two of three male lion bros, probably doing a fraternity hazing skit. We rumble back down the hill to the general area.
This is a true find by James. No other guide is onto it yet, and wouldn’t be for quite some time. If we could find them, we’d have these sweet, sweet bastards to ourselves for a while. It was further than he realized, but eventually the vehicle shuddered to a halt as the first one was seen resting beneath some trees.
For some reason, I glanced to the right and another male lion popped out from behind some brush. I alerted the others. Tapping Carol on the shoulder, she was briefly annoyed by my interruption, until she turns and comes face to face with a walking male lion who was simply trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Carol gasped, and suddenly we had choice about which lion to watch. So we moved briefly from location to nearby location, and watched the three yawn, stretch, sleep, scratch, and loll about.
The three brothers were spread apart, playing the triangle offense of resting lions. So each of us just picked a lion to focus on for a bit, before switching.
Lions sleep 18-20 hours a day, partly because they eat as much as 25 percent of their bodyweight at one time, and then go without food for up to three to five days. Some quack will trademark “The Lion Diet” where people seeking to lose weight will binge one day and starve for three days. Well, that would be one way to flight inflation, lose weight, and frequently pass out.
The dusk deepens rapidly, so James gets us ready to head out, but first plays a joke on us. He lets the car stall, then pretends he is unable get the car to start. Meena and Carol make that noise one makes when they realize they might be stuck here all night, with the distinct possibility of becoming the binge part of “The Lion Diet.” James doesn’t hold the moment too long however, as he chuckles and starts the Land Rover in a very brief time,
James, rightfully proud of discovering the location of the lions all by himself, did not text/call-in the finding. Seeing us hanging out, stopped for a while off-road, two other vehicles raced to see our find before night fell. Remember, the guides can only drive off-road for the big cats – lions, leopards, and cheetahs.
As we were halfway back in the dark, another Land Rover was coming pell-mell in our direction, trying to get to the lion sighting before they start their evening hunt. You can imagine the near-panic in the guide’s mind – “I promised my clients male lions, and this is their last night. Gotta be a hero and make it happen.” Well, a guide’s got to do what a guide’s got to do.
It was an amazing last ride at Lewa Conservancy. Baboons, a leopard, a kudu, and male lions. It’s fitting to use one of my favorite lyrics from The Lion King’s “Circle of Life:”
"From the day we arrive on the planet, and blinking, step into the sun,
There is more to see than can ever been seen, more to do than can ever be done."
Those last two lines are true, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try.
Sorry (not sorry!), there are going to be a ton of photos, but remember the animals we saw on this drive.
1 comment:
Absolutely incredible!!!
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