Day four of our road trip began in the Addo elephant park, at first light- it's a rare day that i'm awake before Pop, but when he joined me, he brought tea in last night's wine glasses. In the meantime, I drew an aloe plant and enjoyed the bird symphony. I am no ornithologist, so I identify them my way: kazoo-bird, jewish mother-in-law bird, dove, finch, clown-trumpet bird, whoot-whoot bird, etc. Just before we were to check out, a group of elephants came down to the watering hole around which the huts had been built, and the kids started playing....
Soon enough we were driving through the park again. And again, we had a close encounter with a family of elephants. Down at one of the watering holes where lions had been spotted the day before, was a group of elephants. Except this time, Pop took the pictures because I wanted to have as unmediated of an experience as possible. (I don't love taking photos, it's just not my medium). The day before, we had been nervous to be so closely approached. This time, I was all calm as Mama and young ones slowly walked towards us.
I had not noticed before that they're walking on their tip-toes, really, and the pad of their foot is soft at the very bottom- it goes convex when they lift the foot. Elephants dance- we saw them that morning- a jelly-leather funk, heads nodding, rump-a-shakin'... ... but the family that walked so close to us again was simply walking and in the walk was a slowing of time.
We drove on washboard roads for a while through the rust and sage-colored lands towards the Shamwari Game Reserve. This is a private reserve that contains within it five of the seven natural ecosystems of south africa. The reserve is explored by safari tours from the five lodges where visitors stay. I don't know what the other ones were like but ours was SHI-SHI! wow.. when pop was researching this whole trip, he looked at the numbers and converted the currencies, making a math error in the price by a factor of ten. A few emails back and forth with me and the reservation people and he ended up with a price a mere fraction of normal, and then we got upgraded somehow, so we ended up at this place called eagle's crag (which is semi-ironic because the eagles moved around the corner because the lodge's noise bothers them). It was over the top, really, a royal treatment- a spa, conference area, bar/lounge and full dining area all for six rooms- the kind of place where they greet you at the door with a champagne flute of lemonade and have a folded bathrobe on your bed with a very yummy nougat on the table. It all kind of made me uncomfortable, and i took to going around barefoot. I mean, talk about inequality- I think we were there on the friday the Obama addressed the delegates at Copenhagen and said hey, I know what's going on, and I'm going to let it happen. Amy's in the Bella of the Beast and I'm the white girl on the exclusive safari. I don't know how to juggle these things but there's only one reason why we were there- because we're here in Cape Town for a month living cheaply on a boat in the harbor and this was our one chance to hope to see the strange and beautiful beasts happily trotting through their home. I gave my ants a rest and ate their nougat.
This place never promises, but all the guides are coordinating with each other, and I think there's some kind of nerve center, so the chances are high. Between two four-hour safaris, sleeping and eating (like royalty), I actually didn't have time to shower until we were almost gone. Our guide Antoinette showed us the solitary black rhino with his pointy lips picking at the succulent branches,
a family of white rhino
, giraffes and lounging cheetahs
and the big male lion (Pop's comment was that his territorial call, which he is making in the photo, started off sounding like indigestion)
and impalas
and blesbok and springbok and zebras
and a sqirrely little duiker. Our jeep companions the first evening had witnessesed a "tennis match" the day before, when the mother cheetah and her young ones (about 1 1/2 year old ) had been hunting. But the young ones were far too eager and had started running after their dinner at a time that dinner was far enough away that it could outrun the cheetah's sprint. So back and forth across the broad plains they had gone, the boys chasing the herd, mom doing her best with the situation, everyone resting as the jeep bumped along trying to track everything, and repeat. Eventually they stopped the jeep and had a g&t instead of chasing everyone around, and watched from the middle. No dinner was caught that evening. In the morning, they caught something small- their bellies not full but not as thin when we saw them lounging in the evening.
Our companions did not join us at dawn the next morning. We set off into the wilds, found the male cheetah having just caught a baby something. He was breathing hard, recovering and as yet unable to eat.
With the smell of blood on the air, he is at his most vulnerable (hyenas, lions), and was keeping a very watchful eye. He had just begun to eat when we needed to leave (there is a guideline that not more than two jeeps be present at a location), but of course we were all amazed to even be able to be there in the first place anyway, so it's not like we were disappointed. We went off in search of the female and her cubs, returning to the place we had found them snoozy the evening before. (and on the way, we saw a big white rhino following the scent of a lady,
and a secretary bird, which Mom particularly likes- in the eagle family, but hunts by foot).
The cats weren't there, and there was a moment of sadness. But I borrowed Antoinette's binoculars and scanned around from where they had been to who knows were- and lo! off at the far edge of the field, looking much like a dead tree, were three cats sitting close together! Soon they moved on, and there begun our bumpy chase scene. there are roads that we mostly stick to- every now and then the guide will drive a jeep over a clump of low bushes, to get the best view of something but for the most part, we stick to roads. so we criss-crossed their path, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind them, and working together- Pop and I kept track of their motion as Antoinette managed her part- the gorgeous gatos strode, hopped and trotted among the bushes- so unbelievably graceful.
We lost them for a bit, but I found them again, peering out over the field. Then they moved forward again to a place that wasn't particularly protected but the few jumpy creatures in the field didn't see them, and there we all watched and waited. This is the part where I was most struck by how odd it was to be so close to them- that we could be literally fifteen feet from these amazing creatures and they just completely ignore us- I don't get it- we're this big rattly long-bed jeep and three cats hunting just don't care.... crazy. anyway, the two boys, one bigger and more dominant, stared off in one direction. Mom was focussed in a different direction. From our vantage point, I couldn't see quite what any of them were looking at, since no four-legged lunch target seemed to be anywhere close. off on the opposite hill were some zebras (too big for cheetahs), and there was a distant springbok. In with the zebras were impalas, so maybe that's what the boys were paying attention to. Antoinette noted to us that it seemed like a mostly impossible situation so far, and that's right about the time that the bigger boy took off. Mom loped after him, the humans, and she too, presumably, let out a sigh, and the smaller boy just stayed where he was, not moving at all. Not even vaguely paying attention.
As you might imagine, the rest happened pretty fast- Antoinette moved the jeep a bit so that we could see the rest of the field where they'd run to and then directed me with the binoculars to the movements out there- I found one cheetah moving, and a group of zebras and some fleisbok. It was Mom, I was pretty sure, since she has a radio collar that I could barely see. And she was moving all right, but then she was flying- everything behind her in the binoculars was a complete blur, even the zebras were kind of a blurry (I mean, I know that's the point, but..) and she was incredible- and then, POF, dust, and a little cream and white thing kicking. Antoinette said "brilliant!", and took off to where she was. Mom caught a baby fleisbok- apparently what had happened was that the boy had chased the mess of them into the corner of the field and they had made kind of a u-turn right about the time that Mom was coming along, not expecting success. Mom wasn't able to get any of the bigger animals, but in the mayhem that her son had created, a baby had gotten left behind, and she picked him off. We bipeds in the metal cage had just been lucky enough to watch. unbelievable. I still shake my head in amazement.
So we arrive at the scene, and Mom is doing as she does, suffocating the little one, and when she's done, calls to her sons, a high-pitched but very quiet tone. The bigger boy comes, and- HA, claims the kill as his own, taking it by the throat and walking off with it. The smaller son comes along, and I guess Mom just decided to get over her exhaustion quickly at the risk of going hungry because the boys sure didn't wait for her, and they all tucked in to the small meal pretty quickly. Hind quarters first. We were so close that we could hear the snapping of tendons and the whining of the competition amongst them for a fair share.
Antoinette called the other rangers with our whereabouts and as the second approached, we drove off slowly, passing through leopard territory (figured we might as well see just how strong this lucky streak was!) on our way to our own breakfast. She told us about the acacia trees- I had asked her earlier about symbiotic relationships and she told me about wasps that lay eggs in the acacia thorns, and the way that if one acacia is being eaten (since they are very high in nutrients, so a prize food), it will broadcast a pheromone that other trees pick up, all of them turning bitter as self-defense. fascinating...
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