Saturday Afternoon Drive

People go on safari in Africa to see and shoot the Big Five. On Camera. The Big Five name is a throw back to when the animals were shot with guns and their heads and/or bodies taken back as wall trophies or area rugs.

Yuck.

Most - but not all - are now protected by law. That does not mean that illegal poaching no longer occurs. It does. We are warned before we travel not to post any real-time photos on social media whilst in the bush:  sophisticated poachers scan social media all the time, to find out where the profitable animals might be. It’s pretty creepy.

The Big Five are:  elephant, rhinoceros, Cape buffalo, lion, leopard. To the Super Seven are added:  cheetah and the critically endangered wild African dog. Actually, they’re probably closer to the wolf than a dog, but they too, like lions, hunt in packs.  We did not see any on our safari, but Mitch had two memorable experiences with them.

He once tracked a pack of wild dogs chasing a kudu all night all day.  The kudu, considerably larger than any one dog, reached the periphery fence and could go no further.  It turned to defend itself.  The pack took turns harassing their prey while others would lie in the shade watching. Talk about tag teaming!

Finally the kudu gave in and they were all over and done with him quickly.

The second tale takes place right here in the main, open air hall of our Lodge. It was early one morning, before most of the guests had gathered for the morning drive.  An impala bounded up the front steps and through the hall, with about 20 dogs after it.  They brought it down just at the far edge of the hall, tore it up and carried the pieces away, hardly stopping for anything. Everything was gone in a flash, the dogs and the kill.

Mitch recalls with a slight smile that none of the guests who arrived after had any idea of what they’d just missed.

Now on with today’s 

Afternoon Drive

It’s all about the kill. Or should I say about the aftermath of the kill.

The deceased:  a zebra.  Remains tucked away in the bush.  We make them out just beyond a napping, panting lioness.

She flicks her tail, raises her head, rolls onto her back then onto her other side.

We are about 20 feet away and she doesn’t care. Her belly is full.

After a while, we leave the lion and the carcass, stripes still visible, backing out the way we come in.

There are six of us in the safari car with Mitch:  Annabel and I; two Germans, and two South Africans from Johannesburg: Portia and Gershwin. Real names.

About half a mile along the road from the kill, Portia says, “I see ears! There!” and she points into the bush on the other side of the road.

We see nothing. Mitch sees nothing.  We stop anyway with the chance she actually saw something.

There are the ears!

And under the ears rises up a lone hyena lying amid the scrabble behind a bush.  Napping. Biding its time to get to that carcass after the lions are done.

Mitch is pretty sure there are other lions hidden in the bush surrounding the kill to protect it from scavengers until they’ve had their fill.

Our hyena lifts its head every once in a while.  It looks like it’s smiling.

Those teeth.  Look a little longer and the ‘smile’ becomes a grin. A grimace. Menacing.

Those teeth bite through bone. And yes, Mitch says, it mostly keeps its mouth open to help pant off the heat.

The teeth are just part of the fun.  I’ve seen horror movies and monsters where the creators use that Hyena mouth, those Hyena teeth for extra terrifying effect!

You’ll notice the hyena is wearing a collar. It’s a tracking device. 

As we sit watching the hyena with our backs to the road, along trots a solitary jackal. About the size of a fox but no bushy tail. And bigger, rounded ears.

It stops. It knows the hyena is there. The hyena knows the jackal is there. Both go back to what they were doing: the hyena napping, the jackal trotting. The jackal turns off the road on the other side to join another jackal - they’re all waiting for the lions to be done. They want next dibs on the kill.

The following morning I ask Mitch about what happens to the remains of the dead zebra.  He tells me:

After the lions are done, the hyenas and jackals come in. They want whatever fleshy parts are left, but they’re quite happy, those hyenas, to bite into the bones, eat the marrow, eat the bones.

Then the jackals.  Then the bugs, beetles etc.

By morning the entire remains will be gone having fed a host of fauna.  Even the dung beetles will enjoy a breakfast from the poo left by the lions and scavengers.  The bugs, in turn, are eaten by birds and other things. It’s trite to say it, but ‘the circle of life,’ there it is.

We continue on our way into the sunset. 

You might notice the lone, dead tree silhouetted by the pink sky. There are a lot of those dead trees around here. The elephants do that to trees. Eating the leaves, scratching themselves, and generally lumbering around through the bush.

This evening’s sundowner is a more elaborate affair, with staff from the Lodge laying out a nice cocktail hour in the bush, featuring several South Africa gins, including one called Six Dogs. It’s blue, but the tonic water turns it pink.

I stick with wine.

I have to pee (of course).  Mitch immediately gets his rifle out from the car and scopes out the area behind a big bush across the road.

All clear.

Loo paper goes into a brown paper bag given to me along with the loo paper to bus home to my room:  no t.p. stays in the bush.

On the way home, with the sun gone and the stars out, Mitch points out two constellations.  One I see all the time in the Northern Hemisphere:  Orion.  The other is brand new to me, this being my (almost) first time in the Southern Hemisphere:  the Southern Cross.  It’s cool to know that Orion can be seen in both hemispheres, but it’s even cooler to see the one you can only see ‘down here’.

Back in my suite, I open the curtains and look out onto the bush and into the sky.  The Milky Way is so bright you can almost read from the starlight. And so quiet!  No lion roars, no bugs buzzing.  

We are in a malaria-free zone here in Madikwe.  They Deet the rooms before we return in the evening so there is no need for bug repellent or mosquito nets around the bed.

A day full of wonder, a little fear, a lot of learning. We are so fortunate we have Mitch as our guide, in the true sense:  not only does he know a whole lot about life (and death) out here in the bush, he is eager to share his knowledge. You can tell he loves his job.

Next is our penultimate Morning Drive on Sunday.