Africa 2006 Elephant Plains Notes: After a late lunch, the evening game drive heads out at 4:30. Besides the animals, one of the highlights of the evening drive is the sundowner. Best happy hour I've ever been to. Gin and tonics on safari at sunset - life doesn't get much better than that! Dinner is around 7:30 around a log fire in the traditional boma under the night sky. What we saw:
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Vervet monkeys come through camp almost daily. The monkeys are very cute, but will come down and steal your sunblock or book if you leave them unattended. Below the monkeys is a bateleur eagle. This bird is an immature female. |
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Mid-day between game viewing we took a guided bush walk outside of camp. Prince, our tracker, led today's walk. The point of a bush walk is to AVOID the big game. Prince carried a gun in case we did run into any trouble. Below, Prince is holding a lion ant in his hand. On the right you can see the lion ant's funnel trap. Insects fall into the funnel and have trouble climbing out. When the sand is disturbed, the lion ant grabs his victim and pulls him down into his burrow below the funnel. |
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There are termite mounds all over the place. The taller mounds are very old (hundreds of years). Above, Prince broke off the top of an active mound to show us the termites (they will reseal the top overnight). The inside of the mound is moist and warm. The termites are not the kind that destroy houses here in the States. Right, a bateleur eagle. This bird is an immature female. |
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| Around 4:30 we got our gear - cameras and lots of warm layers (it gets cold when the sun goes down). | |
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Above, it is hard to believe that you can have trouble spotting an African elephant in the brush. While they are large, their flat gray color doesn't stand out, and these animals often look like large boulders. Elephants travel in small family groups. Sometimes the older males will travel by themselves. |
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| This is the same mated pair that we saw in the morning. The guides have named the leopards – the male is Mafufanyane and the female is Robsons. | |
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Some of the images to come are rated R
The video is what you hope it is |
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After a long day of service the male leopard lies down in the middle of the road and starts to chew on a large chunk of dung. We couldn't decide if he just was too tired to hunt or was trying to make himself a little less appealing to the female. It seems that it had just the opposite effect! |
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Above left, impala keep a watch out for predators. Above right, a red-billed francolin crosses the road. Below left, a young hyena stalks two young leopards left alone while their mother hunts. Below right, a young leopard leaps with joy as he spots his mother. The hyena could have taken on the cubs if they couldn't reach a tree, but he wasn't willing to get too close to the adult female. |
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| Mafufanyane found that his old girlfriend had put aside an impala in a tree. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to refuel after his active day. Mafufanyane ate his ex-mate's dinner while she, her daughter and the current mate sat below the tree, hoping for some scraps. Seems like this male is not the sharing kind. Even when he had had his fill, he curled up to sleep with what was left, to ensure that the others didn't steal it from him. | |
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