Good morning once again at 5 am from our wake up call from our guide Chris. Yes, Chris we are about ready to go, I’ve been up since about 4 am, once again to excited to get into any serious REM sleep. Coffee and muffin and we are off, what a great way to begin our day. The weather is sunny and warm beginning to get hot even at this hour. We are searching for giraffes and hippos this morning and of course stopping at any other animals of interest.
We go around the first corner where there is usually the Impalas grazing so I kick back a bit when Chris turns and says, baboons, a whole pack of them. Anywhere between 30 and 50 go past us where the before mentioned Impalas are usually grazing, this looks like it’s going to be an exciting and unpredictable day. Camera shutters in full force.
From here it was indeed a morning filled with not only the targeted animals but also everything from waterfowl to a crocodile and the cute, fun little dung beetles. This morning after our Safari it was time for our one hour bush walk with Chris. Jan and I are the only ones interested in doing this, we are a little surprised but do understand our other guests individual situations, breakfast for some. Lol.
Chris pulls out the rifle and makes sure he had extra bullets, he then tells us rules of this walk. Let’s just say that once he asked if we were ready to go, I said well yeah I was, should I be nervous? Some rules, single file in the brush, no talking, stay close, if you need to get my attention click your fingers, etc. So we are off, gulp, Chris, Jan in the middle then me. He says that most of the trails that we will be on our not ours but made by the passing animals, gulp again. We had recently gone by one of those stocky harsh looking wart hogs, yes the animal with the foreboding tusks, hmm, don’t really want to see him while on foot so let’s stay close to Chris, I’m thinking, remember, no talking. Chris does a great job, we stop at several spots where identifies several hoof indentations in the dirt, “this one is a giraffe, this one here a Rhino etc.”, he then informs us about how the Rhino marks this area, urine first then he would drag his hind foot through it to get some of the dirt onto his foot. Yes, I’m constantly looking over my shoulder for my little friend, not friend, mister wart hog or any other possibly unfriendly visitors. We do see some friendly impalas towards the end of our trek as well as some cute little birds. We felt very fortunate to take this stroll in the wilds of Africa with our skilled experienced guide, Chris. Thank you Chris for this unforgettable experience.
After our well deserved breakfast we relaxed in our beautiful, private accommodations until lunch, they do a wonderful job here at the lodge and always with beautiful smiles. After lunch it was time for a little retail therapy at the lodge store before heading back to the room to get ready for our evening drive.
Another fantastic outing with more sightings of animals including but not limited to giraffes, wildebeests and Rhinos. Where were actually on the hunt for the allusive male lion and a bull elephant, our guides were in full tracking mode, even leaving us in the land cruiser unattended for about 20 minutes, yes, they brought the rifle with them. “If anything approaches you, use channel 2 on the handheld.” Lol. They tracked the lion but it was in a spot that made it impossible for us to view him, and no we are not allowed out of the vehicle. Perhaps later they said, “when it cools off he may come out for a repositioning.” We left this area and as we stumbled onto two beautiful giraffes we got another flat tire, oh, oh. Fixed within 10 minutes giving us great time to view the giraffes before we were off again. So here we, no luck finding the lion or the bull elephant (really a big male elephant), what to do as the sun had just set and it was beginning to get dark, we’ll set up the bar with snacks of course. This time it was a full bar, they had everything out here in the middle of nowhere, okay, gin and tonic for me, Jan had a beer. As we were sipping the last of our beverages we look off in the distance and low and behold lumbering along is a bull elephant heading in our direction. So picture this, it’s dusk we are close to a watering hole so the bubble frogs are making their noises (like popping bubble wrap) and a light dewy mist sets in and there is this enormous animal moving like a small building towards us. Chris says, “it best we go”. We pack up in minutes and back out of our area just as he lumbers past, we are in awe. Sadly, although my camera is great, it is not so great in low light, I resort to my iPhone and take the best pics I can. What really surprised me though was at the speed these mammoth animals move at, they physically move slow but in that their stride is so big they move quickly. From first sighting to the time he passed the original spot where we were just standing, less than 10 minutes had passed and he was way off in the distance.
Chris’s radio then chimes up, another guides announces, “the male lion you had tracked is on the move” and now so are we. Again a very low lighting setting so pics were a struggle but again picture this, we spot the lion and using a special filtered light, Chris positions the vehicle to be in a position where this incredible, king of the jungle, walks right past on my side of the vehicle, wow, Facebook friends I have loaded this video, absolutely breathtaking. Blog followers, I’m going to see what I can do…
It is now pitch dark and we are about 45 bumpy minutes away from the lodge and the sky is being lit up with lightening, hmm are we going to get back before the skies open up? Chris says, ”We did well, it was supposed to begin raining at 7 pm tonight”, it is already 8:15. We suddenly stop, Chris turns off the lights and the engine, we are surrounded in fireflies, simply wow. A few minutes later with the lightening getting bigger we are on our way. We arrive at the lodge and as we step under cover, the skies open up and it begins to pour buckets, how’s that for timing. For us it is dinner time at the lodge, we sit in the warmth of outside with the rain pattering on the roof above us. The chef tonight has prepared a sample platter for two, “would you care for some wine” our beautiful smiling waitress asks us, “absolutely”, we say, “do you still have some of that wonderful pinotage?”, absolutely, she says. Jan settles into a glass of the Chardonnay that she loves. So what did you do today?
Oh, it’s not over, we arrive to our room and it is dimly lit with tea lights all throughout the bathroom, the claw footed bathtub is partially filled with bubbles, there sits an unopened bottle of Amaretto with two shot glasses. What a beautiful setting. Phinda Mountain Lodge staff get all the details just perfect…
Some pics of our day, hope you enjoy…
Quote of the day, “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
My friend, not friend, the Wart Hog…
Coffee before our Wilderness Trek
Ready to go.
Hoof of a Giraffe
Beautiful
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