Yesterday I was up at about 3:30 am. Tossed around for a while and gave it up, packing and getting things prepared. Skyped Gina and Aislin at 6am. It was great to see and hear them and Az insisted on dragging poor Tunzi the cat onto the table so that I could see her too. I heard about the snow in Bend on that cool beautiful morning in Johannesburg. Breakfast and shuttle to the airport to pick up rental car. All went seamlessly and I headed out in my Corolla at 7:30, immediately heading the wrong way on R21. But it was quickly remedied and, with the exception of a missed turn in Belfast, made it to the Orpen gate without adventure. It was hazy and smoky along the way – farmers burn their fields here in the same way that we do in Oregon. When I reached Kruger and entered the Orpen gate, there were giraffe and impala and kudu all waiting and before I’d reached the camp (about 50k), had seen elephant, zebra and hippo as well.
Satara is one of the larger camps and it’s a bustling place, full of noisy tourists from around the world. Checked in at about 3pm, and went to the store for some basic provisions and then out for a quick drive south. One of the really striking things on arrival here is fire. There have obviously been many massive grass fires – right up to the gates of Satara – and many are still smoldering. It’s cool, windy and it’s difficult to differentiate the smoke from the low overcast.
Lions, lions, lions
In a way, I hate seeing lions at Kruger. Don’t get me wrong – I love the idea of lions. They’re big and nasty and are both sociable and incredibly violent. But they’re also the rock stars of KNP and anytime lions are visible the result is a huge, noisy traffic jam. Diesels rattle, tourists talk loudly (really, is there anything louder than a German tourist?) and you can’t get by on the road. But, they are lions and there was a big male sleeping on the road just south of the park. The road parallels a dry riverbed which is low that the bed is out of sight. Along the river however is a large tree full of vultures. That means two things. First, the lions have a kill down in the riverbed. When lions have a large kill, they will hang around for several days, eating at their leisure and keeping the scavengers away. They’ll tag team it – one will eat and guard the kill while the others lumber off somewhere to sleep or walk to the nearest water for a drink. So, in this case that means that a) there are other lions around, out of sight and b) the kill is fresh enough that they’re bothering to keep the vultures away. I made a mental note to come back next day and finished up with my short drive. Dinner, glass of wine and to bed early.
Woke up at about 1:45am. One of the consequences of jet lag. Thought about stuff for a couple of hours and went back to sleep. Awakened at about 4:30 then by the birds and by hyenas very close to the camp. Man, there’s nothing like hearing hyenas at night. Out the gate at 5:30am, heading south. And of course, there’re two lions sleeping in the road a few hundred meters north of the kill. A crowd was gathering and there wasn’t really much of a shot so made my way through the scrum and went on to the site of the kill. For the hell of it, I parked and started taking shots of the vultures, practicing with my new window mount. Then I looked to the right and a beautiful dark male with a dark stripe down the center of his mane walked up out of the draw and lay down about 20 meters away. I shot for a while and then he got up and walked directly behind my car and started to call. If you’ve never been near a roaring lion, it’s an awesome experience. He was literally 5 feet behind the car, rattling my guts with his call. Then his calls were answered from down in the riverbed and I was in the middle of lions roaring in stereo. I so wished Aislin was there – I think she’d be amazed by the experience.
Drove on for 3 hours on this cool, overcast morning and then headed back toward Satara to have coffee and check out. Now there were two males sleeping in the road. - the dark male with the dark strip in the mane and another male – probably the one returning his calls. Sat in the car not 5 feet away, marveling at the full bellies and the labored breathing of the truly engorged.
Now back here at Satara, enjoying an espresso and preparing to check out and begin heading north to Olifants. Need to stop at the store and buy additional electrical adapters (one consequence of jet lag is leaving a bag full of adapters at the hotel in J’burg, damnit).
It’s good to be back and I’m slowly regaining the routine of life here.
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