Into the bush

May 5, 2009

Our ranger woke us up this morning at 5;30am for our first game drive of the week. The two South Africans, Charlotte York, our ranger, a tracker and I piled into an eleven-seater jeep and headed into the wild.

As we ambled along, we first came upon a giraffe, apparently an old guy, just munching on a tree. We also happened upon some impala and a fugly-looking hyena.

Our tracker and ranger kept their eyes on the road, examining the dirt for animal footprints and identifying the different poop, in the hopes of finding some lions to track down. More than once, our intrepid tracker alighted from the jeep and went off into the bush himself, before rejoining us to lead us toward a potential pride of lions.

Once the ranger learned of the lions’ whereabouts, we went into overdrive, bursting through the bush, and clearing our own path. We came upon two female lions, sipping from a little pool of water and understood that the rest of the pride must be nearby.

When the lions were refreshed, we followed them into the bush and found the rest of the pride: several additional females and about a half dozen adorable little baby cubs! They were feasting on a freshly killed zebra, pulling at its meat or lounging content and full to the side. We stopped for a while, watching the lions enjoy their meal and snapping a million photos before we continued.

We were on our way, back in exploration/tracking mode in the bush, when we suddenly chanced upon a female leopard, walking down the road. She kept walking a few paces, rolled on the ground, got up, and continued walking. At one point, she was approximately a foot away from me, alongside the jeep! Fortunately, she didn’t seem interested in eating panda meat.

Our ranger followed the leopard for a while, with us in total awe. Apparently, the leopard is the most elusive of the “big five”: lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo.

By this time, our three hour game drive concluded and we returned to the lodge and enjoyed a hearty breakfast.