This entry is for Friday, June 2. It’s Sunday, June 4, 6:40pm as I type, and we’re in Cape Town for the next 3 nights. More on that when I get caught up! Back to our original programming….

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By now you know the routine: first breakfast at 6am, then out on a safari drive by 6:30.

It was always inspiring to watch the colors of the sunrise from the main lodge as we prepared to leave.

Can’t seem to get enough of these sunrises and sunsets.

There were many things about our guides that were impressive, but to me the most impressive thing was how, driving along a dirt road, they could spot tracks and identify the animal. Pretty sure these were lion – Jacob circled it for me so I could see what he was looking at, which helped a little. That they could tell the difference between lion or leopard was wild enough.

This time, Rasta actually got out of the vehicle at a fork in the road and studied the tracks to see which way the lion went.

We came across a watering hole with hippos and an elephant. This one was in much better condition than the mud hole we saw the day before.

Soon after, we came across the lion they’d been tracking. He’s the very dark image just left of center with his back to us but facing the zebras. We were wondering why those zebras weren’t running, and the thought was it was because it was just one lion, and that’s usually not enough to bring one down.

And a bit after that, the 2nd lion appeared, and the zebras skedaddled. Both males, the one on the left older by several years. Rasta referred to them as brothers. Could be from the same mother or just a bond, but he said either way those relationships are for life.

The older one was always in the lead.

We followed them all the way across a wide field. They would walk, sit, walk, sit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one gives you a pretty good idea of how close we were at times since you can see the Land Cruiser in it.

They were going into the thicket and us silly tourists thought that would be it.

Nope, Rasta just drove that Land Cruiser right on through, very bumpily, just mowing down thick grass and bushes. Even Gail was impressed. His primary goal was to keep track of them until the other vehicle of our party could catch up, which they eventually did deep in the thicket. They were able to get glimpses of the lions, but it was really hard to keep track of them in all this brush and soon after we decided we were done and left them in peace. This encounter lasted 27 minutes.

We found another hippo pool in the distance from a nice place to stop for our mid-morning coffee and snacks.

For the morning breaks, they usually didn’t bring out the tables they did for sundowners; there was a tray-like thing they could just flip down on the front of the Land Cruiser.

That break was at about 9:20 and we didn’t see much after that. We got back around 10:45, I took a shower and changed for brunch, and was working on my blog by about Noon. A group of local women had come to give a lesson in basket-weaving, or so we thought, but it was more of a demonstration. Ash started there but it wasn’t what he thought it would be so gave up and came to visit with me, which ended up with this photo.

This is the communal charging station I mentioned in the prior post.

The time between lunch and teatime at 3:30 was always free. I came back to the cabin around 1:30; Ash was napping or taking a shower, so I did a little more work on the blog, then he came out and joined me.

When we left on the 4pm drive, we were supposed to be doing a “bush walk” – a walking safari through the bush where there was a focus on birds, identifying tracks and poop and other things you can’t do on a drive. That was given up when word was out about a leopard sighting. Another guide and tourist had come across one the day before and got some beautiful shots; we were all a little bit jealous! So now very grateful that maybe we’d have our chance. Of course, after our Painted Dog experience, what we were really hoping for is she’d go after one of the impalas that were close by. But alas, it was just a lot of walking around. Still, gorgeous animal. And the guides knew her – had given birth at the camp about a year ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the edge of the vehicle at the bottom of the video, which again shows how close we are. When first spotted her she was sitting at the bottom of this hill. I couldn’t see her from the vehicle, had to use Gail’s binoculars. How these guides see what they see is unbelievable. Gail calls them “bush eyes.” Then they all decided to get closer and it didn’t scare her away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rasta had repositioned us by this point, about 8 minutes after the prior video. The leopard started walking right towards us! We were actually a bit scared – OK I was – having visions of an attack – but then turned around…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To watch her walk Right By us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She walked over to a new mound, and we followed her there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were two jackals to our right, one of whom was yelping loudly. You hear one of those yelps at the very beginning of this clip. He was pretty annoying! It was like he was trying to warn the impalas. But jackals get the leftovers so if there is a kill, and he’s trying to warn, it’s not the best move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She moves again and we follow again. Two things I wanted you to see in this clip: how many dang safari vehicles are following this cat and she doesn’t care one bit. And, as I pan to the far right, a sense of the vastness of the land.

Sharpening her claws on the tree.

Sitting pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleaning herself. This is when Rasta was telling us “We knew her.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More sitting pretty, licking her paws at the end, then…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…quickly gets up and walk away…into the sunset you might say. It’s a gorgeous shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And continued walking. We followed her until she reached the grass and disappeared. This entire encounter lasted 52 minutes, nearly twice the lions and the painted dogs. She sat around and did not much for long periods of time!

With that, we went into our final sundowner of the trip. Ash and I took a couple of selfies. One with the sun above, and one with the moon below.

One final group photo, including our guides: Rasta, Jacob, and Amos. It wouldn’t happen without them.

One last sunset.

All of the food and drinks are inclusive, so it’s a bit of a shame we don’t drink alcohol. So, over the 3 days we tried every non-alcoholic thing they had, which was quite a bit. We ended with a lovely combination of passion fruit and cranberry.

And that, my friends, is the end of our safari. Takes “wild ride” to a whole new level, eh? We loved Every Minute of it and are planning on returning in 2025. Want to come?