Day 1I have not been a reliable diarist. I've been keeping handwritten notes to then post here. But so much going on, I've not kept them up at all. I've caught them up now but my typing is way behind. I'll try to stay chronological in my posts though. As luck would have it, "Day 1" Coinsides with July 1, etc. By the way, if my "en route" did not include it, the GPS is S. 24d 22.9'; E. 31 d 19.3'.
On arrival at Ngala we checked in at reception. It id not a large place. I think there are a total of 21 double occupancy cabins. So reception is an informal affair, a desk in an open arch with a small office behind. Then a safety briefing. During the day when you leave your cabin, please latch the door (there are no key locks, as the people are all staff and need to be able to get in anyway. It's the baboons. They have worked out how to use the door handles, so don't forget the dead bolt! If you are inside, use the hook and eye bolt, the baboons will come in while you are there.
During daylight, it is ok to walk around the grounds, but stay no closer to the water hole than the path. (Any closer would be in some animal's discomfort zone and you may not see them.) At night only go escorted by staff. The camp is not fenced and in addition to baboon - who will trash your room but are not dangerous - there can be leopard, lion, elephant or rhino moving through the camp.
After lunch, a break to get settled, the tea at 3:00 followed by our first drive. The vehicles are Landrover trucks with the driver bench and three more benches behind. In addition there is a fold down jumpseat for the tracker. It looks for all the world like the cars on the "Temple of Doom" ride at Disney Land - Uh, no, scratch that; reverse it.
We are told that it is important to stay in the vehicle and don't stand. The animals are familiar with the silhouette of the vehicles and they are not perceived as threatening. If a giraffe perceives a threat, it will run away, if a lion perceives a threat it will attack.
Our guides are Mark, a white South African and Solly, a member of the local tribe. Mark also grew up in the area on a "farm" (read private game reserve) and is very experienced in the area.
All roads lead past the airstrip, and there we saw a herd of Impala. Mark says that
the black markings on their backsides warms the fur and attracts ticks, which they then sweep off with their tails. (Another guide later asks us what letter the markings look like. "Uhh well an "M" right?" -- Yes, that's right like McDonalds, because everyone eats there!) The goal is to find some leopard that Mark and Solly have been tracking for several days. We see sign of lots of other things, elephant tracks, termite mounds everywhere, then Cameron (my nephew) says from the back seat: "cheetah . . . Guys, Cheetah! . . . YO! CHEETAH 2 O'CLOCK!!" There was a cheetah lying in the grass that allowed us to drive right up to it. It is absolutely amazing to be so close to this amazing creature and her so completely non-plussed.
After seeing the Cheetah, we went further into the brush and dropped off Solly to track the leopard. So here we are in a big vehicle, with a rifle, and solly takes off on foot, armed with a two way radio. Mark says it is because they will be tracking and covering a lot of ground and a gun would just be extra dead weight.
We did not see other big game this first evening, Mark scouted covering lots of ground with the vehicle, and kept in radio contact with Solly, once we went where they were and Solly and another tracker steered us where they thought the leopard would be seen, but nothing. Eventually we stopped for drinks, Solly caught up to us, and we started the dusk / dark drive back to the lodge.
In the dark, Solly was back in his tracker chair with a spotlight that he flickered over the surrounding terrain and trees impossibly fast, occasionally pointing out nocternal creatures in the brush. How he could see them is a mystery, but he did. Even more amazing is that he could see the impala, steinbuck and other diurnal animals before spotlighting them, and avoiding them with the light. The nocternal creatures night vision returns very quickly. Not so for the diurnal. So to spotlight them would put them at a disadvantage for some time after we had gone.
Finally, back to the lodge and dinner, After an amazing day, bed by about 9:30.
On arrival at Ngala we checked in at reception. It id not a large place. I think there are a total of 21 double occupancy cabins. So reception is an informal affair, a desk in an open arch with a small office behind. Then a safety briefing. During the day when you leave your cabin, please latch the door (there are no key locks, as the people are all staff and need to be able to get in anyway. It's the baboons. They have worked out how to use the door handles, so don't forget the dead bolt! If you are inside, use the hook and eye bolt, the baboons will come in while you are there.
During daylight, it is ok to walk around the grounds, but stay no closer to the water hole than the path. (Any closer would be in some animal's discomfort zone and you may not see them.) At night only go escorted by staff. The camp is not fenced and in addition to baboon - who will trash your room but are not dangerous - there can be leopard, lion, elephant or rhino moving through the camp.
After lunch, a break to get settled, the tea at 3:00 followed by our first drive. The vehicles are Landrover trucks with the driver bench and three more benches behind. In addition there is a fold down jumpseat for the tracker. It looks for all the world like the cars on the "Temple of Doom" ride at Disney Land - Uh, no, scratch that; reverse it.
We are told that it is important to stay in the vehicle and don't stand. The animals are familiar with the silhouette of the vehicles and they are not perceived as threatening. If a giraffe perceives a threat, it will run away, if a lion perceives a threat it will attack.
Our guides are Mark, a white South African and Solly, a member of the local tribe. Mark also grew up in the area on a "farm" (read private game reserve) and is very experienced in the area.
All roads lead past the airstrip, and there we saw a herd of Impala. Mark says that
the black markings on their backsides warms the fur and attracts ticks, which they then sweep off with their tails. (Another guide later asks us what letter the markings look like. "Uhh well an "M" right?" -- Yes, that's right like McDonalds, because everyone eats there!) The goal is to find some leopard that Mark and Solly have been tracking for several days. We see sign of lots of other things, elephant tracks, termite mounds everywhere, then Cameron (my nephew) says from the back seat: "cheetah . . . Guys, Cheetah! . . . YO! CHEETAH 2 O'CLOCK!!" There was a cheetah lying in the grass that allowed us to drive right up to it. It is absolutely amazing to be so close to this amazing creature and her so completely non-plussed.After seeing the Cheetah, we went further into the brush and dropped off Solly to track the leopard. So here we are in a big vehicle, with a rifle, and solly takes off on foot, armed with a two way radio. Mark says it is because they will be tracking and covering a lot of ground and a gun would just be extra dead weight.
We did not see other big game this first evening, Mark scouted covering lots of ground with the vehicle, and kept in radio contact with Solly, once we went where they were and Solly and another tracker steered us where they thought the leopard would be seen, but nothing. Eventually we stopped for drinks, Solly caught up to us, and we started the dusk / dark drive back to the lodge.
In the dark, Solly was back in his tracker chair with a spotlight that he flickered over the surrounding terrain and trees impossibly fast, occasionally pointing out nocternal creatures in the brush. How he could see them is a mystery, but he did. Even more amazing is that he could see the impala, steinbuck and other diurnal animals before spotlighting them, and avoiding them with the light. The nocternal creatures night vision returns very quickly. Not so for the diurnal. So to spotlight them would put them at a disadvantage for some time after we had gone.
Finally, back to the lodge and dinner, After an amazing day, bed by about 9:30.
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