Far South

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It's our last day here, and we're waiting to check out and our shuttle to the airport. Unfortunately, I am starting to come down with a cold. More unfortunately, Karylinn already has it. She skipped yesterday's trip to the Cape and dinner last night due to fever. 24 + hours in transit will not really be much fun I don't think.

In the mean time, here is one picture - As far away on the planet . . . Anyone remember me saying that? Bill? (No, not you Bill, the other Bill) Well I made it.

Patton

We spent last night in the Radisson on Table bay in Cape Town. Today's event was to the South African wine country. We visited the Ernie Els winery in Stellenbosch. (Yes, Ernie Els the golfer.) The wines were very nice and the views awesome. Along the way we learned about "Cape Dutch" architechture, the new stadium being built in Cape Town for the soccer world cup in 2010, and the housing problem for the tribal africans migrating to the city.

In Stellenbosch, after lunch, there was time for a little shopping. Karylinn bought a couple of scarves from "African Silk". This was the name of the store and also describes the silk. It is from a different worm than asian silk and is not as heavily processed. This makes for a thicker soft (very soft) yarn.

The weavers are all black women living in the area. Many have no husbands, some are abused or have disabilities. Working to produce the silk products provides their income.
Stellenbosch

We spent last night in the Radisson on Table bay in Cape Town. Today's event was to the South African wine country. We visited the Ernie Els winery in Stellenbosch. (Yes, Ernie Els the golfer.) The wines were very nice and the views awesome. Along the way we learned about "Cape Dutch" architechture, the new stadium being built in Cape Town for the soccer world cup in 2010, and the housing problem for the tribal africans migrating to the city.

In Stellenbosch, after lunch, there was time for a little shopping. Karylinn bought a couple of scarves from "African Silk". This was the name of the store and also describes the silk. It is from a different worm than asian silk and is not as heavily processed. This makes for a thicker soft (very soft) yarn.

The weavers are all black women living in the area. Many have no husbands, some are abused or have disabilities. Working to produce the silk products provides their income.

Karylinn's two scarves were made by Norita who was there in the shop, working at her loom. For the two scarves, Karylinn paid R632 each. I spoke with Norita and she said that each one takes about 5 days to make. So here is an exercize for the reader: R7.55 = $1.00; The price includes VAT (Value added tax) of about 14%; percentage supporting the shop = ?; materials cost something, so - Norita's hourly rate?

Tomorrow our tour takes us to one of the townships where we learn more.
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Life and Death on the Savanna

The sun rises on the dew drenched grass and an nyala jumps the road , celebrating having survived another night. We round the corner and climb the hill to where the cheetah and her cubs have been sighted.

The morning brightens and dries, the cats have finished grooming and streaching and are on the move, working their way down toward the valley bottom. Sibu spots a kudu on the far side, and thinks the four may be interested in her. The kudu is usually quite large for a cheetah, but this one is suckeling a young one.

We follow as the cheetah move, their eyes sharp and clearly with a goal in mind. Once they enter the trees we cannot follow directly, so we pass them and go down to the nearly dry dam where we can see them emerge from the brush. Once there we see another likely target, a small herd of impala.

We waited, seeing nothing for several minutes. We could hear animals alerting in the brush, though. Sibu explained that monkeys or other antelope would alert even if they were in no danger - all the potential prey species watching each others backs.

Soon the nervous impala were looking down into the dry creek bed, I looked where they did and saw cheetah emerging from the trees. At that moment I remembered Mark's comment at Ngala - if the prey sights the predator before the pounce, the hunt is over. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, Sibu cried out "The Kill, the Kill she is making the kill, I turned in time to see a fleeing impala try to make a reverse down hill turn, the mother cheetah turning inside and bounding after then impala and cheetah were down in the tall grass.

As Sibu took us closer, the impala gained it's feet once, only to be hauled down again. Finally we reached a vantage where we could see golden spotted fur in golden grass. Every now and then the cheetah would sit up for a moment or two, then reach down and grab at the impala - - when it kicked and moved, she would resume choking it to death. Finally satisfied that the kill was complete, the mother called to her cubs a sharp chirping cry. When they arrived, they immediately began to feed, the mother, still winded nearly fifteen minutes later, lay down to recover before she ate another fifteen later.

*****

Long later, we are the last to go and see the large male lion found by other trackers during the day. (So as not to interfere too much with the animals, no more than 3 vehicles can be at a sighting) It is well after sunset, and the sighting is illuminated only by red lensed lights that do the least harm to night vision.

The male was there, and so were the lioness and her cubs we had seen before. All were feeding on something obscured by the brush about 10 yards to our right Unlike the cheetah, lion are not quiet when they eat. (There is a ripping sound interspersed with loud cracking.) They have little fear of something trying to steal their kill. There was a stench in the air that smelled like a horse barn. Sibu told us that the lions had spilled the stomach contents, I suppose that all herbivores have similar smelling waste.

We were near a dam and Sam, sitting next to me, said, I think I hear hippos coming. An entirely reasonable thought since the hippos had been booming their evening routine. (A thunderous "GROUGH" followed by and equally thunderous "How how how how" Though completely inhuman, it sounds for all the world like laughter.) Then the big male is away from the kill and moving our way. Sibu removes the red filter and points it toward the quiet crunching coming from the left that Sam had heard. This was no hippo, but a large croc, attracted by the smell of the stomach, looking for a free meal.

Sibu and another ranger agreed to back up and see if the lion and croc would fight. We move from nearly bumper to bumper to about 15 yards space. The lights are extinguished and Sibu's hushed voice explains that, some weeks ago, lions had killed a large croc. But that had taken hours and the efforts of an entire pride, about a dozen adults.

Illuminated now by only stars and the sliver of a crescent moon, we hear the lion rumbling it's warning. (It is tempting to compare the sound to the purring of a house kitty, but that sound you can only feel if you are holding the cat) The rumble moves towards where we had seen the croc, gets louder, then accompanied with a loud hiss, and the stap of the croc's jaws snapping shut. Red lights flare and the male glares at the croc, hidden in the grass, then turns toward us. Some flash pictures are taken from the other vehicle, and my camera is at the ready, but we are implored to just be still. He approaches Amanda, seated to the left in front of me, then looks directly at Sam on my left, steps forward to less than a body length away, turns toward the rear of the vehicle - around the back and down my side. At the moment, I thought I could touch him had I reached out my hand. In truth, I would have had to lean out a bit. Even though he was only two feet from the vehicle, I was seated higher than his head.

After determining that we were no threat, he moved ahead and between the vehicles, guarding the passage between the croc and the kill. We backed up a bit and saw the lioness dragging the carcase of a male nyala up the hill. Then heard her come back and scrape dirt and brush over the spilled entrails. The stench abated somewnat, the male followed back into the brush and we decided that it was time to leave them to finish the meal.

A Note on Method

The "Day 1, Day 2 . . ." methodology works well for me keeping notes, but there are things I want to say right away. Given the limits on time - (well, I have the time - but I'm also filling it up!). Also, the internet connection at Phinda (S 27° 51.8' - E 32° 18.4') is slightly more reliable than at Ngala, but no faster. So I've made an addition to the methodology. Things that are captioned other than "Day x", are out of order and happened just about when posted.

Day 2

A day at Ngala.

5:30 am, The guest safety staff come by to wake you up. Don't bother to shower, no one else will either. Just thow on some clothes.

6:00 Morning tea at the lodge. If you are ready before 6, call guest safety, otherwise at 6 it is light enough to walk to the lodge on your own.As soon as your group is assembled, you can go for the morning drive. (You want fleece and wind breaker in the morning. Mark says it's "fresh" I'd guess about 45 F. and in a moving vehicle)- Drinks and snacks toward the end of the morning, Breakfast upon return. For us that was 9:45 to 10, but luch is a drawn out affair, ending around 11 or so.

1:00 - 1:45 Lunch, if you have room. After that you have time for a shower, nap, catch up on blogging or what not.

3:00 Afternoon tea, and afternoon Drive.- Drinks and snacks at the end of the evening drive

Dinner on return, about 7:30 or so. (It's dark and quite cold by then.)I'd say if you don't get enough to eat around here, there is something wrong with you.

On the morning drive we found more impala, our first giraffe. This one was more shy than most. That whole camoflage scheme is quite effective. This giraffe just dissappeared in to the trees. Also a dazzle of zebra, a solitary wildebeast (gnu) bull, a black backed jackle, but no leopard. Solly tracked with one of the other trackers and they were able to locate a kill, fresh impala lodged in the crook of the tree. Mark was sure we would be able to simply go back in the evening and the leopard would be there.

Alas, the best laid plans of rangers and leopards. When afternoon rolled around, the impala was gone. Report was that the hyenas had it. since hyena don't climb, Mark suggested that the leopard must have shifted it and dropped it. Once that happened, hyenas are perfectly able to grab the meat for their own use. Solly was dropped off to try and find the track again while we headed again toward a watering hole. There we found a journey of giraffe and saw hippos sunning themselves.

While driving, we saw a large number of vultures in trees, Mark thought they might be waiting their turn at a kill. The leopard perhaps? So into the brush we went. It turns out there is a very good reason for the brush guards on those trucks, where there was no place to drive, Mark simply ran something over. Mostly small (3" dia. or so) trees. The acacia will pretty much bounce right back. The knobthorn, however are truly dangerous.There was no kill, but we did see a rhino mama and her baby, they obviously didn't mind the thorn bushes and we never really got a good look at them. Mark was determined to get closer, until Solly called on the radio, he had found the leopard!

We had barely enough light for a few pictures, then the leopard climed down from his tree into the gathering gloom. Mark says he saw an impala, and showed it to us, we were in the open and both the impala and leopard in the edge of the brush. We watched the stalk in the twilight, the leopard, still a juvenile, ignoring it's mother's calls to come join her. Suddenly, the impala barked it's warning call, looked right at the leopard and started moving away. Mark immediatly declared the hunt over.

Back to camp and Dinner.

Day 1

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.

To Ngala

Morning, July 1. We're not entirely rested, but a very good night's sleep anyway. Up at 8:00 and down for a lovely breakfast buffet where we played "guess the fruit." (I got the right answer on the passion fruit.)

Off to Federal Air, for the charter to Ngala. A small single engine for 10 passengers and a crew of 2. Karylinn Amanda and I got the first row right behind the pilots. Darvy, our captain looked like a late "twenty something". The co-pilot's name I can't remember, but I only saw the back of her head.

Leaving Jo-berg, most all of the landscape was farms with ponds and some large houses. But not all of it. At one point, I asked amanda to take a picture of one of the shanty towns out the other side of the plane. Darvy noticed and said, "why would you want a picture of that discusting area, you'll see much better things later on." Not having a thoughtful answer, I said nothing. Unusual for me, I know. He was right, though. Much better things were ahead.

Getting away from the smallish farms, we got to an area of open space, with trees only in the bottom of watercourses. Some of the farms appeared to be tree farms, some areas that were unmistakably pivot irrigated fields. About 2/3 way along we came to a farm with the buildings up high on a granite outcrop, brown dry fields all around, and then a granite edge, and an astonishing drop off covered with brush. At the bottom a sizeable town. Most of the streets appear to be red dirt, and the main drags paved. (For the google earth folks: S 24d 37.2' E 31d 12')

From the air out here, the land looks like eastern oregon; brown and dry with scrub brush in between. On reflection though, I think that the "scrub" is actually acacia trees, and probably elephant high!

At long last, our pilots turned throught a great deal of turbulance (is that a stall alarm that beeps periodically?) and pointed at a dirt strip. On arrival, our pilot announced our arrival at Skukuza. (Huh?!?) "We'll just be dropping off seven passengers, and then the rest of the way to Ngala" Oh, Ok, we didn't get on the wrong plane, that really was just a bit of my unnececssary paranoia. [Picture to follow when the internet connection is better]

The strip at Ngala was much less exciting. It is actually paved. When we landed our pilots didn't shut down then engines and warned us about the exhaust while getting out. "We've been having a bit of trouble with the starter . . ." (Ok, and yet you shut it down on that other strip??.) For heavens sake.

Once down, our luggage was collected and we hopped into the large landrover truck driven by Lyson, one of the rangers. He got the truck started toward the lodge, then while tooling along the rutted dirt road, turned to face us, spread both arms in a welcoming fashion and said "Welcome to Ngala!" Obviously he knew the road, because he turned around when he needed to steer.

We signed in, had a bit of lunch on the portico, and then gathered our things for the first game drive. More on that to come.