Another early start, but the views are well worth it:
We’re continuing our hunt for the rhino, but we’ll see if anything interesting comes up in the meantime.
There’s so much life everywhere we look:
We come across the same group of cape buffalo that we saw yesterday evening:
And a family of elephants:
One has a mild case of leucism, which leaves it pink behind the ears:
This is the same condition that creates the “blondie” fur seals, but it’s much more severe in elephants. Fully leucistic elephants are pink, and do not live for long due to their vulnerability to the sun.
Some of the adolescents play-fight with one another:
No blood drawn – not like the elephant seals we saw in South Georgia.
We also come across a slender billed kite:
And then – we find the lions once more!
This time it’s a two-family group consisting of an older mother and her older daughter, and a younger mother with the two cubs. The dominant male lion is believed to be the father of all the youngsters.
The older mother has a notch out of her ear:
The younger mother with the cubs that we saw earlier also comes into view:
And they all get together for a late-morning cuddle:
And to nurse:
It’s been several days since this pride has had a kill, so they will need to hunt soon if she hopes to provide for the cubs.
Time to let another group have a turn – so off we go. Along the way we hear some birds kicking up an awful racket. A genet is raiding a nest:
You can’t really see it, so here’s a better photo:
Photo Credit: Africa Geographic
We also spotted a baby wildebeest:
Along with an equally wide-eyed adult:
Then we go into a special location for a surprise breakfast in the field.
Thanks to Sam at Dulini for this fantastic photo – we made short work of these incredible dishes!
The view here is stunning too:
Then back to Dulini Moya, spotting some vervet monkeys on the way.
This one looks like he’s posing for headshots. He’s intent:
Pensive:
Awestruck:
Disbelieving:
Trying to remember if he left the stove on:
Pleading:
And blissful:
I think he’s just about ready to star in a shampoo commercial.
Off for second breakfast, as the kids were particularly keen on a hot meal. Lots of options to choose from:
My wife has the eggs benedict:
And I have eggs and sausage:
I realize around this time that I haven’t yet posted an exterior shot of our rooms. Here’s one of them:
They are immensely comfortable and very well appointed inside.
But then a nyala appears, reminding us of the real reason to be here – to spend time outside:
More napping, more homework. Time passes, it rains, and it’s soon time for lunch.
Given the wet weather, we eat at the main dining area as opposed to the lower deck. We start with ostrich kebabs:
And then move on to curried mussels:
Plus couscous:
And avocado salad:
We head back to our rooms for a bit, and we encounter a praying mantis:
Then off to the pool for a bit to (quietly) play skip-ball with the kids. No photos, but it’s one of the memories I hope to hold in my head for many years to come – laughing and joking as the ball bounces off one or the other of us, or (occasionally) ricochets off the nearby patio furniture.
Yes, we travel because we want to see the world with our kids. But we also want to spend time with them. This was one of those blissful afternoons that let us do just that. (Thankfully we are alone at the pool deck – we’re well aware that most guests are not fans of poolside games.)
4 pm! Time for second safari. First, we enjoy a small treat – a pecan tart which I sadly forgot to photograph, but which was very tasty, plus more of that fantastic iced coffee. Then off on our game drive.
We come across anothe cape buffalo – this is one of the oldesters, who has decided to live out his days on his own:
The oxpeckers are not very good when it comes to personal boundaries.
But the old fellow seems to be enduring well enough.
We carry on, and come across another giraffe. It looks quite striking backlit by the sunset:
Then another waterbuck. This one is male:
A Buschell’s starling:
Another cape buffalo, but drinking this time:
And then a dwarf mongoose! A rare spot indeed – big thanks indeed to the kids for catching this one:
Plus some creepy crawlies, including this millipede:
Then we get word of a juvenile leopard being out and about. Our guides and trackers find tracks down by a dried-out riverbed, and start circling round. It takes some bush-bashing but we eventually track her down:
She isn’t lying down for long. Soon she gets up and scents the air:
She gives her ear a scratch:
Scents the air once more:
And she’s gone.
Ah, well. It was great while it lasted.
Nothing more to do but go for a drive in the sunset, once more looking for rhinos:
We haven’t been particularly big on ‘sundowners’ this trip – cocktails served right around sunset. We’re fine to do them if our fellow passengers would like, but mostly we’re keen to spend that time looking for animals.
We drive round and round for a while, but without result. Not sure what’s happened to the rhinos. (Nor are the guides able to share information about them over the radio for security reasons.)
Still – cape buffalo and a leopard make for a pretty fantastic evening.
Not to mention these stars:
It’s around this time that our tracker, Clifford, spots a drone overhead. We’re hoping it’s just a misguided guest, but it could be poachers. Scott radios it in to the Anti-Poaching unit, who go to investigate. They would shoot it down if they catch it – but it disappears before they have the chance to do so. But at least now they know to keep an eye out.
It’s scary stuff, particularly given that there’s already a curfew in effect in the park – there was a time when you could do night drives, but no longer. Instead we’re all tucked back into our lodges shortly after 7 pm. It continues to make me wonder whether Jess’s proposal to legalize the trade of rhino horn in a safe and responsible way wouldn’t make more sense.
We’re just about back to Dulini Moya when Scott shakes his head in disbelief. After all the searching over the past two days, we find this fellow about two minutes from the lodge:
We’re not allowed to use the spotlight on diurnal (non-nocturnal) creatures, so this is a genuine middle-of-the-night rhino – brightened up solely through moonlight and the Apple iPhone’s techno-wizardry.
We did it! We saw the Big Five – and in the past 12 hours, no less. Scott gives another shake of his head at that – it’s quite remarkable, when you think about it.
Back to Dulini Moya for dinner. We head down to the lower patio for an Indian feast – chicken tikka masala and lamb curry:
It’s fantastic. The kids demolish theirs, we demolish ours, and we ask for seconds of the lamb, chicken and the naan.
Vanilla pannacotta for dessert:
It’s very tasty, but it’s also very late and it looks vaguely pillow-like – so it’s a small miracle that none of us fall asleep with our head on the plate. Off to bed!
Hectic day tomorrow, as we’ll be moving from Dulini Moya to River. We’re already wondering if that’s a mistake, and we should’ve just stayed at the one resort to avoid having to pack and unpack again – we shall find out soon enough.