Day 18
Today began at 0440, I got up, had some breakfast, sorted the hot box, did all the vehicle checks with Mia and then off we went on our game drive at 0530. First we had to stop off and get some petrol, all the dogs woke up and barked pretty much the whole time we were there! Then off we went to the reserve, today we went to Pidwa, the sunrise was beautiful. Mia drove for the first half of the Game Drive.
The first things we saw were some cool tracks – honey badger and a really small frog. Then we saw some male kudu, apparently each year, for their first three years, they get a new twist in their horns and then the white tips develop. They are so beautiful!
After the kudu we saw a beautiful bull giraffe. They are so graceful, elegant and just stunning. I could literally watch them all day. In some of the photos, you can see the oxpecker sitting on the giraffe, pecking out the ticks. This is useful for both the giraffe (gets rid of its ticks) and the oxpecker (it gets food) and is called mutualism – where both parties benefit. What a place to call my ‘office’!
After the giraffe we walked down to the river to see the hippos, they were quite far away though. The scenery was beautiful though, it would be a lovely spot to bring a picnic and just have a chilled day (as long as no lions came to join you!)
We stopped for a drinks break down by the water where we could see loads of different birds, including some huge vultures and a couple of terrapin too. It was really satisfying when you realise that you can identify a few of the birds from their calls (even if it was only about four!)
We started our drive again, and now it was my turn! I did my briefing and then after a couple of stalls (I was in third gear not first) off we went and had a problem free drive. It didn’t even take me too long to notice that the reason we wouldn’t move was because he had taken the 4 x 4 gear out of high range and into neutral!
We didn’t see too much, just a few impala and lots of birds. The scenery made up for it though – such a beautiful landscape.
We drove back to camp and then had about an hour to chill before brunch. Vaughan said that I did pretty well for my first drive 🙂 I’m happy with that!
Brunch today was lovely, sausages, dauphinois potatoes, salad, pineapple and melon. After brunch we had a few hours free time. Today was absolutely scorching hot and we didn’t do too much, just some reading, revising and learning bird calls.
At 1600 it was time for our afternoon Game Drive. Cal and then Calvin were driving this afternoon. We saw some zebra, impala and some wildebeest. We saw one wildebeest rolling in the sand, then rubbing his scent glands on a tree to mark his territory which was quite cool. We also saw loads of birds, some buffalo (a long way away) and a jackal.
We stopped to watch the sunset, which was predictably stunning. A beautiful orange sky, and then a stunning night sky to follow.
We drove back to camp, had a dinner of chicken pie and vegetables and then it was time for bed – ready for another early start tomorrow!