Africa 2015 - Day #7

Bush Walk talk

Out in the African Bush

Giraffe siting

 

 

Lion at the sanctuary

 

White Lion at the sanctuary

Village we visited

 

Dance performed for us

Cape Buffalo - one of the Big Five

 

Wild Lion - just walking down the road

Stopping for a pose

Pretty amazing animal

Monday, June 22nd

Final full day of our marathon/safari trip.  A bush walk followed a mid-morning breakfast (8am).  The bush walk is probably the most dangerous option when on safari.  The animals know the safari jeeps and are comfortable with them.  When you get out and walk - you no longer have that protection (example situation to follow).  Our guide carried a rifle for protection.  We left from the lodge and probably only veered no more than a mile from safety at any point.  The ranger (Pete) pointed out animal tracks, how to identify game by their droppings, different types of plants/leaves, and spoke to general park makeup, etc.  Interesting for sure.

Lunch followed the bush walk and then we headed out for a full afternoon excursion to the white lion sanctuary.  We had to take about a 45 minute drive to an area external to Entabeni.  We did a 3-hr tour where we saw 6 lions (4 of which were white lions), 2 tigers, some wild dogs, and a herd of cape buffalo.  The animals we saw today were not "wild".  They were enclosed for various reasons.  The buffalo needed to be separated to avoid Hep B transmittal amongst the herd.  The tigers were actually taken over for protection.  Tigers are not native to Africa and could not be introduced in the wild.  Tigers - Asia.  Lions - Africa.  The tour ended with a walk through of a traditional African village.  We saw the huts they lived in, the pins their cattle stayed in, and were introduced to some traditional food items (some of which were sent around for folks to try).  The conclusion was an African dance/song performed by some children - they even had some of our group join in.

On our return to Ravineside - we had the most exciting encounter of the entire safari.  One of the jeeps had spotted a full-grown adult male lion.  We got into position and saw the lion approach down this small road  WOW!!  I've seen lions on my last safari a few years back - but never on the move like this, and so close to the vehicles.  He actually ended up stopping right in front of one of the jeeps - posing for some great pics.  Later - we found out that our tour almost made the news - in a really bad way. One of the female rangers (Christy) had gotten out of her jeep to go to the bathroom (this was before any lions had been spotted).  As she was out of the jeep, a lion roars.  The other ranger in the jeep calls her to return immediately.  She yells out: "I can't right now!"  The other ranger is more persistent:  "Hey - you need to return to the jeep NOW!"  Christy yells:  "I can't - I'm looking at a lion right now".  All of this happened from a different jeep than the one I was in - but we heard the story firsthand by Christy.

She had gotten out of the jeep, walked a few meters in the bush, when she spotted the lion walking - maybe only 20-30 meters away.  The lion stopped and stared her down.  Christy froze - facing the animal (she runs - she's dead).  The lion's tail was wagging and ears went back - early indications of stress.  The group in the jeep could not see her.  Christy slowly backed away as the lion walked behind a bush - his eyes focused on her.  Christy called out to the jeep - the ranger in the jeep drove into the bush and was able to get behind her.  Christy continued to back up and then jumped into the jeep.  Once in the jeep, the lion lost interest.  Potential fatal crisis adverted.  Really interesting story - especially listening to it through a few different perspectives.  Christy was a relatively new ranger.  She expressed how her legs were shaking so bad - it was uncontrollable.  She is also pretty funny - her final comment was:  "The worst thing was - I still had to pee".  We finished the safari with a drink over-looking the sunset.  Maybe my final safari ever - what a way to go out. 

Back to the lodge for a final evening dinner.  We exchanged some contact info, evened up our bill, and called it what it was - an unbelievable 5-day adventure in the South African bush.