There are lots of animals in this area -- that is why tourists come to this area. But we're talking so many opportunities to see all kinds of animals that it is easy to become jaded. When we picked up Susanne and Matt from the airport, we zoomed right by giraffes that were roaming in a private reserve not too far off the side of the road. We didn't even bother to slow down, never mind stop and take pictures. Our reply to Susanne and Matt's shocked expressions was, "Don't worry -- you'll see more."
Not that we are jaded, but just driving through the reserve to the house, we've run into (not literally) giraffes and zebras. Also, we had taken a drive ourselves into Kruger National Park for a day, so we knew that all kinds of animals would be easily seen just from the road. We saw so many giraffes, zebras, warthogs, impalas and other types of antelopes there that the novelty soon wore off (oh, just another family of giraffes...). And on the games drives in the reserve around our house, we were able to get close to lions and rhinos so we were definitely spoiled but still mesmerized by all the magnificent animals.
We spent a few days in Hoedspruit, driving the Panorama Route and relaxing at the house. We had our usual visitors at the house, including giraffes that stopped to get a drink just outside Susanne and Matt's room and the monkey wake-up crew. Then we headed out for a 2 night/2 day stay at Pungwe, a safari tent camp in the Manyeleti Reserve, a community-owned reserve with open borders to Kruger. (https://www.pungwe.co.za/) To say it was incredible is a tremendous understatement. Words will not be able to do it justice. We didn't really know what to expect going into it but we can definitely say that it would have exceeded even the greatest expectations we could have had.
Kruger National Park is one of the biggest game reserves in Africa -- it covers more than 7500 square miles (more than twice as big as Yellowstone). In addition, there are a number of other reserves, such as Manyeleti, adjacent to Kruger that have "dropped their fences," i.e. the animals are free to roam from Kruger into these reserves and vice versa. This adds another almost 1500 square miles to the area. In this area, it is estimated that there are 35,000 elephants.
The drive from the main road through the reserve to the Pungwe camp takes about 45 minutes. Along the drive we saw giraffes and zebras and, true to fashion, didn't bother to stop for pictures. Not too far from Pungwe, though, is a good sized pond/watering hole. Since we're nearing the end of the dry season, water always will attract the animals.
As we pulled up, we saw a bunch of elephants at the water's edge. It looked like a family -- some relatively large males (all elephants are large, of course, but these guys looked particularly big), some slightly smaller ones that we took to be females, and a few "babies." They we splashing themselves with mud and water as well as rolling in the mud. Off to the side there were 2 "medium sized" elephants that we took to be "teenagers," too cool to hang out with the rest of the family. They, too, seemed to be playing in the water and playing with each other.
After a little while, the main family group decided that they'd had enough and started walking away from the water. Once they were a little ways away, the teenagers must have gotten the message, "Come on, we're leaving," and reluctantly (seemingly) pulled themselves out of the water and followed along. Already a great start and we hadn't even gotten to the camp, yet.
The camp itself is a small, relatively rustic safari camp, deep in the heart of the reserve. There are 4 guest "tents," and a main "lodge," very intimate: maximum guest capacity is just 8, total. Very noticeable is the absence of a fence around the camp -- but more on this later. The guest tents are spread out a couple hundred feet from the lodge. They are spacious (about the size of a nice hotel room) with thatched roofs and canvas walls. They have full bathrooms and comfortable beds with mosquito nets. They don't have electricity, however. Lights are paraffin lamps and flashlights. Air conditioning is open windows and a cross breeze.
The main lodge is an open air, thatched pavilion. There is a small solar powered charging station so you can charge your phone/camera but there is no internet access, wi-fi or cell phone service. Rustic luxury, I'd say. Overall, It reminded me of the "A tiger? In Africa?" sketch in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLdk2C25Z14) -- without the Zulu war, of course. Instead of search parties, though, the camp offered game drives and bush walks.
We had arrived in the middle of the afternoon. Just enough time to get the welcome orientation from the camp managers, Tracie and Wesley, settle our things into our tents and head back to the lodge for afternoon tea. The welcome orientation included signing the liability waiver and strict admonition not to walk back to our tents without a guide after dark. As in Hoedspruit, we were warned that we needed to be "aware." Remember, there are no fences around the camp.
After tea, we headed out on a game drive with our guides, Never and Wonder Boy, (Not their real names, I think. I meant to ask Never about his name, but never got the chance. No pun intended) and the 4 other guests (a couple from Germany and a couple from Austria). In all honesty, I was not expecting too much from the game drive. There is just so much more area in Manyeleti and the neighboring reserves and Kruger than back in the Leadwood Estate, that I didn't know what animals we might find. Even if you don't see any of the "Big 5" (lions, leopard, elephants, black rhinos and African buffalo), it is still very enjoyable to drive through nature, see the different types of trees and other plants, the myriad birds, and learn interesting things about the area from the guides. Especially "the golden hour", from 5-6 as the air gets cooler, the sun begins to set and the sky turns pink and orange, has not disappointed us yet. At some point during the drives, we would stop for a "sundowner" where everyone would get out of the vehicle (yes that could be a bit scary depending on what we'd recently seen but Never always drove quite a distance away and insisted it was now safe to disembark from the vehicle
) and have a drink and a snack. The drive was great. Of the Big 5, we saw elephants and rhinos and we saw lots of other animals, too.
Dinner back at the camp was delicious -- set up at a big table outside the lodge, lit by paraffin lamps and the nearby campfire. After dinner, it was early to bed because we needed to be up early the next morning. In the mornings, Pungwe offers the choice of either a game drive or a bush walk (or they can arrange some combination of the two). We opted for the bush walk -- a bush walk is just what the name implies: walking through the bush. I was looking forward to a closer experience with nature. Not as many animals (and hopefully not too close to any of the bigger animals) but lots of other things to see.
We headed out from camp with Never and Wonder Boy just after sunrise with no particular destination or path. The guides were great. They pointed out tracks we never would have seen and explained how to tell them apart (cats have claws that retract all the way so their tracks show only the pads of their paws while dogs', such as hyenas, claws don't retract all the way and leave small marks in the dirt. Cheetahs' claws, however, don't fully retract. They also hunt during the day, like dogs, rather than at night, like lions and leopards. So are they really cats? It's a debate.). We learned all about various plants, animal habits, and much more. We now know which plants we could use to cure an upset stomach, which to use as a tooth brush, which to use as toilet paper (be careful not to use one that looks similar but has thorns).
There is also a check list of the Small 5 you can "hunt." These include the elephant shrew, ant lion, buffalo weaver, leopard tortoise, and rhinoceros beetle. Of these, we saw the buffalo weaver (a small bird that makes awesome nests -- always on the north side of a tree with the opening of the nest pointing north with a passive solar design so it gets warmth in winter but the opening is shaded in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky) and we saw evidence of the ant lion (a bug that makes conical traps in sandy soil. Ants check in, but they can't check out.) We did also see some of the bigger animals, including a family of elephants, as well as plenty of zebras, impalas and nyalas and more. Strangely, in the area around the camp (it seems like for a fairly big area around the camp), there are no monkeys or baboons.
The bush walk lasted about 3 hours all together. It was a great education and gave us a better sense of how everything in the bush is interconnected. Somehow, however, when it's all boiled down, everything is just all about eating, pooping and making babies.
After the bush walk, we had a great safari camp breakfast and just hung out (read: read and nap) until tea time and we got to do it all again. The second night's safari drive, however, will be one for the ages. We got to cross off the most elusive of the Big 5, leopards (two of them together!) and saw a large pride of lions finishing off their dinner.
It's rare to find two leopards together, except in mating time or when mom is with babies. In this case, the female leopard was eager to get it on, waving her butt around in front of the male's nose...but the male was not interested. Too tired from a long day at work perhaps? After watching the leopards for 30 minutes or so, we would have been happy to return to the lodge - a complete night. But then Never found a pride of 11 lions and lionesses munching away on a recent buffalo kill. It was a bit scary when every pair of eyes turned our way as we drove up to watch them...after which they went back to their work of eating every scrap of meat from the remaining carcass and lazing around with fat bellies...but very cool. The vultures were sitting in a nearby tree waiting for their turn, but it didn't look like the lions left them much. On the way back to the camp we came upon six hyenas also awaiting their turn. The next day when we returned to the same site, there was nothing left - not even a bone.
How many lions do you see?
Wait for it! That growl was crazy!
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