Sunday, March 11 – Early Morning

We were awake early – 5:00 am – to be at Shiduli in time for the morning safari – not far from Phil and Kate’s farm. If I remember correctly it is pronounced she-duely.

On this safari it is possible to see “The Big Five” – lion, elephant, leopard, rhino, cape buffalo. Phil and Kate do not have lions or elephants. They have seen a leopard a few times. This property includes 40,000 acres.

After meeting our guide and spotter, we were on our way, and right after leaving the lodge, we saw a pair of honey badgers The guide said he has been here a long time and rarely sees them. They ran into the bush so quickly that I didn’t get a picture of them.

A short time later we saw a few banded mongoose. They also ran into hiding before we could photograph them.

Our guide’s name is Conny. Reckson, our spotter, had a seat in front of the hood.

Termite hill

Sunrise

Our first sighting of an elephant herd on the move.

It soon became obvious that something was going on here. We learned that our guide had been informed about a lion that had just killed a young giraffe.

After waiting our turn, Conny drove in beside the lion.

Shortly after we arrived, the lion dragged the giraffe deeper into the bush.

You can see how close we were. Those are Reckson’s feet.

He came back to check on the kill spot, pick up this bone, then pee on the spot to cover up the scent of blood and mark his territory.

We were close enough to hear him chewing on the bone.

After leaving the lion, we moved on to find the elephant herd.

They were obviously moving on to a new territory.

We moved on to a new area and met another safari vehicle. Conny thought there were six or seven out on this morning. During busy times they can have as many as 35 vehicles on safari.

The guides stopped and checked on what is happening in the bush. Notice that Reckson is now inside the vehicle. He did that when we were seeing elephants. An elephant’s trunk can be dangerous to a spotter who is on the front-of-the-hood seat.

We watched the elephants at another location.

They are fun to watch.

They never seem to change their pace when they are moving to a new area.

Kudu – I think. They are similar to nyala.

I had to wonder if one of these was missing a baby – killed by the lion.

Conny said these are Burchell’s Zebra – a subspecies of the Plains Zebra.

Zebras never have the same stripe pattern. Check the previous picture. You can see that this is a different zebra.

Early morning yawn

Impala

Phil told us that impala advertise for McDonalds because their backside looks like a McDonald’s M. 🙂 I think of that now when I see the rear end of an impala. 🙂

This was our first sighting of a cheetah. Notice her collar. She was rescued as a baby and released. Though she lives in the wild, she is fairly comfortable with safari vehicles and people.

She had her three young ones with her. They are also comfortable with people because their mom is not afraid.

We were allowed to get out of the vehicle.

She was certainly aware of us.

Coffee break

Our Land Rover

A Blacksmith Plover

Our entire group

Jere and Kristen’s family with Reckson and Conny.

Cerwin and me with the guys

Conny

Reckson

We think that we may have gotten the best guide and spotter at the lodge.

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Tomorrow night I will tell you about our fabulous brunch at the lodge.