This morning I woke up with very little encouragement. No briberies of wine tours or penguins, instead it was the excitement of waking up at a safari lodge… soon we’ll be out looking for the lions. Brad gets ready first while I take a nap, because let’s face it…. I like sleep. When it was my turn, I grab my clothes to go in and change to find a hand size spider nestled above the mirror in the bathroom. Within a flash I was running to the other side of the cabin screaming my head off. Brad looks at me “what do you want me to do? Kill it?” After a few minutes he the grabs a hand basket since it was much larger than any glass and goes to trap the spider…. And a smaller spider pops out of there. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I am NOT a spider person. So having two spiders in the cabin meant I was standing on the bed with a pillow aimed at the floor screaming. I was also very glad there weren’t neighbors on the other side of the cabin. Brad stomps the smaller spider focuses on capturing the larger one, but it hides behind the mirror. We’d had enough, we grab our Deet insect repellant, and sprayed it on the spider. It fleeted back behind the mirror, and Brad sprayed around it , blockading it in so I could shower (which was next to the mirror). Finally I was able to clean up and head out for our morning drive.
We positioned ourselves in the back of the Land Cruiser for another bumpy adventure. Our travel companions climbed in, all greeting each other with warm joys from the previous evening, and lots of headache medicine. We seemed to travel for a while, as we watched the animals wake up and forage around the mountains. We seemed to drive for a while, when we finally had word… they had found the male lion. Our Ranger grabs the directions, and after some searching, we finally found it, and parked right next to it… he was no more than 10′ away from us. I took a lion selfie, and watched in amazement as the lion just huffed in his deep voice and laid his head back down. He didn’t seem too bothered with us. His fur was a golden brown, but his main was red and surprisingly puffy. He looked as if he just had his fur done by a beautician. His tail has a black fur ball at the end for the lion cubs which are born with poor vision, so they have something to follow while their eyes develop for the first few months. We watched him for another 10 minutes or so before another group arrived and took our place. When he saw them coming, he got up and walked back down the mountain where we lost him. We turned back around to head back to the lodge, even though we were so far away the morning just flew by. Before we knew it, we were back at the lodge having breakfast with everyone. I tried the Eggs Benedict. I had never tried it before, and was curious as to what a “hollandaise sauce” was. It was incredible! Where had this been all my life? After breakfast, we went back to the cabin and just sat outside writing this blog, and watching the animals down in the valley. Even as high up as we were, we could still see the herds moving through the plains, and you could even make out the giraffes! We were watching them move across the plains as we wrote, and were surprised with how quickly they moved.
Lunch was served at 2pm, so we packed up our stuff, cleaned up, and headed back. Lunch was our regular buffet with a variety of fruits, vegetables, and meats. After lunch we relaxed on the patio of the cabin, watching the animals below.
We headed back to the lodge to meet up for our next game drive; this time we’re going to see ELEPHANTS! I was so excited! After a long drive we were finally on the hunt for them! Their tracks were seen in the area but no one had actually seen them. While turning a corner I heard what I had thought was an elephant roar, 3 in a row. I convinced myself that it was just the truck (because more often than not it’s the case). We drove for a few more minutes before we stopped. When you’re looking for an animal, a lot of time you’ll think you see them out of the corner of your eyes… but it usually winds up being a bush. We came into a clearing, because our Ranger thought she saw something close by. I saw something move on the opposite hill, and guess what? It was the elephants! We quickly turned around, got into gear, and started chasing them. We came up along side where we had seen them, and heard the crackling of trees and a huff coming from them. Their size was incredible. It was three female elephants, and one baby elephant snacking on some trees. For some reason they always seem to have their butt to us. We let them be and caught up behind them a few minutes later. Two of the elephants were on the trees in front of us, but one was missing. We didn’t think much of it, but I could hear a cracking of the trees to my side. I looked to my left to find two tusks sticking out of the bushes to my left. It was pretty intense seeing the tusks about 15 feet away from us. She was stuck and was pushing her way through the bushes, tusks first… finally she broke through but her momentum was great and started coming at the jeep. Imogene saw the danger and started hitting the roof of the car which stopped the elephant in her tracks and she turned to go snack with the others. It’s quite amazing to see that much power so close. We watched the elephants for a while longer, but after they moved away from the “roads” we decided it was better to move on. We stopped off at a clearing where we were offered drinks and snacks in the scenic views of the game reserve. We watched the sun set, loaded up and headed back. This time the lights to the land cruiser were on as we swerved, bumped, and jumped around the roads on the way back to the camp. I had the Indiana Jones theme song stuck in my head the whole time. It actually made for quite the entertainment. We drove through several “tree tunnels” where the glow of the lights illuminated the leaves which drove home the “you’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy” moments. As we whipped around one corner, and our vehicle slowed down I ducked expecting the air cannons from the Indiana Jones ride to whip through my hair, thankfully I was wrong. We arrived back at camp with staff ready to greet us with warm towels, and a Baileys like liquor. It was surprisingly delicious. We dropped our gear off at the cabin and headed back for dinner. Dinner was served with our ranger, and with our new friends from the UK. We had a wonderful time swapping stories and learning about each other. We grabbed an after dinner drink, and watched the crackling of the fire while sharing more stories. Brad and I headed back earlier than before to clean up a bit, and grab some shut eye before the adventures of the following day. Even though we’re sitting all day (or mostly) it’s still rather tiring. Today was lions and , I wonder what tomorrow will bring.
Jen….the elephant and giraffe entries you made are exciting. The elephants you saw with only their rear ends showing probably reminds people of the in laws at all you can eat buffets especially in NorCal…Professor Wagstaff