Empty Planes

Maybe it is the credit crunch, or just that Wednesday morning flights from South Africa to Mauritius aren't that popular. I wasn't complaining, being the only person in business class with two cabin crew to look after me, meant my wine glass was rarely more than half empty - no bottles that holds just less than two glassfuls on this fight - a very nice bottle of South African Chardonnay - would have been rude not to finish it - I was on holiday and it was a four hour flight....

Arrival in Mauritius, was to a nice small airport - no walking for miles, to then spend time waiting for your bag to make it the same distance... Couldn't have been more than 200 metres from plane to arrivals lounge. And a great climate, possibly a little hotter than Hawaii, less humid than Honk Kong had been. No more getting up with the Sun for me - at least not once I re-balanced the jet lag.

After the Safari

With the safari at an end, I'm certainly going to try to do it again, and possibly for a longer period next time. I will also try to visit a reserve that isn't a National park. While being a National Park helps ensure there are a large number of animals, there is the downside that you have to stick to the marked roads - which means that the circling vultures can be tantalisingly circling an area you can't get anywhere close to.

I've still to see Cheetah and Ostrich, and I'd like to see more crocs! Which means going a little further north - and hopefully I'll avoid visiting just after unusually high amounts of rainfall have given the undergrowth such a good growing season. Okavango Delta looks like a candidate area...

Final day - add Kudu and the endangered Wild Dogs

Final drive of my safari, added another species of bird to the list, then....

... a small pack of Wild Dogs - the second endangered species of the trip and the rarest

Final species of my safari was Kudu, the most impressive horns!

The road out of the park and litter collecting Kurger style - with an armed guard and in large groups!

Hyenas, Hippos and Lions - all before breakfast!

My final morning in Kruger park, and my third day getting up with the Sun. As had become the norm - we first saw Hyena just outside the camp. The some of the best sightings of Hippo I'd had - in and out of the water.

The best Lion sighting of the trip - a young couple of lions out in the morning before the heat of the day drove them into the shade and probably out of sight in the green undergrowth...

Even at breakfasts some wildlife - a colony of bats in one of the thatch building providing shade at the camp.

Photographs of Big 5 completed

It took my longest lens with a x2 converter, and a deal of patience from Rickson, but I got my first picture of a leopard and completed photographic records of the big 5. I was also very impressed by my newly purchase binoculars - using them highlighted how restricted the view through the viewfinder on my camera is.

Then as we completed a cross Kruger dash to pick up some more guests from the edge of the park and get back to the camp before the 6pm curfew, a Leopard carmly strolled across the road just as we approached, then disappear just as quickly into the undergrowth...

A fast dash back to camp was punctuated with occasional stops to admire the wildlife. It included my closest encounters yet with Elephants and Blue Wilderbeest. We made it back to camp with minutes to spare having avoiding the numerous speed traps successfully! Just one more day in Kurger before a return to civilisation, then onto Mauritius.

Early bird watches the animals

For the second morning I was up with the Sun - or more accurately up with the light and more of the showers responsible for the lush undergrowth hiding all the animals! Thankfully the wild life finds it easier travelling by road when they want to get somewhere and don't mind being seen - which is OK with me. First sighting of the morning a hyena...

Then a small groups of hippo enjoying the deep fast water - should really be in the big five - but maybe the clause about being dangerous when hunted by foot doesn't extend to needing a boat to get close to them....

Not all the interesting wild life has four legs - some had two legs and wings...

To make a change from Baboons the four legged kings of the trees where Vervet Monkeys. Presumably the over night rain cooled the tar making it a less attractive place for the troops of baboons to sleep....

Then my first good sighting of Elephants - and evidence of the reason it was so hard to spot any animals - if an Elephant can disappear into the long grass then anything can!

We came across several groups of Vultures - a sure sign of a kill nearby but we couldn't see the kill or predators from the road, and because Kruger is a National park you can't leave the marked tracks. Apparently in private reserves you can spot the circling vultures and drive right up to the kill. A tip for the next Safari - private reserves have less animals, but you can roam more freely...

A Southern Ground Hornbill, not living up to it name by roosting in a tree! It had been a great day for feathered wild life

It had been a great early drive - now it was time for a Lunch break. What would the afternoon bring - only one of the big five so far today, but the day was relatively young - even if I'd been up since dawn and the cloud cover meant that the heat wasn't driving the animals to under cover....

Wildlife in the Spot light

Gathering at dusk to board one of two large open trucks equipped with mounted and hand held spot lights we handed over our sign forms recognising that we did so at our own risk... Then a short talk about keeping arms in the truck - because lions like eating arms when they are hungry for a night of hunting!

The first sighting of the night drive at dusk was of a leopard completing the big five in one day - but too fleeting a sighting for me to manage to point my camera in the right direction. Then we followed a troop of baboons returning to spend the night on the tar - but not until after turning the road maintenance vehicles into a play ground.

Shortly after the sun had gone down the cause of an increase in the chatter on the radio and the driver's more purposeful speed was apparent. A group of six or seven young lions moving along the road, starting their night of hunting. The spotlights and high ISO of my camera came into their own - helped by the animals amazing lack of any attention to the two large trucks and multiple Jeeps shinning bright lights at them... The end of a great day - all of the big five in one day, and photographic evidence of four of them, would the next days bring images of the very elusive leopard?

Early Rising

According to Rickson - the early game watcher sees the wildlife - so I was up with the sun - there is a first time for everything. Not too much of a problem as there was nothing to do once the sun was down, and it meant rather than a 2 hour change of body clock I had a 5 hour change - up at 4am, to sleep at 8pm...

First sighting the day was of a troop of baboons - they sleep on the tar overnight since it is warm - so they are easy to see first thing in the morning as they take breakfast from the roadside trees.

My first sighting of a large mammal was a giraffe, proving their camouflage to be effective.

Then the first of the big five - so call because they are the five most dangerous to hunt on foot. Buffalo make the list because they don't show any signs before they charge - and you won't want to be on the wrong end of their horns backed by a ton of angry beast!

My only sighting of a Crocodile during my stay - and not that good - apparently the unusually large volumes of water in all the rivers meant that they weren't gathering at their usual spots. There were rumours of one taking a wilder beast from the bank right in front of the camp restaurant - while I was there, but I wasn't lucky enough to be in right place at the right time....

One of many sightings of Zebra and Wilder Beast, not quite as common as Impala - other wise know as "bush MD" - bush MacDonald's, but almost, especially once things began to warm up and the lions started hiding from the heat!

Highlight of the first day - one of the lions the Zebra, Wilder beast and Impala knew where hiding from the heat of the day. We found two or possibly three in the shade below some bushes, waiting for the cool of the evening. Two of the big five down already - Rhino, Elephant and Leopard left...

Then even more variety - a pair of Warthogs - not the prettiest of beast!

Yet another highlight on day one's daytime drives - the third of the big five. A pair of Rhino, again hiding from the heat.

Then the fourth of the big five in one day of game drives, a couple of sightings of Elephants. These hidden under a small coppice of trees. See my PicasaWeb for even more from day one

Then to top off the daytime drives, a very rare Black Rhino. The "sharp" rather than wide mouth is the easy to spot difference - apparently the White Rhino should be called the "Wide" Rhino - because of their wide mouth, which is better for browsing than the pointed lips of the Black Rhino....

A very successful, if long first day - four of the big five and both white and black Rhino. The night drive awaiting me at dusk...

Drive into Kruger

My great holiday luck (at least since I got stuck at LA airport waiting for a replacement plane) was with me again - it turned out that for the first three days I was the only person booked with BigSix Safari so Rickson was my personal game guide. I could spend as long as I liked trying to get the perfect pictures without having to be considerate of others - and no competition for the seats nearest the wildlife either - not that either proved a problem when I was join for my last evening/morning by a great group of young US academics...

From Kruger Park 2009

The first game drive into Kruger from the gate to the camp, was relatively uneventful. The wonderful hot weather had driven most of the animals into the unusually long undergrowth - you can't have every thing... There were plenty of impala taking advantage of the fact that all the predators where hiding in the shade not wanting to expend any energy in the sapping heat. I just sat back and enjoyed the wonderful climate, the spectacular landscape and Rickson's narration of the surroundings.

I'm going to confess that none of these posting are "real time" - I have a good excuse for not doing them at the time - a complete lack of Internet access, but it has taken me longer than I'd have liked to get round to annotating a wonderful two weeks for history....