Saturday, March 8, 2008

Day 20-21 - Entabeni Game Reserve, South Africa

LIONS!  Alright, that's not completely fair as we did see some incredible animals in their natural habitat while here, but our "lion hunt" was one of the most unforgettable things we've ever experienced. 

We had a FULL travel day having left the Dolphin Trail in Tsitsikamma National Park in the morning, driven to meet up with the rest of the group in Plettenberg Bay (~1 hour), driven to the airport (~2 hours), flown to Jo'berg (~2 hours), then hopped the bus for our drive north to Entabeni (another ~4 hours), the first of two game reserves we'll be visiting.  Unfortunately, we arrived much too late for the evening game drive, so they stuffed us full of great food around 8pm and briefed us on the do's and don't's (e.g., no walking around the reserve - even to our cabins - without an escort...there are no fences).  We were then shipped off to bed with the news that a 5am wake up call would summon us for the morning drive.

The next morning after coffee (at 5:30am), we were lucky enough to climb into the Rover of the lead ranger, Jeffrey.  By the end of the day, he was our new best friend.  But we're getting ahead of ourselves.  We set off on the three hour morning drive in search of the high plateau game.  Not 60 seconds out of the front door and we came across small groups of gnu, or wildebeest, kudu, various boks, and other small antelope-type game.  A little less than an hour into it, we came across a pack of four white rhino munching on their morning grass.  Jeffrey drove up close enough that I can safely say rhino do not have the freshest of breath.  These were flat out massive animals, and when one started to square off on us, we quietly backed away and moved on.  Before the morning was over, we also came across a small group of giraffe, but they were a couple hundred meters away.

I think the translation of "safari" is "massive amounts of food interspersed with the search for animals."  We were fed WELL morning, noon, and night.  Now we know what being on a cruise must feel like.  The evening drive began about 4:30pm, and this time we were driving to the lower plains of the reserve about an hour away in search of the lion pride.  Great scenery on the way there, it wasn't long before we were running across more kudu and wildebeest herds.  Without any luck finding the lions, we stopped for an evening cocktail at sundown.  That's when Jeffrey went off tracking on his own.  We were barely out of the Rovers when we heard the lions roar off in the distance, less than 1000 meters away.  We packed it up quickly and while th e other groups went in separate directions along the main road, we drove headlong into the bush, directly toward the lions.  Completely offroad and virtually dark, we plowed forward through the bush, stopping periodically to wait for the lions to roar again and adjust our heading.  Jeffrey had Todd man the spotlight and scan the brush as we slowly made our way deeper into the bush.  After about 30 minutes, Todd passed the spotlight across a reflection that caught my eye and I pointed Jeffrey in that direction.  We drove forward about 75 meters when the head of a VERY large, but fortunately very sleepy, male lion popped up in our headlights as if to say, "Now who's disturbing my nap?!"

What an adrenaline rush!  It turned out we were within a stone's through from not one, but two males and one female, all peacefully napping.  Jeffrey figured they had eaten at some point that day and were quite content to have us park right alongside them.  It was a bit unnerving to a couple folks in the Rover...alright, they were petrified, certain we were about to be eaten.  But Abby and I couldn't unplaster the ear- to-ear grins off our faces.  Let's just say it took a LONG time to come down from the rush and fall asleep that night.

 White Rhino2008-03-07 Africa 0672008-03-07 053

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