An exciting sighting

 May 13th

Why do we do this to ourselves! 5.30 am pickup for another game drive, which meant the alarm woke us at 4.30 am! Apparently, the best time to see wildlife is first thing in the morning. At that time of the morning, it was blooming freezing, luckily I bought myself a beanie with the Big 5 on the front and also had packed a thick jumper 'just in case'. So with 18 of our group also wearing Arctic gear (some even took blankets) we boarded the 4X4 bus and headed out.

This taken later in the day but shows us all trying to keep warm. 

 

Spotlights were shone on either side as it was still pitch black outside. One of the lights picked out a giraffe.

 

Before we could enter the reserve, a gate had to be opened. It is supposed to be operated from the vehicle by a push button, and yesterday, when one of the group did a self-drive,  the button didn't work so Colin and Ann decided to try and open it manually. They were successful and had a very pleasant few hours seeing rhino, giraffe, jackals and wart hogs. It was on the way back, following a 4X4 through the same gate that the thing suddenly started working and closed before they were through. It took off the rear reflector lights and put a slight scratch in the paintwork. The gate came off worse as it came off the track and ended up at a jaunty angle! Colin then got out to try to put the gate back. He succeeded but left a very buckled and poorly gate. On telling Kobus, he immediately went to reception to report what had happened. Thankfully, they were very apologetic, not blaming Colin at all and said the sensor should have stopped the gate from closing. I'm wondering if Bobo Campers can claim any damage from the site owners! Anyway, our driver had to get out and manually open the gate. The second photo of all of us in Arctic gear was where that was taken.

 

 

I must say, as the sun started to come up, the views were breathtaking. 

A rhino and calf was spotted in the undergrowth. More of a quick glimpse, really, and there was no time to take a photo. As we climbed higher toward a lookout, the only other creature we saw was a very rare sighting of a Brown backed hyena. It's so rare that there are only between 4000 and 10000 left.  This from the web;

The brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea), also known as the strandwolf, is one of the world's rarest large carnivores, with an estimated global population of 4,000–10,000, primarily found in southern Africa's arid regions, including the Kalahari, Namibia, and South Africa. Listed as Near Threatened, these elusive, shaggy-coated scavengers are highly adapted for survival and typically nocturnal 

 The dirt road to the lookout was not for the fainthearted. Only 4X4's could travel along it as deep, deep ruts had to be driven over. As our driver approached the ruts, a cry of 'hold on' came from the front. We held on but Ian nearly slid of the seat as did most of the others sitting by the aisle.

 At the lookout, we stopped. Some of us needed a wee break and found convenient shrubs nearby. It had so far been a bit disappointing as game drives go, well apart from the hyena that is, and we really didn't expect to see much on the journey back to camp, but then, as we turned out of the park, through another locked gate, and drove down the same dirt road we had travelled a few days ago, a giraffe was seen in the shrub along the fence line. It had been startled by something. We soon found out by what! 

A very startled giraffe

Because of this

Our driver was brilliant. She slowed right done and kept pace with it for at least 5 km before the cheetah eventually disappeared into the shrub. 

 

Breakfast was had on our return, and we pretty well had the rest of the day free. I was then joined whilst eating my cereal by a Wart Hog. 

 

 

 

And not just the wart hog came for a visit. At Malcomb and Annettes breakfast table amd ostrich tried to nick his fruit.

 

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Using his spoon as a weapon 😂

 

 We had thought of doing another self safari along the same road we went up this morning, without turning onto that rutted track, but circumstances changed when Kobus mentioned a wildlife rescue centre not 3 km from this site. So after lunch we went for a look. For 300 rand each (£15), we could go into the lion enclosure and have the lions feed from our vehicle. Meat would be thrown on the top of the cage, and the lions would have to jump onto the roof to get their food. 

 

So we thought, well, why not! We were joined by Sheila, Steve, Martin and Caroline, then driven in through two gates into the enclosure. At first, we were a bit apprehensive, but when neither the lion or lioness took any interest in the food, well, it was disappointing. The lion had one thing on his mind: to mate with the lioness and consequently chased her continually away from our vehicle. The only close-up encounter was when the lion decided to check out a piece of meat nearby. Still, we can't blame nature; it just wasn't to be. As for this being a rescue centre, we very quickly realised this was nothing more than a money-making business to lure in the tourists. In fact, we were all quite disgusted by the way some of the animals were housed and therefore wished we had given it a miss. This won't be on Kobus's recommendations any longer!

Since when have there been tigers in Africa?