Wednesday, 1 June, 2011
Three-Cat Day: Orpen Area and Sunset Drive
We made it to the gate slightly quicker this morning, 6:10 a.m.,
only to find that no one had opened it! As we sat waiting for
someone to arrive and let us out of camp, Linda got angry, while
Tom and I just figured TIA. “TIA” stands for “This is Africa,” and
it means when things don't operate the way you think they should,
you better adjust your expectations. Meanwhile, as I'm
contemplating these deep thoughts, a fellow traveler stepped out of
his vehicle, lifted the chain, and simply opened the gate himself.
That hadn't even occurred to us. I thought it was locked. Ha!
Our morning route: S145, S140, H7 to Orpen, S106, H7, S39, S40,
S12, H7, S36, S145 back to Talamati.
This morning we headed west to Orpen Gate to fill up with petrol,
on the lookout for game on the way, of course. As soon as we left
camp, we almost immediately came upon a rhino, and then another
one!
One of our early morning
rhinos
After just two days in Kruger, we've already seen most of the
animals we'd hoped to, except for cats. A leopard was spotted two
days ago between Talamati and Orpen, so our anticipation was high.
Unfortunately, no leopards this morning.
Skinny
giraffe
At Orpen we got petrol and then stopped at the shop for a few
provisions: eggs, bread, wine, Pringles, etcetera. We also bought a
bottle of Amarula, a South African cream liqueur flavored with the
fruit of the marula tree, a fruit favored by elephants. Again at
Orpen the official Kruger map and guidebook was not available in
English.
Orpen Rest
Camp
No good cat sightings this a.m., but we did see a zebra with a
recent wound from a cat. He was lucky he'd made it through the
night. On the S39 we had a fleeting glimpse of a leopard, so quick
we wouldn't have been able to identify it if we hadn't been told by
some folks in another car, so it hardly counts. Since leopard
sightings are so rare, I mention it anyway.
Wounded
zebra
We returned to Talamati about 1:00 p.m. and had leftovers and a
glass of Amarula for lunch. I showered and washed some clothes in
the sink, and then a gentleman from camp reception came by the
cottage to see why we hadn't paid our conservation fees yet! Of
course, we'd already tried twice. Whatever. I followed him back to
reception to finally pay the fees. For Tom and me, I paid the fees
by purchasing a Wildcard, a pass good for a year in a number of
South African national parks. As a couple, it was cheaper to buy
the pass than to pay the daily rate for the number of days we were
to be at Kruger.
That transaction successfully completed, I then attempted to pay
Linda's daily conservation fees. After they charged my credit card,
I pointed out that they had only charged the fee for one day
instead of eight days. Another mixup! I was then told they wouldn't
take the rest of the money today because they've already run my
credit card twice, and there would be an additional charge for a
third transaction; therefore, we are to come by to pay again
tomorrow. TIA!
At 4:30 p.m. we met Chester, the driver and guide for our sunset
drive. We were the only three guests tonight in a nine-passenger
truck, so we each had our own row of seats! Sunset drive route:
S145 to S36 north to Mondzweni Dam, S36 south approximately 5-6 km,
u-turn and backtrack to Talamati.
Chester and
Linda
Chester was able to point out things on our drive that we wouldn't
have otherwise noticed, like the tracks of a male lion and the poo
of a hyena. He pointed out a tiny, 8-inch tall, pearl-spotted owlet
and a large, 2 1/2-foot tall Verreaux's eagle-owl, the largest
African owl. The eagle-owl was perched above a mud puddle, where
Chester let us get out of the truck to observe some distressed
catfish that weren't going to live much longer in their
disappearing waterhole.
Pearl-spotted
owlet
Catfish
mudhole
Factoid from Chester: The steenbok, a small, solitary, territorial
antelope, is the only antelope that buries its feces. It does this
to make it harder for predators to pick up its trail.
Solitary
steenbok
We stopped at Mondzweni Dam for sunset, where Chester again let us
alight from the truck. Like I mentioned earlier, opportunities to
leave your vehicle in Kruger are few and far between, so each time
is a treat.
Jana and Tom at
Mondzweni Dam
After sunset, Chester turned on the spotlights. He controlled one
on the driver's side, and I controlled one on the passenger side.
Then he drove at a slow rate of speed (10 kph-ish) while we shined
the lights into the bush and looked for the glow of eyes reflecting
back toward us.
Soon I spotted a set of eyes, which Chester then ID'd as an African
wild cat. It was a pretty good find, and we'd hoped to see cats, of
course, but I found it funny that I traveled all this way and went
to so much trouble to see a cat so similar to the one we left at
home, Carlos!
After quickly finding the African wild cat, I thought we'd be
spotting wildlife right and left, but it was a quiet night for
game, maybe because it was rather cold tonight, 48 degrees, which
is a lot colder than it sounds in the dry African air. Chester
passed out blankets to keep us warm in the open truck, but my bare
hand that was holding the spotlight was FREEZING! All we saw for
the longest time was my little wild cat, a big male kudu, and a
scrub hare, before reversing course and heading back toward camp,
still sharply on the lookout.
When we reached the tree where we'd seen the Verreaux's eagle-owl
earlier, it was no longer there. Then Chester shined his light to a
spot near the mudhole, and there was our owl, in the middle of
eating his dinner, one of the catfish it had been watching
earlier.
Verreaux's eagle-owl
with half a catfish
Just before reaching Talamati, we spotted one more cat, a civet,
drinking from the waterhole right outside our camp. That mades this
a three-cat day: the leopard glimpse, an African wild cat, and now
the civet!
Chester deposited us at our cottage, where we warmed up with a
bottle of South African red wine while preparing a dinner of beef
sausages and fried potatoes with onions, a nice ending to a great
day.
Today was much cooler, a high of 75 degrees on this first day of
winter.
