Month: May 2021

Neither of us wanted to leave. We were running a bit slow this morning due to the previous night’s festivities. But right off, the bush decided to give us a grand farewell. After leaving camp we immediately came across a female leopard and she was glorious. Millie shockingly spotted her first, we had two rangers and a tracker, and won Londo Bingo! We followed the leopard for a little bit and then she went down for a nap. Oh cats. Then we started driving towards our days’ objective, a walk in the bush. That is why we had two rangers, with very large guns! Before we made it to our start point we sighted Elephants and a Tawney Eagle, getting Matt and I second place in Bingo. We know the crew were letting us have it but it was still quite fun!

Onwards and suddenly a crash of Rhinos appear. There was one large male, two females and one juvenile. It was a lot a lot of Rhino!!!! It was fun to see them all interact but our viewing was cut short when the male decided to scent mark the area. Think fire hose of pee slowly angling itself towards you! We sure got out of there quick!

Then we did our bush walk. Both rangers went out front and our tracker took up the rear. From there we walked along a dry drainage canal listening to bird sounds and enjoying the forest. We walked for about an hour, it was a sunny day and was quite enjoyable. We ended our walk at the biggest mahogany tree I’ve ever seen, just a epic specimen of the species. Underneath they had set up  a lovely breakfast buffet.  After finishing breakfast and the obligatory tree climb, we were off again on our game drive.

 

After spotting a small herd of zebra, over the radio came a leopard mother  spotting with carcass.  So we went off road searching for her and found her up in a tree devouring a duiker carcass.  So AMAZING!!!!!  We watcher her eating for awhile, slowly tearing bits of the animal off and scarfing it down.  Leopards bring their kills into trees in order to keep hyenas from stealing them from them.  Then the most incredible thing happened, she started bringing the carcass down for her cub.  We hadn’t seen the cub, and never did, but it was known she had a young cub.  Watching her carry down the carcass from the tree so carefully was amazing!!!!  I thought I was recording it and I hadn’t hit the record button.  I’m still so mad at myself!!!!  Luckily others got it in the vehicle and were willing to share but still I’m quite bitter about my mistake.  Anyways, she artfully brought it down the tree instead of just dropping it from where she was and dragged it into the forest.  She then made this barking sound which is how she calls her cub.  We waited to see the cub come but we ran out of time and had to get back to the lodge to change for our flight.  Darn! Such an amazing experience, probably the best wildlife encounter I’ve ever had.

Leaving was true sadness.  Londolozi showed us, reminded us, of life before.  Of how life can be again.  The joys of becoming friends with someone new, the energy behind having fun with a group of people, the human connection missing in this time of Corona.  I truly truly am grateful for all of this wonderful trip and the spectacular and varied people we met along the way.

5/14/21

We started off the morning with a plan to not really have a plan, other than visiting hyenas. There’s a hyena den nearby the camp that we went to go check out. They’re just super cute. There was the matriarch and a juvenile but mostly grown male taking care of three hyena cubs. She was standing guard at the entrance to the den, an old termite mound, and the cubs were hanging out inside. They’d come out to check out what was going on outside and to have mom give them a bath. Mom didn’t much care about our presence but the cubs were a bit unsure about what was going on.

After our hyena time, we headed across the river to the north section of the Londolozi property. Crossing the river we came across a bunch of hippos cooling off in the river. The mist on the water and the low early morning light made it quite a beautiful scene.

We didn’t really know what we were looking for, other than a general idea that maybe we’d look for wild dog tracks. We didn’t get very far though before we heard on the radio that there was a leopard with a fairly mature cub spotted in a dry river bed near where we were. We headed straight for it at as fast as we could and found the leopard had left her cub behind and was just starting on a walk about of her territory to check things out and to make sure the scent markers were all still there. There were some nyalas near her path, but I guess she didn’t feel like dealing with them so she just walked on by and let them freak out about her being there. She did walk after them to make sure they knew who was boss or something, but she definitely wasn’t going to try to hunt them.

After a brief lie down, she heard some impala males through a couple of trees and decided those would be good for hunting. So for the second time, we got to see a leopard stalking their prey. She sat and watched them for a while, and while repositioning she came right by the truck, I thought she might jump over it for a second, but she went around. Unfortunately, she got spotted by the impala and they ran off before she could make an attempt. After that we made our way back to camp for breakfast.  

We’d planned on doing a bush walk after that, but Barry decided to postpone for tomorrow immediately after the morning drive so that it wouldn’t be as hot out. Yesterday’s covid test came back in about 24 hours, not too bad turn around (negative, of course.) So we won’t be stuck here.

The afternoon started off with a whistle. Just after leaving camp, one of our tires blew out. Of course this happened just as one of the owners of Londolozi was driving by so that must have been fun for Barry. He and Tsepo got the tire changed out pretty quickly and we were on our way.

As a joke from an offhand comment in the morning, Jack made safari bingo cards for everyone, where the first person to spot the animal on the card gets to fill it in. Everyone had a great time looking out for stuff to fill in. We didn’t see much beyond the usual though, so no one got bingo on that drive at least. Near the end of the drive, Barry and Tsepo switched places for fun and Tsepo pretended to drive Barry into a tree.

As we were heading for the traditional sundowner, we turned the corner to find a bar and charcuterie table setup on a rock by the river. The camp manager Jenna and head chef Chane were there waiting for us and had set it up as a sort of farewell since this was our last night there. We made cocktails for everyone and had a great time talking food with the head chef. We got Jenna making some cocktails too. It was a great time for all I think, and Jack managed to find a cocktail that Tsepo and Millie liked.  For Tsepo and Millie, it was there first cocktails ever.

After wrapping up our lovely sundowner, we headed back for camp. We spotted a ton of nocturnal critters on the relatively short drive. We’d jokingly asked if Tsepo could find a chameleon, it’s actually possible at night since they turn white, and he managed to find one in a couple of minutes. We also spotted a couple of bushy tailed mongoose and a Genet, neither of which we’d ever seen before.

Gennet

Back at camp in the boma we had dinner with our Land Rover companions and Barry. We, again, had a blast chatting with them. After three visits, we finally managed to see the local Shangaan folks dancing and singing after dinner. On previous visits we kept missing it because we went to bed too early (imagine that.) It was really impressive, they were truly fantastic. We continued on with our lovely conversation (and wine) and Jenna and Chane joined us for more great conversation. Chane made us all a round of Springbokkie shots, which is Creme de Menthe and Amarula, which luckily isn’t too strong.  Such wonderful companionship.

5/13/21

Today we had a bit of a slow start.  We started by searching for a leopard that had been spotted by the camp’s fence line.  After a fruitless few minutes we moved on to try to find a leopard female and her cubs.  While looking we came across a hyena which wanted nothing to do with us, a herd of chill elephants, and a journey of giraffe here and there (it’s only a journey while they’re walking, if still they are a tower of giraffe.)  Like a couple hours before, it was just not a leopard day.

After returning, it was time for our obligatory covid test to return home. It was surprisingly easy, they came to our cabin, did a quick throat swab and emailed the results the next morning(negative). Very smooth! Matty and I then went for a hike to see all the camps.  It’s really interesting how with design they were really able to give each camp it’s own feel. We came across at the end a group of Nyala female and a trip of vervet monkeys. They were fearless! We wandering into the groups and sat down, watching and enjoying their company until the flies drove us off. Then we returned for a tasty lunch and our Land Rover mates requested cocktails and I yet again got to pop into the bar.

Then back on the afternoon game drive, this time on the hunt for Lion cubs, and yes, you know where this is going…  No luck finding the cubs, the lioness had stashed them somewhere well hidden in a dry creek bed.  We looked and looked but no luck.  We did however see quite a few leopard orchid, the logo for Londolozi.  Finally we at least found the mother and she was doing what Lions do best, napping. Haha.  We watched her for a bit hoping she’d lead us back to her kitten cubs but no luck.  Then off to see a large male lion.  He had a huge mane, giant powerful body, and you guessed it, he was napping.  Sigh.  The Sand Man had it in for us today! After that we were off to surprise location and along the way, I asked Tsepo our tracker if he could spot a chameleon for me.  You can usually only find them at night because when they sleep the turn white and show up in the spot light.  And by some miracle he actually found a little lizard, about the size of lemon.  After numerous photo attempts I gave up, you’ll have to wait for one of Matt’s.

Finally we arrived at our surprise dinner in the bush, lamps and candles surrounding the clearing, hanging from trees, creating this beautiful honey light.  We hung out by the fire for a bit, bonding as a Land Rover group and also spending some time hanging out with our friends from earlier.  It was so lovely, a fire, champagne, and sparkling company.

We then went to our tables and were served a beautiful appetizer of pumpkin soup. Then over to BBQs they had set up and were serving Brai(S.African Bbq), chicken curry, and some fab sides. Our table got a little rowdier than the others, the swedish ladies Kat and Millie telling great stories and jokes. Barry telling us about his previous life in Luxembourg, and all of us teasing each other. There were a few epic attempts at high fives that went awry. Apparently that is an American thing, who knew? We had a ball, loud and laughing the whole time. We were the last to leave and had a quick but very cold drive back to camp. The next day we learned all the rangers had told Barry they were jealous that they weren’t at our table.

5/12/21

It’s really good to be back at Londolozi. Last night was so much fun, chatting with Will and seeing what cocktails we could figure out with their bar selection.This morning we got up early so we could get out and look for a leopard mother and two cubs that are generally at the south end of the Londolozi territory. We had a really nice mother and daughter from Sweden in our group, and a woman who is with her husband here (he’s doing an audit for Londolozi and she came along to check out the place.)We found a couple of big herds of elephants pretty much right off. We were driving by a watering hole and spotted some elephants coming towards it, so we turned around and got on the other side of the watering hole from them. They walked on by, a few came up to get a drink, and we got to watch a long line of elephants go by.
As we continued our search for the leopard, we came across another herd of elephants munching away at teak leaves and marula trees. One juvenile couldn’t quite reach something on a tree that he wanted so he was determined to push it over. He tried a number of times, but the tree bested him. We also saw a tiny little elephant nursing its mom, which was pretty special.We moved on a bit and heard an impala making an alarm call back in the direction we’d just come from, so we circled back and the elephants were blocking the road, so we stopped and waited for them. The entire herd slowly made its way toward us as they walked along the road too. We wound up being pretty much surrounded by them, but they were quite relaxed since they’d come to us and we were just sitting there.I’m going to blame the elephant traffic jam, but by the time we made it through we didn’t find any leopards. We stopped for a morning coffee and as Barry was talking about how cool it is to stumble on a herd of elephants or a rhino, Jack looked out at the horizon and saw a rhino. We watched it for a bit while we finished our coffee (with Amarula) and there was also a little calf as well. We followed it around for a while and watched the little one playing around and looking at us a little skeptically. As we made our way back to camp, there was a hippo out of the water in the pond outside of camp. It’s pretty rare to see a hippo out during the day, so that was a cool sight. It was covered in duck weed, since the pond is similarly covered in it.After we got back and had our breakfast, we’d intended to have a nice walk around the lodge, but pretty much immediately fell asleep for a nap. This getting up early stuff can really take it out of you. For our evening game drive, we went out looking for more leopards. It took a while, and we didn’t wind up running into much else, but we finally found a male leopard. We followed him through a dry creek bed and he even walked past the truck a couple of times in pretty close proximity. Leopards have these piercing green eyes that seem to just stare right through you. It’s quite a thrill to be that close to them and have them look right at you. After we got back to camp, it was dinner in the boma, with pre-dinner drinks around the fire. After chatting with Will and Londolozi’s general manager a bit over a G&T, we headed for the bar to make cocktails for everyone again. Everyone seems pretty excited about cocktails, I’m guessing they’ll be serving them soon. We had a great dinner with Will and Barry, chatting for hours, and it was off to bed.

5/11/21

It is just so wonderful to be back in Londolozi, such wonderful people, old friends and new. We just love it here so much! We started off with a late lunch then off on a game drive! We joined a Swedish mother and daughter already mid stay, and met our Ranger Barry and Tracker Tsepo. Right off the bat we came across a herd of elephants, wandering around tearing up branches and grass. It was awesome to see them, they don’t occur in Tswalu and it felt so odd to be on game drives without elephants. We then moved on and found a pride of lionesses. They were napping in the shade, avoiding the hot sun. They truly act like giant house cats. After that we had a lovely sundowner with G&Ts and cookies. Then back to lions to see if they woke up. They did! Awake lions!!!!!! We followed them for a bit, watching their hunting behavior, checking the wind and a slow steady walk.

Upon return to the lodge we were led to dinner by paper lanterns and kerosene lamps into the boma, a circular outdoor area surrounded by staves, filled with sand and a large fire pit in the center. Our friend Will, the lodge’s manager was waiting for us and made us his signature cocktail, an Espresso Martini, delicious! We shared we had learned cocktails during the year of Covid and soon I was behind the bar making drinks! It was a lot of fun, I made a bunch of cocktails we had learned for the staff and they were passing them around and trying them. Making different flavor profiles for different people, desperately trying to remember the right ratios since we were out of wifi range. I had forgotten what it was like to have fun with a group of people after this long year. This trip had definitely reintroduced us back into the joys of friendship and social connection.