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