Saturday May 15 2010

Saturday May 15, 2010

The next morning, all six of us plus four other people, also from the US, who had arrived on the same day but at earlier times, met our game drive guide, Chris, in a ranger uniform, with a walkie-talkie and binoculars… for the morning safari on the ZuluNyala Reserve… The weather was overcast but pleasant… We immediately saw three giraffes, an older male called George, with just one horn, and two young males playing near a watering hole…

We then drove to the southern part of the reserve where two male cheetahs had been tracked via telemetry, and sighted that very morning, and we found them successfully and approached them carefully as close as they allowed us to get to them before they moved on… Their ability to blend into the brush and tall dried grass was absolutely amazing… It was hard to spot them once they would lie down in the tall grass… We also saw other species of animals: Antelopes, Nyalas, Warthogs, Cape Buffaloes…

We came back to the Lodge for lunch and had a buffet meal of venison meat, impala meat, which was prepared in a stew… The dish was very tasty…

We went back out after lunch with Chris in his vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser with open sides, and a driver’s door that could not closed that he had continuously to close it along the way… I was afraid that he might be scaring the animals.

From afar, he spotted a black male rhino grazing in an open area. Chris’ last sighting of this animal was about three months ago, and all occupants of his jeeps were thrilled at the excitement… Our guide had been the first to spot it, and we were first in the pecking order of the jeeps that congregated to see the animals after Chris confirmed the sighting by walkie- talkie to other viewing parties. We then stayed in the park after dark to try to spot leopards with a search light but we were unsuccessful, although we saw monkeys, and bush babies (similar to koala bears)…

Dinner was an impala roast with excellent vegetables, and terrific dessert. At the end of the meal, we had a show of Zulu male and female dancers accompanied by drums…