Imfolozi dag 12: An unreal day.
19 oktober 2018 - Imfolozi Game Reserve, Zuid-Afrika
Vrijdag 19-10-2018
Imfolozi dag 12: An unreal day.
Dieren vandaag gezien / Animals spotted:
Impala
African wild dog
Spotted hyena
Cheetah
White rhino
Slender mongoose
Cattle egret
Zebra
Kudu
Elephant
Blue wildebeest
Helmeted guineafowl
Egyptian goose
Lappet-faced vulture
Steppe buzzard
Brown snake eagle
African hoopoe
Lesser striped swallow
Blue waxbill
Mocking cliff-chat
Violet-backed starling
Water monitor
Eastern stripped skink
Marsh terrapin
Rock python
Red-eyed dove
Blacksmith lapwing
Quail
4 am we left to go on our morning session. This is the earliest session I’ve ever been on.
It was still dark when we left. During this drive we saw the sunrise. We stopped to scan for the dogs, we scanned for them and gotten signal. Whilst we turned around I saw the dogs. It was the Bhejie Pack. They walked past us in a line. When 11 dogs had passed us they were followed by 2 spotted hyenas. A weird thing to see but there is a good explanation. The hyenas follow the dogs in the hope they catch something and hope for some scraps. The dogs found out about this and chased them away. This was an impressive show of strength. We followed the dogs for a while until they disappeared into the bushes.
The next thing on the list was CF17 and the 3 cubs. We scanned for her and got signal. But they were still to far in to see them. So we drove around to try and find something else. We found: elephants, impalas, zebras, helmeted guineafowl and a slender mongoose. This last one behaved differently than they normally do. He laid down on top of his little home and enjoyed the sun. Staying nice and still is not what I’m used to see from a mongoose. A wonderful sighting. We tried again for CF17 but no luck jet. We drove up to the hide to have morning tea. Here we saw the lesser stripped swallow, a water monitor, village weaver and a marsh terrapin (my first wild one).
In the car we went back to CF17. Whilst we were driving I saw something light brown in the bushes. I made Ryan drive backwards and for sure it were the cheetahs. Sadly we could only find 2 cubs. One of them had a really bad eye injury and the mother had a wound on her left site. We stayed there and observed them for a while. They all walked around a little bit most of the time they were just resting. We left them and started to head south. On our way we found some interesting animals included two rare lappet-faced vultures, different groups of white rhino (one of 7, one of 6, one of 2), a steppe buzzard, African hoopoe.
On our way down there we found some tracs. Ryan got out of the car and started a lesson about how to identify tracs. He explained the difference between cats (lion, leopard, cheetah) and dogs (African wild dogs, hyena’s). Dogs show nails in their tracks while cats don’t. The only exception is the cheetah, they use their claws for traction when the chase a pray. Dogs have two lobs while cats have 3. This was really interesting.
We scanned for the lions and some cheetah, we did have signal but we couldn’t find them. Back to camp were we walked up to the rock to see if we could see the lions. This was an unsuccessful mission. I did see some other animals that I hadn’t seen before like the violet-backed starling. When I came back from the rock I went back to bed for a little snooze (3 hours)
After I woke up I had some lunch and helped Ryan with fixing the roof. We left a little bit later than planned but we had to finish this job on the roof first. Of we were at 3.20 pm searching for CM19 and the lions. I was scanning this afternoon. We found some another white rhino and some quails, the first ones I’ve seen in the wild.
We waited a while at the lookout point near the river. A lovely few. After a while Ryan made us jump back in the car. CM19 had clocked in just near the rock at camp. When we arrived at the rock we saw impala’s fleeing and for sure this cheetah appeared. He looked really fat what is a good sign, he just had a good meal. Back on our way. Then we started scanning for CM11.Whilst waiting for him we played some Uno, a good way to kill time. CM11 is a very shy cheetah who only shows himself when it is nearly dark. This is what Ryan told us would happen and it happened. He moved around the bushes and then disappeared. After this we drove back to camp. Ryan told us the morning session of tomorrow was cancelled so we could sleep in. A wonderful thought.
I spend some time with Estelle talking about different topics and we had a wonderful conversation.
So far this has been the best day of my trip.
Imfolozi dag 12: An unreal day.
Dieren vandaag gezien / Animals spotted:
Impala
African wild dog
Spotted hyena
Cheetah
White rhino
Slender mongoose
Cattle egret
Zebra
Kudu
Elephant
Blue wildebeest
Helmeted guineafowl
Egyptian goose
Lappet-faced vulture
Steppe buzzard
Brown snake eagle
African hoopoe
Lesser striped swallow
Blue waxbill
Mocking cliff-chat
Violet-backed starling
Water monitor
Eastern stripped skink
Marsh terrapin
Rock python
Red-eyed dove
Blacksmith lapwing
Quail
4 am we left to go on our morning session. This is the earliest session I’ve ever been on.
It was still dark when we left. During this drive we saw the sunrise. We stopped to scan for the dogs, we scanned for them and gotten signal. Whilst we turned around I saw the dogs. It was the Bhejie Pack. They walked past us in a line. When 11 dogs had passed us they were followed by 2 spotted hyenas. A weird thing to see but there is a good explanation. The hyenas follow the dogs in the hope they catch something and hope for some scraps. The dogs found out about this and chased them away. This was an impressive show of strength. We followed the dogs for a while until they disappeared into the bushes.
The next thing on the list was CF17 and the 3 cubs. We scanned for her and got signal. But they were still to far in to see them. So we drove around to try and find something else. We found: elephants, impalas, zebras, helmeted guineafowl and a slender mongoose. This last one behaved differently than they normally do. He laid down on top of his little home and enjoyed the sun. Staying nice and still is not what I’m used to see from a mongoose. A wonderful sighting. We tried again for CF17 but no luck jet. We drove up to the hide to have morning tea. Here we saw the lesser stripped swallow, a water monitor, village weaver and a marsh terrapin (my first wild one).
In the car we went back to CF17. Whilst we were driving I saw something light brown in the bushes. I made Ryan drive backwards and for sure it were the cheetahs. Sadly we could only find 2 cubs. One of them had a really bad eye injury and the mother had a wound on her left site. We stayed there and observed them for a while. They all walked around a little bit most of the time they were just resting. We left them and started to head south. On our way we found some interesting animals included two rare lappet-faced vultures, different groups of white rhino (one of 7, one of 6, one of 2), a steppe buzzard, African hoopoe.
On our way down there we found some tracs. Ryan got out of the car and started a lesson about how to identify tracs. He explained the difference between cats (lion, leopard, cheetah) and dogs (African wild dogs, hyena’s). Dogs show nails in their tracks while cats don’t. The only exception is the cheetah, they use their claws for traction when the chase a pray. Dogs have two lobs while cats have 3. This was really interesting.
We scanned for the lions and some cheetah, we did have signal but we couldn’t find them. Back to camp were we walked up to the rock to see if we could see the lions. This was an unsuccessful mission. I did see some other animals that I hadn’t seen before like the violet-backed starling. When I came back from the rock I went back to bed for a little snooze (3 hours)
After I woke up I had some lunch and helped Ryan with fixing the roof. We left a little bit later than planned but we had to finish this job on the roof first. Of we were at 3.20 pm searching for CM19 and the lions. I was scanning this afternoon. We found some another white rhino and some quails, the first ones I’ve seen in the wild.
We waited a while at the lookout point near the river. A lovely few. After a while Ryan made us jump back in the car. CM19 had clocked in just near the rock at camp. When we arrived at the rock we saw impala’s fleeing and for sure this cheetah appeared. He looked really fat what is a good sign, he just had a good meal. Back on our way. Then we started scanning for CM11.Whilst waiting for him we played some Uno, a good way to kill time. CM11 is a very shy cheetah who only shows himself when it is nearly dark. This is what Ryan told us would happen and it happened. He moved around the bushes and then disappeared. After this we drove back to camp. Ryan told us the morning session of tomorrow was cancelled so we could sleep in. A wonderful thought.
I spend some time with Estelle talking about different topics and we had a wonderful conversation.
So far this has been the best day of my trip.
Heel indrukwekkend.