Have some time before we depart for the airport to go back to JNB. We're staying 2 nights at the Westcliff and going with Ngaire and Ken to the cheetah and wild dog research center tomorrow morning before they leave tomorrow evening. Others who are not departing until tomorrow are also staying at the Westcliff and a group are going to dinner together.
Hard to believe but this morning's drive out did all the rest!! We had come upon 2 male lions and a lioness after sunset last night, and they had all just eaten--it was believed that they had taken down a buffalo. They were just sleeping it off, so it wasn't that interesting and also very difficult to take pictures because of the darkness. Earlier we had seen a huge herd of elephants, and it was somewhat dramatic. It was just as the sun was setting, and there was a beautiful sunset last night. They were clearly agitated and in fact a big female charged us and apparently she or another had charged one of the other jeeps several times. We weren't exactly sure what was going on. I can't even remember what else we saw, but I must get to today. Oh, we came across another male lion and he was pretty impressive, and he roared for us, which was an experience. I also remember that we came across a beautiful giraffe in a river bed eating, and the lighting was particularly nice.
Since I hadn't really gotten a good shot of a male lion, Duncan (our ranger), decided to head off to find the largest in the area because tracks had been seen yesterday. While driving down the road we passed a jeep from one of the other lodges going in the opposite direction, and Duncan greeted the ranger on that one. We continued down the road and only went about 100 feet and there was a female leopard sitting on top of a termite mound right by the road (maybe 20 feet from the road, if that). Duncan and Raymond (our tracker) had a good time ribbing the other ranger and tracker since they just passed it by. Well, we forgot about the lion for the time being and started following her. She was a beauty. (I think we've seen 6-7 different leopards, which is pretty amazing.)
Anyway, we soon heard that one of our other jeeps had found the male lion not far from where we were. Moreover, the lion was heading our way (also toward the leopard). So we continued following the leopard, knowing that the lion was still approaching. Finally, the leopard figured out that the lion was not far, and we got to see her head up a tree right in front of us. The nearer the lion approached, the higher up the tree she climbed. It was nerve wracking because obviously the branches are less sturdy the higher you get. I think the pictures will be pretty amazing. The lion went right by the tree, but there was no way he good climb as high up as she was, and we really didn't want him to. (I think one of the TUSKers got a picture of the lion and the leopard in one shot, but we were too close.) That is, it would have been okay if he tried, but we didn't want to see him really get her. There was no question he knew she was there, but since he couldn't get to her, he just continued on. He didn't even roar. He was magnificent to look at, and we've all got lots of pictures. We stayed with him for awhile, but eventually we left the scene with the leopard still up the tree and the lion sitting around not far away.
We then came upon two big rhinos in a clearing, and they were very near another of our jeeps. It almost looked like one was going to charge, but I don't think he really was. Have a neat picture, though. Also, it was interesting to watch them graze in tandem.
We continued on and stopped for morning coffee, chocolate, tea, and chocolate muffins. Pretty terrific.
Then we started off again, and came upon the youngsters from the pride of lions we had seen yesterday. Apparently, the mothers had gone off to hunt. I think they had learned their lesson after one of the cubs "screwed things up yesterday. By the way, the antelope that were almost a meal were nyalas.
Off we continued and then came upon some tracks from a large male leopard. It was starting to get late, but Duncan and one of the other rangers and both trackers spent considerable time trying to find him. They saw that he had been on a termite mound probably looking for warthogs (and we actually saw a couple in the area), but we didn't find him. Duncan concluded that earlier in the morning he must have been right below the lodge, and he had probably been by the waterhole we see from the deck outside our room while we were on the game drive. That's okay, while I would have loved to have seen him, I wouldn't have traded our experience with the lion and the leopard for anything. (It leaves something for our next trip to Africa! And, I still haven't seen a hyena either.) Duncan said many rangers who would have worked on a daily basis for 5 years would not have seen the lion-leopard scenario we witnessed today.
What a agreat end to our time at the game parks. No wonder all you ROARers signed up for ROAR2. Well, I better see about finishing packing.
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Eugene
