This morning, because we hadn’t planned anything for the day, we woke up early. We had coffee around the fire and relaxed till the sun was well up and the day was warm. We did some camp chores and then headed down to the hide.
After watching 3 different herds of ellie amble down, a herd of buffalo came to drink and a kudu then arrived, as well as zebra, impala and so on – I’m glad we didn’t rush off into the park. After a profitable morning of doing, well nothing but watching game, we wondered back to the camp.
We are having one of Panda’s potjies for dinner (the one where the rest of us do all the chopping and preparing and he stirs the pot and gets the credit). It takes a fair amount of preparation and a lot of slow cooking to get this meal sorted.
With the potjie, bubbling away slowly over the camp fire, we set off to take a look at the Painted Dog Rehabilitation Centre, in the area. In S.A. we usually refer to painted dogs as wild dogs – it was explained to us that ‘wild dog’ has a negative connotation in that people think of them as rabid and they are nothing of the sort. Each dog has a unique marking that tells it apart from any other and hence the name painted dog – we liked the ‘new name’ for these intelligent animals. This centre was certainly one of the best we have visited in terms of rehabilitation – it was great for Robs to see, as she would like to follow a career in animal rehabilitation one day. They have a great information centre and a guide showed us around and answered questions. We then went on a walk along a 800m long and 2 ½m raised platform, above a huge enclosure There were no dogs in this enclosure, as a group had just been relocated into another reserve. We then visited 2 smaller enclosures, where there were 3 dogs. Due to our interest, Washington our guide, then took us it into the bush to track 4 dogs that they had collared, unfortunately, we didn’t find them.
Gray was eager to return to the camp to check on his potjie. With it still bubbling away nicely, we went down to the hide for sunset G & T’s and then red wine around the camp fire.
The potjie, thanks Gray, was a culinary master piece – watch out Justin Bonello.
After dinner, armed with a torch, we headed off into the bush, for the lodge and a huge boma fire. We sat around, sipping Amarula and chatting to the only other guests, a Dutch couple, on their first trip to Africa. They were a little out their depth, with the ellie being so close - they had never seen a wild animal outside a zoo before. This brought us to some of the funny things overseas tourists have been heard to say:
‘What do I do if I get bitten by a lion?’
· ‘Do giraffes hunt in packs?’
· ‘What species of dog is a lion?’
· ‘Are there lions in the street in South Africa?’
· ‘Is the hyena related to the brown bear?’
· ‘What time can we expect the lions to roar?’
· ‘I know why giraffes are so tall, so they can hunt monkeys in trees.’
· ‘You should catch the monkeys and teach them to eat with a knife and fork and sit at the table with us, so they can entertain us’
· ‘At what time do they round up the animals and lock them in the cages for the night’
· ‘Where do rhinos lay their eggs?’
We eventually got to bed around 11.30. A late night for us!!!!
Robs and the ellies
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