Evening Evening Game Drive - Hippos and Elephants

As we left the comfort of our room once again and headed toward the lobby, the sweltering heat of Africa smacks you in the face every time. Those 15-20 minutes you spend with your guide, having a little dessert during tea (or a cocktail) can be agony as the sweat begins pouring from within.

By the time you walk to the truck, which invariably has been sitting in the sun, your shirt is soaked through and you begin the mantra, “Must have wind, must have wind, must have wind.” And then you start moving, and although the wind is hot, you’re moving, and starting to cool down a bit.

We got in the truck and set out among the softer light of the sun. We rounded the first bend and immediately saw the unicorn. Well that’s what they call it anyway, a one-antler impala. Poor guy – he’ll never mate again as impala lock horns for dominance and since he can’t lock horns, he can’t fight. And since he can’t fight, the ladies think he’s a wimp!

As we drove over the concrete road that also serves as part of a small dam for the N’wanetsi near the lodge, we noticed the hippos who live in the water there (and the ones we hear every night) we quite close. Alas, another truck had parked across the river and they were walking toward where the hippos were in the water, which meant we couldn’t (too many people).


So we continued on, seeing a great little striped baby zebra. Their stripes actually help regulate their temperature as the dark stripes absorb sunlight while the white ones reflect it. Their stripes are their fingerprints, with no two sets of stripes alike. I’m a regular Dierdre now myself, having been imparted with so much knowledge.

I think Dierdre felt bad about the hippos so she asked if we wanted to do another wildlife walk. We were all game, so she parked the truck and we headed on a 10 minute walk slightly downhill into the bush, with Dierdre leading the group single file, rifle in hand. At one point Dierdre gathered us around and told us to be quiet and stay grouped together because as we were going to roiund the next corner, we were going to encountered hippo in the water and they would be startled by us so we should have our cameras ready.

I don’t think any of us knew what to expect as we’d always only seen two, maybe three hippos together. Rounding the corner, cameras poised for the shot, we saw the thick pea soup water and then, there they were, over 30 hippos grouped together, like buoys floating on top the water.

A few of them splashed and then settled down once they got used to us. And then they just hung out, once in a while doing their yawn, opening their mouths wide as a warning to us. But they were content to stand on the bottom, their heads slightly above water, covered in weeds to keep them cool. Silly hippos. They’re doing their thing again – “If I have this seaweed on my head, maybe the won’t see me.”

What do you call a group of…?

After our great sighting of the crash of rhinos, we learned that not everything is a herd or a pod or a pack. Here are some of the more interesting groups of animals we saw or learned about:

Zebras = a Dazzle of zebra

Giraffes = a Journey of giraffe

Baboons = a Troop of baboons

Hippos = a Raft of hippos

I'm sure there are more....we came up with one too. What do you call a group of gay zebra? A gazzle! Gay and Dazzling! Lame I know but we all got a laugh out of it.

A Crash Of Rhinos

We didn’t drive for more than 10 minutes when we happened upon a beautiful area with green grass everywhere, scattered among trees and bushes. It didn’t take long to find another two rhinos….and then there were two plus another mother and baby…and then there were two more. We had ourselves a crash of rhino which is what Rhinos in a group are called. And then there were zebra and impala co-mingling with the rhino and we were all amazed at this confluence of such a variety of animals.



As we traveled we learned about the Leadwood tree where the wood is so hard that when it dies, the wood takes years to decay, so you see these beautiful skeletons of trees amongst the green of the bush.

We watched in awe as a giraffe ran across the road in front of us and learned that they don’t run often as their bodies can’t support their neck while running for long. We also learned if a giraffe falls down, it dies because its neck is so heavy that it can’t lift it up off the ground.


We learned about this frog and builds a nest that looks like a snowball hanging from a branch and it’s actually made of foam. The tadpoles are safely protected there before they are dropped into the water to begin their life.

We learned all about buzzards and the hierarchy of buzzards who come to the kill and get first through sixth dibs based on which type of buzzard they are. And what a buzzard roosting in a tree means (I’m tired and resting) vs. circling above (I’m soaring on a thermal) vs. circling above in a group (I’m awaiting my turn to feast after then lions are done).

Another successful drive as we headed back to the lodge among the mid-morning 90+ degree heat.

Walking With Rhinos!

Dierdre had mentioned a wildlife walk at some point during our game drives and now seemed to be the time.

It was quite simple, follow her (her leading the pack, rifle in hand) and we were going in for a close up view. And follow her quietly. No cameras, no binoculars, nothing.

What did we do? Barrel down the hillside, making a lot of noise with our feet, chatting a bit. She stopped us and asked us to gather round. The rules were 1. Single file so she could defend us with the gun if need be (she couldn’t defend us if we were all over the place); 2. No talking so as not to alert the Rhinos whose huge ears along with their sense of smell is how they detect things; 3. Walk slowly and deliberately, avoiding stepping on dry, brittle grasses and sticking to walking on the rocky gravel. Plus, rolling your foot from the outside to the inside to minimize the noise your boot makes when stepping; 4. When she snaps her fingers, you stop – immediately; and 5. When she says run, you run. When she says climb a tree, you climb a tree.

Now that we had it all down, we continued downhill. We had probably covered 75 yards when Dierdre snapped once. We all looked up and stopped in our tracks. She motioned with her hand and turned around and mouthed “stand still”. The baby rhino had heard us and was intently looking, not sure where the sound was coming from. Baby Rhinos have much better eyesight than older rhinos so she would be able to see us while the mother rhino couldn’t. However, if we stood still, she wouldn’t be able to detect us. So after about a minute, the rhinos went back to feeding and we continued down the hill.

Not more than 10 yards later, Dierdre snapped again. We all stopped. Now both Rhinos were looking, not our direction, but looking. They knew something was up. We stood rooted, like 8 tree trunks spread out amongst a stand of trees. Not sure what was going on, we stood while the Rhino and baby moved around a bit. Hearts were racing, not sure if the rhino would charge our way to protect the baby or flee. This is the stuff life is made of. Exhilaration. A touch of fear. A touch of wonder. After a tense minute, mother and baby run down the valley away from us.

Dierdre explained that although they didn’t see us, they smelled us. And that was their first sign that something wasn’t quite right. Most likely they heard us as well. And those two things were enough for mother to protect her young by fleeing, the most common tactic used by rhinos when in danger.

So back up to the truck, uphill the whole way to continue on our morning drive!

Morning Game Drive – In Search of Black Rhino

Day 6 – November 24/Monday

Happy Birthday Mike! It’s Mike’s 42nd today and I have quite a few things planned unbeknownst to him.

Awhile back at a conference, I had met a guy from Singita who put me in touch with Jason, the Managing Director of Lebombo who helped arrange Mike’s birthday activities and it was going to be something to remember.

I did indeed sleep like a baby and awoke only when the 5am wake up call came. At least the phone ringing wasn’t some horrible jarring bell, but was more chime like - peaceful, like you'd expect to hear in the bush.

We headed down to the lobby to grab a little coffee and African Rusk and hooked up with Dierdre.

Today’s mission was to find black rhino and sable. To do that, we had to drive north about an hour to get to the part of the concession where these animals typically roamed. In order to shorten the travel time, we put a roof on the truck so we could drive the Kruger Park road and then hop back into the concession once we were further north, probably cutting off an hour of travel time.

This part of the concession was the most like Jurassic Park yet. Huge cliffs and mountains with lush grass growing. A fire had swept through this part from Mozambique which Kruger extends into, leaving most of the trees standing, but destroying all the ground brush. As a result of torrential rains nine days earlier, the entire area had come to life, with a lush green carpet of grass juxtaposed by jagged, hard brown rocks and cliffs.

As we drove on, I found six inch black sticks across the road. Inquiring about them, Dierdre told me they were millipedes. When the time was right, and we had enough open land around us (which meant we were safe from predators), we stopped to view them. They were incredibly strong and it was surprising how sticky their feet were, gripping incredibly tight to whatever surface they touched, like my hand here.

As we continued driving, we saw the usual menagerie of wildlife and then stopped for our morning coffee and snacks. Incidentally, these stops also served as bathroom breaks. So you found the closest tree or bush, stepped behind it, and did your thing. Not a big deal but at night, it could be quite eerie as you never really knew what was lurking 10 feet away. We’ve all seen to many movies so your mind tends to play tricks and you think about what’s happened in the movies. Just a tad bit creepy.

Since we hadn’t had any luck with black rhinos or sables, we drove up a rocky ridge with a great view through the trees to a lush valley below. Leave it to Themba. Down below a mother and baby Rhino awaited a close up view.

Evening Game Drive – Lion Hunt!

The afternoon was too hot to do anything except sit in your room. We did head to the lobby and played a couple games of cribbage in the “lobby” while sweating profusely. But that was about the only time we did anything mid-day.

We headed back up around 4pm for tea and to hook up with Dierdre again for the afternoon game drive.

The morning drive we had all hoped to see lion but after Themba and another tracker went out on foot (with rifles) for over two hours, they found the pride sleeping in an area that we couldn’t get a vehicle into. And we certainly couldn’t get out on foot to view them.

We set out to find another pride, given that lions sleep most of the day into twilight so we weren’t going to see any movement from the pride that morning until later. We rounded a bend and bumped smack into two baboons on a rock. The big male was being preened (groomed) by a female and they just sat there content to do their thing as we stopped to watch.

A bit later we found African Buffalo. They are huge and aggressive and not so nice looking. We happened upon two of them just hanging out about 50 yards off the road. Too far away for a good view, Dierdre took us 4-wheeling over rocks and ruts – this Land Rover could handle anything. As we got closer, Dierdre warned us to not make any sudden movements and to make sure we moved slowly. It seems that the aggressive nature of the buffalo often caused them to charge anything, event the trucks. So, we got within 10 yards or so, good enough for great pictures and to observe them.

We continued onward, viewing a variety of animals along the way. Soon enough, sunset was upon us. Another perfect sunset in a once foreign feeling place that had become more like home, like the place where visions are realized and where the sight of a sunset can bring forth a sense of wonder we seem to lose as part of living our everyday lives.

Tonight's cocktail hour was special in that it was Erica’s birthday. As we arrived at our sunset viewing point, we found a few of the staff there with lanterns and chairs set up for perfect sunset viewing. A small table had been set up with snacks and the bar on it. And champagne was popped as we arrived. What a perfect surprise for a birthday and one not soon to be forgotten. After hanging out for 30 minutes, we were on our way again, this time for the lion hunt.

As it was dark, the lions were on the move, and so we were. We were headed toward a pride that had been spotted earlier. In constant communication with another truck, they had found the pride as they were heading straight toward us. Dierdre quickly left the road and we found ourselves driving through the bush toward a place they should be walking toward. We saw the other truck in the distance, its headlights and spotlight shining our way.

And then it was lights out! And Dierdre cut our engine. And dead silence. With nothing but the sound of the bush as a backdrop, the excitement (and a bit of tension) was palable. We had no idea what to expect. A quick flash of the floodlight by Themba, and then it’s there. A lion….no more than 50 feet away. A quick follow and then it’s lights out again. As Themba continued to flash his light, we found at least 8 more lion, gently walking right across our path.

As they moved, we moved, always getting out in front of them for a (ahem) killer view – pun intended. So we had many shots of them as they stalked.

According to Dierdre, this was their stalk. They continued to walk, sensing for prey through sight, smell, sound. As they continued their walk, Themba shined his light elsewhere and uncovered eyes – Impala eyes! We were going to be part of a kill!

Then it was lights out for good. It wasn’t fair to give either animal an advantage. So we waited. It was quiet, and dark. And lions were everywhere. And there we sat in our truck, like little prey. We were told not to talk and not to move. This was a little scary.

Dierdre told us to listen for sounds….and then we heard it, the sound of running. Of dead grass rustling. Of branches being bent. Sometimes you can hear the crunch as the neck breaks. But there was no crunch. No roaring. No sounds of a struggle. The impala had escaped.

Exhilerated (and a bit disappointed) we began tracking the lions again and ran through the entire cycle. Impalas = 2, Lions = 0.

We headed back toward the road and continued on our nighttime journey through the bush.

Mountain Biking In The Bush? You Bet!

Upon our arrival back to camp, Dierdre asked if any us wanted to do anything else like Mountain Bike, archery, etc. I really wanted to experience the bush on bike. No one else on the truck did. So Dierdre and I made a plan to hook up at 10:30. She and I would bike and Themba would follow in the trucks with the rifle – no lie.

After some breakfast (we literally ate 6 times a day – three meals and three snack times), I relaxed for a bit in the room and then headed back to the lodge to meet Dierdre and Themba. We took off right from the lodge and biked. That plan was to be out for an hour as at that time the temperature was over 90 degrees. We ended up biking about 13km with Dierdre tiring out and trading with Themba, then later they switched back again.

It was hot! And it was tough work! But we pedaled through it. I got the chance to learn more about Dierdre and how they lived life in the bush. Beyond all the training I mentioned earlier, they work for 6 weeks straight, then have 2 weeks off. They live about 20 minutes away from the lodge in a little village of 164 people who work at both Sweni lodge and Lebombo. They are a mix of people from different parts of Africa – some from the city and some from local villages around Kruger including many who are Shangaan tribe as mentioned earlier.

Themba learned how to do what he does from living in the village his whole life. It was their way of living and those skills are passed from generation to generation.

As for the animals, we got up and close to zebras, giraffes and lots of impalas. But the animals were less used to bikes than they were the trucks. So for the most part, the animals were skittish around the bikes and tended to run off as we approached. Nonetheless, it was a different type of experience in traveling through the bush.

As we bicycled home, the last leg was up a hill for a good 10 minutes all the way back to the lodge. Not much but in the 90 degree heat, it was brutal. It took a 45 minutes to sort of cool down including a 15 minutes soak in cool water.

I later learned that I was the toughest mountain biker they had ever had (usually they take out families and kids) and later that day, many of the staff basically told me that they heard I “kicked Dierdre’s ass” mountain biking.