Ngala Reserve - Night 8

We had a fairly quiet drive tonight - not a lot of animals out and about. A few zebra and wildebeest. Our real quest was for rhino. We drove through the reserve going waterhole to waterhole hoping to see one wallowing or taking a drink. As the sun was getting low we still had not seen much and then our tracker from his seat atop the hood of the land cruiser pointed off in the distance. Through the bush about 1,000 yards away there it stood. Rhino. A massive, armor-clad white rhino bull with an intimidating horn. LeeAnn turned off the path (it would be a stretch to call it a road) and we took off through the bush, driving over some small trees and around larger ones. In a minute, we were alongside the rhino. He barely seemed to notice us and continued about his business of foraging and scent marking. We followed him along for about 20 minutes positioning and repositioning our vehicle. Truly an incredible animal in its combination of docility and sheer mass. It's amazing an animal can grow to this size on a plant diet alone.

    Kudu (female)


    Zebra


    Steenbok

    White Rhino (bull)



We drove over to a clearing to celebrate our new sighting with a sundowner.

      

                                                Lee Ann, our Ranger, and Richard, our Tracker.

We chatted and had a glass of wine and were preparing to head back to the lodge when the call came in. There was a pride of lions near a watering hole at the edge of the reserve (along the border with Kruger proper). Our tracker plugged in a spot light and scaled back into his perch while LeeAnn threw together the sundowner materials and then we were off - speeding through the darkness of the bush to come fve to face with a pride of lions. A bat flew alongside us for a bit; silhouettes of three giraffes stood off to our left, their heads turning quizzically to follow our vehicle. Our spotlight caught a pair of eyes far ahead on the right and when it next swung around a hyena was running across the path, seeming to sense our urgency and probably somewhat jealous that our efforts were not for him.

We stopped and LeeAnn said we were getting close and that this pride of lions tends to be very aggressive and has charged vehicles - but not to worry. Richard, our tracker, climbed inside the vehicle in lieu of sitting on his front seat and being seen as an offering. We came around a bend in the path and the reflection of the moon shown in the water up ahead. Richard aimed his spotlight across the water about 500 yards away and about a dozen massive glowing eyes glared back at us. The shadowy shapes of the massive feline killers and were barely discernible against the dark night and muddy banks. We swung around the watering hole and came over a ridge to get closer to them. Unbelievable close. 50 feet close. They layed there on the banks - 8 of them in total - noting our presence but not seeming to care (a good thing). We watched as they scanned the horizon, seeming to be waking up for a night of murderous endeavors. Their paws, the size of a catcher's mitt - could kill a human with one swipe. As one yawned and stretched, it's fangs gleamed in the spotlight - all several inches of them. One by one they got up and headed for a drink down by the watering hole. Then they silently slanked away through a gap in the ridge and back into Kruger proper to begin their nocturnal hunt.

Back at the lodge we enjoyed another delicious dinner and drinks and had a great time with our new friends, Ella, Lisa, Pam and Maureen from Rochester.