Wild Dogs!

It is my belief that a person can go on hundreds of game drives over the course of his or her life and never be bored. Hopefully the same applies to people who read a blog that contains frequent posts about game drives. Hopefully it does not become boring after a while.

I think game drives are like snowflakes, fingerprints and zebras in that no two are alike. Sometimes game drives are action packed with many different sightings. Sometimes they are thrilling as you may watch an animal stalking prey.  Other times, you may quietly watch an animal as it relaxes, drinks from a water hole or minds its babies. 

Recently we brought family visiting from the U.S.A. to the Ivory Tree Game Lodge in Pilanesberg National Park. It was the first safari experience for the group and I am happy to say everyone loved it. Happy because as SVP of Household Operations, I planned the whole holiday.  Our guide, Ryan, was excellent and we had many exciting and special sightings. 

On the first game drive after dark we spotted a leopard. Leopards are not something that you see everyday and we tried to tell our guests that but they were too busy being amazed to listen. Mr. Deep and I have heard stories of people who are desperate to see a leopard because despite years of trying they never have. 

Not a great photo.

Sometimes within minutes of the start of a game drive something fantastic happens, right out of the gate as they say, and that's what happened to us the day that we spotted a small pack of three African wild dogs. 

Ryan called wild dogs the "holy grail" of game viewing and he was so excited that we got to see them that he took out his camera out and was taking pictures. He said it had been three months since he had seen wild dogs.  When writing this, I couldn't remember why exactly wild dogs are such a rare sighting so I had to ask resident expert (on everything) Mr. Deep and he explained that they are endangered, have very large territories, move quickly and spend time hiding in dens. 

Ryan told us that the three that we saw broke away from a larger pack.  We watched them for a long while and eventually they came closer enabling some super photos! 

While the cheetah is the fastest land animal, wild dogs can run very fast (up to about 35 miles per hour) for long periods of time. Cheetahs cannot run fast for extended time periods. Wild dogs hunt in packs and are considered to be the most efficient hunters.

While in Pilanesberg we also enjoyed some more animal sightings.  

Hippo out of water. Another rare thing to see. 

Yes the birdman is still at it. 

Weaver bird building a nest. 

The family with ranger extraordinaire Ryan.

Even More Chitabe

Chitabe was not all fun and games. Look at the huge spider we found in our tent. Guess who got to hold the phone next to it for scale. Me aka the brave one. 

I thought that this post would cover our final days at Chitabe and the start of our time at Jacana, the second camp we visited in Botswana. However as I looked through the photos and my notes (yes, I take notes. I take this blog very seriously) I realized that there were still many more Chitabe adventures and photos to share. So here is the last of Chitabe. 

Friday morning was quite cold but we set out with BB looking for wild dogs. Wild dogs are tough to spot and we were not successful. BB then heard from another guide that there was a leopard relaxing after chowing down on a big kill so we headed over to check it out. The leopard had clearly just finished eating and her kill was hanging in the tree. The kill was hidden so I couldn't get a photo of that but I was able to get some pictures of the leopard relaxing and digesting. 

This is how I look after a big meal

During the last few drives there were some additional amazing animal sightings.

Monkeys are what South African people would call "naughty" as they often steal food and area a nuisance. But how can you not love their faces? 

Black backed jackal

At Chitabe we saw many predators and a total of five different leopards. On Saturday morning there was lots of excitement during our final game drive. Mr. Deep spotted leopard (number five) and was busy taking photos when an elephant standing to the side of our vehicle started getting upset. You can tell elephants are upset when they stomp a foot, wave their ears or hold their trunk up above their head. Mr. Deep knows all of this as you will remember he's been watching nature shows on TV since the 70s. He quietly and calmly began mentioning to BB "um elephant, he's getting upset." BB was not too concerned though. His advice to Mr. Deep was to "die quietly."

Following the angry elephant we spotted a lioness alone and drinking from a small pond. 

And if all of this was not enough of a thrill, as the drive was wrapping up BB spotted a lion family. Mom, dad and cubs! The dad was relaxing a few yards away (sleeping) while the mom was handling the kids. The kids were crying and BB said they wanted to nurse. Near the den lay the carcass of a kudu that the family had been munching on. 

Only later when I got home and reviewed the photos did I recognize the mother as the same lioness we saw earlier in the week. The one with the unusual eyes.

The dad. He was busy resting a few feet away while the mother was dealing with the cubs. 

The cubs!

Hi dad! 

Me standing in front of what is known as a sausage tree.

My favorite photo from the entire trip even if Mr. Deep is wearing his 20 year old flannel. 

When it was time to leave Chitabe we headed for the airstrip for our flight to Jao another airstrip in the Okavango Delta. While we were waiting we walked around on the runway until the call came over the radio that the plane was coming. At which point Mr. Deep and I laughed about "de plane, de plane" in our best Tattoo voices. Mr. Deep and I were the only two people on the plane except for the pilot and co-pilot. As we flew toward Jao the landscape changed a lot. More water. Our adventures at our second camp, Jacana, coming in my next post.

On the airstrip waiting for the plane. Also I should stop poking fun at the flannel because I am wearing this same old hat in every photo.

De plane de plane!

Madwike Game Reserve - Part 2

I seem to be having technical trouble so I apologize if you receive this post twice. 

Saturday was a full day for us at Madwike. That meant we were able to experience two game drives. Game tends to lay low during the middle part of the day, so the first drive was early in the morning and the second was late afternoon/evening.

We met Gavin and the others at 6:00 a.m. for the morning drive. It was still dark and cold when we got into the truck and headed out. Mr. Deep and I sat in the back row this time. Gavin excitedly shared that we were going to seek out a pack of wild dogs. The pack had been sighted earlier in the morning. He was not only hoping to show us wild dogs, he was hoping we'd get to see a wild dog kill.

The search for wild dogs proved challenging. Gavin was a dog with a bone (ha ha) and he really tried to find them for us. A few times he got out of truck and walked around looking for tracks and signs. He'd then see something, feel confident he knew where they were, jump in the truck and speed off to search.

Gavin in search of wild dogs

Meanwhile, Mr. Deep and I were sitting in the back row in the "bounce zone." All of the wild dog searching took us through the brush and speeding down bumpy roads. By the time we stopped for our coffee break we were feeling pretty nauseous. We tried having coffee but that only made it worse.

We continued the morning searching for wild dogs. We didn't see them but we did see this character.

Upon return to the lodge at 9:30 everyone else went to have breakfast. Mr. Deep and 
I went back to our cabin to lie down and try to get the world to stop spinning. 

We recovered in time to have lunch at 2:00 and then we went down to the water hole to take a look before we had to leave for the afternoon drive.

impalas at the water hole

Interesting how a giraffe drinks

Gavin was still keen on finding the wild dogs when we headed out for our afternoon drive. Mr. Deep and I were smart enough to sit in the middle row this time. Much better! Finally, after a few hours Gavin had to admit defeat. In his words, "wild dogs 1, guide 0." 
We did end up having some great animal sightings on Saturday afternoon.

First, we saw a leopard, which is very rare. There is a saying we learned when you go on safari, "you may not have seen a leopard, but a leopard has seen you." They are lurking in trees! 

Can you spot the leopard in the tree? 

Gavin and another guide on foot trying to track the leopard after he bolted from the tree. I wouldn't be walking around looking for a leopard but these guys are professionals.

That afternoon we also saw white rhinos and another stunning sunset. 

My last post about our trip to Madikwe will be published soon! Enjoy the photos below.