We had one purpose for coming to South Africa - Safari! Our stay at Ezulwini includes two safaris each day, one in the morning and one in the evening. The reason for these times of day are simple. Many of the animals we were hoping to see are most active at night. The are still on the move at dawn and begin to move at dusk. In the heat of the day, many of them find a cool spot to spend the day and are not easily spotted at rest.

As I mentioned, June begins the winter season in the southern hemisphere and, in South Africa, lows range from 30's in the highlands to mid 40's in the lowlands and highs from mid 60’s to mid 70’s. Not too uncomfortable … if you’re standing still. However, we are generally on the move as our guide and tracker hunt for the animals of the day. Sometimes we move quite fast - up to about 40mph when the road allowed.

My first day on Safari I arrived at River Lodge just after noon. In fact, just in time for the 2pm lunch. I had just enough time after that to get settled in and become familiar with the lodge before the evening Safari. Our guide at the River Lodge was a young man named Gregg and our tracker was Richard. As we set out, the first beast we encountered was a grey duiker. A duiker is a small antelope that is very wary and not often seen. This emphasized just how good Gregg and Richard were to see it at all. In fact, Amy thought it was lying down until it turned to run and we realized that the head did not quite clear the tops of the bush grass. After I took the picture, I had to look for some time at the photo to find it.

In addition to the duiker, that first evening we came upon vultures, a heard of Zebra and one lone warthog wandering the bush. The evening Safari was quite chilly, but I was not quite prepared for the next morning.

Our morning Safari started at 5:30am with a tap on the door by Richard. Quickly rising and dressing, I stepped out to what I estimate to be about 40ºF and hastily made my way to the coffee area inside the main building. We had just enough time to swig down the local brew (quite good, I might add) before Gregg was calling to load up. We had not ventured far from camp before Gregg received a call on the radio that a pride of lions had been spotted nearby. It was at this point that I learned why they recommend warm clothing for the Safaris. Where the road allowed, we accelerated to over 40 mph in our open land rover. (40 mph at 40ºF results in a wind chill factor of about 11ºF by the old formula or 27ºF by the new. Either calculation is damn cold!) However, when we arrived at the location of the lions, the misery of the race was soon forgotten. We sat for about 15 minutes at from 30 to 100 feet from 8 lionesses and their 9 or so cubs and watched them frolic in the now warm morning sun. As the cubs tumbled about with each other or were cuffed by one of the lionesses, I felt a detachment from the world 8000 miles away that I had left just a couple of days ago.

When we arrived back at the Lodge, we had our breakfast and then it was time to pack up and head to Billy’s Lodge. We, at least Amy and Erin, had two nights at River Lodge and then two nights at Billy’s. It turned out not to be just a simple move. Everyone packed up in the land rover for the move - the three of us, our Hostess Glory, Richard our Tracker , Gregg the Ranger and Chuck, the Camp Dog. Kinda like a family move.

When we arrived at Billy’s Lodge, we were greeted by our Host, Lawrence. We later found out that Lawrence was Glory’s older brother. We quickly settled in to our new digs. Billy’s Lodge was larger than River Lodge. I go the impression that it was the older of the two and that River Lodge was still in development. While waiting for lunch we wandered out to the water hole overlook to laze away the afternoon. To our surprise, we were visited by a herd of giraffe. They wandered to within about 200 feet of our overlook and lingered about 30 minutes grazing among the tree tops. We finally had to break away for lunch.

We were at the loading area for the land rover at 6pm sharp and were introduced to our Ranger and Tracker for Billy’s Lodge - Rex and Frans. Right away I determined that Rex was going to be much more talkative than Gregg. Once again, it was just the three of us on this safari so we quickly loaded up and headed out. Not far from the Lodge, we came upon a small group of wildebeest (which Rex pronounced like “wild”). We came upon more giraffe and some zebra when Rex got a radio call reporting a leopard sighting. This prompted another mad, and chilly, dash along the roads and trails to the location of the leopard.

Perhaps I should take a moment to describe the roads that we were riding on. The main roads are gravel though they are smooth and wide enough for two vehicles to pass. I would feel safe at 50 mph. The secondary roads are narrower though still safe at 40+ mph. What I would call tertiary roads I would describe as more of a field road with ruts and grass growing between the wheel tracks. Bumps almost like a speed bump often occur every 20 to 50 feet limiting speeds to, say 10-20 mph before having to slow down for a bump. Also, they are rutted, sometimes with trees growing so close that they require slowing down to pass or with trees laying partially across the road. By the way, there are trees laying over all across the landscape. Most of these are caused by elephants that push them over either to reach the branches, eat the bark or just to scratch their rump. After the tertiary roads are tracks that are little more than two wheel tracks in the grass. And we would sometimes even get off of the tracks and just drive through the bush. Here is a brief video showing us driving along a secondary road and then a tertiary road.

We arrived at the leopard site to find another safari group there, presumably the ones that had called on the radio. We crept up and cut the engine. At first we could not see the cat, probably because of its unique signature camouflage. Rex pointed us to the right and saw the leopard appear almost as if it had dropped its cape of invisibility. It slowly walked past our land rover, practically under the feet of Frans, totally ignoring us in the way that cats do. It walked up and placed its front feet on a log, gazed into the distance for about thirty seconds, then turned and walked off, finally fading like a ghost in the mist…we all started breathing again. If that had been the end of the trip, I believe I could have returned home in total content with the experience. However, I still had four safaris to go!

Leaving the leopard site, we had not driven more than a half mile before we came upon a solitary young bull elephant browsing just off the trail. This was the paradox of safari. You can drive for sometime and see little or nothing or the wildlife seems to be at every turn. Rex said that he had probably wandered away from a larger group that were somewhere nearby. He eyed us once and then went on about his business. As we moved on, Rex heard another radio report and we headed on. This time we came upon a herd of cape buffalo crossing the road. Cape buffalo seemed to be the only large animals that were skittish around people. Cape buffalo are often named the most dangerous large animal in Africa resulting in more human deaths than any other animal. I’m sure that this is at least partially a result of their skittishness. (Actually, the most dangerous animal on the planet is the lowly mosquito, thought to be responsible for 2-3 million people annually.) The cape buffalo is also unique in that it has never been domesticated.

This evening, we took our break in an open field under the stars. This was quite an experience since there was not a light to be seen. This was my first opportunity to study the night sky of the southern hemisphere. While I was able to spot a few familiar constellations, notably Scorpio and Leo, with Rex’s help I was finally located the Southern Cross. (I had been humming the CSN hit for several days.) And, after reading about it in scifi books for years, I gazed upon Alpha Centauri, the closest neighbor to our sun. I was quite pleased with this day.

The next morning, Frans was once again tapping on my door at 5:30am.  And again it was just the three of us along with Rex and Frans. Rex had a plan for us this morning to see the animal that Erin had told him that she wanted to see. Not long after leaving Billy’s Lodge, we came upon a large bull elephant out for a morning browse. We stopped briefly and were rewarded with him facing us with his ears flared. This was a warning that he did not really appreciate our company. He turned and moved on into the bush and Rex was eager to continue with his mission.

We soon were on a road looking down into the Olifants River. Rex had not gone far before stopping the land rover and, after telling us to stay, he headed off down the bank. He soon returned and called for us to follow him. As we descended to the river, we finally spotted what he had been seeking - a pod of hippos. We approached as quietly as a group of oohing and ahhing city dwellers with cameras clicking could. We stood upon the rocks at the river’s edge and soaked in the sight of these large animals, often dubbed “river horse”, lazing around in the sun. Hippos are also quite dangerous being capable of running up to 20 mph in short bursts. (Evaluating my companions, I realized that I would be the sacrificial tourist should the local bull hippo decide that we were challenging it’s territory. Oh well, a unique way for a boy from Tennessee to die.)

Leaving the river side, we climbed back up to our land rover where we sat breathless for a few minutes. (Partially from the hippo encounter but mostly from the climb back to the road.) We proceeded down the road a short ways and Rex veered off again towards the river, this time climbing. We stopped on a knoll overlooking the river with a railway bridge. You may remember the scene in the movie “Bridge on the River Kwai” where a hobbling William Holden is left on a hill with the native girls, overlooking the bridge near the end of the movie. That scene came immediately to mind.

Here we stopped for our mid-morning coffee. We agreed later that this was the best stop on all of our safaris. We had a magnificent view of the Olifants valley and the railway bridge crossing it. We were willing to linger here, but Rex finally called for us to reboard and we headed off.

Not far from out knoll, we came upon a young male kudu along the side of the road. Rex proclaimed that kudu was good eating. With this, we slowly wound our way back to the lodge for breakfast.

For our final evening safari, we were joined by a family of four and two older ladies who I had met earlier. They were from Joburg, knew Ezulwini’s owners and came here often. We gave the newcomers first choice on the seats and so wound up in the back. We began our safari and soon came upon a herd of elephants grazing in a relatively open area in the bush. The herd consisted of 8-10 mostly females including several juveniles. It was quite exciting to be about 50-100 feet from wild elephants as they ripped grass and leaves and stuff their mouths. From time to time we could hear the crack of wood as they leaned against the trees. While the adults seemed to ignore us, the youngest calf look toward us and even walked in our direction. So our both started and ended with elephants. Impressive.

For our final Safari, I actually arose before Frans could make his rounds. I dressed and made my way for the morning java where I found our family of four. Unfortunately, they kept to themselves so I was not able to find out anything about them. Rex arrived and informed us that, today, we would see rhino! This was Amy’s final wish and Rex was bound to fulfill it. He knew where they had been spotted the day before (apparently having done his homework) and we were soon in the vicinity. He and Frans were both paying close attention to the tracks along the road and trails. If I haven’t mentioned it, our Rex and Frans were constantly looking along the edge of the road for tracks. They were all along the roads and trails. Even I could see them. Of course, I could neither tell what they were nor how fresh. Thus the distinction between Rangers, Trackers and Tourists.

Rex had stopped and was intently studying the tracks as was Frans. They were talking back and forth, pointing to the sides of the road. After a short discussion, Rex continued down the road all the time watching the tracks. After about 300 feet he suddenly veered off the road to the left. Just ahead of us was a large…rhino! As we excitedly snapped pictures of this large male, Frans pointed to the left and there were a pair of young males. As we watched the two young males, with their heads down grazing, suddenly crossed horns and stood still for 20-30 seconds before one shrugged and turned away. Amy explained that this was not a serious confrontation, just boys being boys. We sat about 20-30 feet away from male rhinos in the wild and just watched. Knowing that we were in proximity to wild animals capable of serious damage is a real rush. (I kept having flash backs to Johnny Weismuller weaving from side to side as the enormous rhino charged. At the last minute he dives to the side as the horn brushes past.)

As if South Africa knew this was our last Safari, as we wound through what had now become somewhat familiar trails, it gave us a review of many of the animals we had seen over the past several days.  We came upon a pair of elusive kudu that stared at us from the bush. Of course we crossed paths with a small her of McDonalds Impala on the side of the road. As they dashed into the bush, their derrieres displayed the distinctive double arches that give them their name. At the far end of a watering hole was a lone Waterbuck with a male impala lingering in the background. We crossed paths with another Black Backed Jackal. One had crossed the road ahead of us several days earlier but had faded into bush before we could get to it. This time, it waited to give us a chance to capture it. And finally, our road was blocked by a herd of Cape Buffalo. In the middle of the road was a quite large male complete with a small flock of Red Billed Oxpeckers astride its back. We took our last break under a high voltage transmission line. Altogether a most satisfying end to our South African Safari experience.

For a selection of animal pictures from all of the Safaris, click the link below.