The Fun Begins

This post has already been lost once. Apparently the blogger app and I have different definitions of the word “saving”. There may have been some interference by a small child who wanted to watch a show on Netflix. It's also Africa. What do you expect?

The first four days of our trip have been an awesome mix of fun, relaxation, recreation, and education.

Nambiti Private Game Reserve was our target and we set out from our guest house near Ntshongweni Thursday morning. On the way we stopped in the town of Worick, which has a beautiful waterfall and our team's first experience with buying things and meeting South Africans.

At the game Park, seeing animals is the big adventure. To do this, each morning and evening guides will take you out in large Toyota Range Rovers. These trucks are fitted with nine extra seats for you and your friends. The are quite possibly the toughest vehicles in the world. Several times we literally climbed mountains or ran over trees to get to the next spot.

With game drives in the morning and evening, and two nights at the place, we went on a total of four drives. The groups who first went out with their drivers became very loyal and attached themselves to these drivers for all the drives. How could we not. They treated us well. Each drive had a break for drinks and snacks.

We saw a lot. We learned a lot. We have to share this.  So, here are the animals we saw and one quick fact about them:

Impala-- definitely the most common animal we saw. Common but tasty, impala are the most eaten animals in the park.

Kudu-- males have awesome horns which spiral straight away from the head. They have big ears and great hearing.

Waterbuck-- the white circle on their rump makes it look like they just sat on a freshly painted toilet seat. They defend themselves by running into water.

Wildebeest -- these funky looking animals love hanging out with zebras and other antelope. In other areas they migrate to find better pasture, their population isn't big enough in South Africa to require migration.

Zebra-- the stripes on a heard of zebras help them blend together. Lions have to pick one out, but can't do it easily if it isn't obvious where one stops and another starts.

Giraffe -- for as tall as they are, they hide very well. We have a print in our dinning room of two giraffes with their necks crossed. We always thought it was a symbol of love.  Actually they fight by wracking their necks against each other, which is probably what our print is depicting.

Hippopotamus -- it may come as a surprise, but these are Africa's deadliest animal. When people get in their way, you know who is going to win.

Rhinoceros -- poaching is a huge problem. People in the East you powder from the horn as a aphrodisiac. Most parks now trim the horns (which doesn't hurt the animal) and have anti poaching units.

Cape Buffalo -- passed in front of our truck as the sun was going down.  Their strength comes from their numbers. Hannah called them cows.

Elephant -- we saw a couple herds of elephants, one of males and another of females and calves. The latter trumpeted at us when we got too close. The former really didn't care. We did see one female uproot a tree and eat the roots. Elephants have always been my favorite and I was glad I got to show them to Hannah.

Lion-- we actually got to see them! A mother and three cubs had killed something and were eating it. Thanks to one truck's sleepy breaks, we got a better look as mama Lion looked up to try and figure out what was going on.

Leopard -- the only of the big five we didn't see.

Black Backed Jackal -- this little guy was eating a snack. They are hard to see so very excited because it was actually the first predator I got to see.

The weather was very cool in the morning but Warmed up in the afternoon.

Everybody wants to know how Hannah is doing. See liked the game drives, mostly. The bouncing truck put her to sleep on each drive. Shelved the elephants and hippos most of all. Everyone is doing well and we'll update you again once work starts.