Game Drive 13/01
#GVIfans
13/01
Game drives vary from seeing not much to seeing many
things from colourful birds, bugs,
giraffe, hyenas or lions. Many drives have been very quiet but the scenery is
superb, it changes from dense shrubland and becomes open to slightly forestry
with a section having a small amount of Canopy. On this particular day the
drive was full of adventure. We started off with some mild weather and learnt
the process of collecting camera traps.
Camera trap process
- Writing
the camera trap site number down
- Removing
the 8 batteries and placing in fresh ones
- Recording
the SD card number we are removing
- Recording
the new SD card number
- Resetting
the camera so it is armed and active to start taking photos again the
batteries last about two weeks
- Camera
traps are activated by movement during the day or night. It is normally
activated by animals passing by, the creatures do not even know the object
is there and they act as they normally would.
While driving around the corner we came upon a spotted
hyena he was gorgeous and surprisingly fluffy.
He was very calm and content to stay nearby so we turned off the engine
and observed him. He was very inquisitive and quite majestic in his own way as
we sat quietly he slowly walked closer using the shrubs as barriers. He changed
direction and walked casually behind the vehicle and turned his head back to
check us out. We found out his name was Telem as that was the marking we could
identify him. We got to stay with him for about 15mins. Next we headed north to
retrieve some more camera traps.
TELEM the spotted hyena
We stopped for phuza (drinks) once inside the Northern
gate, our stop site was at a dam. We wondered down to the water's edge to
receive a surprising site of a family of hippos starring back at us. We took a
step away from the water after that. It was a serene set up with us snacking on
bikkies and drinking out hot choc, coffee or tea and observing the area around
us. The hippos stayed within the water and we listened to their morning vocals.
We hoped back into the vehicle and rounded a bend to and to our astonishment a
herd of buffalo were grazing. This herd was massive with multiple males,
females and a mixed range of calves. It was a sight to see they were gentle
moving between dense foliage and shrubs from the left side of the track to the
right side of the track. We sat there and watched and waited for a long time,
honestly I don't know how much time passed. We thought we had seen the whole
herd but more buffalo kept appearing down the track.
We then had another drive in the evening that day and it
started pretty quiet, we were driving around enjoying the good weather. We then
started on route to one of the dams on below a ridge, as we were driving by we
spotted the hippos in the water and were stopping for phuza. As we drove though
the scrub we heard the soft sounds of a lions huff huff we all paused and
hopped for the best. At this stage we were by the waters edge still in the
vehicle. And here strolls Sub Zero out of the scrub only meters away from us,
the vehicle's turned off and we watch in
silence. He strolls by not evening pausing the hippos made more of a fuss then
we did. Subi strolled up the slope and the head strong hippo riled up and
stormed out of the water briefly. Subi didn't blink an eyelid he kept walking
along the ridge and plopped down, the hippos settled down pretty quickly but
released there vocal opinions here and there. We observed Subi from a distance
but move closer once the hippos had settled down. It was amazing to see Subi up
close and personal he was sitting on the ridge perfectly for photos to be take
looking into the distant lands. He then changed angle and we could now take a
photo from nose to tail and show off the majestic lion that was sitting in
front of us. He let out some gentle announcements to alert others of his
presence in the area. After some time he decided to move, but only moved maybe
8 meters down the slope to a flat patch of grass and then flaked out for the
evening. We saw his tail twitching as he lay but other than that he was just
chill. We watched on until we had to go back to base, so we skipped phuza to
watch the lion and hippos.
We drove round the bend just out of sight of the
creatures and pop goes the wheel. So we all climbed out, us vollies were asked
to stand beside the car and fence while the tyres was switched. Just remember
the lion and hippo are literally round the corner. A fun story to tell at
dinner that night.
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