Dung beetles and cheetah kills
Safari, day 2. Mom and I arrived at our safari lodge yesterday afternoon with time to check in and eat lunch before meeting our guide and taking off on our first game drive.
Our guide's name is Peace - which in his native Zulu, starts with an M, ends with an N and has a click in the middle. Side note: I'd had some preconceived notion that Zulu people were fierce in their day, and perhaps they were. The names of the two men I've met so far translate to 'peace' and 'comfort,' suggesting a warmer, fuzzier perspective.
Peace takes us on game drives twice daily in a modified pick-up with seats in the bed, covered up top, but otherwise open to air. We drive down dirt roads and sometimes dry stream beds, jouncing along in potholes and scouring the bushes for animals. He has a fantastic eye and invariably spots animals long before we do. We've seen giraffes, warthogs, hartebeests, elephants, baboons, rhinos (!) and cheetahs (!!) grazing, lounging, and jogging along.
We stopped by a large round red ball and Peace jumped out to confirm that it was the stomach of a beest of some sort, taken down by the resident leopard. A fetus was also lying on the ground, untouched. No other trace of the animal - no hooves, hair, hide or teeth - were there. Further down the road, 30 or so vultures (does that make a gaggle?) had congregated on the ground and in trees. While we snapped pictures of the big birds, Peace was scanning the nearby bushes and a few minutes later, directed our attention to a cheetah and four cubs, tearing apart an impala. Hours later we drove by the
same spot and saw a few lazy vultures but not a scrap of the impala (RIP).
One of my favorite sites of the day however was a little less glamorous. The dung beetles are out in the morning, flying along with our truck and are huge, perhaps the size of a baby's fist. Peace pointed out one of these critters working hard in the road, rolling along a peace of dung bigger than he was. They're very pretty up close with a metallic, coppery glow. Not so pretty up close though as they seemed to dive bomb our truck.
Our evening game drive ended with the sunset, sending red light up the hillsides and making the fever trees incandescent, glowing green.
Our guide's name is Peace - which in his native Zulu, starts with an M, ends with an N and has a click in the middle. Side note: I'd had some preconceived notion that Zulu people were fierce in their day, and perhaps they were. The names of the two men I've met so far translate to 'peace' and 'comfort,' suggesting a warmer, fuzzier perspective.
Peace takes us on game drives twice daily in a modified pick-up with seats in the bed, covered up top, but otherwise open to air. We drive down dirt roads and sometimes dry stream beds, jouncing along in potholes and scouring the bushes for animals. He has a fantastic eye and invariably spots animals long before we do. We've seen giraffes, warthogs, hartebeests, elephants, baboons, rhinos (!) and cheetahs (!!) grazing, lounging, and jogging along.
We stopped by a large round red ball and Peace jumped out to confirm that it was the stomach of a beest of some sort, taken down by the resident leopard. A fetus was also lying on the ground, untouched. No other trace of the animal - no hooves, hair, hide or teeth - were there. Further down the road, 30 or so vultures (does that make a gaggle?) had congregated on the ground and in trees. While we snapped pictures of the big birds, Peace was scanning the nearby bushes and a few minutes later, directed our attention to a cheetah and four cubs, tearing apart an impala. Hours later we drove by the
same spot and saw a few lazy vultures but not a scrap of the impala (RIP).
One of my favorite sites of the day however was a little less glamorous. The dung beetles are out in the morning, flying along with our truck and are huge, perhaps the size of a baby's fist. Peace pointed out one of these critters working hard in the road, rolling along a peace of dung bigger than he was. They're very pretty up close with a metallic, coppery glow. Not so pretty up close though as they seemed to dive bomb our truck.
Our evening game drive ended with the sunset, sending red light up the hillsides and making the fever trees incandescent, glowing green.
posted by Imle at 4:31 AM
<< Home