This past Friday and Saturday I went on an overnight bush walk trip. The guide for this outing was one of the guides that works with the research program that I am volunteering with. Five other volunteers also attended along with a guide who is currently interning at the game reserve we visited.
After getting settled at our camp site in the middle of the reserve, we headed out for our first walk. First, we were told the rules. We had to obey all orders given by the guide, without question. We also needed to remain quiet. Both of these rules were for the safety of everyone.
When going on a bush walk, everyone walks in a single file line. This is so we look like only one person and not a huge group of people when approaching animals. The guide remains in the front and every 15 to 20 minutes, the person behind the guide falls back to become the last person in line.
Our two guides. They carried rifles which they would only use as a last resort if an animal was about to attack us.
This walk was more of a practice walk before our big morning walk. However, our mission was pretty heavy. We were on the hunt for lions! The guides knew where lions had been spotted earlier that day, so we walked toward that spot, which was pretty far away. We didn't find them there though and weren't able to track them down anywhere near by. We also didn't any significant sightings of other animals, so the walk was pretty uneventful. Even when you don't see animals though, there can still be exciting moments. For us, it was coming across a fully intact giraffe skull. Our guide said that finding one of these was very rare because they usually break apart.
I learned that giraffe horns are made of bone. I never would have guessed that.
Our short practice walk ended up being quite a long walk. We walked nearly non-stop for about 3 hours. We finished just as the sun was setting, which is probably my favorite time of day here in Africa.
The rest of the evening was spent around the campfire. Dinner was a braai, which is a South African-style barbecue. I was given a veggie burger and the others feasted on sausage, chicken, and pork strips. We also had potatoes and squash cooked in the fire.
There was more food than everyone could possible eat. We were told that it had become tradition to place the uneaten meat on the ground in front of our tents. Then, at night, animals such as hyenas and honey badgers are likely to come by and devour the leftovers. I thought the guide was kidding at first about doing this, but he was totally serious. A sausage and an extra veggie patty were placed in front of the tent I shared with another volunteer. Shortly after laying down, we were quite freaked out when we could hear an animal outside our tent. In fact, it walked right along the edge where I was laying and I could feel the side of the tent and myself rock a little. Yikes! I didn't dare sneak a peak to see what was out there. I was so scared that the hyena, or whatever it was, would claw its way through our tent. But it didn't, thank god!
I was really tired, so I ended up falling asleep despite the fear. But at 2:30 in the morning, I awoke to the sound of another animal. This time, the animal chomped away on the chicken, bones and all. I could hear "crunch, crunch, crunch" as the animal ate. It was so surreal! In the morning, based on the footprints that were left behind, our guide determined that this animal visitor was a civet.
We woke up VERY early the next morning so we could start a walk at 4:45. This also meant that we caught the sunrise. Today, we shifted focus away from locating lions to trying to find animals at the water holes and dams.
Sunrise.
As we walked, we came upon more and more evidence that there had recently been elephants and hippos in the area. The evidence included tracks and fresh dung. I kept thinking that we would come across them any minute, but after walking and walking we still didn't find them. Then finally when we reached a dam, there they were...hippos! And crocodiles and a couple giraffes too. We stayed very quiet and watched the scene while crouched down among some shrubs. We stayed there for at least 30 minutes just observing and staring in awe.
The hippos and crocodiles remained in the water.
Shortly after leaving that area, we came upon some elephants in an area that was thick with shrubs. Elephants can be easily startled and could charge, so we kept our distance. Unfortunately, because of all of the shrubs, we could not get a very good look at them.
You probably won't be able to see them, but there are a few elephants deep in the shrubbery.
We ended up staying out for 4 or 5 hours, but only walked a little farther than the previous day since we stopped a lot more this time around. Doing these bush walks was such a great experience. We saw some animals up close and our guide taught us interesting facts along the way. It was very different observing the environment and animals on foot rather than in a game drive vehicle, though I think both can be quite exciting.
When we approached the water hole near our campsite, there was a huge herd of impala hanging out along with one warthog.
No comments:
Post a Comment