“You know you are truly alive when you’re living among lions.”
― Isak Dinesen, Out of Africa
Sunday February 9th - We are nearing the end of this leg of Episode IX. By the time you read this it will be 4-5 days old. We have been deeper in the bush and will have not had internet for several days. Amazingly the world kept spinning. I do have a story to tell. All of this tale took place on Sunday morning.
But first, some film.
Every morning we get up and head out of the camp for a drive. We have been privileged to see some remarkable things and I managed to get a couple of them on film.
We came across the ‘dazzle’ of zebra. (Isn’t that a great collective noun?) The two males below were engaged in what appeared to be a test of dominance. I am not sure if horses behave the same way. Here is a film of the scene -
We did not drive far to find a ‘tower’ of giraffe. (another cool collective noun). Giraffes in the bush die three ways. The most common is by lions. The second most common is….lightning strikes! There is a price to pay for being so tall.
Anyway, these two in the film below were like twins facing the same direction. In fact, they moved like synchronized swimmers. Turning together as one. What followed was…well, you’ll see below.
It was a giraffe battle for dominance. They will continue like this until one is hurt or moves way from the tower. The interesting thing is they always line up side by side before the fight begins.
Here are some films of what it is like out on a game drive. Enjoy these moments of Zen -
Now the tale. We were finishing our morning drive when we came across another car parked.
“It’s a Rhino!”, Colleen shouted.
We had been looking for one for several days. The loss from poaching is very real here. We found this beautiful male White Rhino happily munching on the sweet grass. It had a gorgeous horn that made you think of a hood ornament on a spectacular car of old. He was peaceful as white birds fluttered around him to eat the many bugs. We sat for several minutes enjoying the wonder of a wild rhino not 50 yards from our car.
Then it happened.
To our left the herd of impala were startled and came sprinting to our right, jumping and darting. Zebra were with them, galloping at full force. Even the huge rhino started to run.
Then we saw it.
A cheetah at full speed flashed into view. It was moving so swiftly with it’s front paws reaching out for a target from the herd. It found one, a baby impala, and in an instant it was over.
The impala herd ran another hundred yards, then stopped to look back. A single zebra walked over to where the cheetah was in the grass curious to see what the fuss was about. After a menacing hiss from the cat it quickly turned around and ran away.
We watched the scene for almost an hour. The cheetah did not eat for a long time. It sat up looking around for other predators like hyenas or lions that might take it’s prize away. None came.
Then, it picked up it’s dinner went over to a tree and sat down to eat. The rhino continued grazing. The world went on.
As I type this we are in our new camp. There is a thunderstorm outside. A Hornbill (‘Zazu’ from the Lion King) is hanging around begging for treats.
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