Day 84-88: In search of Africa's Big Five
Priya Ramani -
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:54 AM
Lion. Leopard. Elephant. Buffalo. Rhinoceros. The Big Five that top every African tourist's been there, seen that list. After yesterday's health scare, I'm feeling slightly more charitable towards Willem. I don't envy his job - he's under constant pressure to seek out the biggies. And I think I just made it worse by telling him I'm a Lion person.
Samar and Willem bond on the fact that their favourite predator -- the one that apparently fascinates them the most -- is the hyena. "Don't worry about the Big Five. We're happy to see whatever comes our way," Samar tells Willem, who's trying to read my expression in the rear view mirror.
My husband could spend hours staring happily at an army of marching ants (now that I think about it, he did spend hours peering at the leafcutter ants we encountered in Central America). Willem tells him that next month he's taking a group of people on an insect safari. While winter is the best time of the year to spot animals at Kruger, it's the worst time to go looking for insects (hibernation, remember?) so Willem is worried.
Our guide's a big worrier. His mantra for the day is simple and he repeats it often, banging his fists on the steering wheel: "Now let's get ourselves a rhinoceros." Specific areas in Kruger are home to different animals and this is rhino territory.
Incidentally, being an adventurer is not easy. You must awake by 5am and be at the nearest park gate by 6am to make the best of the time when the cats could still be lazing on the tar roads because they are warmer than any natural four-poster.
It's the first time ever that I have seen sunrise for three consecutive days. I think the Sun knows this because he puts on a spectacular show, almost as if he's trying to convince me that this is a sight worth waking up for. Sunrise at Kruger is no slow-mo, show-me-the-coffee-before-I-spread-my-light spectacle. One perfect bright orange sphere leaps out of slumber and splashes forth into the new day. That's it. There's a lesson in this for me, I know.
We spot some blue wildebeest hanging out with impalas but Willem wants the rhinos and he heads towards a favourite hangout. Just 10 meters before we are expecting him a white rhino suddenly pops up in our path, a red-billed oxpecker busy on his back. Willem brakes abruptly and scares him off the road where another male rhino feeds and marks his territory with a spray of urine. We watch them for a while, briefly distracted by the herd of elephants in the distance. Willem points towards some buffalo dung, black and glistening - this is the wild boss, piss and *** are important tracking instruments.
We spend some more time staring at rhino thighs that make Silk Smitha look like Twiggy before we reluctantly move to the sight of that blockbuster YouTube video. Several cars are parked here, enjoying the a.m. view and hoping to make their own bestseller video, I'm sure. Alas, there is no violence/mayhem today.
And as I write this it suddenly occurs to me that I could hit 10,000 words if I go in chronological order describing each animal and each moment. So I'm going to skip the excruciating details and give you the highlights of our days at Kruger.
So, yes, we saw all the Big Five. On a night safari we even spent 10 minutes staring into the eyes of a leopard - a rare sight in Kruger but the husband kept telling everyone to come to Borivli National Park if they wanted to see leopards. And lions? Yes, through our binoculars. Six female flat cats sunning in the distance. On the last day we parked ourselves in a particular spot and waited for a herd of 200+ buffaloes to cross the road. It was a truly magnificent experience when they finally decided to go for it.
And because the elephant is Willem's favourite animal, we had some great elephant moments. On the first day, an old bull came right up to our car, his musk gland dripping; if he was younger he would have charged us, Willem said.
In fact, the next day, after he approached us and flapped his ears and glared at us for a while, a younger male did mock charge us. Willem banged his hand on the car door and he veered away just in time.
If you plan ahead you can go on walks with armed guides and if you're lucky, an elephant or a rhinoceros may charge you. My favourite non-aggressive elephant sighting was of a majestic bull followed by two younger males who jostled each other, and played with sand. When their leader stopped for some greens, one of the younger males marched ahead confidently, then stood around looking hesitantly, waiting for the old man to catch up.
At Letaba camp, we visited the Elephant Hall where I discovered I'm the height of a five-year-old elephant. India (i.e. Akbar, Chandragupta Maurya etc) featured prominently on the elephant history hall of fame. Did you know the first written representation of Ganesha was in 400 AD?
Of course there's so much life beyond the Big Five. We saw strange animals such as the Scrub Hare that hops like a kangaroo, the shy African Civet, and porcupines the size of dogs. There were tiny monogamous Steenbook who, unlike us humans, bond for life. More kurus and baboons. A herd of a dozen or so banded mongoose rushing across the road. Warthogs and a water monitor. Many more giraffes and zebras. With and without their babies. One time we had to pick between a giraffe drinking water and a herd of zebras walking towards us. We picked the giraffe.
We could have spent a day just sitting by one of the lovely watering holes, but Willem, always in search of big beasts, was ready to move on after 10 minutes max. A typical scene at a watering hole involves a couple of hippos lazing in the mud, swimming or stepping in or out of the water midway between the first and second activity; waterbuck always alert for predators who might pounce quench their thirst; a herd of zebras or giraffe or both; some Maribu storks and Eygptian goose; even cats if you're lucky
But at the end of the day, I discovered I was a birder. The thrill of spotting three big Ground Hornbills with their red faces and black turkey like bodies ranked high on my charts. There are only 1,500 of these birds left in the world and we saw them twice. Birds were incredibly easy to spot because of all the bare trees. An African Fish Eagle perched high on a tree, two saddle-billed storks, a white-backed vulture, sand grouses that camouflage themselves on the dirt roads so cleverly you have to be careful you don't run them over. And all those pretty boys such as the rainbow coloured Lilac-breasted Roller and the black and red Giant Kingfisher.
It's been a mind-altering trip and I can believe we're headed back to India in two days. How will I ever get back to real life?