Day 24 Sausage Tree Safari Camp, Saturday, Sept 20

Day 24 Sausage Tree Safari Camp, Saturday, Sept 20

QOTD:

Somebody tell me what's the word?

What’s the word: Johannesburg!

Weather: Another totally overcast day, and cool. This time the temp does not shoot up into the 90s, we’re in the mid to low 60s, maybe even high 50s all day, with long vistas (so much for Blyde River Canyon trip, today you’d get a long vista from God’s Window)

Liam getting us ready for morning drive

Before breakfast, it’s a 5:30am wake-up and a 6am departure on the game drive. We roam around for 3 hours, hoping to see a rhino to complete our big five (i.e., the animals that were most dangerous for man to hunt on foot): we’ve already seen elephant, lion, buffalo, and giraffe on this trip (and D has seen rhino on a prior trip).

Candelabra tree, only eaten by rhinos

The (rhino) dung whisperer?

No rhinos, just rhino dung. We do see scorpion, various birds, a croc, an elephant, lots of kudu and impala, another huge herd of buffalo, a jackal, and warthogs. THB does NOT sit in the back row on this drive!

Good view of black-backed jackal: it's like he's wearing a bad-fitting coat

Vultures

"Sausages"

Breakfast well after 9, THB has muesli and yogurt and scone with jam and butter. Now to rest up and do other tasks before lunch and the 3pm drive.

Exposed shower

DB has a moment: she decides to take a shower and manages to lock the shower door behind her and thus is “outside” without a way to get “inside” the tent. After getting M’s attention, THB understands what has happened and comes to rescue his damsel in distress. THB is trying to remember? South Pacific? Cue the orchestra….I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair!

tire change before afternoon drive

A leopard has killed an impala (spotted when vultures were congregating) right outside the fence; Liam and Jason (the guy who runs things inside the fence) get in the truck and move the kill out of sight because the leopard won’t eat in sight of STSC, and Liam sets up a go-pro camera to watch a live feed (plus we’ll stop by after our afternoon drive to see what's happened).

THB thinks the German couple share clothes

Maybe M and DB are sharing?

Lunch is spaghetti lasagna (spaghetti shaped into a pan and covered with cheese and served in big cubes) along with the usual mock-Greek salad (every single salad here comes with feta) and overdone broccoli with a very good cheese bread (in loaf shape, sliced thin); THB has a Schweppes Lemonade which is really a version of Sprite.

More Liam anecdotes: knows a guy who when he was 10 buried alive his cousin of same age.

The late afternoon drive is a huge success: we finish off our big 5 with a Black Rhino!!

we're close 

very close

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(oops, blogger is saying they are too big)

There are only 4600 rhinos left worldwide, the Chinese are offering huge sums for rhino horn. It is estimated the rhinos will be extinct in 10 years. For now, in Kruger, they are putting ankle heart monitors on the rhinos with gps chips in the horns and can activate a helicopter to chase poachers whenever the heart monitor goes silent. THB doubts that will stop the poaching as the prices are bound to keep going up and up as China becomes more prosperous and poverty level is very low in Africa.

Also see one elephant, one pregnant giraffe (they give birth standing up, delivering a 180 kilo baby that falls 6 feet to ground), one hippo, one grey heron, kudu, impala, have one coffee murula (like a coffee with kahlua), and everyone is very happy. No leopard attending the impala kill back at STSC.

aka Killer Bees

Dinner is outside tonight, it is cool and very little wind and the dining area is sheltered by a tall fence, with a fire in the middle of a semi-circle of tables.

HOLD DINNER!! Liam hears lions roaring right outside gate, we hop into the truck and with Jason the manager playing shotgun off we go into the dark night and sure enough find two lionesses patrolling right outside the gates and then while we’re watching they start this unbelievable low rumble that goes on for 20 seconds or so. Very intimidating!

Back inside the fence for a fish chowder followed by a bbq of pork chops and kudu sausage (neither all that good and both a bit overcooked… wonder why?), with peri-peri potatoes and cracklin’, with Brazilian pudding (kind of a flan with meringue on top).

During dinner Liam tells what happened to his family in Zimbabwe: frightening story of trying to hold onto their successful farm, having a long-time (black) employee shot and killed in front of them, and leaving without anything, using a friend’s car to drive to SA and restarting here. Liam himself became a pilot after dropping out of university, then got into the guiding business through a close friend. Enough to get you to believe in the power of a positive attitude and also another verification of how Mugabe has been a very bad guy.

After dinner, THB takes an “outdoor” shower and manages to get inside without any help.