South Africa Photo Safari – Day 3

• May 2, 2018
• Paul Neiffer

Today was a very interesting day in the South Africa bush.  We decided to go see the “Cat” recovery center, then some lunch and shopping and then finish up with a tour of Hluhluwe National Park.

The “Cat” recovery center had four species of “cats”:

• African Wild Cats – Looked very similar to a regular domestic cat other than they had black paws.  Many of these cats have been domesticated or breed with regular cats, but now they are a threatened species.
• Karical- Slightly bigger than an African Wild Cat.  This cat can jump as high as 20 feet, but most are in the 12-15 foot range and are also a threatened species.  You could look at these cats, but not touch.  I got up and personal with the male in the group, but was smart for once and did not touch (that is tough for me to do).
• Serval – Slightly bigger than the Karical, but much friendlier.  These cats like to mark their territory.  One of the guys in our group had leather shoes on and the cat decided to rub his head all over the shoes (there are glands under their chin that secrete their scents).  They then try to spray you to mark you permanently.  Only a couple in the group got a little spray.
• Cheetahs – Finally, the big cat.  A cheetah can weigh up to about 200 pounds and is the fastest land animal at up to 70 miles an hour.  Each cheetah also has a vertical black stripe under each eye to keep the sun glare away when they are chasing prey.  Cheetahs primarily hunt in the day.  They are the only cat to do this.  We were all able to get a photo standing right behind the cheetah.  I, of course, got the urge to jump on the cheetah and roll around with him, but I continued to be smarter than normal.  You used to be able to pet the cheetahs, but some person got scratched and put it on social media and that stopped that.

After the Cats we went for lunch and some shopping.  I felt very good about shopping in that the final tally was slightly less than $100.  After that, it was off to Hluhluwe National Park.

The tour of the park started off very slow.  We did end seeing an African Crown Eagle in a tree and I got a very nice photo of him flying away (I will post several photos when I get back with good internet).  After that, we ended up stopping at an overlook of small waterhole.  We saw a couple of large bubbles and wondered what that was.  It ended up being two hippos.  There skin is very sensitive to the sun, so in daylight they spend most of their time in the water.  They can stay under for up to 5-6 minutes and do not swim.  They simply walk on the bottom of the waterhole.  More people are killed in South Africa by hippos than any other animal.  Although they look big and slow, they can run up to 30 miles an hour and even Usain Bolt can’t outrun them.

The next two hours were pretty boring and our guide was getting a little bummed out since we had to head out of the park.  We drove along the road for a ways when someone shouted “Rhinos”.  At another waterhole were four rhinos sunning themselves by the water.  On the other side was a cape buffalo doing that same.  After a few minutes of photos, my wife screamed “Elephant”.  Coming down to the waterhole was a male elephant who proceeded to walk over the buffalo and kick the buffalo with his trunk out of the waterhole.  The buffalo was not pleased.  The elephant then walked along the waterhole, did not take a drink than proceeded to walk back into the bush.

We then drove another mile when we all saw a rhino walk across the road.  The rhino was a female mother with a calf (calf still weighing at least a ton).  They were drinking out of small waterhole right by the road.  Our Land Cruiser was at most 25 feet from the rhino and as we started to drive by we were no more than 10 feet away. I was glad my wife was between me and the rhino.

We had now seen three of the big five at the waterhole and our guide said the most he had ever seen at one time was four.  About another mile we got stuck behind another tour vehicle when it suddenly stop in the road and put on a spotlight.  Coming out of the bush and walking within 10 feet of our vehicle was about a 4 year old male lion.  Easily close to 400 pounds with a great full mane of hair.  Although it was almost fully dark by now, we were able to get a couple of very good photos.

What a way to end the day and as my wife said “Best Day Ever!”.

 

, Ag General | 2 Comments »