Our Safari Ends at Sabi Sabi Game Reserve

Day 2 of our Sabi Sabi adventure found us with the same morning routine doing the morning game drive at 0630. Kerry took us to another pond where we found a cackle or clan of hyenas consisting of 2 adults, 2 juveniles, and 3 pups.

Hey, let me have that!

Two of the pups were fighting over a Cape buffalo skull, while the others were resting. The pups were in a playful mood and seemed curious about our presence, as they kept approaching the vehicle and stared at us.

Who are you guys?

Although they are morphologically similar to canines, they are a separate family of mammals and are phylogenetically closer to felines and viverrids. Moving on we spotted a lone wildebeest which was the first sighting of these animals we had seen.

Roughhousing

Apparently other in our vehicle saw many wildebeests at Lion Sands. We next spotted some zebras grazing next to the road. It was time for a morning break and we pulled into a cleared opening for some coffee, tea, and biscuits (cookies).

A wildebeest

Our spread drew the attention of a grey get-away-bird and a yellow-billed hornbill who came for some cookie crumbs. The hornbill picked up some crumbs and took them to a cavity in a tree where Kerry said that it likely had a nest as they are cavity nesters.

Chillin' out

Throwing them crumbs, they entertained us until the biscuits ran out, and then we were on our way.

Yellow-billed hornbill

A report went out of another spotted leopard sighting. It was time to go in, but Kerry told us it was 15 minutes away and asked if we wanted to stay out and see it. There were three other vehicles (one with photographers from National Geographic) following her.

Grey get-away-bird

As it would be difficult for us to turn around on the bed, Kerry decided to go back up the bank in case she decided to leave the river bed. And that is exactly what she did. She came up just about 20 yards from where we were sitting.

Our second leopard

We moved into position and had a birds-eye view as she went about here preening. The other vehicles finally caught up to us, so we moved out and headed back to the main lodge. Everyone agreed and we were on our way. We arrived at the area to learn that the leopard was walking along a dried river bed. We got to the edge of the bank and thought, “Oh no, Kerry is really going to take this down that steep incline.” 

Preening herself

It was more than 45°. She shifted it into low range and down we went. We had arrived at the bottom only 20-30 seconds before the cat passed our point of descent. Any later and we would have missed her.

Back on the prowl

We had signed up to visit the village of Hundnukazi, a small village of around 4,500 residents, many who work at the game reserves.

Village housing

This would be a cultural exchange since we would be visiting an orphanage, preschool, a village shaman, and an African market. Our driver, Heavyness, took us in a covered safari vehicle, and our tracker, Doc, drove the remainder in a small van.

A rondeval and its owner

After about a 45 minute drive, we arrived at Hundnukazi and were immediately impressed by the poverty and bleak living conditions compared to some of the poorer areas in the states. We saw many rondeval huts, a traditional African architectural design, with their conical thatched roofs.

Inside the orphanage

Noticing many partially built homes with no roofs or windows, we asked Heavyness why these homes were incomplete. He explained that the government will build the slab and walls to a home, but it is the owners responsibility to finish the roof and windows.

Greetings!

The homes are unfinished, because the owners are saving their money to finish construction (notice that no borrowing is involved). As a partial solution, we found many homes with widows and corrugated metal roofs.

Our first stop was at the Ona Shwa Orphanage which provides care for children at risk.  The orphanage functions primarily from donations from sponsers—Sabi Sabi is a major one—and from charitable givers. We were given a peek at the Christmas presents that will be given to each child and realized that a even a meager contribution to this cause could impact very many.

Simon says...

There is a high incidence of HIV-Aids in children which represents the majority of children taken in by the orphanage. We were given a tour of the facility and told of their upcoming holiday schedule. The children were not present on this day as they were getting ready for the graduation of 5^th & 6^th graders. the following day.

Our next stop was at the pre-school and we were not prepared and were overwhelmed by the welcome the children gave us. Virtually all of the children, ages 3-6 years, swarmed the bus wanting us to touch, lift, high-five, and hug them. It was a very moving moment to stare into these happy, innocent faces.

HIV-AIDS Center

We left the bus to enter the school and the children were grabbing our hands, almost to the point of fighting others for them, so that they could escort us in. Many of the children would hold two fingers up which seemed like some sort of salutation. Inside the rather small classroom the teacher gained control over their rambunctiousness and we were greeted.

Drying clothes

The teacher provided a short background of the school and the students which is open around 12 hours a day to accommodate the schedules of working parents. Most of the students are from the village, but some come from outlying areas. The school has 3 classrooms and they are crowded with 60, 65, and 80 students in the classes. After the teacher conducted a Simon-says-type of exercise, the students sang two songs for us.

Coming to the "Secret Room"

Heavyness and the shaman

Singing a maximum volume, the songs weren’t initially recognizable, but when they came to the chorus we could pick out the familiar tunes. After their performance we went back outside to board the bus and were again mobbed by the children. If only our own children wanted to be with us this much!

Back on the bus we were told that the children very seldom get to see white people, so that is why we were such a novelty.

Our next stop was too a village shaman.

The shaman's bones

We entered a walled lot with a rondeval “secret room” attached to what appeared to be a home.As we left the bus, a woman near the entrance started to beat a drum and chant. Heavyness told us that as we enter we must show respect by bowing, clapping our hands twice, and saying something that sounded like “TOO-rah.” When all had entered, Heavyness told us what the protocol would be and that the shaman would have to roll the bones to see if we were welcome there. Kneeling on a mat, she shook the bones in her hand and threw them out onto the mat and studied them intently. What a relief it was when she announced that we could stay. Heavyness then told us how this woman had received the “gift” from her ancestors and how she came to be one of the village’s shamans.

Being greeted by the market vendors

Villagers could seek advice or healing from the shaman for which they paid 150 rand (~$10) per visit. After providing this background, we were allowed to ask questions with Heavyness serving as interpreter. We left the shaman to the beating drums and proceeded to our final stop.

We arrived at an outdoor market with local goods and to the women vendors singing and dancing for us. We formed a circle around them and they broke into song and dance.

We sorta got it!

Each member alternated in choosing 2 or 3 of us and dragging us into the center to dance with them. After everyone (except Capt. Larry who wisely kept his video going) had danced, the drumming stopped, the circle broke, and the market was opened for us to make purchases. These purchases are an important source of income in these villages which suffer from very high unemployment, so no one felt compelled to drive a hard bargain.

At the market

We were running late and hadn’t had anything to eat for over two hours, so it was definitely time to get back to the lodge. We said goodbye to a farewell song, boarded our bus, and returned to Sabi Sabi.

Our afternoon drive was rather uneventful with the sighting of some kudus and elephants. However, Kerry did show us an unusual bird’s nest.

Big nest for little birds

The nest is massive, but is built by a very small male bird (the name escapes). When the nest is presented to the female, she will tear it completely apart if she does not judge it to be suitable. The male must then try again to build a suitable. Capt. Larry commented that this behavior is certainly not unique to this species, but parallels can be drawn to humans. Moving on, Kerry brought us to a watering pond where we could scratch hippopotamuses of our list.

Open wide!

Two hippos were in the water, but despite our coaxing, they would not show much more than their ears, eyes, and nose. Kerry told us that these animals have fairly delicate skin and prolonged exposure to sunlight can crack and irritate their skin. For that reason, they stay in the water during the day and come out at night.

Hippos

We had our safari happy hour and returned to the lodge. No sunset tonight because of cloudy skies.

Our last morning at Sabi Sabi and Jane awoke to an upset stomach. She decided not to go out on the final game drive. Capt. Larry got ready and met up with the rest of the crew.

Dwarf mongooses

About one-half hour into the drive, it began to rain. Kerry spotted some dwarf mongooses that had taken over an abandoned termite mound. There were several of these cute animals in the mound and we enjoyed watching them scurry about for a while. Moving on we spotted a lone hyena just as Kerry received a report of a leopard sighting.

Dwarf mongooses in termite mound

 

We headed toward the location with Doc guiding us off-road. By this time it was raining pretty hard. We spotted the male leopard and his safari entourage as the animal was approaching a termite mound with a rain-sheltering tree growing out of it.

Beautiful cat

Being smarter than the safari photographers (the National Geographic boys again with their huge camera lenses), the cat perched itself atop the mound and sat there. Then it laid down and eventually started dozing.

Surveying the situation

This was a magnificent specimen, much different from the females, and absolutely lovely to look at. The pictures here will speak volumes. After viewing the animal for a while we decided to head back to the lodge early and call an end to our safari. It was a really awesome experience.

Snoozing

So regal

Taking a rest