I NEED A THESAURUS
At breakfast this morning, Norma and I discovered that magically some made-in-Canada maple syrup appeared on our table. Tomorrow it's pancakes for sure. Today, we settled for it on our yogurt and in my coffee. We managed to use a quarter of the bottle! Just enough left for tomorrow.
The reason I wish I had a thesaurus with me is that I am running out of adjectives to describe what we are seeing. You'll have to bear with me as I use the same words again and again.
Not far from the camp, we had our first very very special sighting of a rare, secretive, beautiful animal - the Sable Antelope. It has a very limited range and this is only one of the few places you can see it. We had a beautiful male very close. It took a look at us and then leisurely disappeared in the brush after only a few steps. If we hadn't been passing at that exact time, we never would have seen it. No time even to take a picture.
We stopped at an idyllic small pond and birdied it before heading off to search for a lion pride with cubs. We passed a vehicle which had stopped for a leopard but despite searching, never found it. We headed off to see the lion pride. Had to drive through that lake again but now I am getting used to it and it is more of a thrill than an adventure. Along the way, we spotted a hippo walking along out of the water. Very unusual for that time of the morning. Another special sighting!
We found the pride - all sleeping - the three youngest cubs sleeping almost out of sight in the grass, two slightly older cubs and two females - all of which were comatose. The latter group was more visible but they were obviously out for the long haul so we left them to their dreams and carried on. We came across one of the fathers of the cubs. He is part of a group of four young males who share the females of the pride. This time we were luckier as he was fairly active. The lions in this region are tree-climbing lions - very few lions climb trees. We were hoping to watch him use these skills but he soon lay down and looked content to stay put. We drove on and met another vehicle which was following a leopard - this one a young, very skittish female. G told us that she was new to the area - she hadn't been seen before. We drove to a spot where she seemed to be heading and got some great views of her drinking water - even have a picture of her with her tongue out and her reflection in the water. Fabulous.
G told us a story about one of the sleeping clubs the guides named Survivor. As a very young cub she almost drowned. She took a long time to recover from this experience and had difficulty eating. The other cubs played roughly with her exerting their dominance. She disappeared for two days and they feared the worse - but she turned up again with the pride. She is smaller than the other cubs but is still going strong. Hence her name.
We found the location of a kill the mother cheetah made last evening - only ribs seemed to be left. We watched a tawny eagle eating some and the vultures and yellow-billed kites were fighting for scraps.
We had a brief stop for tea before ending the drive at the camp. Added more new birds to today's list. After another delicious lunch - one option is a make-your-own salad with all kinds of ingredients you can add to specialize it. Nummy. I tried ostrich for the first time - they are farmed ones not wild ones. Fresh papaya for dessert.
We returned to our room for a plunge, a nap, blog writing, another plunge, and more blog updating. One more plunge, a shower, then we meet up with Glen for a bird walk around the camp on the boardwalk. An easy afternoon.
The nights and early mornings here are delightfully cool - not cold, but it doesn't take long for the sun to heat up the temperature. It must be somewhere between 35 and 40 degrees. It is so dry you can feel the moisture being sucked out of your skin. I have never used so much face cream and hand and body lotion in my life.
Glen keeps telling us and in particular, Norma, that we/she have/has no idea how special all the sightings of animals and birds we have had are - we have managed to get up close and personal with the animals. He told us that all of the sightings we have had with him rank right up there with the best he has ever had. We could come to Africa again and not experience what we have so far. At one point, right after we had seen the cheetah, we rounded a corner for a wonderful sighting of a pair Wattled Cranes, he just shook his head and said, "You Guys". I am sure we would be invited to join the Rockjumper team if we had seen the Brown Hyena.
At breakfast this morning, Norma and I discovered that magically some made-in-Canada maple syrup appeared on our table. Tomorrow it's pancakes for sure. Today, we settled for it on our yogurt and in my coffee. We managed to use a quarter of the bottle! Just enough left for tomorrow.
The reason I wish I had a thesaurus with me is that I am running out of adjectives to describe what we are seeing. You'll have to bear with me as I use the same words again and again.
Not far from the camp, we had our first very very special sighting of a rare, secretive, beautiful animal - the Sable Antelope. It has a very limited range and this is only one of the few places you can see it. We had a beautiful male very close. It took a look at us and then leisurely disappeared in the brush after only a few steps. If we hadn't been passing at that exact time, we never would have seen it. No time even to take a picture.
We stopped at an idyllic small pond and birdied it before heading off to search for a lion pride with cubs. We passed a vehicle which had stopped for a leopard but despite searching, never found it. We headed off to see the lion pride. Had to drive through that lake again but now I am getting used to it and it is more of a thrill than an adventure. Along the way, we spotted a hippo walking along out of the water. Very unusual for that time of the morning. Another special sighting!
We found the pride - all sleeping - the three youngest cubs sleeping almost out of sight in the grass, two slightly older cubs and two females - all of which were comatose. The latter group was more visible but they were obviously out for the long haul so we left them to their dreams and carried on. We came across one of the fathers of the cubs. He is part of a group of four young males who share the females of the pride. This time we were luckier as he was fairly active. The lions in this region are tree-climbing lions - very few lions climb trees. We were hoping to watch him use these skills but he soon lay down and looked content to stay put. We drove on and met another vehicle which was following a leopard - this one a young, very skittish female. G told us that she was new to the area - she hadn't been seen before. We drove to a spot where she seemed to be heading and got some great views of her drinking water - even have a picture of her with her tongue out and her reflection in the water. Fabulous.
G told us a story about one of the sleeping clubs the guides named Survivor. As a very young cub she almost drowned. She took a long time to recover from this experience and had difficulty eating. The other cubs played roughly with her exerting their dominance. She disappeared for two days and they feared the worse - but she turned up again with the pride. She is smaller than the other cubs but is still going strong. Hence her name.
We found the location of a kill the mother cheetah made last evening - only ribs seemed to be left. We watched a tawny eagle eating some and the vultures and yellow-billed kites were fighting for scraps.
We had a brief stop for tea before ending the drive at the camp. Added more new birds to today's list. After another delicious lunch - one option is a make-your-own salad with all kinds of ingredients you can add to specialize it. Nummy. I tried ostrich for the first time - they are farmed ones not wild ones. Fresh papaya for dessert.
We returned to our room for a plunge, a nap, blog writing, another plunge, and more blog updating. One more plunge, a shower, then we meet up with Glen for a bird walk around the camp on the boardwalk. An easy afternoon.
The nights and early mornings here are delightfully cool - not cold, but it doesn't take long for the sun to heat up the temperature. It must be somewhere between 35 and 40 degrees. It is so dry you can feel the moisture being sucked out of your skin. I have never used so much face cream and hand and body lotion in my life.
Glen keeps telling us and in particular, Norma, that we/she have/has no idea how special all the sightings of animals and birds we have had are - we have managed to get up close and personal with the animals. He told us that all of the sightings we have had with him rank right up there with the best he has ever had. We could come to Africa again and not experience what we have so far. At one point, right after we had seen the cheetah, we rounded a corner for a wonderful sighting of a pair Wattled Cranes, he just shook his head and said, "You Guys". I am sure we would be invited to join the Rockjumper team if we had seen the Brown Hyena.
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