Zebra farts

[Jochen]

"And how were the gamedrives?" you ask.

 

Well, we had a very good guide called Diff and a tracker called Vuyani. Vuyani is actually a nephew of Isaac (nThambo)! Just like with EP, this lodge shares sightings with a lot of other lodges. A huge area, with about 12500 hectares in traverse. And equally like EP, the guide has an earpiece so customers do not hear the radio chatter.

 

But there were noticeable differences. For starters; at EP our tracker had nothing to do at all, as plenty of (read; all) the sightings were handed over to him on a plate, via the radio. And when he had to do something (pick up a bottle) he objected. At SRL, Vuyani had perhaps not as much to do as a tracker at a place with less sharing of sightings. But at least, under the way to major sightings, he did his best to look for tracks, and point out sightings while the guide had his eyes on the road. And one time, he tracked the lions, for us for 30 mins or so, and I am sure if they had not gone to a place we could not follow them, that we would have seen them.

Diff, our guide, was a very good fellow as well. Perhaps the chatter in his earpiece was less than at EP, perhaps he was more focused on us instead of his partners in crime on the radio, I don't know, but the end result was very different than EP. Here, the earpiece never hindered/prevented a conversation. Note: personally, I prefer to hear the radio. It adds a bit of fun, when you understand what they are saying (my Dutch is close to Afrikaans, and by now I know a lot of Shangaan words for the animals). But I admit that's just me.

A third difference was that we never came across situations where we had "time slots" at a sighting. That may be because it was a bit quiet in the bush, but it might also be because the size of the area, the number of animals, and the number of jeeps out there, are all closer to ideal. I'm not entirely sure but my scale tips to the latter. Also; animals weren't harassed like we saw with the lion on one of the night drives at EP.

 

---

 

By now you may ask yourself: "why all the comparing with Elephant Plains in Sabi Sands??"

 

Well, one thing we learned by now is that there's a whole price-range of safari-types to be had in the private reserves around Kruger.

 

On one end of that price-range are (for me) sub-par deals that do not appeal for various reasons. The area is too small, the lodging is too basic, or especially; the game viewing is not good enough. Just one example; in the Parsons block of Balule NP (which is the part between the river and the N40) a lodge admitted to me that they are in a big 5 area but that they had not seen a leopard yet, in the three years they were operating there. Plus they are not allowed to off-road there; lodges do not own the land around them.

 

On the other end of the price-range are, obviously, places that are too expensive for me. The game-viewing may be excellent, but that does not mean the experience is as it should be. Most of the time those places look like five star hotels that are dropped down smack into the middle of the bush, with everything that comes with them: bubble baths, expensive wines, a personal waiter for your table, a massage room, a gym room, heated towel racks... stuff like that. They lure customers that are into the regular tourist circuit, and not eco-tourists like me. So, not to scare their customers too much, they fence their place off to keep animals out.

 

Now, if you look at the whole price-range, I'm only interested in the middle part, the part of the spectrum that does not have insurmountable shortcomings. But as I said, it is a spectrum. So there's still a lot of differences. And I must admit that, if you look at game viewing, the cheaper part of that spectrum has a bit less good game viewing sometimes. They are lodges "on the up", in fairly new areas, working hard for their sightings, and trying to get more traverse. While on the other side of my spectrum, are lodges in well-established areas, with game that is very accustomed to safari vehicles, but perhaps also where things are running a bit "on automatic".

 

If you imagine my spectrum with the cheaper places on the left and the more expensive places on the right, then so far I have experienced quite a few lodges that fall in the left part, albeit most would be close to that "perfect middle". I have had the luck to avoid places that are "too left" on that scale. But I have had much less luck with the right part of my "spectrum". I think I wrote enough on the shortcomings of EP by now.

 

The thing is; I think that the ideal safari should contain a combination of lodges from both sides of that "perfect middle". Some places to rough it up a bit, places that (have to) show you what tracking is about, places that do walking safaris. And then some other places to "up" your photo count, and to relax a bit more.

 

I was beginning to think a perfect place "on the right side of that scale" did not exist. But Simbavati River Lodge is definitely a serious contender.

 

In general Timbavati reserve is almost as well-established as Sabi Sands. At least the northern part of it is (Shindzela was a bit different). With a lot of lodges sharing traverse, and very relaxed animals. And at least one place (SRL) is still affordable and not over-the-top luxurious. We sure liked SRL. We had a very good time.

 

But enough talk. On to the more fun posts; the sightings!

Edited July 3, 2011 by Jochen

[Jochen]

The first afternoon we drove to the north, where Motswari is. Next to their airstrip, a leopard was spotted in a tree, with her catch (an impala).

 

Quite a bit of a drive, but with good entertainment along the way. Great sightings of Bushbuck, green pigeon, kudu, giraffe, etc... plus a huge croc on an island in the middle of a waterhole.

 

 

 

 

When we got to the leopard there was no one around, but a jeep of Motswari stopped by later.

 

 

 

 

The carcass was not in the tree but on the ground. I guess it fell out. A hyena was chewing on it.

 

We left an hour later and had a bit of a drive around, in that area. We heard about some lions, and went to check 'em out. On our way there, a bull elephant willingly posed for us.

 

The lions gave us good poses as well. Doing what cats do when they're not hunting of course. Aka being flat cats.

 

 

 

Still, we get a bit excited when we encounter beautiful cats like these. And obviously the male was as excited as we were. Underage readers, please skip the next picture!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After sundowners we drove back to the leopard but nothing had changed much. She was still in her tree. And the hyena was still near the carcass, resting in a ditch she seemed to have dug. We saw nothing else on that night drive.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Jochen

[Jochen]

The following morning we heard about lion cubs all the way in the south (near Umlani); so we set out for them. It was a really long drive, and we did not have time to stop for much else. Altough we did stop for this shot;

 

 

The morning mist over the water made it look very beautiful.

 

Finally we came to the lions. What a huge pride! Five adult females, four cubs of about 8 months old, and five of about three months old. Pa was not there, but was close by (a few hundred meters further). I went a bit shutter crazy on the cubs. Too bad they were all tired though. Even the cubs were not playful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon enough it was time for the long drive back to the lodge and a breakfast of kings.

 

Oh, in our room, we found this chap;

 

 

 

He as actually quite big (5cm in length) and seemed to have these formidable pincers on his front legs. So I put him in my hat and released him outside.

 

My knowledge of insects is seriously sub-par. Anyone know what it is?

Edited January 3, 2012 by Jochen

[Jochen]

The afternoon drive was more relaxed. We stayed in the neighborhood, and found a huge herd of buffalo, a nice herd of ellies with a tiny newcomer, reedbuck, steenbok, kudu, zebra, and much more. Like another bird for our bird game (grin).

 

A few pics;

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2012 by Jochen

[Jochen]

The day after that it was a bit quiet in the morning. But we did still see plenty of the "regulars". With a not-so-regular mixed in here and there.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jochen]

In the afternoon, we decided to check on the leopard one more time (near Motswari airstrip). The situation had changed a bit. Someone was no longer hungry.

 

 

And someone else was growing more hungry by the minute.

 

 

Soon after, she left her kill for a drink at the waterhole, and we followed her. But she was in no hurry and gave us plenty opportunities for more shots.

 

 

 

As this was our last gamedrive (we wanted to sleep in the next morning, as it was going to be a long day with then a red eye flight and another half-a-day of trains after that), we thought the leopard was a perfect end to our safari.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Jochen

[Jochen]

Now, before you guys give me the heat about that sleeping in and get all "you snooze you lose" with me ; note that we had a bit of a plan. You see, Simbavati River Lodge may be one of those rare places where staying at the lodge may just be worth it. A place where you can get equal sightings as on a drive. After all, it is on the riverbank.

 

At noon, it was rather quiet there. We did not see much animals. But in the morning, it was a bit different. In the few hours we had left before our pick-up arrived, we saw hippos (they were most active right after sunrise), a herd of elephants coming for a drink (I thought they only did this in the afternoon?), a pied kingfisher fishing, and much more. It seemed as if all of them decided to show themselves one last time, especially for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had a bit of time to chat some more with Diff. What you guys don't know is that our safari had kind of a fart theme to it. At Umkumbe, a herd of zebra ran away from us, propelling quite a bit of gas in the opposite direction (Herman gave us a lesson on their digestive tract after that). At nThambo, an elephant let go of the loudest fart I ever heard. We thought the earth ripped open or something. And at SRL, there was this conversation that Diff will probably remember for a long time, when we just met:

 

Me: "can I sit up front, Diff?"

Him: "if you behave"

Me: "don't worry. If I fart you'll be the second to know!"

 

Anyway... we were reflecting on how strange it was that good sightings always come in series. On some days nothing special happens. Then all of a sudden, bang bang bang bang... one after the other. Like the day at nThambo with the big 5 in one drive and four of them in less than one hour. We also had a similar thing when driving to the Leopard at Motswari airstrip; on our way there, while being a bit in a hurry, we saw so much animals!

 

Diff replied in a way that only Africans can reply. They have this way of summing it all up in a simple way; but always right-on-the-money.

 

"Ah but you see, Jochen; sightings, they are like zebra farts. Never just one."

 

Ain't that the truth!

 

Edit; "THE END"

Edited January 3, 2012 by Jochen

[VeeR]

Jochen - What a wonderful trip report! And your photos are outstanding. I've thoroughly enjoyed your writing.

[Jan]

Jochen, I'm loving it!

 

 

Jan

[Jochen]

I also noticed some spelling mistakes. Post #34 (on traverse) should read "Some with camPs, some without."

 

Sorry it's in post #31, that error.

 

...and post #27: "Some things I remember from Umkumbe;"

 

Duh!

 

[Jochen]

Thx 4 the comments, VeeR & Jan!

 

J.

[Shreyas]

The Leopard sightings and the pictures are superb. Enjoyed the awaited SRL part, which was worth the wait

Thanks for sharing the experience!

 

Shreyas

[ZaminOz]

Jochen,

 

Thanks for an entertaining report with some great photos!

[ZaminOz]

Oh, in our room, we found this chap;

 

 

 

He as actually quite big (5cm in length) and seemed to have these formidable pincers on his front legs. So I put him in my hat and released him outside.

 

My knowledge of insects is seriously sub-par. Anyone know what it is?

Looks like a water scorpion of some sort to me. We used to get a lot of water scorpions that looked similar in our swimming pool in Zambia. I couldn't give a scientific name for you though.

[Sverker]

 

 

Oh, in our room, we found this chap;

 

 

 

He as actually quite big (5cm in length) and seemed to have these formidable pincers on his front legs. So I put him in my hat and released him outside.

 

My knowledge of insects is seriously sub-par. Anyone know what it is?

It is a "whip spider" or "tailless whip scorpion". Not an insect. Related to spiders, scorpions etc, but totally harmless. They are reported to become up to 4,5 cm, so your specimen was a really a big one. Is sometimes kept as a pet, since it is "friendly and likes to play" (?!!)

Read more here.

[Jochen]

Thanks for the identification guys!

 

A pet eh? Strange!

[twaffle]

Really enjoyed this Jochen, thanks for making it so informative and interesting.

[Atravelynn]

Great sightings. The lion cubs are adorable.

[cris]

Great report! Fantastic photos! Love your sun bathing male lion! Of course, jumping Impala, warthog & children, & I am a rhino fan. Really all of your photos are just beautiful. Thanks!

Edited July 6, 2011 by cris

[Super LEEDS]

Hi Jochen

 

Great report! So much so that it even got me looking into a similar trip next year instead of our Mara visit, especially after finding flights from our hometown (Leeds) with KLM actually look cheaper to Jo'burg than Nairobi.

 

Sorry if this is in the report but I read it over a few days so forgot some of the details: would you mind saying how you went about booking the trip? Was it through a tour operator or directly with the lodges themselves?

 

I was just looking the Umkumbe and AOF websites and saw this pic on the latter:

 

http://www.africaonfoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bushbaby-jochen-600.jpg

 

I thought I recognised it!!

 

Thanks,

 

Leeds

[Jochen]

Hey Leeds,

 

Great avatar!

 

The trip was booked with Sun Safaris. Website; http://www.sunsafaris.com/

 

About the pics on AOF website; yes, I sent them some pics last year, and this time as well, and I see them pass by on their website regularly. Quite fun. And it's not as if I am working on a safari-related book or something. Not that the thought never crossed my mind. But when the wine wears off, I dismiss the idea.

 

Thanks for letting me know that this year's pics are on already! I hadn't checked yet.

 

B.regs,

 

J.

[Super LEEDS]

Hi Jochen!

 

Yeah, the avatar..... kinda follows me around

 

Thanks, I thought it was SS - I'm in the process of dropping them an email for prices on a trip similar to yours. Checked out Umkumbe, AOF and Elephant Plains and they seem very reasonable compared to some of the others that I think even secretly charge you for looking at their websites

 

Must say, planning a trip to SA is quite complicated (scary?) for the first timer - so many parks, concessions, blocks etc. Might open a post in the planning forum.

 

Cheers,

 

Leeds

[Kavey]

Aaah I do love safariing vicariously!

[Atravelynn]

Catching the king fisher in flight is talent. I kept thinking I missed the farts, but no. I had to wait until the end. Great metaphor and great report!

[Jochen]

Just thought I'd let you all know; the new pool at Umkumbe is finished. Pics are on their FB page: