We were awake intermittently throughout the night. Partly because a huge cricket was chirruping away ALL night in our bathroom. Roy took it outside this morning.... just 7 hours too late!
We were woken properly by a door knock at about 10 to 6. Coffee and biscuits were delivered and the coffee was sufficiently inky to wake me up nicely for the morning game drive. We all met at 6.30am and headed straight out.
Roy has dubbed Kwandwe "the Truman Show" safari and in a way I know what he means. Our first safari (honeymoon in Selous, Tanzania, 2005) was a HUGE park with no fences anywhere. Completely wild. Kwandwe is 25000 hectares - so hardly small - but because you KNOW it is a private reserve and that there are boundary fences out there, it kind of feels different.
We had a very quiet start to the drive - we were looking for elephants and lion for the Italian couple who are leaving after breakfast. We saw two tiny steenbok just after leaving the lodge, and then not much else at all for a while. Some kudu. Warthogs.
We were constantly chasing for lions, using radio contact with the other 7 cars that were out there somewhere. Eventually, we heard that a lone female was around and we found her. We were the third car there. (Another difference to Selous, who had a maximum 2 car per animal rule). She was walking down a track and then plonked herself down under a bush and proceeded to roar for her cubs or her pride. She roared several times and we watched her for quite some time. Incredible sound to hear.
After a while we moved on. We saw some red necked Francolin birds - quite rare, apparently. And that was pretty much it.
We feasted on a huge breakfast and then shortly afterwards (or so it seemed) we had lunch. In between the drive and eating we lounged around on our deck and read/watched birds/scanned the bush opposite our deck for wildlife. It was not warm enough to get into the plunge pool today. Shame.
On the afternoon drive we were joined by Brian and Korbie - a couple from Joburg. Brian was born in Liverpool and has lived in SA for 30 years. They seem nice. This afternoon was a success - we finally got to see cheetah. Roy was hoping we would, as they don't have any at in the Selous. We came across two of them (males) lying in the grass. Watched a while in the hope of them "doing something" but they didn't. This is the problem with big cats - they tend to not do a lot for about 18 hours each day! But coming back to camp after sundowners we got lucky - the two of them walked across our track in the darkness. Sia put the red light on and we watched them a little longer. Beautiful animals.
We also saw a scrub hare and some bats after dark. Other sightings on the afternoon drive were:
Buffalo
Zebra
Warthog
Eland
Red Hartebeest
Terrapin in a watering hole
Springbok
Blesbok
Each night as we came in, Alfie would comment on the clear sky and the incredible stars. I wish I knew what I was looking at. Maybe next time we'll book a trip with some astronomy thrown in!!
Tonight we all ate together with Alfie. The food was good and so was the company - although, Brian (who I think is something v. important in banking) did tend to make the whole thing have a very "corporate" atmosphere. We were also treated to Brian's views on SA politics and economy, and global politics and economy. Each of us (South African, British, Dutch) had to give details of how things were in our country. Interesting - but not quite so lighthearted for a holiday!
Guess what? Another early night.
