Day 9 - Farewell to Cape Town, Hello to Ngala

We got up early and packed and Gow gave us a ride to Cape Town International.  It was so great to hang out with Gow and her friends and see her amazing place.  The airports here are set up much more efficiently than in the US - perhaps because the labor is cheaper.

We had a quick breakfast at Wimpy's (a fast food joint here) and then headed to the gate for our 2 hour flight to Hoedspruit.  We took a pretty small plane which was full of tourists going on safari.  Hoedspruit airport is in the middle of nowhere and is surprisingly massive - it has several miles of wide runways all for three flights a day - because it was formerly a military base.  Once you get off the plane, you walk across the runway to the tiny little airport, which is full of tour guides and transport drivers with little signs with lodge logos and handwritten family names for the folks they are picking up.  You meet up with your driver and after a while a tractor pulls around to the parking lot towing a two-story wagon loaded up with suitcases and bags.  Everyone is totally stoked, because they are about to go on safari and embark on the whole point of their vacation.

We met up with our driver, a tall, lanky native of Hoedspruit named Piet, who loaded up our bags and chauffeured us 50 minutes through the eastern gate of Kruger National Park and down the windy, bumping road to Ngala Tented Camp.  Our friend Dylan, now playing the role of camp manager, was there to meet us - it was tremendous to see him!  We checked in, had a glass of wine and a little lunch, and headed over to our tent to rest up a bit before heading out on game drive.

An hour or so later, we headed back to the lodge to meet up with the one-and-only Lee-Anne Davis for our game drive.  But she met us on the path before we could even get to her.

I would need about 9 blog entries to explain to you what a tremendous, unique, special individual Lee-Anne is.  She exudes energy and is full of life; she just seems to "get it" in a way that being around her makes you feel like you do too.

We met up with our other four drive mates for our stay - two young couples from Singapore (three lawyers and a banker) - and Lee-Anne gave us the download on the property.  Then we were off.

Within the first kilometer we spotted a Southern Ground Hornbill - a massive, dinosaur-like bird that is extremely endangered as a result of deforestation (because it is a tree nesting bird).  This species mates for like and only lays two eggs every seven years - and if the first eggs seems to progressing healthily, it destroys the second eggs because it cannot support two young.

Southern Ground Hornbill

A bit down the road we spotted a young male leopard camped out under a tree.  We were able to get really close to this very relaxed leopard and spent a good amount of time observing his characteristics.

We moved along on our drive, seeing various animals along the way...

Kudu

Impala

Wildebeest

Giraffe

We eventually came to a rest above a watering hole, with the heads of several hippopotamus breaching the surface like round, flat stones in the water.  Hippos are very bizarre - they live in the water all day, but cannot swim and do not eat fish.  They need to come on land to eat, but only do so at night because their skin is very sensitive to sunlight.  There is no good evolutionary reason for them to still be around - but here they were - looking at us looking at them.  Occasionally one of  them would let out a massive burst of air after surfacing.  While we had a sundowner at Clara Dam, we watched a small family of elephants - including a baby - make its way down to the water to drink. (*We also gave a small toast to Clara Lutz!)

(We captured much better pics the next day)

The baby elephant was always in the middle of the group to protect it from predators. 

The "log" in the water is a group of hippos

Ranger Lee-Anne with Ranger Smart Ass (you can guess which one of us earned that title).

Then Lee-Anne got a call on the radio that one of three male lions that has been roaming the park had been located by another vehicle.  With sky getting dark, we packed up the sundowner table and sped away across the camp - flying up and down across rocks or where rain had washed holes in the road, and dodging branches that came into view at the very last second.

As we came upon a clearing, we saw another vehicle with an infrared spotlight on an enormous male lion that was laying down in an upright position.  We pulled up alongside the other vehicle - only about 10 feet from the lion! - and watched him smelling the night air and listening for her murderous companions so that they could coordinate their night of hunting.

This would have been plenty close for us, but we got much, much closer!

After a few moments, the lion took in a deep breath that resulted in a slight rumble and then let out a series of deafening roars that streamed a dozen kilometers across the park.  A few moments later, a return roar was heard in the distance - slightly masked by the cool night breeze.  The lion got up and started heading to its brother - as if the roar had transmitted strict and clear instructions.  Each step of the lion's paw on the sand below made a slight, but deep, thud into the ground that was, to be honest, intimidating.  At any moment, this beast could have jumped into either of the open-top vehicles that were just feet away and had a human buffet - but our rangers and trackers were totally calm - they've known this lion (and his brothers) since birth.  They knew this lion had much bigger plans for its evening after meeting up with its brothers.


IMG 5711.MOV from Jen Lutz on Vimeo.

After the lion made its way past our vehicle - just feet away - and into the thick brush, we went back to the lodge - all a bit giddy by the rarity of the spectacle that we had just encountered.

Jack taught Richard how to make a "bush" Manhattan to celebrate. (We toasted to  you,  Dad!)

Lee-Anne had dinner with the six guests in her car - it was especially noteworthy because it was Brian's birthday and also Brian and his fiance Cheryl-Lynn's honeymoon.  The lodge butlers surprised Brian with a birthday cake and an impromptu serenade of "happy birthday," which led into a South African version of a "happy birthday" song that featured the lyrics "turn around and show me your figure."

Dylan came down after a bit and had some drinks with us - it was great to catch up and we talked late into the evening (perhaps not the smartest idea for the night before a 5:30 wake-up call for the morning game drive, but worth definitely worth it!).