Day 10 – The Little Gay Lion That Could

Well, today is our last full day, our last push to see all that we want to see. Perhaps the mythical Shleopard? A pangolin? I count myself lucky, with or without checking off everything on our list. Saying that though, we had a pretty full day of sightings! In our morning drive we saw:

• Spur winged goose
• Zebra
• White rhino
• Another herd of elephants
• Warthog
• A family of lions, one lioness and 3 cubs!
• We noticed impala fleeing erratically, and found the only possible source to be a singular stein buck, another antelope probably half the size of a single impala.
• European bee eater
• African Hoopoe (the absolute filthiest bird in S.A, with it producing more bacteria than any other animal
• Monitor lizard
• Buffalo
• Wildebeest
• African paradise flycatcher
• Another cool encounter with a pride of lions, 3 female 1 young male, who created the cutest cuddle puddle I’ve ever seen
• Some cool picked clean kills of wildebeest, warthog and hippo
• So many giraffes!

We also opted to go fishing again after breakfast, which was loads more successful than our first time. We used the flying ants as bait, which the fish ate right up! There was no downtime, just bait, cast, reel in fish, repeat. It was great to watch! I particularly enjoyed watching Emile and Gummy fish since this time we were all more comfortable baiting the hooks with the ants instead of the liver, and everyone had a bit more experience under their belt, so we weren’t calling them over every few seconds.

While driving back from fishing, we saw the cutest, newest zebra foal basically glued to mums side. Straight after we saw another fresh elephant calf. Watching babies not be able to use their bodies correctly is one of the most satisfying thing! Wobbly legs and flailing trunks are my favourite!

After lunch and some down time utilising the pool, we headed out on our final evening drive. I feel like a broken record, because everything has been, but boy was this drive memorable! We ticked off so many sightings, but also had our most intense off-road experience. We met:

• A rare find that we have been lucky enough to see at both parks we visited, the Bat eared fox
• Elephant calves
• Warthog piglet
• Impala
• Jacobin Cuckoo
• Hornbill
• Tree Agama
• We got to see a Marula tree, which is where the Amarula alcohol comes from

Right as dusk was falling, Gummy spotted another lion deep in the bushes off the side of the road. Gummy is an absolute icon in the industry, but how he sees these animals as far off as he does I will never understand! But this is where our memorable off-roading experience takes place. To us guests, and even to Emile to a certain extent, this lion looks impossible to get close to. The brush is way too thick and there are solid trees in the way. But Gummy? Nah, he’s got this. He’s sitting on the front of the car, and directs Emile to drive through the trees. Emile seemed unsure, but he trusts the man on the bonnet seat, so that’s what we do. So many tiny movements to make tiny adjustments to inch closer and closer, a few thorns to the arms and face as we bush though the bushes, a couple of scary branched whipping between the bars of the vehicle and despite Gummy wanting to get even closer, we notice this big boy looked at Gummy on the front and gave one tail swish, and that was enough for Emile to call it. But Gummy turns around and says “But he’s my best friend”, as a plea to get closer. For everyone else’s sanity, we stayed put. It wasn’t until we were watching this big boy panting with a full belly that we noticed the other lion in this male coalition.

This ended up being a pretty sad story. The lion we saw first is a young man, about 8 years old, and he’s in a male coalition with an old boy, who is about 14, and is only alive because the 8 year old is with him and is able to hunt for him. This partnership came around when the park moved some of their lions to other parks because Morukuru was over populated and their prey species were starting to suffer, and with the shuffling of the population, the prides restructured themselves, and our young man was pushed out on his own, so he found comfort in the partnership with the old fella. But because he’s hunting for two, he’s not focusing on obtaining territory or mating, and he’s going to lose his chance. When old mate passes, he will be on his own, and unless he has territory or a pride to protect him, another male coalition or pride will kill him.

Hearing this prompted Maz to write a funny little heartfelt poem about these guys, and some of our highlight moments of the trip.

There once was a little gay lion that could
And his best friend, who’s WAY older than a lion should
Together they formed a sort-of coalition
To gain back some pride and a little lost ambition
See, this unlikely pair didn’t roam, or engage in typical lion spat
In fact, they sat and even saw a fucking meerkat,
They saw LOADS in their tiny little corner of Madikwe
Elephant nerds, schleopards, African wombats – all not completely hearsay
Two friends, brothers, looking out from where they lay
But when one gives out, who knows what might come their way
Here’s to hoping they remain curious, pioneers of the unlikely with no end in sight
A story for outsiders, for people who feel like they don’t quite fit right
There’s a mishaped corner for you even on this dried out land of iron,
Where it’s better to spot the rock than miss the lion

Mazrine L Amaris

Once we left this odd couple, we started making our way back home, but we were gifted new sighting after new sighting all the way there! We spotted:

• a Spotted Hyena den with a new mumma coming out to gather food for the evening
• another rare find, the Ardwolf
• Wildebeest
• Crow Lapwings with the tiniest chicks you’ve ever seen!
• an African wildcat
• a civet

Since it was pitch black outside, I have no pictures of these guys, but what a lovely way to send us off. It felt as though everyone was out to say goodbye!

We had a lovely dinner down on the “Sunset Deck” with Rochaan (our host at the accommodation) and Emile, then headed to bed for the last time.