Day 5 – An Eventful Morning & An African Storm

This mornings drive went a little slower than we have experienced this far, with a few of the usual suspects popping their heads out like impala and warthogs, but we had to work to spot some of the other guys. We had a few choice experiences like seeing a couple of nocturnal bat eared foxes, two young giraffe feeding from mum and a black mamba. Let me tell you, growing up in Australia has definitely changed the human survival instincts when it comes to snakes. I mentioned seeing our silvery slithering friend, and Stef was extremely excited about it – Steve Irwin would be proud. The snake was moving very quickly, so got away from Stef, who had gotten out of the vehicle to give chase since he hadn’t seen a snake in awhile, but with a few descriptions and confirmation with a google search, we had seen a black mamba – one of the most aggressive snakes around.

During this trip, I’ve discovered how interesting animal tracks, and being able to distinguish between the species is. I’ve learnt so much like how to tell the difference between the big cats, and the white and black rhinos and between rhino and elephant. So when we saw a few feline shaped tracks, it’s such a buzz to attempt to track the animal down. We tried with to track the cheetah boys again, but got distracted with a number of encounters like a family of about 6 giraffes, and discovering a whole herd of elephants hidden in some shrubbery.

Another guide shared the location of a lion who was well hidden, so it took us some time and off roading to find him. He was absolutely beautiful – sleeping of course, but beautiful.

So all in all, this morning we met:

• Some monkeys who trashed the kitchen
• Warthogs galore
• A family of giraffes
• The young crocodile
• A herd of elephants
• Zebras
• African Hoepoe
• Bat eared fox
• Kudu
• Feeding Giraffes
• Wildebeest
• Impala
• Black Mamba
• Baboons
• Marsh Mongoose
• Terapin
• And the King of the Jungle, a sleeping lion.

We are making the most of the downtime for the next couple of hours before we head back out on our evening outing, but this time it’s a river cruise instead of a drive. I’m keen to see the different prospective on the animals, and perhaps see the mythical last member of the big 5.

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This afternoon was kind of insane! We had that river cruise planned, but a huge storm rolled through, which unfortunately meant that we would be missing out on that experience. 4.30 came around, which is when we would usually have left for our evening drive, and Stef hadn’t shown yet. We had been watching dark clouds move across towards the Waterberg mountains, so we were sceptical that we would be going on the water at that point. We started hearing thunder, and then spotting flashes, and then forks of lightning. We opted to wait for an hour to see if it would pass and then leave. But it instead got worse. Darker clouds, winds picked up, then constant lightning and thunder. We decided to cancel the boat tour when there was a massive strike close-by. Jed, Maria and Drew headed with Stef to the boat to help pack up what he has set up for us this evening, which would have been a magnificent experience, but while they were gone the rains started. Slowly it got heavier and heavier, the gap between lightning strikes got shorter and shorter, until it was absolutely pissing down! I have never experienced a storm like it. There is something so different to South African storms! It was exhilarating.

We waited out the light show, and once the sun had returned, we decided to try for a short drive instead. We managed to find a herd of buffalo grazing not too far from camp. They are wonderful creatures, and incredibly cute. They are armoured cows! Just apparently very mean armoured cows.

We spotted a few other animals along the way, all of which we have met before, but it gets dark quickly here, and after about 45 minutes, we needed to head back for dinner. Tonight is our last night here, so Stef joined us for another meal – Kuda venison and sides, a delicious antelope!

I have to say I’m sad to be leaving here. I have had the most enlightening, eyeopening and heart warming time here. Marataba Explorers camp and the team here have made this an unforgettable experience, and one I will hold dear in my heart. One more drive in the morning and then we’re off on our charter flight to the next leg of our adventure.