Day 8 – How Is This Even Real?

Today was a day where we were ticking off animals on the reserve checklist. We didn’t set out on our drive with that as the goal, but we spent a lot of time meeting a bunch of Morukuru’s birds and critters. We set out chasing those two stealthy lion boys down by the river. We didn’t find them, but along the way we met:

• Nyala
• Elephants
• Heard hyena calls, but they were able to hide from us
• Crested frankfurt
• Black sparrow hawk
• Tree squirrels
• Red crested korhaan AKA suicide bird
• Mallow crested korhaan
• Wildebeest
• Giraffe drinking at the waterhole with those long awkward legs – very cute
• Zebra
• Crimson crested shrike
• Scimitar Bill
• Blue starling
• Huge millipede
• Dwarf mongoose
• Guineafowl
• Greater white egret
• Warthog
• Crocodile
• Grey heron
• White spoonbill
• Pale chanting goshawk
• Gabar goshawk
• Mayors parrot
• Springbok
• Impala
• Foam-nest tree frog
• Bubbling kasina
• Monitor lizard

After our drive, we stopped back at the farmhouse to have a quick bite to eat, then it was time to go fishing along the Marico River. I opted to coach the inexperienced instead of picking up a rod myself – my family would be proud. While I was enjoying the serenity, I was on the look out for wildlife. I didn’t see much but we did see:

• A bunch of spotted skimmer dragonflies
• A monitor lizard
• Yellow fronted canary

It was a nice time. We caught a catfish and a couple of paper mouth fish.

We had a bit of time to ourselves, where I made sure to make use of the outdoor shower. That is absolutely one thing this place had going for it. The bathing options are sublime! After a refreshment break and some lunch, we went out on our afternoon drive.

We didn’t have a huge amount of big sightings while out, but we did see some interesting things like:

• Some wildebeest where Jed noticed a behaviour that our guide hadn’t picked up on before, and has not added to his pool of knowledge he will be sharing with future guests. The wildebeest will have its ears in front if its horns while it’s paying attention to you, and then put them behind when they disengage.
• Tree aguma
• Something called hyena pasting, where they spread anal gland discharge on grasses they pass as a scent marker that is more difficult to dislodge with rain than urine or droppings.
• Community spider webs, where hundreds if not thousands of these spiders gather in a shared nest, and as the colony grows, it’ll slowly take over the tree they’re on.
• A couple of Kudu bachelors
• Gall wasps that inject growth hormone into branches so that they grow and hollow out so that they can lay their eggs inside for protection

As we were driving passed near where the turn off for the farmhouse, we notices that the prey species were all on alert. We spent time hunting what we thought would be a leopard in the tall grass in the area, with no luck unfortunately, and before long the animals had relaxed again, indicating that the threat had gone.

We explored a bit more until sunset was beginning to set in, but Emile drove us up a mountain trail and stopped at the top. There were a couple of other vehicles there and a trail leading up through the trees lit by lanterns. When we popped out of the trees, what opened up before us was utterly breathtaking. We were on a flat on the side of a mountain overlooking the park, with the sun making its way down behind mountains on the other side of the gully. The team had a dinner table set up, a kitchen and a fire pit to one side. It was absolutely stunning.

We were handed a glass of bubbly and were just left to soak it all in. We settled around the fire pit and stared at the sunset for a few moments before Emile came over with some sticks. It’s a tradition here that the kids grow up having competitions cooking “Stick Bread” over coals, and we were going to try our hand at it. We were each given a ball of dough and a stick, told to roll it into a sausage and wrap it around the end and then cook it, and see who makes the best one. The concept itself is very similar to Damper in Australia, so it didn’t feel too foreign to me. It was a lot of fun and tasted delicious, and I totally won.

We were soon directed over to the table where we started our feast. The sun was going down and it was getting dark quite quickly, so eating was a different experience entirely. The food was phenomenal like usual, but we were joined by thousands of unwanted guests. After the first rains of the season every year, there is one night where every flying ant that has been waiting in the soil hatches and comes out to mate, then die. They are quite large, probably with a 2cm long body, and 4 large wings on top of that. How their life cycle goes is that hatch, fornicate, lose their wings and then die. They were bloody everywhere. In our food, in our hair, in our drinks. It was utter chaos for probably 15 minutes, then they all started dying and we were left in peace again. It was a bloody memorable experience to say the least, particularly when you look at the ground in the lantern lights and see hundreds and thousands of wings blanketing the ground!

We enjoyed the night for a little bit longer, sharing a drink or two with our host and guides, sharing a few yarns about life in Aus and life in South Africa. It was a truly unique night that I will never forget.