Into Africa
It's been rather a long time since I updated my blog, but I figured that I might as well do so...I may have to refer you to a facebook album for the photos as I think the connection here is less than optimal...Facebook will do a nice small upload, whereas Blogspot tends to take forever.
We had an overnight flight from London down to Johannesburg. I have a bad habit of staying up and watching films on flights, and this time was no different. It did however afford me some great sights out the window of the plane.
At some point during the night (and I assume we must have been over Northern Africa), I looked out the window and saw twenty or so flickering fires down below. It was too dark to make anything out, but there was something slightly surreal about looking out of the aeroplane and seeing these campfires below on such a clear night.
Later in the flight I saw a lightning storm in the sky a distance away. If you've ever seen a lightning storm from the sky, you'll know how incredible they look. And then finally (after a little nap) we saw the sun rising as we were approaching our destination.
We transferred in Jo'burg and had to wait for a couple of hours to get our flight over to Madikwe - the game park where we are staying which is on the border with Botswana. It was a small 10-seater plane and we landed on a dirt airstrip in the game park, to be met by the safari jeep and transferred to the lodge.
The lodge where we're staying is beautifully built using traditional methods (think thatched roofs etc.) and we had a very nice lunch. One quick nap later after lunch and we went out on the afternoon game drive at about 4:30. We headed out towards the other side of the park and soon came upon a lot of vehicles all waiting to view the wild dogs that Madikwe is home to and famous for. From what I am led to believe, there are only estimated to be 2,000 wild dogs remaining in Africa. There is a rule that there cannot be more than three vehicles at a sighting, so we had to wait, but it was well worth it. There was a pack of 18 dogs that we followed most of the way back to the lodge. They were completely at ease with the vehicle and were not in the least bothered by us taking photos and driving alongside them.
Dinner last night was served in the Boma - a walled off enclosure where there were several barbecue areas. Suffice to say that they're feeding us more than adequately. The stars were out and Venus was shining particularly strongly. Being out in the wilderness means you can see all the stars without the light pollution you normally have in cities. Last night was clear enough to be able to make out the satellites making their steady progress across the canopy of stars, and eating out under them was a rare treat.
Today is our first full day, and it started early. 5 am wake up call to meet at 5:30 for tea/coffee/biscuits, and then set off on the morning game drive by 5:45. This morning we were lucky enough to see several lionesses, a male lion, and four lion cubs. They too were completely uninterested in our vehicle. One actually walked past the rear of the jeep where I was sitting and straight past us. Had I been stupid, I could have reached out and stroked it. I do have some nice videos of the lioness, but they're too big for this connection to handle, so they will have to wait for a few days until we're in Cape Town, or until I get back to London.
We saw a fairly large herd of elephants while we were out this morning, although the bull elephant must have been elsewhere as it was just smaller females and babies. Zebras, Wildebeest, Impala were all par for the course and were all over the place. We saw a few giraffes as well, and it struck me how much they seem to be a remnant of a past age. They're so unlike any other animal alive today.
Check my facebook profile for pictures as I know I won't be able to upload any here. Link below (and you don't need to be a member to view it):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100072&l=2d0a0&id=560070984
Ken
We had an overnight flight from London down to Johannesburg. I have a bad habit of staying up and watching films on flights, and this time was no different. It did however afford me some great sights out the window of the plane.
At some point during the night (and I assume we must have been over Northern Africa), I looked out the window and saw twenty or so flickering fires down below. It was too dark to make anything out, but there was something slightly surreal about looking out of the aeroplane and seeing these campfires below on such a clear night.
Later in the flight I saw a lightning storm in the sky a distance away. If you've ever seen a lightning storm from the sky, you'll know how incredible they look. And then finally (after a little nap) we saw the sun rising as we were approaching our destination.
We transferred in Jo'burg and had to wait for a couple of hours to get our flight over to Madikwe - the game park where we are staying which is on the border with Botswana. It was a small 10-seater plane and we landed on a dirt airstrip in the game park, to be met by the safari jeep and transferred to the lodge.
The lodge where we're staying is beautifully built using traditional methods (think thatched roofs etc.) and we had a very nice lunch. One quick nap later after lunch and we went out on the afternoon game drive at about 4:30. We headed out towards the other side of the park and soon came upon a lot of vehicles all waiting to view the wild dogs that Madikwe is home to and famous for. From what I am led to believe, there are only estimated to be 2,000 wild dogs remaining in Africa. There is a rule that there cannot be more than three vehicles at a sighting, so we had to wait, but it was well worth it. There was a pack of 18 dogs that we followed most of the way back to the lodge. They were completely at ease with the vehicle and were not in the least bothered by us taking photos and driving alongside them.
Dinner last night was served in the Boma - a walled off enclosure where there were several barbecue areas. Suffice to say that they're feeding us more than adequately. The stars were out and Venus was shining particularly strongly. Being out in the wilderness means you can see all the stars without the light pollution you normally have in cities. Last night was clear enough to be able to make out the satellites making their steady progress across the canopy of stars, and eating out under them was a rare treat.
Today is our first full day, and it started early. 5 am wake up call to meet at 5:30 for tea/coffee/biscuits, and then set off on the morning game drive by 5:45. This morning we were lucky enough to see several lionesses, a male lion, and four lion cubs. They too were completely uninterested in our vehicle. One actually walked past the rear of the jeep where I was sitting and straight past us. Had I been stupid, I could have reached out and stroked it. I do have some nice videos of the lioness, but they're too big for this connection to handle, so they will have to wait for a few days until we're in Cape Town, or until I get back to London.
We saw a fairly large herd of elephants while we were out this morning, although the bull elephant must have been elsewhere as it was just smaller females and babies. Zebras, Wildebeest, Impala were all par for the course and were all over the place. We saw a few giraffes as well, and it struck me how much they seem to be a remnant of a past age. They're so unlike any other animal alive today.
Check my facebook profile for pictures as I know I won't be able to upload any here. Link below (and you don't need to be a member to view it):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100072&l=2d0a0&id=560070984
Ken
Labels: Africa, elephant, giraffe, lion, madikwe, safari, zebra
posted by Ken at 9:11 am
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