Rain rain go away...
Well we've had a lot more rain - it rained solidly overnight, and although it had cleared at 5:30 am when we woke up, almost as soon as we were ready to set off at 6:00 it started pouring again. We decided to delay our start until 10, so we had breakfast and another lay down.
At 10 it was raining, but we set off regardless, and fortunately the rain eased off after about 20 minutes. We only stayed out for 2 hours, but we were lucky in that we saw a pack of 4 wild dogs and watched them circle round to try and take down an Impala. For some reason they didn't attack and then they carried on their way.
We followed them for about 45 minutes, driving off-road to watch them and eventually we had to give up chase as they went onto some private land. As we were driving around the land to try and head them off we happened upon an enormous male Kudu that was grazing in the bracken. It was startled and unfortunately ran off before I could get a photo of it.
We gave up on the dogs and drove over to the dirt airstrip where a small pride of lions is known to hang out. Sure enough they were laying out next to each other beside the runway. Remarkable in that only about 5 minutes earlier there had been a plane taking off. I got some nice photos of the lion and his two lionesses which you can see in the photo album at the end of this post.
While I'm waiting for the pictures to upload, I thought I'd mention some stuff about the locals and the reserve. At the moment Madikwe is (I believe) the fourth largest game reserve in South Africa. There is another reserve a short distance away and they are looking to link the two reserves up to create the second largest reserve after Kruger National Park. They do this by buying up land from the local communities. The communities are mainly farming-based...cattle etc. and therefore it is usually only the male head of household that earns the money, so the theory is that selling their land to the reserve will be attractive as then the wife and daughters can get work on the reserve - as housekeepers or lodge managers, the sons can work as mechanics or security etc. Thus everyone prospers and the animals are safer from poaching since there is more money to be made by participating in the conservation and tourism industry.
On the night of the boma barbecue, a number of the staff sung traditional songs while we were waiting for our main courses. I didn't have my camcorder with me, but it was someone's birthday yesterday and I did manage to record a couple of minutes which I will endeavour to upload from Cape Town or from home.
This afternoon after lunch we are going to try and find some more elephants, and may go to see the lions again. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a leopard sighting, and some rhino wouldn't go amiss either.
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100452&l=d9854&id=560070984
Ken
At 10 it was raining, but we set off regardless, and fortunately the rain eased off after about 20 minutes. We only stayed out for 2 hours, but we were lucky in that we saw a pack of 4 wild dogs and watched them circle round to try and take down an Impala. For some reason they didn't attack and then they carried on their way.
We followed them for about 45 minutes, driving off-road to watch them and eventually we had to give up chase as they went onto some private land. As we were driving around the land to try and head them off we happened upon an enormous male Kudu that was grazing in the bracken. It was startled and unfortunately ran off before I could get a photo of it.
We gave up on the dogs and drove over to the dirt airstrip where a small pride of lions is known to hang out. Sure enough they were laying out next to each other beside the runway. Remarkable in that only about 5 minutes earlier there had been a plane taking off. I got some nice photos of the lion and his two lionesses which you can see in the photo album at the end of this post.
While I'm waiting for the pictures to upload, I thought I'd mention some stuff about the locals and the reserve. At the moment Madikwe is (I believe) the fourth largest game reserve in South Africa. There is another reserve a short distance away and they are looking to link the two reserves up to create the second largest reserve after Kruger National Park. They do this by buying up land from the local communities. The communities are mainly farming-based...cattle etc. and therefore it is usually only the male head of household that earns the money, so the theory is that selling their land to the reserve will be attractive as then the wife and daughters can get work on the reserve - as housekeepers or lodge managers, the sons can work as mechanics or security etc. Thus everyone prospers and the animals are safer from poaching since there is more money to be made by participating in the conservation and tourism industry.
On the night of the boma barbecue, a number of the staff sung traditional songs while we were waiting for our main courses. I didn't have my camcorder with me, but it was someone's birthday yesterday and I did manage to record a couple of minutes which I will endeavour to upload from Cape Town or from home.
This afternoon after lunch we are going to try and find some more elephants, and may go to see the lions again. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a leopard sighting, and some rhino wouldn't go amiss either.
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100452&l=d9854&id=560070984
Ken
Labels: dogs, impala, kudu, lion. lions, madikwe, safari, wild dogs, wildebeest
posted by Ken at 11:00 am
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