I bless the rains down in Africa
I've given up on uploading any more pictures today...the connection was downed earlier (along with the power for a few hours) as a result of a more than impressive thunderstorm. We have had light rain on and off over the last 24 hours, and we thought it would probably stay that way, but we were wrong! More on that later...
Yesterday afternoon's game drive was very enjoyable. Within about 15 minutes of leaving camp, we saw Zebra, Impala, Giraffe, Wildebeest and a large herd of Elephants. There were about half a dozen or so adult females and four baby elephants (by baby, they refer to anything under about 5 years of age). For those of you reading who are pub quiz regulars, you'll know that the elephant has the longest gestation period of (if I recall) 18 months. Giraffes apparently have the second longest at about 16 months. Feel free to google it and check - I haven't due to the bandwidth issues here.
After that, we drove about an hour away around one of the small mountains in the Madikwe park in search of the ever-elusive leopards and rhino. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any, but we stopped for drinks on the side of the mountain and had a wonderful view over the plains of the park and beyond its borders.
Dinner last night wasn't such an elaborate affair as the barbecue under the stars, but even the "normal" dinners are something special. There are beautiful hand-carved wooden tables that you sit at along the deck of the main lodge. There are no windows or exterior walls, just wooden floors and the thatched roof. At night, presumably in order to try and reduce the number of moths and other flying insects, the dining area is lit by paraffin lanterns. In the dim flickering glow we had a great pumpkin and apple soup followed by a melt-in-the-mouth steak with garlic mashed potatoes and some fresh mange-tout. Dessert was one of the best creme caramels I've ever had.
One thing you notice almost immediately on arriving here in South Africa is the vast array of birds that are around. Even in built-up Johannesburg there were birds singing. Something that in recent years is noticeably absent in London. After the mysterious demise of the sparrows and blue tits, you don't often hear birdsong. Out in the wild here there is never silence. There are always a handful of birds calling to each other - they fly and run around inside the lodge chasing each other and build their nests in the trees around. There are odd specimens galore. From the hornbill, with a yellow hook of a bill, to some other birds which are normal looking except for a tail feather that is about a foot long which dwarfs the rest of their body. Then there are the guineafowl. Very similar in look to the ones you get in England, and very funny when you are watching them scuttle along the road running away from the jeep.
This morning started off overcast, although at 5 a.m. when it's still dark it's quite hard to tell. But by the time we set off around 5:45 it was lighter and you could see the clouds. We drove for about an hour and it started to rain lightly, but we decided to stay out and we were all given rain ponchos to wear. The rain did get heavier and heavier and about 7:15 we decided to call it off and go back to the lodge. We got changed out of our wet clothes and ran back to the main lodge from our rooms with an umbrella for cover to have breakfast.
In the end we were the only people who had braved the rain to go for breakfast and so we sat on the deck and watched the thunderstorm unfold over the plains. I've videod a bit, so when I'm back I will try and upload some of it. I've been in some impressive storms in my time...not least some in the US and Canada which tend to put storms in England to shame. This storm, however, made all of them look silly. Because the park and the surrounding land is relatively flat, the sound just rolls over it, and with the lodge being on a little hill, I think we must get the full benefit of the thunder. The sky was a dark grey and the rain was latching down (full credit to the thatched roof for keeping us dry) and every 20 seconds or so there would be a flash of light followed by incredibly deep, loud rolling thunder. The storm did get closer and there were about 10 minutes when you could see the jagged streaks of lightning zip down from the storm clouds and strike the earth.
After breakfast I ended up curling up on one of the sofas in the main lodge and napping until about noon. We've just had a nice lunch and I thought I'd update the blog. The weather seems to have turned for the moment and it's getting hotter and sunnier. It may turn out to be a nice day after all for our afternoon game drive. I'm still holding out to see a Leopard - the only one of the "Big Five" that I have not seen in my two visits. A few rhino would be nice to see as well, but they are surprisingly notoriously shy creatures.
EDIT: I have actually uploaded some more pictures - we came in early this afternoon after another thunderstorm. Link here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100306&l=a1372&id=560070984
Ken
Yesterday afternoon's game drive was very enjoyable. Within about 15 minutes of leaving camp, we saw Zebra, Impala, Giraffe, Wildebeest and a large herd of Elephants. There were about half a dozen or so adult females and four baby elephants (by baby, they refer to anything under about 5 years of age). For those of you reading who are pub quiz regulars, you'll know that the elephant has the longest gestation period of (if I recall) 18 months. Giraffes apparently have the second longest at about 16 months. Feel free to google it and check - I haven't due to the bandwidth issues here.
After that, we drove about an hour away around one of the small mountains in the Madikwe park in search of the ever-elusive leopards and rhino. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any, but we stopped for drinks on the side of the mountain and had a wonderful view over the plains of the park and beyond its borders.
Dinner last night wasn't such an elaborate affair as the barbecue under the stars, but even the "normal" dinners are something special. There are beautiful hand-carved wooden tables that you sit at along the deck of the main lodge. There are no windows or exterior walls, just wooden floors and the thatched roof. At night, presumably in order to try and reduce the number of moths and other flying insects, the dining area is lit by paraffin lanterns. In the dim flickering glow we had a great pumpkin and apple soup followed by a melt-in-the-mouth steak with garlic mashed potatoes and some fresh mange-tout. Dessert was one of the best creme caramels I've ever had.
One thing you notice almost immediately on arriving here in South Africa is the vast array of birds that are around. Even in built-up Johannesburg there were birds singing. Something that in recent years is noticeably absent in London. After the mysterious demise of the sparrows and blue tits, you don't often hear birdsong. Out in the wild here there is never silence. There are always a handful of birds calling to each other - they fly and run around inside the lodge chasing each other and build their nests in the trees around. There are odd specimens galore. From the hornbill, with a yellow hook of a bill, to some other birds which are normal looking except for a tail feather that is about a foot long which dwarfs the rest of their body. Then there are the guineafowl. Very similar in look to the ones you get in England, and very funny when you are watching them scuttle along the road running away from the jeep.
This morning started off overcast, although at 5 a.m. when it's still dark it's quite hard to tell. But by the time we set off around 5:45 it was lighter and you could see the clouds. We drove for about an hour and it started to rain lightly, but we decided to stay out and we were all given rain ponchos to wear. The rain did get heavier and heavier and about 7:15 we decided to call it off and go back to the lodge. We got changed out of our wet clothes and ran back to the main lodge from our rooms with an umbrella for cover to have breakfast.
In the end we were the only people who had braved the rain to go for breakfast and so we sat on the deck and watched the thunderstorm unfold over the plains. I've videod a bit, so when I'm back I will try and upload some of it. I've been in some impressive storms in my time...not least some in the US and Canada which tend to put storms in England to shame. This storm, however, made all of them look silly. Because the park and the surrounding land is relatively flat, the sound just rolls over it, and with the lodge being on a little hill, I think we must get the full benefit of the thunder. The sky was a dark grey and the rain was latching down (full credit to the thatched roof for keeping us dry) and every 20 seconds or so there would be a flash of light followed by incredibly deep, loud rolling thunder. The storm did get closer and there were about 10 minutes when you could see the jagged streaks of lightning zip down from the storm clouds and strike the earth.
After breakfast I ended up curling up on one of the sofas in the main lodge and napping until about noon. We've just had a nice lunch and I thought I'd update the blog. The weather seems to have turned for the moment and it's getting hotter and sunnier. It may turn out to be a nice day after all for our afternoon game drive. I'm still holding out to see a Leopard - the only one of the "Big Five" that I have not seen in my two visits. A few rhino would be nice to see as well, but they are surprisingly notoriously shy creatures.
EDIT: I have actually uploaded some more pictures - we came in early this afternoon after another thunderstorm. Link here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100306&l=a1372&id=560070984
Ken
Labels: Africa, giraffe, madikwe, safari, south africa, zebra
posted by Ken at 12:03 pm
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