Day 65: South Africa

My alarm went off at 5:45, showered, and I was down at breakfast soon after that.We left the hotel around 7. We had a flight to Durban that we had to catch. 

It was weird to be flying on a field program. It felt more like vacation. 

Here are some things that I learned from our tour guide on the way to the airport: 

• They are renovating the port area in South Africa into a commercial area. It will include a 7 star hotel. I didn’t even know that was a thing. 
• Apartheid began in 1910 when South Africa got their freedom from Britain but the official law wasn't in acted until 1948. 
• Many credit Nelson Mandela with the fall of apartheid in 1994. He used Rugby to bring people together. 

We were flying to Durban. Durban is in the Northern part of South Africa. Not quite as high up as Johannesburg, our flight was only about 2 hours. The security at the airport was not much different from security in U.S airports. They were a bit more lenient, we didn’t have to remove our shoes and my dad got through with a water bottle, but the process was similar. 

The flight was also basically the same. I just snoozed. We did have to buy drinks, they were not given to you. It went by very quickly. We took off through beautiful clear skies and landed in the pouring rain. That was not a fun change. 

The night before there had been a very big Rugby match that The Sharks, a South African team, had won. When we were in the restaurant eating our pizza the match started and everyone around us got very rowdy and into it. 

Anyway, we were all standing in the baggage claim area when I noticed a crowd of screaming people on the other side of the doors we had to exit through. The rugby team was from Durban and had just landed. They were standing in the baggage claim area with us. I have pictures of them. They don't mean much to me but I bet someone somewhere in the world would be jealous that I stood right next to players on The Sharks. 

We gathered our luggage and settled in for a 3 hour bus ride. We had to get to our private game reserve, Phinda. It's pronounced Pin-da and means "the return" because people always want to go back. Which I now agree with. 

On the bus they provided us with box lunches. They were the fanciest box lunches I have ever seen. We had a weird sandwich which was salmon or, if you had the vegetarian, eggplant. There were tiny pastries filled with beef or vegetables. Veggie balls that I have no idea how to explain but were delicious, fruit skewers, and a philo dough pastry thing for dessert. I am terrible at explaining this, but trust me, it tasted good. Well, except for the sandwiches. I wasn't brave enough for those. We also got a bag of sour cream and onion chips, which didn’t really fit but alright. Overall, it topped the saran wrapped chicken and hard boiled eggs in the box lunches from the ship. 

We did stop at a gas station on the way. There we bought Magnum ice cream bars. They were two for 30 or one for 33. Which did not make any sense. But ok. 

Oh, and that's 30 rand. Which is a little less than 3 bucks. 

I also bought a Bubbly chocolate bar. They are made by Cadbury and have air bubbles in them. I tried them for the first time when I went to England in high school, they are delicious. 

We pulled onto Phinda game reserve around 3. As soon as our tour guide said we were close I broke out my zoom lens. Within the first few minutes of driving into Phinda we saw our first animal: a giraffe. He was just chilling on the side of the road and stared at us as we pulled up and stopped. I took thirty pictures just of that one giraffe. There's a good reason. First, I love my zoom lens and wanted to test it out. Second: my very best friend Kellie loves giraffes and after knowing her for 9 years I have developed my own affinity for them. Both because I think of her when I see one and because they are pretty damn cool. 

After the giraffe we saw some Nyala and some Zebra. A buffalo, another giraffe, and some more zebra that were actually standing in the road. Oh, and some more Nyala. 

We then reached the spot where we were meeting the jeeps. There were about 15 jeeps waiting for us. They were green, could sit about 7 people comfortable, and were completely open. Now that I think about it, the steering wheel was on the opposite side that ours are. I didn’t even notice that while we are there. I guess that isn't weird to me any more. There was also a seat that was right on the front of the jeep. The top folded down but if you were sitting in it your feet would be dangling right over the front bumper of the jeep. Who the heck sat there? Was it the time out chair? 

We divided up by lodge. There were four lodges that the 70 of us were divided between. They were grouped in twos with one large one and one small one next to each other. We were in rock, which was right by mountain. Forest and Flay were next to each other and were about an hour away from mountain/rock. That's how big the reserve was. Forest was actually located in a very rare sand forest. The soil is all sand but there is a complete forest growing out of it. We got to head up there at one point, it was really cool. 

We loaded into our jeep, which was labeled rock, and met our ranger. His name was Robin, he was of British decent and had been at Phinda for about 8 months but had been in the business for about 7 years. He works for 4 weeks on and then gets two weeks off. They live on the reserve, he lived in Mountain lodge, and are on call 24 hours a day. He would be our ranger for our whole stay. They don't like for us to switch rangers because our ranger will know what we have seen and where we have been. That way we don't miss something. 

Our ride to our lodge was only about 10 minutes. The people over in forest had a hour drive ahead of them and so would be doing part of their first game drive on the way. Because we were so close Robin suggested that we just get to Rock, settle in, and then go on a proper game drive. 

On the way to our lodge we saw a giraffe standing on a bend in the road. Robin told us that he had been standing there for a few days, and that he was really old. He looked really sad and tired. 

Rock lodge is the small lodge near mountain. It had 6 lodges that can each fit 2 people. There were 9 of us. When we pulled up we were greeted by Walter with warm towels and water. 

They brought us up to the main lodge as they unloaded our luggage. They had all the fixings for tea set up and brought out all this delicious looking food. There was a variety of small pies that looked so delicious and chocolate cake.

They escorted us to our lodges. I was rooming with Lara again. The lodge was the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. Each individual lodge had two huge beds in the sitting area, which looked out over the most incredible view of a mountain. We had a tub that was set right in front a huge picture window with the same view and a shower that was open so you also had a view. There was an outdoor shower, a full bar, a changing area and, right outside, a private infinity pool and day bed. There was a hand written note personally welcoming us and the most beautiful soaps in bottles with animals on them. 

The infinity pool blew my mind. And infinity pool into the most gorgeous view where animals could come into view at any moment. 

Speaking of that. Nothing was fenced in. Animals were completely free roaming and then didn’t really try to control them at all. At one point there was a giraffe eating from the tree right outside my parents window. Once night fell we had to be escorted everywhere. Even if you were just going the 20 feet to another lodge. Fortunately the only animal we encountered in the dark were giant snails. And when I say giant I mean absolutely, terrifyingly huge. 

We got aquatinted with our new home and then made our way back to the main lodge. We enjoyed what we could of the snacks and tea, I had some chocolate cake and it was phenomenal. Around 4:30ish we set off on our first game drive. My parents and I had our jeep to ourselves except for Clay. Clay is the ship videographer and tagged along to record our experiences. He bounced around from jeep to jeep on the different drives and was with us for the first one. 

We also found out who got to sit in the precarious seat. Busani was our tracker. He was of African descent and had been tracking for a very long time. He and Robin always worked together. It is good to keep trackers and rangers together because they learn how the other works and can become really great teams. 

Busani sat in the crazy chair almost the entire time and would point out animals when he saw them. He also would find tracks and help figure out where some of the bigger game animals were. He would get inside the jeep when we were around Lion, Cheetah, and Elephant because while they are used to the jeeps you don't want to break the line of the jeep once they see the jeep. That can startle them and cause them to charge. 

Busani was actually incredible. He could spot the smallest and most obscure things. At one point we were driving along and Robin goes, "Busani spotted a baboon in that tree." Ok, "that tree" was about half a mile down the road and the baboon was a teeny tiny speck. How did he see that! He constantly amazed us. 

The first thing we saw on our game drive was Nyala. It was then that Robin told us that Nyala were really rare and elusive creatures but at Phinda they had a really high density of them. If you went to another reserve you might only see one Nyala the entire time you were there, but not at Phinda. I agreed and told him that I didn’t believe him. He laughed. And he was right, we saw hundreds of Nyala. 

When we first started Robin asked us what we were most interested in seeing. We told him the big cats, and elephants. Robin decided that we would try for Cheetah that night because one had been spotted earlier and he thought we would be able to find it easily. So off we went to find cheetah. 

The rangers have a radio with 6 channels that they use to communicate with each other. They track the animals by starting at their last known location, talking to others who saw them last, and using their knowledge of their behavior. Another ranger had seen the male cheetah kill a waterbuck earlier in the day and not eat it so Robin assumed that the cheetah would probably be hanging around it. So off we went into a hillside. 

Oh the way we saw lots of things. We saw a herd of buffalo and two white Rhinos. There are two kinds of Rhinos, white and black. The difference between them is not their color. They are basically the same color. White Rhinos eat mainly grass so they have lo

nger heads to be able to reach the ground. Black Rhinos eat mostly trees so they have shorter heads. They also have different shaped top lips. Both species of rhinos are classified as critically endangered and Black Rhinos are even more rare than White Rhinos. 

It took us a while to get out to the hill where the waterbuck had been killed. Along the way Robin told us lots of things about animals. He was very good at driving the jeep while looking at us instead of the road. He knew absolutely everything. We would hear a bird call and know what one it was, or just see it fly across the road briefly and be able to describe it. We saw a teeny tiny beautifully colored bird called a Pygmy Kingfisher. Both Robin and Busani were amazed. They hadn't seen one in over a year. We must have been good luck because over the two days we were there we saw seven of them. 

The ranger that had seen the waterbuck was not someone who was here often so his direction were a bit off. We off roaded a bit until we spotted a speck of white under a tree. And by we I mean Busani. We drove up to it and it was in fact the waterbuck. 

Busani got off the jeep and walked around the rocks until he found him. He walked down from the hill and said that he was sitting right above where the waterbuck was. We drove up the rocks and there the cheetah was, sitting regally on the rocks. He was beautiful. 

He made his way down to where the waterbuck was and we drove around so that we could have a good view. We watched him start to eat the waterbuck. It was interesting because Robin told us that a waterbuck is not the first choice of meal for almost any of the animals. Apparently they smell absolutely terrible and have something toxic in their skin that makes their meat taste awful.  So we were watching the cheetah eat something it wouldn’t normally eat. Robin said that he looked a bit fat so he might have eaten earlier in the day too and so was just having a snack incase his hunting the next day was unsuccessful. 

We watched the cheetah until it was dark enough that we couldn’t really see him. So we left him in peace. As we headed back to the main road Busani got out the spot light that he uses to spot the animals at night. He spotted the tail of a mongoose hanging down at the very top a tree in the pitch black. How. Just… how. Amazing.  

We drove a little down then  road until Robin suggested that we stop for a drink. So we just stopped in the middle of the path and he broke out a cooler from the back of the jeep. It was filled with anything you could think of: water, soda, beer, cider, and various other liquors. He had us try Amarula, which is a cream liquor, like Bailey's, made from the Marula tree in South Africa. It was delicious. He also had snacks. There was biltong, which is like beef jerky, dried pineapple, and corn nuts. The pineapple was so good because it was natural and not too sweet, and the corn nuts were addicting. I need to learn how to make them so that I can eat them all the time. 

As we were standing there in the pitch black we heard a lion roaring. 

There was a lion roaring. 

Somewhere near us. 

It could walk right up to us. 

What. 

Actually it probably wasn't that close, a lion's roar can travel up to 6km. Robin suggested that we try and find it, which of course we were ok with. So we packed up the refreshments quickly, piled back into the jeep, and headed in the direction that they said it was coming from.  With their track record so far, I believed them. 

We drove around a bit until they spotted a giraffe that apparently was staring at something. Maybe it was staring at the lion? Possible. So we headed towards it. 

But as soon as we turned down the road and shined the light back on the giraffe it was eating. Nope, dead end. If the lion was by the giraffe then it wouldn’t have taken its eyes off it. 

How cool that we were using other animals actions to track an animal. 

We went back the direction we had been going and found a buffalo that had been dead for five or six days. It hadn't been killed, it had died of natural causes and no one had gotten to it yet. But it had been under a tree the day before and now had been dragged out farther. 

We turned a corner and continued until suddenly, there he was, just casually strolling down the side of the road. Robin predicted that he was headed to eat the buffalo. What do you know, he was exactly right. We slowly followed him as he just loped along until he came to the carcass. We then got to watch him attempt to eat it. And by attempt I mean that he couldn’t pierce the skin so he dragged it. Robin estimated that the buffalo weighed around 600kg. There was a different buffalo that six rangers once tried to roll over and failed. And the lion was dragging it by his teeth. Incredible. 

Busani used the spotlight to light the lion but put a red filter on it so that it wouldn’t hurt his eyes. We were about 50 ft from the lion and he didn’t even seem to notice us. Robin said that the animals don't mind the jeeps because they were raised by mothers that didn’t mind them and are around them everyday so the jeeps have become a natural part of their lives. Most of the animals don't act much different.

The lion did finally break open the buffalo and we saw its intestines spill out. Delicious. And by delicious I mean that it smelled absolutely awful. But that was expected because we were sitting 50 ft from a 6 day dead animal. It was ripe.

Just like the cheetah, the lion does not prefer to eat buffalo. Especially 6 day old buffalo. So we got to watch two predators eat their least favorite meals. The lion did not spend that long with the buffalo. He eventually decided he was done and laid down a little ways from it.  

We left him in peace and headed back to the lodge. On the whole way back Busani was sweeping side to side with the spot light. 

Suddenly, there was a hippo on the side of the road. He was shock, hippos only come out of the water at night to eat grass, and are rare to see walking around. She was scared of us though, when the light hit her she froze and when we took it off of her she sauntered away fairly quickly. 

When we got back to the lodge, around 9, we all sat down to dinner. Because of the lion encounter we got back much later than the rest of the group but they waited for us to eat. The table was set outside on the patio, everything was lit with candles. 

To start we had a tapa-esque first course of different dipping sauces with pita bread, meat balls, and something wrapped in bacon. Our main course was ostrich and cous cous. The ostrich was absolutely delicious. It tasted similar to and had a similar consistency to beef. There were also vegetables served with the main course. Dessert was also tapa-esque. (Reminder: Tapas is a word from Spain. They are lots of small dishes that you share so that you can try a bit of everything.) There were small balls of different things. One was made of dates and one was basically pure cocoa powder. There was also a small pastry tube and a sweet icing-like liquid that we poured all over the top of it. That was different but delicious. 

After dinner we were all escorted back to our lodges. It was time for bed. The day felt like it had gone on forever and we needed to get up at 5 the next day for an early morning game drive. 

The bed was insanely comfortable and our wake up call came way too fast.