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Post date: Jul 11, 2010 4:00:49 PM
Day 10 saw us get up before the sun, as we were awakened to Pendy calling our names and having already prepared eggs, sausage, and coffee. Surprisingly, there was no basil or other "African spices" in our breakfast. It was quite chilly - my guess is that it was approximately 40 degrees (4.4 degrees Celsius) - which is not surprising given that we were in a desert. Thus, the coffee was quite welcome as we tore down our tents and packed into the truck for a day of game drives.
To me, there were two memorable highlights of the day's drive. The first was at a watering hole that we visited right before lunch. When we got there, we saw an elephant drinking and a giraffe hanging around the fringes waiting his turn. Almost all animals give way to elephants, so that the giraffe was keeping her distance was no surprise. However, when the elephant departed, the giraffe still refused to go to the watering hole. After waiting a few minutes, we started to leave when Janie saw some movement. "What's that?" she asked, and Pendy peered into the high grass. It was a lion. The lion was very well camouflaged, so we didn't get many good views, but we could definitely tell it was a lion. We kept hoping that the whole pride would show up and drink, but it was not to be.
The second memorable event of the day was at our last watering hole. It was known as an elephant watering hole, although when we got there, no elephants were in sight. We waited for a few minutes, and then decided that we needed to get going, as we'd need to be at the rest camp before sundown. At we headed out, we ran into a mother, a baby and a juvenile elephant. We backed up to the watering hole and watched them for a few minutes before taking off. Down the road, we ran into another juvenile, so we had to back up to the watering hole again to let him pass.
The sun was starting to approach the horizon at this point, and we knew that we really needed to get going. We left the watering hole and got back to the main road. About a half a kilometer down the road, we ran into the bull elephant. He was MASSIVE. Our truck would be no match for him if he got into a mood, so we backed up...again...to let another elephant pass. A herd of springbok got behind us, but fortunately, they too were all too eager to get out of the elephant's way.
We finally reached the camp right at sunset and set up our tents. Pendy cooked oryx - also known as gemsbok - steaks along with chicken and we dined again. I don't know if it was the cut of meat or the bouma (the grill), but oryx, to me, was a little tough and chewy. Otherwise, the meal was great! We then went down to the lit up watering hole to watch rhinos take drinks. A mother brought her baby to the watering hole and blustered her way down, chasing off a group of males. Then, an elephant came and scattered all of the rhinos. Despite the appellation of "king of the jungle" for the lion, no animal messes with an elephant. We enjoyed a bottle of Graham Beck (what else?) while watching the rhinos and then headed back to the camp to go to sleep.
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