After an amazing evening with new friends, exchanging life stories, photographs of the animals made earlier, cracking few bottles of wine and examining the spiders and geckos on the walls, we were ready to head back to our ‘tent’ for a short night of sleep.
Small Friend
Our ranger said specifically that no one should wander after dark alone, so he accompanied us even the road to our beds.
He walked us to the tent, holding the rifle ready to be used. The trip was not so long but it was necessary to have the protection of course. The reserve was fenced but you can never be too cautious. On the way, we had a chance to see some scorpions, what added some adrenaline to the night experiences.
Curious night hunter
Anyway the night was full of various noises of the bush, at the beginning it was difficult to fall asleep. Every sound was enhanced, every little ant outside, walking on the surface of the canvas, every mosquito buzzing above our net, all seemed of an enormous magnitude. Frogs, at the side of the pool croaking like hammers, cycads piercing the ears etc.
Then, the bigger animals started saying goodnight, or maybe even good morning, I couldn’t really tell, cause in all this excitement I’ve lost the track of time. Now being aware, that this thin piece of fabric is the only protection from the outside world, it was a bit tricky to keep calm.
What is in the bushes
And again, 5 am wake up call, and the same procedure, meeting at the front desk, coffee and rusks, hop onto the Landie and we were again sporting our next game drive. Dressed appropriately to the occasion- bundled up in blankets, we were fighting off the sleepiness and the morning cold.
There was a distinct mixture of scents in the air. Fires occurring before, made the smoke still recognisable. Also smells of the animals marking their territory. The morning light was incredible.
Springbocks
Euphorbias
We have encounter the first so called spoor on the road, our tracker sporadically got out of the car to ‘read the bush’. We on the other hand were not even allowed to lean out of it. As we drove through dried out riverbed, searching for the tracks on the soft sand and looking out in between the branches of the trees at the river banks, we got a chance to track a leopard with a cub.
The riverbed
Shongololo
Then, we came upon a mass of broken trees and branches scattered chaotically on the ground, there was a group of elephants passing and that's what they have left behind. Hearing the messages coming through the radio and confirming their current location our ranger made a decision to meet them as fast as possible. We have braced ourselves soon to discover the great skills of our driver.
Always in the neighbourhood
This seemed to be the spot, one could smell the same scent but much stronger, the neighbourhood was devastated. We have noticed moving parts of grey matter between the trees. The elephants started appearing one after another and we have realised that the group was much bigger than we have expected. They were just surrounding us, we were in the middle of the road as they started appearing like from a warp hole, from both sides.
Whats that
Slowly emerging
The whole situation got a bit tense when the elephants started crossing the road. A big bull approached head to head with the car, one specimen from behind and we were in a gridlock. As I was sitting in the very back of the vehicle I could almost touch them passing near me, but I honestly got paralysed at this stage. Observing our tracker and ranger’s behaviour and knowing that there is a rifle ready to be used, was somehow comforting. The guys were chilled, even though the weapon would only scare the beasts, or irritate. we had no wish to use it.
The ranger started the engine and drove backwards to a safe position, out of the way, letting the animals easily cross the road. It was their land and we were only visitors. Observing them from a distance as they have turned into unidentifiable mass again, almost immediately disappearing between the trees, made my heart rate calm down.
What an adrenaline rush this was. Being so close to these seemingly harmless animals, and feeling their calmness but also their power, how they were moving slowly, and with an enormous force ripping the trees with roots and cracking their branches. It might have ben just fun for the elephants but for us it could turn into life threatening situation, especially when the big bull approached us from the front. Luckily the elephant was not in the musth-a periodic rise of hormones- and didn't follow as we have backed out the car.
Already on the other side
We were all awe-inspired. this whole event took so much time that we haven't even had a chance to stop for a morning tea break. We drove directly to the camp for breakfast, during which we had a lot to share with the staff and each other.
Young Kudu
We have skipped the midday game drive only to be able to do the night one. A completely new experience and new animals to explore. The ones that come out at night...
To be continued…
*All photographs and video taken by @highonthehog
*Source: Own article previously published on my blog-site. visit my blog
Being out in the bush, always fantastic experience @highonthehog you were lucky to take photo's of the elephants.
We had a similar experience up in Zimbabwe, landed in the middle of a herd crossing in front and behind us going to the river. Switched off the car engine and sat quietly (did not even taken photo's since they had young with them) only two of us in a car, middle of a reserve alone, you could literally touch them. I just held my breath in awe.
Wow... Verdaderamente excitante estar frente a ejemplares de gran tamaño.. definitivamente la naturaleza es perfecta y tus nos muestras grandes detalles de ella.. gracias @highonthehog impecable tu post Paulina
Muchas gracias Raul, por tus palabras y que bueno que aprecies este post.
Saludos de mi y Alejandro.
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The elephants are amazing! That close would probably give me a heart attack! lol. I would definitely find it an adrenaline rush! Nice photos.
Believe me it almost happened to me , at this stage I could not control my mimic, and got a bit of a tunnel vision...the whole group had a blast afterwards..
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nice view....
of my scared face ? X-D. hehe thanks.
yes.... great post...
Another amazing post, and yeah, I absolutely loved your terrified reaction with the elephants in the video, haha!
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go team south africa. I never seen an elephant in personal hopefully I can come with you guys..
Me too , only in the Zoo of course , but its generally a miserable experience, so you can imagine when this happened it was a bit too extreme for a first encounter. . hehe X-D
Such a cool experience!
And i've always wanted to go to Egypt :)
Amazing photos...Really like the article...Resteeming it....
It's my lucky day today :) thank you for your time, I will keep the stories coming !
nice photos
Some of them made with an IPhone , not sure about the quality but tried to pick the best ones. Unfortunately it's the fastest option when a photo opportunity arrives ;)
That looks like an amazing trip, I really envy you!
I have always wanted to make a safari, but they are so expensive :(
Actually you can still have a good price off-Peak Season -in one of my favourite lodges for example-
Luxury Suite ZAR 3 150 , thats currently 212.5€ per night. Includes : Accommodation, brunch, high tea and dinner daily. All teas, coffees, snacks, welcome drinks, game drive drinks and breakfast fruit juices.
Two game drives per day accompanied by expert guide (Subject to availability). Welcome drinks, teas and coffees, game drive drinks and breakfast fruit juices are included.
A la carte menu available for lunch. The flights are also ok if you buy them appropriately ahead of time.
Very Nice article! Really liked. Living in South Africa I had the opportunity to experience the beautiful fauna and flora....
You are a lucky man :)
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It's incredible how many life forms inhabit our planet... Amazing you could see some of them on your trip!
That is right. And for me this was the best place where I have seen, how small we all are in the magnitude of the nature, and how all falls into it's place and fit like a piece of puzzle.
Nice :) Thank you
Thank you for reading !
Perfect post! I love your works :)
Just a small advice!
As you are posting a lot of photos in your articles (what I personally like), it may significantly slow down the page loading time especially for the mobile phone users who would try to scroll your article.
Slow loading time may push away visitors.
To avoid that and still be able to put lots of photos inside your posts, and at the same time to speed up the loading time, consider using some compression tools. Here I'm leaving you the links for two online ones, Free to use.
1) TinyPng - for PNG and JPEG files
2a) EzGif - for PNG files
2b) EzGif - for JPEG files
Hi Anna-Maria ,
as always I'm grateful for your input.
Next time I will be sure to convert the photos into the files you have mentioned.
Thank you for your time, glad you have enjoyed the post and If there is anything else, please don't hesitate to write. :*
Wow , again thanks, much appreciated. It means a lot to me :)