At about 2am there was a MASSIVE thunderclap and that marked the start of huge thunderstorm. The windows of our chalet rattled. The thunder and lightening were close together and it was clear the thunderstorm was right over us. It bucketed down with rain but by the time we woke for our morning game drive it was clearing and soon the only sign of the thunderstorm was that the dirt roads had puddles on them. It seems some people sleep better through thunderstorms than others. I (18 month old one) seemed not to be disrupted at all (though I also managed to go back to sleep – I grew up in Pretoria where thunderstorms were a part of everyday life). O on the other hand said she basically didn’t sleep from when it started. H was having other problems in that she discovered that her bed was listing to the bottom right and then figured out that a leg was missing. She then took leaning / trusting on the Scriptures to a whole new level (see pic below).
We did get up to leave at 5:30am but as it was overcast it was still pretty dark so we ended up leaving about 15 minutes later. We headed west toward the Numbi gate and then just before the gate we turned up north toward Mestel Dam. It has generally been a fruitful route for us but this morning it wasn’t as fruitful as we would have hoped. The dam was very quiet with hardly any bird life or animals (except the usual hippos). On the drive back to camp O spotted a klipspringer high on a rock in the pose you see them in wildlife books. That plus the large herd of buffalo was the best sighting of the morning drive.
We had the balance of the day in the camp and did some camp birding. After we got back we went to the pool area to do some birding and I waded around in the shallow pool area. We then let I have a long nap in the middle of the day. When I woke up, I went to fetch her and she was standing up in her cot saying ‘Amen, Amen, Amen’. Clearly praying someone would come and get her out of her captivity.
We stayed in the camp until 4pm and went on late afternoon drive. There are numerous loops around the camp and we did most of them and just as we were basically finishing our evening drive we found a large male lion tucked in under a bush munching on a buffalo. Single lane road with 2 private game trucks there already resulted in us only have an oblique view. It was pretty close to the road and we could hear him eating but the view wasn’t great because of the bush and the game trucks. The private game trucks can be an annoyance in the Kruger but they were actually pretty decent and let us eventually move into a better spot. He clearly wasn’t going anywhere and so we left and let others have a better view. Fortunately now everyone has seen a lion at least. Game viewing was pretty sparse today though as we didn’t even see an elephant (which is highly unusual from Kruger).
Our bird lists are steadily increasing and I’m now on 181 for the trip, H has added 74 lifers (!), O has added 5, I have added 4 and M has added 2 lifers. We finished the day with a steak and veg braai. It was pretty warm again today (37 degrees C) and never really cooled off so it was very hot work doing a braai this evening.
Fortunately the camp generator is working and so while it is actually loadshedding now, I am able to finish the blog off in the light before heading off to sleep for the night.
Until tomorrow …
I, P, H, O (for klipspringer) & M