From the Itinerary:
Night 3 in the luxurious Ngala Lodge
Weather: about 80+ degrees and sunny
I saw what I thought was a kudu in the morning. I was awakened by the birds and finally got out of bed at about 7am.
I brought my tea up to the deck and was rewarded by hearing male lions vocalizing.
I thought this might nix the planned walking safari, but we did go.
Here was our route this morning and where we are in Africa
We only saw some small Steenboks, but did see
Green winged Pytillia
a white backed vulture
And a bush hare running away.
There was also an almost intact shell from a giant snail
Most interesting for the walk was finding a Rhino mandible, a vertebrae, and tracks from cats, and white and black rhinos.
Oxpickers eat the ticks on the hippos and giraffes. We didn’t see the hippos, but did see them on the giraffes
We also found very fresh elephant dung and expected to see an elephant around every corner.
After our post-walk drink we went over to see Marula, the female leopard who was sleeping in the shade.
Along the way to get to the leopard we passed several giraffes and male elephants which impressive tusks. We were moving very fast to the leopard, so didn’t stop to see these
On the way back for breakfast we chanced upon a honey badger which was a rare find
Breakfast was the same as yesterday, but I skipped the champagne since I finished the bottle on my own last night.
Some time off for exercise and rest and back for lunch. This time the elephants joined me
I had company for the afternoon drive when I was paired with Kayla (18) and her grandmother, Polly (79). Betty lives in Saratoga, CA and Kyla lives in Tennessee. This trip was a graduation gift for Kayla from her grandmother. She will start studying to be an exotic animal vet. Betty is a retired stock broker at LPL Financial who just got married (a year ago) to husband number 3.
In the afternoon we drove over to find the pride of lions (female). The male lions I heard went into the adjoining park, so we couldn’t follow them. This was a pride of 24 mothers and cubs, including several white lions.
We tried to find a rhino, but no luck, so stopped for our after drive drink
And came back to the hotel. On the way we saw a bush hare and this time, amazingly, I got a photo.
Polly, Kyla and I had dinner together - mandatory menu shot.
I didn’t get a photo of my fish (Kingklip) which wasn’t really to my taste, but I got the fish because it was the only rather local option on the menu. There were 2 other birthdays tonight and the singing was not nearly as loud or long as my experience on the previous night. I wonder why I was so lucky….
I went to sleep to the sound of a Hyena which was near my room.
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