I’m taking my first time out form the Game Drives to stay in the lodge, catch up with my diary and keep an eye on animals coming to drink at the wate hole.
I’m rewarded by a group of Impala and a few Kuudus. There is one Impala Buck with his herd of does. He is having trouble controlling his females and is particularly intent on one who is probably in oestrous – he needs to mate with her. She’s not interested and probably not ready, so he does a lot of chasing – she always runs faster .
The early morning game hunters in the group return unexpectedly, having voted to cut it short at the morning coffee stop. They are exhausted.
After lunch I go for my routine swim in the six-stroke pool as the temperature is good in spite of the cold early mornings. I stick at it for about ten minutes.
The late afternoon Game Drive is our last and our first encounter is with a Steen Bock – the smallest of the antelopes. These are solitary and the buck has cute but small horns. Out on the savanna and near the water hole where the lion was marking his territory, we come across a Lion and Lioness seeming to sleep side by side in the grass.
We sit and wait. I’m trying to get a photo of him flicking his tail occasionally. Our guide says he will look up three times before standing. We wait for the three looks then the stand. He walks over to the Lioness and mounts her, grabbing her neck with his teeth.
It’s all over in a few seconds and he retires to the grass to recover. Apparently this mating ritual is complicated and Lionesses may mate with several Lions in the Pride by creating a false oestrous. She saves herself for the Alpha Male, but all the others in the Pride believe the cubs are theirs. This is her insurance for the survival of her offspring, particularly if the alpha male is later toppled. It’s another privileged ring-side view of ecology in action. Every species here has a survival strategy. Even the plants can respond to grazers by sending out unpalatable toxins to their leaves.
By now it’s that ‘Elephants at the water hole’ time of day.
We go in search of a group of Baobab Trees – the giant Succulents we saw back in Tsowa – Zimbabwe. It’s our last Sundowners session and a time for a group farewell before the light goes.
Back at the lodge during dinner, Elephants arrive at the water hole for a late drink. Their greyness is lit by the lodge lights so they appear as ghosts in the darkness.
Sunsets are always magical to watch but it’s not easy to identify the place. I content that a picture of the sunset could be anywhere in the world. However in Africa they have served as a marking of the end of the day. A knd of full-stop.
The Ghost Elephants serve as the coda to this story.