Volunteers Perspective....part 2

We also saw a cannibalistic dwarf mongoose. Quite incredible, actually chowing down on one of its own. I lost count with the number of lions we saw, I think around 18. The funniest sighting was of a pride on the road that had brought the traffic to a complete halt. Not because everyone stopped for the sighting (though that would have happened anyway) but because they had decided to take a nap in the shade of the cars. On our arrival the poor bloke that had a lion leaning against his car had been stuck there for 45 minutes! When the “beast” decided to move, the guy made a get away and the lion moved to another vehicle to continue his nap! We also saw what could only be considered as the ultimate iconic image of the park, a leopard sprawled on the top of an ancient piece of granite under the shade of a the bough of a tree on the banks of the Sabie River. We also saw one at Letaba, another Rest Camp in Kruger. This was on a night drive and it was up a tree with its kill. The give away to its location were all the hyenas that were circling under the tree waiting for any bits to fall. By the next morning the leopard was gone and all that was left was a limp remnant of hide hanging from the branch!

The vols studying hard!

Letaba has a brilliant elephant museum that has everything you would want to know about elephants. Their physiology, the different ways in which they have been used, habitat, social characteristics etc and a gallery of the Big Tuskers with a bio on each along with their tusks. Holy moley, they are massive!

Another highlight (though everything is a highlight) was seeing the honey badger. We were able to get a good long look at him which was awesome.

I won’t go on about all the animals and birds I’ve seen, but I will say that every one of them gives you a thrill, and nothing is more exhilarating than walking through the bush with all your senses heightened to such a degree that it is as if you are on overdrive. Adrenalin plus!

One of the amazing lion sightings!

This is the dry season, and the bush at Skukuza was quite different to Letaba. Skukuza is Thornveld and Letaba is Mopane. The leaves on the mopane trees right now are a kaleidoscope of bright green, yellow and rust, really pretty.

One of the leopards the vols were lucky enough to see

No I lied, just a couple more animal stories. It is quite surreal to wake up and find warthogs in your front yard or come home to find baboons have raided your kitchen. Even more so to pass a hippo merrily walking down a street in your neighbourhood. This is all true, I swear. When we were at Skukuza the first few nights we stayed in rondavels in the park where park visitors stay. After that we moved to “staff quarters”. The staff village is a neighbourhood in itself with a school and sporting facilities etc and a golf course, right in the middle of Kruger. We went there and saw the pictures of a leopard on the 3^rd green! It was here in the village that we passed the hippo and at night there were “ellies” over the road munching on marula trees! Crazy, wild! Our afternoon classes were also delightfully disrupted by a group of banded mongoose who noisily made their way through the garden on their daily rounds.

Some of our wonderful accommodation in Kruger

In Letaba the Bushbok along with the vervet monkeys and guinea fowl were also regular visitors and now with my placement at Golden Gate Highlands National Park, and stables in the park, I wake to find horses outside my front gate as they are left free to roam.

Stay tuned for the third and final installment.....

Volunteers Perspective....part 2