Our next stop was a private reserve in south central South Africa. Here they had purchased and combined 11 farms and were in the process of restoring the habit and introducing wildlife that originally populated the area. They were generally successful.
A major success and major draw for us was their cheetah program. The reserve runs one the premier cheetah conservation programs in Africa, providing numerous cheetahs to other reserves in South Africa. The cheetahs had become habituated and one could walk with them, which is a major thrill (We did it on our trip to Africa last October) . Unfortunately our bad luck continued. Our trip was timed to be at our lodge to walk with 2 cheetah mothers when their pups were 3 and 6 months old. A couple of months ago we heard that the matriarch’s litter was lost. Then 3 days before we were to arrive we heard her daughter, who had the 6 month old pups, was killed by lions. To save her pups, they had to be captured and placed in a boma (pen or enclosure for livestock) while they came up with a long tern plan. They decided to capture and put the grandmother into a boma adjacent to the pups and see if they would bond. But no walks for us.
The capture was an interesting event. First we had to locate her, which took some time as she was near the southern border of the reserve, about an hour away from our lodge. (It helped that she wore a radio collar). After finding
and observing her for a while
The vet arrived and darted her
It was successful, however the cheetah ran way up the hill before the tranquilizer took effect, and had to be carried back down the hill. It took 4 of them with frequent stops.
She was then transported to the boma adjacent to the cubs with the hope that she would bond with the cubs and help them survive into adulthood. Here the vet finishes administering the antidote to the tranquilizer.
She woke fine about 10 minutes later, well after we had exited the boma and closed the door behind us.
The biggest surprise to us was their rhino population. We saw at least 11 individuals including 2 pups. That is the most of this very endangered species we had seen at any one location.
These are the white rhino’s. Their name comes from the Afrikaans word “weit”, which means wide and refers to the animal’s muzzle. English speakers pronounce as ‘white” and the name stuck. It more precise name is square-lipped due to its square muzzle.
The reserve also had a nice population of giraffes with their long tongues
The wildebeest is one of Africa’s ugly 5 (the others are warthog, hyena, vulture and Marabou stock) and based upon the species most commonly seen it is warranted.
But here we saw the other wildebeest species for the first time which is far better looking, the black wildebeest (which actually is brown but looks black from afar). Its better proportions and colorful mane and tail remove it from the list.
Being in Africa, we expected and did see the continent’s most iconic animal, the lion. One of our early encounters was with a pride of several mom’s and their cubs, and their meal for the day, a warthog.
Our interactions were at a distance, while this vehicle got a month full from one of the lions (thank goodness she was yawning, not growling).
However we did get unclose and fairly personal with one, and you can see and hear their magnificent bellow here:
Just to prove this trip was snake bitten, we were put upon a plaque of locus
They managed to stay away from our lodge, so they were more of a conversion piece than a problem.
On to the Chobe River where our luck surely would change. See reports on the trip here