African content - more safari adventures

It is the joy from the simple things in life which nourish our soul and fulfil our yearning for contentment.
In the late afternoon, I am sitting on my tree platform, looking out over the river to the thick, verdant bush that is the South Luangwa National Park, watching the baboons flitter about in the trees, listening to the hippopotamuses bellow as they rise and submerge in the river, the deep roars of thunder, small bursts of lighting and accompanying light grey rain clouds roll in, carried by a cooling breeze that relieves the heat of the day. The sheer tranquillity of the place is overwhelming - Africa has taken a hold of me - and I feel completely at peace.
After five days of 3.30 am starts and solid travelling, I arrived at the campsite at 7 in the evening, set up my tent and promptly fell asleep. The next day I was awoken at 4.30 by the sun peering through the trees in my open tent door.  I rolled over to see an elephant walking across the river bank, then swimming across the river, next to some hippos doing not much in the water. Soon thereafter the monkeys and baboons appeared, and with there endless calling to each other, they made sure that I couldn't go back to sleep.
I spent an hour or so sitting on the bank of the river watching the hippos loll about in the water, every now and then putting on a show of rising to the surface and opening their gaping jaws to show off their fine hippo teeth. It made me think of a childhood book I read, something along the lines of the 99th Great Hippopotamus Race or the like. And now, here I was watching real, live hippos do their thing, which when it comes down to it, ain't really that much at all. I ended up spending more than a week at the camp ground, which is pitched on the riverbank, so you can look across the river in to the park. I had the pleasure of seeing what a seasoned expert later told me, was without a doubt Africa's most beautiful National Park. A few of the highlights included,

• Listening to the sounds of hippos as they bark at each other and thrash about in the water every once in a while
• Seeing my first lion, from afar, and then across the dry river bank, about 30 metres away, and being left breathless. This wasn't enough for the guide though, so we drive across the river bank, up the verge, through the trees, and literally two metres away from a lion and lioness - close enough for them to jump on to our laps. As we passed the seated,young (2 year old) lion, it reared up and peered very intently at the car. We all gasped, and the guide laughed, "This young one is afraid of people", and we nervously joined in his chuckling.
  
• Having a young bull (elephant) get a little frisky and look like he was going to charge the vehicle. Then, the next day, spotting a bull by the roadside who was on to us, coming directly out of the trees to size us up, then building up speed as he came straight for us. Fortunately, our trusty steed, Pudding the Pajero legged it, and the elephant headed back in to the trees
  
• Looking out over the treeless plain, menacing grey clouds and a curtain of approaching rain in the background, with all the animals from your kiddy animal set wandering about together - zebras, elephants, giraffes, warthogs, kudu, lions, impalas, buffaloes. It still sends shivers down my spine thinking about it.
  
• Watching elephants using their trunks, curling them around grass shoots, pulling the grass out of the ground, shaking the dirt of, and them shoving them into their gob. The trunk is exclusive to elephants, yet it is such a useful tool. It can be used to smell out the good food, twirled around to grasp objects - pulling grass from the ground and leaves from the trees, then bent around the put the food in the mouth. It can also be used to push baby elephants up and down inclines, and to repel other adults when they get a little too close. (Elephants in Thailand are trained to use it as a snorkel when they are swimming across rivers) And of course, most importantly of all it can be used to spray things with water like a fire hose !!!
  
• Listening to the sounds of lions roaring through the night, and feeling the tree platform shake as an elephant rubs against it, in the middle of the night.

"Wanna play ?", said the elephant to the giraffe

An awesome encounter between a giraffe, an elephant, some impalas and some baboons. As we trundled along the road we spotted a giraffe around a bend, on the right hand side of the road. We stopped, and watched as he grazed on the tree tops. On the left hand side of the road a number of baboons, including some very small babies were sitting around. A few impalas grazed between the baboons. A few of the animals, including the giraffe, briefly checked us out when we arrived, but when the engine was switched off, they returned to what they had been doing and largely, ignored us. (The animals in the Park, particularly those who live close to the gate are probably exposed to so much traffic that they have adjusted to its presence - which is largely benign. It is a strange experience to be so close to wild animals - especially in open topped cars-, and have the animals ,for the main part, simply ignore you. Elephants are the exception, frisky young bulls like playing and sometimes charge vehicles.) It was then that we noticed that a relatively large elephant bull,  hidden behind a tree, about 10 metres away from the giraffe. We watched for the next 10 minutes (yeah, we even put the cameras away) an amazing spectacle, as the elephant and the giraffe , and the surrounding animals, interacted. The elephant, slowly approaching, then retreating  - each time getting a little closer. He clearly had eyes for us, a couple of times he looked as though he was about to charge toward the car - ears all flapping about, and a quick first couple of steps. Meanwhile the giraffe continued to completely ignore us, but closely monitored what the elephant was up to - by twisting his head, without moving his legs, the giraffe made sure that he always knew what the elephant was up to.  The moment when the elephant got closest to the giraffe - around five metres away, the giraffe stared directly at him, and the elephant seemingly disappointed that the giraffe wasn't responding to the game of chicken turned away. Eventually the elephant seemed to give up playing with the giraffe, he stopped and stared at us - raising his trunk up in the air. He then ambled across the road in front of us heading towards the baboons and impalas, and using his trunk to blow up dust he half heartedly chased them along the road, and then wandered off in to the bushes.

(Check out the series of photos to see the image I am trying to create)

• On the last night, after hearing the reports of others who had seen 17 lions together and several leopards, I decided to throw my usual budgetary caution to the wind and head out on another safari. It is a decision I will never regret for two experiences in particular. Before I detail them though, it is important to set the scene a little. Safaris are done in open air landcruisers - basically a ute (pickup) with three, tiered bench seats, welded on to the back - there is no cover and you climb aboard by hauling yourself up the side. The cab is removed, leaving only the windscreen, the guide/driver and the spotter sit in the front. Supposedly a lion's eyesight isn't all that good, so as long as you remain seated, it will perceive you as one big object, and leave you alone. Sitting five metres away from a lion, particularly when it stands up and seems to take a particular interest in the car and you, is, to say the least, a little unsettling.
  

Lounging lions

Early on in the drive, whilst it was still light, we happened upon to mature lions - about 10-15 years old with long but scruffy manes, lounging about on the edge of a plain. We drove within a couple of metres of one. The other, clearly desirous of being photographed, got up, stretched (a perfect downward dog !!!) and then ambled over and lay on top of the other. The two rolled around on each other as we excitedly and breathtakingly snapped as many photos as we could. The thing about lions is that pictures do not do them justice - when you are up close they are even more strikingly beautiful and imposing. They make you want to hug them, whilst at the same time causing a slightly quivering about the immense potential of their muscular, feline build, sharp claws and huge jaws. After watching them for a couple of minutes, three other safari cars appeared and we headed off. We drove off the plain, up the road a little, and then stopped on the edge of the river, to watch the sun go down. As we looked back across the plain from where we had come from, in the dim twilight we saw the two lions stalking across the plain heading towards us. Even from the distance, they had lost none of there awesome, regal  character, that they imposed on all that surrounded them. As they reached the edge of the plane, you could hear the baboons warning all with their cries, and see the impala, zebras and birds becoming more attentive to everything going on around them. Our guide warned us not to wander too far from the car, as the lions may well approach - instinctively every body dropped their volume and began speaking in whispers.

Leaping Leopard

After our break, darkness had set in, the spotter cranked up his powerful spotlight and we drove around for about an hour and a half without seeing much, other than a large owl and a lynx. Just as I was about to give up hope, I suddenly spotted a large, yellow cat in the bushes about 10 metres in front of us. As we got closer, "Leopard" cried out the Swiss guy next to me, and no more than five metres away from us, clearly visible in the scrub was the beautiful and gob smacking shape of a leopard, it all it's spotted glory. Suddenly is pounced, and we saw that it was chasing an impala. The impala sprung out of the bushes, and the leopard leaped to within a couple of metres. This symphony continued two or threes times, until the impala was on the road, just behind us. The leopard followed, and leaped, looking like it was headed for the back seat of the car - and a meal of a very raw, German, who was sitting on the back seat. (I later saw the German guy in Malawi and he told me that he had dreamt three or four times of the leopard leaping directly toward him) Instead the leopard ignored us, and continued across the road in hot pursuit of the impala. We all turned, facing the other side of the car, and watched, the impala escape in to the scrub. The leopard then ran alongside the road for a 15 or twenty metres, crossed the road, and slunk off in to trees. The guide gunned the car, and the spotter tried to keep the light on the leopard, but we only managed to spot it intermittently in the bushes, growing further and further away. The guide headed off the road in to the trees, in hot pursuit, and we spotted the leopard one last time about 30 metres away, it ran out of the beam of light and disappeared in to the darkness. The guide cut the engine, the spotlight was turned off and we sat it the darkness. About ten seconds later we heard the leopard growl - more like a bark then a purr or roar. And incredibly another leopard responded, and they carried on barking back and forth for the next minute or so, the cries growing fainter and fainter, and less frequent as they moved away from us and closer to each other. Eventually the background buzzing of insects took over and the leopard was gone, we started whispering at each other - did we really just see, hear and experience what we think we did ? We started retelling our particular view, chipping in over the top of each other - retelling it seemed the only way to deal with such an experience.  The photo is good only as a memory trigger for this incredible experience but I include it anyway.