Date of Entry: November 27th 2016
Date of Writing: April 23rd 2017
Welcome back to day 2 of our 2 day safari package with Footprints in Africa out of Johannesburg in Pilanesberg national park. Yesterday was incredible, but today at least equals it. Keep reeding to find out why. The cost of this trip is now 2500 rand for 2 days tented safari including breakfast and dinner but not lunch. About 250 CAD.
Renata and I sleep through the sunrise safari to let her better recover from the jet lag and be able to better enjoy the rest of our last day of Safari. I’m so scared that they’ll see a leopard while we sleep but it turns out they don’t and we miss just a misty morning and some buffalo alongside a few elephants, not something I want to miss but it’s worth it for a well rested Renata. We wake up have a leisurely chat while they’re gone and then have breakfast by the pool and all in all it’s past ten before we get into the white minivan all alone with a new guide Brahm heading out for the mid morning safari. He is funny and awesome though speaks with such a thick accent it’s hard even for me to understand. Still he’s awesome and says he’ll do everything he can to let us see a leopard, since it’s just us in the truck for this game drive.
It doesn’t take long before we see a leopard. That’s right a leopard!!!! unfortunately it’s just a leopard tortoise, much easier to see and not quite the hunter that it’s cat cousin is. Though I shouldn’t make fun of it too much, it’s still pretty cool to see.
As we keep driving into the park we come across some sleeping giraffes, yes giraffes sleep sitting down with necks up, which makes me wonder just how strong those neck muscles are. Then we happen upon a big family of baboons and they are on the move alongside the road which let’s us snap some great pictures and get a feeling for their family dynamics. Renata is in a better mood today feeling rested and really enjoys there monkeying around.
We drive onwards, me knowing this may be my last safari on this trip to Africa, I’m feeling very anxious, wanting to at least hit the big 5 in it’s entirety, and in a perfect world find not just a leopard but a cheetah too. Well when Brahm pulls the mini tourism van up short it happens, and we see a leopard…… tortoise again. Did I get you?
As we drive down to the big lake we stop and consult a passing truck since Brahm seems to be friends with just about everyone who is inside the park at any given time. He asks if there’s been any rumours of leopards, and apparently there has been, so Brahm spins the big vehicle around and takes off through the park where apparently a Leopard has been spotted in a tree with a kill. Brahm gets the thing going incredibly quickly on the dirt roads and tells us to keep an eye out, over in that corner of the park we find just one more park tour jeep and one self drive car searching for this incredible and hard to spot animal.
The air is thick with tension and I barely keep myself breathing scanning everywhere I can to find my first leopard that is not also a tortoise. As we amble along there’s nothing to be seen and Renata and I are starting to lose hope, then we see the open air truck/jeep hybrid ahead of us stop and it happens, there in the distance, obscured by trees and bushes and a good distance away, we spot this beautiful creature, having just eaten, sitting and watching us. I lose any breath I had left as I do my best to take some pictures just hoping our arrival doesn’t scare her off.
But it doesn’t run away, it doesn’t disappear gracefully into the thick undergrowth that covers Pilanesberg, no it gets up, sniffs the air, and starts ambling towards our now silent parked vehicles. I can’t believe my luck at this creature of pure power and grace comes closer and closer to our place. I’ve somehow slid into the front seat of the car with the window fully down for a better view and photos. I’m not sure how a man my size managed the acrobatics required, but I did perhaps inspired by the grace of the Leopard. Either way, the incredible beast idly zigs and zags through undergrowth closer and closer to us, until it’s almost at the road with us. A crazy part of me wants to jump out of the car and try to hug it, but thankfully logic prevails.
As it draws closer and closer, now just meter’s away from us the photos only get better and I’m torn between photos and videos wanting to capture this creature which i can’t describe in words, the power of the rippling muscles but the serenity of it padding silently across the earth are strange contradictions. It’s just beautiful and all the safaris I paid for on this trip would have become worth it just for this one moment, forget everything else.
As she draws closer and closer Brahm tells us it’s a young female, just 3 or 4 years old, and that she has in fact just enjoyed a feast. She certainly moves with more grace than I would after a big meal. At a certain point the photos and videos fade from my mind and I just watch her walk towards us. She hesitates just a few arm lengths away from us but then moves to cross the road just head of the jeep and car parked in front of us, and I take another video, then she hangs out for a few short minutes to our right before disappearing into the trees and shrubs. Everyone let’s out a breath. Still disbelieving of the beauty of what we’ve just seen. Africa, I’ll be back. And now I really need to see a jaguar in South America.
The thrill of the leopard slowly leaving us with a mellowed feeling of awe we eventually hit the road again and almost instantly spot the very rare black rhino disappearing into some trees by the lake. The black rhino is much harder to find than the white and is critically endangered with a population somewhere around 5000 world wide. It’s at this point that Brahm tells us that just yesterday he assisted in an operation just yesterday that saw a rhino airlifted out of the park after being shot and wounded by poachers. It’s a tragic thing that there is still a market for the ivory of these beautiful creatures and that people still hunt them. The market is perhaps the greater evil as I can understand how men with next to nothing could see one rhino horn as a ticket to a life of luxury and act on it, but rich people buying ground up rhino horn for it’s alleged yet false sexual aid properties infuriates me no end.
As we drive back towards the campsite to pick up some more people for our afternoon game drive before going to lunch we do find the giraffes. I’m not sure how but I’ve lost some photos from this but luckily a video survived on facebook and I’ve retrieved it as we watched two giraffes sprint across the road in front of us. Seeing the legs moving so fast gives you an idea of why these animals are hardly defenceless to predators, one kick would certainly destroy me.
We drive almost directly to the lunch place from camp and as the heat of the sun sets in fully the animal sightings go way down. Still Renata and Enjoy a great lunch at the same restaurant as yesterday, sadly avoiding the cheesiest nachos I’ve ever had from yesterday for the sake of our respective hearts. We get some spectacular horns along side lunch and also snap photos of our new group and our awesome guide Brahm. If you’re looking to safari anywhere near Johannesburg I highly recommend footprints in Africa.
After driving for a long while after lunch without seeing Much Brahm decides to change the focus of the safari to landscapes, as long as the sun sits high in the sky burning the earth dry. So we set our sights on some hilltops with stunning views and after a bumpy ride we get there and look out at the sprawling beauty of Pilanesberg National park, taking some time to pose for some goofy photos. Renata and I had some taken together on the backup camera but I can’t seem to find them.
On the way up we also spot two specific types of antelopes standing stock still on some boulders looking out at the park. Funnily enough about an hour later when we drive back down they are still there, in the exact same position.
The other’s in our truck have seen elephants and rhinos and hippos in the morning but they’ve not seen any big cats and are very jealous of our leopard encounter from the morning. Brahm does everything he can to find some lions, but with the painful heat it’s just not to be, leaving the other day trippers disappointed. We do find some Zebras and a gazelle mother and baby before reaching the exit of the park around 6 pm. We buy some handicrafts for our house back in Brazil from a very friendly old man who bargains heartily with us, and take some photos at the exit before leaving on the 2.5 hour drive back to Joburg where we check back in to Once in Joburg and scramble to organize a tour of Soweto and the Apartheid museum for tomorrow, tragically Renata’s last day in South Africa with me. God I’ll miss her. Stay tuned.
