OK I think I figured out the font size thing. We’ll see as we go along here. Our flight leaves tonight at 7:50 – 15 hours to Newark, lovely three hour layover just for shits and giggles and then five hours back to California. This, too, shall pass.

Every time I use WordPress for these travel journals I swear I am going to upload it all and print it and go to another blog website. This is so unuser friendly. But like remembering to change the windshield wipers on the car only when it is raining, I forget until the next time.

I was starting to write something about photos below and realized I had written a whole lot when I was off grid in preparation for posting later. I TOLD you I’ve gotten totally disoriented. So here’s what I wrote, and if I said it before, apologies. Even figured out how to fix the font, though.

Africa Part Four

We knew we were going to be flying into the Okavanga Delta in small planes, 10-12 seaters.  Turns out four of us (emphasis on US) were assigned to a six seater one prop plane.  Now I come from a family of pilots but I would by lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous riding in one of those little ones for 90 minutes.  I quickly overcame my nerves when meeting our pilot, Lionel, and I just reminded myself that my nephew DJ could just as easily have been our pilot and I would feel safer with him flying a plane with me in it than I would crossing a street in Johannesburg. (Unlike California, pedestrians do NOT have the right of way)

It was fabulous flying over the brush and then coming into the delta.  Once I got used the the ups and downs, it just felt like a sailboat crossing the sea to reach Catalina Island.  I imagined that I was a contestant on Survivor and that my friends and I had won the reward challenge and our reward was this flight.  Although it is the end of the winter and there is less water, it was exhilarating to suddenly see water after an hour of nothing but brown and dried up craters that once held water. 

We landed on the gravel airstrip and were met by our driver and guide, Titus, and our guide and tracker Sianga.  It took another hour to get to camp during which a leopard cub was spotted sitting in the shade of a termite tower and its tree.   I did not expect to see as many animals as I’ve seen and certainly did not expect the feasting lions and a leopard.  Will we see a cheetah? Who knows.

 As usual, we were given a quick lunch and then back into the jeeps for more safari, this one lasting until after dark.  We’re talking four hours of basically four wheelin’ it.  If you had asked me back in the Falkland Island when we had two hours there and two hours back four wheelin’ to see king penguins, if I would ever see myself going on twice a day four hour treks  in a jeep I would have told you no way.  But here I am.  I have my trusty back pillow and better living through pharmaceuticals so…

We saw an ostrich in the distance – it was a male.  The males are dark and the females are light – the male sit on the nests at night and the female during the day.  Pretty smart. We see warthogs everywhere and they are hilarious. They are very skittish take off in a split second.  Just like Pumba in The Lion King their tails go STRAIGHT up in the air when they run.  They also back into their underground dens butt first so if something comes after them they fly out of the den lickety split.  We saw one with just his head sticking out.  Adorable. 

Saw our first zebras.  A herd of zebras is called – you gotta love this – a dazzle.  For obvious reasons, their stripes dazzle and confuse predators.  These zebras are different than some others in Africa because they have a light tan stripe in  between the white and black ones and also they continue all around their bellies and down their legs. 

Lots and lots of giraffes, their camouflage is incredible.  When they stand stock still they just look like one of the many bare tree trunks, blending in and almost impossible to spot when they are not in the open. 

A mama hyena laid down right in front of us to nurse her pups.  Hyenas are scavengers and steal the meat from leopards and lions if they can get away with it.  Gorgeous animal, not at all like I imagined them to be.  Again, my experience in these matters is limited to the Lion King and other Disney creations.  In that vein, I now know that the Beast in Beauty and the Beast is clearly a wildebeest.  Nobody had to tell me that, I even figured it out all by myself.

Took a break next to a riverlet and watched the hippos snort and snuffle their way through the water.  Pretty funny stuff, actually, these big  manatee-like creatures bobbing along.  I took some videos, not sure how they’ll turn out.

Suddenly in the distance we saw the biggest elephant I have ever seen in my life walking towards the water behind us on a path some distance away.  And in the past few days I have seen A LOT of elephants. Regal is the only word I can use to describe how he plodded down the path and past us, as if expecting us to kneel in homage.  He was the first and then after a few minutes a second, slightly smaller and then a third, even smaller.  They were what is called an elephant bachelor group.  Males elephants get send out to pasture as they get older and as I’m sure you know, it is a matriarchal society.  The women and the babes hang out together.  As the mother of sons, I tend to engage in personification of these males who get told to take a hike when they are about 16.  My sons still like to hang out with me.  What if I said “get lost!”  I couldn’t, but then I’m not an elephant.

 I am starting to lose track of what day is which and which safari trek is what.  That was last night and after another sunset we did come back to camp with the guide using a heavy duty flashlight to scope out anything that might be running around after dark.  It was mostly the usual suspects. Well, lah de dah, Mary, aren’t YOU getting complacent?  Saw a striped jackal which I was surprised was not much bigger than a red fox.  Who knew? A few more warthogs, some impalas.

Up at  5:30 a.m. and honestly I had to force myself and probably Al, too, out of bed with the alarm and the guide gently saying “good morning”.  I could easily have talked myself into missing just this one safari but decided that would be the stupidest thing I could possibly do having come this far.  It is chilly in the morning so that helped and a quick cuppa and we were off again at dawn.  Morning is the time to hopefully see cats.

This is where our tracker Sianga blew us away.  He has no problem looking down into what looks like a kids’ sandbox that has been played with all day and seeing fresh lion tracks.  Before we knew it, there we were, face to face with two males.  These males grow up together and then hang out together and protect the pride.  If another male comes along into their territory they are prepared to fight to the death so that the interloper doesn’t come into the pride, kill the cubs thereby forcing the female to going into heat again.  They started sniffing the ground and opening their mouths into a big yawn, smelling for their females and specifically, with the yawn, determining if any are in estrus.  Again, the mysteries of survival and procreation.

Another real treat of our morning safari was tracking wild dogs.  They are sooooo beautiful,. dappled deep brown and black and white with white bushy tails and are endangered in Botswana.  Why? They sometimes come in contact with domestic dogs who have rabies.  They then contract it themselves, pass it on to the pups in the den when they regurgitate their food to feed them and wipe out the whole family.  There are signs in the airports and elsewhere to report any sightings of wild dogs near humans so they can be relocated.  Of course, any ranchers in surrounding areas also have their own way of dealing with the wild dogs, much like ranchers out west deal with wolves. 

Don’t feel too sorry for the wild dogs though.  They are total assholes.  They are primary predators and aren’t very patient.  When they take down their prey, they don’t bother it kill it, they just start eating.  The guide said it is very sad to witness this, as you and I can imagine. 

Got close to zebras again but they decided we were too close and took off galloping; if you saw a sudden dust cloud on the other side of the world it was probably blown in from the Okavanga Delta after that.  Zebras are Botswana’s national animal and our guide told us the symbolism is the hope that black and white can all get along.  Wonderful sentiment, but just as we were contemplating that a couple of zebras got into it and they were vicious fighters, kicking and biting each other. 

Cutest little toddler wildebeest got separated from the group and when we neared he ran back snorting all the way.  As is often the case, I did not have my video on even though I thought I did (there HAS to be a better way on these iphones) and then after he had gone past and I turned it off I got a really great video of my lap.  I’m sure you’re dying to see it, just let me know if you want me to send it.

This afternoon we will be taking a canoe ride (alligators anyone?) and then back out into the bush again.  Tomorrow we leave this Garden of Eden and head to Cape Town. 

How about some birds for a change? I will do my best to identify and I am sorry they are not cropped. Zoom in if you care to. Pulling out my cheat sheet book to see if I can ID these in order of appearance. I am limited on time so I am not going to be able to do it all properly but enjoy the photos anyway. I’m going to just write not sure and if I get back it to before we take off, I will. Otherwise…just not sure.

Top row, L to R : juvenile Fish eagle, African Grey Hornbill, Ring Necked Dove

Second Row L to R: Not sure, not sure, and totally not sure BUT It is one of the starlings in Africa and I’m struggling to identify exactly which one but I will tell you that this photo is not enhanced in any way. They really are that brilliant. There are a few more photos down below.

Row Three L to R: fish eagle nest, not sure, not sure

Row Four L to R: Red hornbill, not sure, not surere

Row Five L to R: Hornbill of some sort, two more of that gorgeous starling

Row Six L to R: This is definitely the cape starling, yellow billed stork, some kinda egret

Row Seven L to R: The first two are the amaznig marabou storks, not sure

Row Eight L to R: Young fish eagle, fish eagle, common guinea fowl

Well didn’t do so well on that but moving on….

How about some cats? Not much to say here. Picture is worth a billion of my words.

Or some dogs? I’m including hyenas, jackal and wild dogs and their pups in this category. Wild dogs first, then hyenas, then the jackal

Above is the hyena feasting on the cape buffalo someone left behind. Below is the jackal.

Hippos next….notice the egret hanging out on the hippos back.

Odds and ends…bats in the dining hall, wildebeast, zebras, warthog, silly ass baboons, rock monitor lizard, cape buffalo, gorgeous kudus with their twirling horns, one of the thousands of impala. Not sure I mentioned that warthogs, because of their short necks and general body structure, have to kneel down to eat. This one is drinking water so I guess that doesn’t apply to drinking.

That’s about it for the animals. Will move on in next blog for Cape Town and our last days in Africa.