Escape from reality or reality check

Our much-anticipated trip to the Kruger National Park finally arrived. We had planned to go in July; however, Gauteng was quite literally “fenced” in when the President decided our Covid cases were far too high in the third wave and prohibited interprovincial travel.

I, too, was one of the Covid cases and the trip had to be postponed from July to August.

The Sunday before we were due to leave, my 4-year-old started complaining of earache. Hearing the words “my ear is sore” was not what I wanted to hear 2 days before our scheduled departure date. For context, she had grommets placed in her ears in June, the left grommet fell out a mere 10-days post insertion. Any parent who has had a child suffer from earache will understand what I mean when I say it is a nightmare, for both the child and the parent(s).

Not about to have the dreaded ear stand in my way, off to the doctor she went first thing on Monday, armed with meds we were ready for our 5 days away in the Lowveld.

We had planned to leave around 8:30am the Tuesday morning, my parents and nanny were skeptical as we have never been able to leave on time for any trip out of the city. At 8:45am we were on the road, making our way to Hoedspruit, a quiet bush town in the Lowveld – only 15 minutes late, which is practically on time, based on our track record.

The drive to Hoedspruit took a total of 6 hours with 2 pit stops along the way.

Lots of “how long until we get there” from the back seat, potholes for days as we drove through Lydenburg and the most picturesque views through Abel Erasmus pass.

The South African landscape is beyond spectacular.

When we finally arrived in Hoedspruit we unpacked the car, had a rest followed by a trip into “town” to get some supplies from the local supermarket. I found it fascinating to see Warthogs roaming alongside the main road without a care in the world.

I also spotted some new birds for my list; yes, I am a birder / twitcher much to my family’s dismay!

The next morning, we woke up at sparrows, ready for the 70km journey to Orpen gate. The 4-year-old was less than pleased about the rushed start and she made it known for much of the day – she really is a creature of habit.

Having consulted the weather app, we dressed for the sunny and very warm weather that had been predicted…the weather app will no longer be trusted as it was anything but warm and sunny.

The drive was pleasant enough – baboons along the side of the road, at least 3 bird of prey sightings which left me rather frustrated as I couldn’t ID them, some giraffe along the border fences and more warthogs.

I spent the drive taking in the surroundings and trying to figure out where andBeyond Ngala, Ecotraining Pridelands and Djuma were – 3 reserves I have had the pleasure of watching on Wildearth.

The excitement when I spotted the andBeyond Ngala tented camp sign – you could swear I had just won a prize.

The first day in the park produced some beautiful sightings, including a pair of cheetah brothers – which if you don’t know, the cheetah is my absolute favourite of the “big” cats. Sadly, I hadn’t changed my ISO settings and given they were about 800m in the distance, the pictures were awful.

Later that afternoon on a very quiet road we came across 3 lionesses. Being in the presence of these large apex predators, really makes you realise how far down the pecking order you really are. Two of the lionesses were lying together, while the other was hidden from view a few metres away, both were still relatively young judging by the pinkness still visible on their noses. The one eventually sat up and allowed me to happily snap some beautiful portraits capturing her regality and those soul piercing eyes.

The rest of the week did not disappoint with a late afternoon discovery of a pack of Wild dogs / Painted Wolves with 11 puppies, which are believed to be the Orpen pack. My first ever sighting of Wild dog / Painted Wolf puppies and what an absolute treat it was. The population of the Wild dog has decreased dramatically over the last 30 years, now only inhabiting 14 countries (previously 39) mainly in Eastern & Southern Africa with an estimated population of between 3000 and 5500.

Like cheetah, they face several challenges including the human population growth and expansion resulting in habitat loss and contact with domestic dogs and the diseases carried.

They are classified as the second most endangered carnivore in Africa, so to spend time with a pack that appears to be thriving is a huge privilege.

Our last day in Kruger was nothing short of spectacular.

The day started with 2 cheetah brothers; we suspect the same coalition from earlier in the week given the area. This time, they were much closer to the road and there was no user error involved with the camera. Absolutely adored watching the two of them as they took turns being sentry and keeping an eye out for any threats or possible hunting opportunities. They looked hungry, so seeing an impala in the distance sparked their interest and were able to show off their speed, despite it being an unsuccessful hunt. I was happy to not have witnessed the loss of life but was sad and concerned for these brothers who really could do with a meal.

We had all but given up hope of seeing a leopard. We don’t have much luck with seeing leopards in the wild. The number of times we have been to the Pilanesberg, which has at least 30 leopards, we have only ever seen 1 should give you an indication of just how poor our luck is with this elusive cat.

After a quick stop at Tshokwane we made our way back to Satara on the tar road. We stopped along the river to view the lions again, not realizing we turned off at the wrong lookout point I was convinced the lions had moved on but looking down towards the bank of the river was a huge male leopard. At this point we realized we had turned too soon, and this leopard was maybe 500m from 4 sleeping lionesses lying sheltered in the reeds.

We watched him as he groomed himself and stared at us while I happily took a million photos. We must’ve sat with him alone for 20 minutes whilst everyone drove past to view the lions. He eventually got up and climbed a tree where the visual was not great and we decided to leave the sighting, which had now attracted some attention.

We carried on when a delivery truck flashed us and turned on his left indicator. Unsure of what this meant we slowed down and kept an eye on the left of the road. About 4km maybe 5km from where we had seen the leopard at the river, there was another walking towards us on the road, but it had spotted something in the grass.

What unfolded next was something I have only seen on Wildearth or in documentaries, the difference being there was no mute button.

The stealth, precision and absolute silence this cat moved with was something to behold. The weather played in its favour as it was windy and cold. The female steenbok stood no chance.

My first live kill. I didn’t want to watch it, but at the same time, I was captivated. Tears rolling down my cheeks as the shutter on my camera went nuts trying to capture as much detail of this moment as possible.

The distress calls of the female steenbok and the leopard taking its time to put an end to her misery was too much for my heart – as I said, no mute button – I wish there had been.

For the leopard to survive, the steenbok had to die.

The steenbok’s distress calls had alerted a spotted hyena and in a flash the leopard was up the nearest tree with its prize, still alive, bleating, but the leopard’s prize was safe from the scavenger.

The complexity and enormity of the emotions cannot be put into words to accurately describe what we had witnessed.

In some profound way, I think the universe was holding out on us, until our last day to show us (me) that patience is key in many respects. Keep your eye on the prize – whatever that may be and although it’s as scary as anything, you must take the risk. For an A Type perfectionist, introvert and serial planner, this is a huge ask.

The reality is we should all be taking a page out the big cat hunting manual – you must keep trying despite the number of unsuccessful attempts.

Until next time,

Lara

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default - JK Rowling