Estrela's African Land Adventure Journal

Estrela's African Land Adventure Journal

Day 21. June 21, 2008. Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Overnight stay at Balule Bush Camp (24.05600ºS 31.72904ºE).

We saw more spotted hyenas! And cubs!

Today we waved goodbye to the Rapoports [:-(] (Pic 1)

and moved to Balule Bush Camp. We’ve been looking forward to Balule because it has no electricity and, since it’s very small, every campsite is against the fence and animals aren’t as scared of the camp. In fact, they have to keep the camp gate closed at all times, unlike all the other camps we’ve visited, where it is only shut at night.

After setting up the tent we went out for an afternoon drive. The first thing we saw, crossing the bridge over the Olifants River, was a pied wagtail. It stood on a rock with water rushing over its feet (Pic 2).

Then we watched a group of about ten vultures perched in some trees on the river close to the camp (Pic 3).

We drove around trying to get a good view of what they were waiting for. But we didn’t succeed. We thought there was a lion kill nearby. Setting up the tent we had heard violent roaring noises in that direction. Then I had to pee so we drove back to Balule to use the toilet. On the way we saw a white-fronted bee-eater (Pic 4).

I really like bee-eaters, especially their long, slightly curved bills. When we entered the gate we saw a crowd of people looking at three elephants reaching over the fence with their trunks to eat leaves from trees inside the camp (Pic 5).

Then we left camp again for one more hour.

We were racing to get home when we saw some spotted hyenas in the grass right ahead of us. Then we saw the cubs, about four. They walked over to the car ahead of us and started to sniff the left rear wheel (Pic 6).

The people in the car made a noise to scare them away so that they wouldn’t bite the tire or something like that. Then a huge hyena came up from behind us and looked at us, on my side of the car. I was videotaping the whole thing and when I saw the big one I kind of hid behind the window frame because I didn’t want her to jump into the car thinking we were meat. A small hyena came over to the big one and lifted its leg for the other to sniff underneath (Pic 7).

Later I read a Wikipedia article on spotted hyenas and learned that this was a friendly greeting and that hyenas are very social.

After dark, back at camp, we saw hyenas prowling around the fence. I really like hyenas and I hate how Disney makes them seem unintelligent and evil.

--Abigail C.

Day 22. June 22, 2008. Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Overnight stay at Balule Bush Camp (24.05600ºS 31.72904ºE).

We saw the same spotted hyena clan this morning, I think. First, there was just a large female spotted hyena lying by the road, close to where we’d seen hyenas yesterday. But we suspected some of her clan might be nearby, so we waited (a lot of cars passed us). And we were rewarded. The female crossed the road and on the other side a little cub came out from its den and began nursing and playing around with her (Pic 1).

It was so adorable.

Then a hyena emerged from a den hidden under the other side of the road (we wondered if the dens were connected), walked across the road, and picked up a tiny, tiny cub in her jaws (Pic 2).

She carried it back across the road and then back again, looking anxious and unsteady. I thought the cub was dead because it was so still and stiff, but it wriggled a little when she set it down near the others. Abby named the tiny cub “Spirit” and the clan “Spirit’s Clan”. By this time a ton of cars had arrived and the hyenas seemed more nervous (Pic 3).

We finally drove on because we didn’t like disturbing the hyenas.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of animal sightings. It felt as if we were just visiting all our old friends again. We drove in a huge loop way to the south before returning back to Balule seconds before the gates closed. We passed wildebeest (Pic 4),

the basket-like nests of weavers (Pic 5),

an impala ewe with three red-billed oxpeckers perched on her back (Pic 6),

baboons munching noisily on long sjambok pods (Pic 7),

a whitecrowned shrike (Pic 8),

a cape glossy starling on the still blood-stained ribcage of a big cape buffalo carcass (Pic 9),

a red-crested korhaan (Pic 10),

a warthog -- reminding me of Pumba (Pic 11),

a young kudu buck with already magnificent spiraling horns (Pic 12),

two elephants at a waterhole seeming to be sizing each other up (Pic 13),

and a group of spotted hyenas on the road near where we'd seen some the day before (Pic 14).

Later two hyenas prowled back and forth again outside the Balule fence, feet from our tent.

Sitting quietly by the light of the braai coals I felt sad because this would be our last night in Kruger National Park.

--Eliza

Days 24-30. June 24-30, 2008. Blyde River Valley, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Camping at Blyde River Canyon Backpackers (24º28.23’S 30º52.77’E).

So far our camping/living/traveling systems are working well because we feel at home wherever we are. And by the time we left this scenic (Pics 1&2 show the lovely gardens and the Klein Drakensberg escarpment),

friendly, and surprisingly empty backpackers, we felt thankful for the slower pace and the abundance of space here. We spread out all our gear in the communal kitchen/lounge area and culled anything that we hadn't used, whether school books (the girls didn't complain!), pleasure books, kitchen items, or extra winter clothes -- after our decision to skip the very wintery Lesotho on the way back to Knysna -- and mailed it all in three boxes to a friend who's been watching over Estrela. Our car's suspension is thanking us for lightening its load.

Breaking up our intense domestic focus a little, we also visited three different tourist attractions this week: Jessica the Hippo, the tamed 8-year-old hippo who's been on Animal Planet and has her own website -- www.jessicahippo.co.za (Pics 3&4 show Abby and Eliza feeding her rooibos tea);

the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, an educational and veterinary center where injured wild animals are treated (Pic 5 shows Abby feeding a rehabilitated Cape vulture);

and the Panorama Route drive, a circular scenic drive up and down the northern Klein Drakensberg escarpment and Blyde River Canyon (Pic 6 shows us with The Three Rondavels in the background).

But mostly we stayed at the backpackers, worked on our Kruger log entries (Pic 7),

and played with the resident dog population (Pic 8).

I also did laundry by hand in the sink with the abundant hot water and hung it out to dry (Pic 9)

and we often cooked outside on a braai (Pic 10 shows the potjie with its own ring of stones, coals on the lid, next to the fire -- after a potroast dinner we baked muffins in metal mugs in the potjie ).

It was a lovely week at our temporary home.

-- Kyle

Day 23. June 23, 2008. Kruger National Park to Blyde River Valley, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Overnight stay at Blyde River Canyon Backpackers (24º28.23’S 30º52.77’E).

Waking in the pre-dawn and knowing this was our last day in Kruger was depressing; I wished we could have stayed here forever. We packed up the tent and gear and left Balule at 7:30. On the way south we detoured to look for our hyenas again (Spirit’s Clan). I was glad we saw them one last time. Then we slowly drove the gravel-surfaced Old Main Road toward Satara Rest Camp.

On one stretch of the road we saw many destroyed trees and shrubs (Pic 1).

A herd of elephants must have passed. This is a common sight, as Kruger has about 12,500 elephants (2005 census), way too many. Elephants need space, lots of it. They eat by uprooting trees and stripping their leaves and bark, even that of the roots, which are the sweetest parts in the wintertime. In the wild, before most of southern Africa was turned into farmland, elephants migrated over vast distances, allowing the areas they’d passed through to regenerate before they returned. Kruger Park is too small for the current population. One symptom is a decline in the numbers of some birds of prey, species which depend on certain tall trees for nesting.

Elephant overgrazing is wiping out these trees faster than they can replace themselves. Logically some elephants should be translocated or culled. But this is a very emotional subject. Most other wildlife reserves have all the elephants they can sustain, and there’s great public opposition to culling, both in South Africa and in the rest of the world. “We shouldn’t be killing the elephants!” many people say, and I agree to a certain extent. Killing just for ivory, skin, bones, and other body parts, and even for food should definitely not be allowed. But killing, or culling, to protect smaller creatures whose habitats are being destroyed by elephants, like birds of prey, should be legal. And if elephants have to be culled, I support using everything, even the meat. It’s especially important for poorer people living near the park to benefit economically from Kruger so they don’t just view it as a place for wealthy tourists. The problem though is that now that selling culled ivory is legal, poached ivory is also slipping through loopholes into the international market and there’s a bigger incentive to poach. Why couldn’t an international organization track legal ivory and filter out poached ivory? The result of opposition to culling is that

there are now too many elephants in Kruger, and the ecosystem and many species are suffering.

Three giraffes stood motionless, knee-deep in a sea of waving yellow grass (Pic 2),

apparently chewing their cud. I don’t actually know if giraffes chew cud, but that’s what it looked like. I have a new admiration for giraffes since watching “The Killing Game,” a movie shown one night at Satara Rest Camp. It tracked a pride of lions that specialized in killing giraffes. One old bull lured the lions away from his herd and was nearly killed. Amazingly, he could still run while five fully grown lions clung by their teeth and claws to his four shoulders and rump. He escaped them but eventually died of infections and thirst. Now whenever we see giraffes we look for scars and wonder at their bravery.

As we dropped down to cross a peaceful stream, a thread of green in the parched savannah, we identified several new bird species, including the redbilled firefinch. Further down the road, a mother waterbuck and her baby walked alongside us for a few minutes before angling off into the long grass, presenting the distinctive white bulls-eyes on their rears (Pic 3).

While on our sunset drive in Shimuwini, Johann had told us that the waterbuck is a last resort for predators because for some reason its meat tastes horrible.

In Satara we refueled and went to the store to buy a springbok skin (Mom), postcards (Abigail), a Kruger mug (Dad), a Kruger bracelet (me – like my LiveStrong bracelet), and a bird ID book to feed our new addiction. Outside the store we checked the animal sightings board, a Kruger map with movable magnets, one color for each of seven species (the Big 5 plus cheetahs and African wild dogs). It was really fun at the end of the day to place a magnet in a spot no one else had yet “claimed.”

Driving slowly on the tarred road, we made the most of our last hours in the park. When we stopped to look down a bank to a water hole, Abby pointed out a bateleur, a striking, eagle-like bird with a bright red face and legs, by the water’s edge. Suddenly it shot upwards (Pic 4),

flying just feet over our car. It was spectacular.

Less than a kilometer from the gate, we saw another herd of Burchell’s zebra, the most common in South Africa, and the only zebra in Kruger. We had seen many herds almost everywhere in the park, often together with impala or wildebeest. A large female zebra crossed the road behind us; we saw blood caked on the white stripes of her neck and legs (Pic 5).

As she turned into the thickets we could see a long ragged gash beside the dock of her tail (Pic 6).

Widely-spaced parallel claw marks on both thighs left no doubt a lion had done this. The freshness of the wound and the lack of flies indicated she had been attacked as recently as last night or early this morning. Unbelievably, the zebra walked normally, as if nothing had happened. She must have been in agony, though. I hope her wound will heal.

We left Kruger National Park through the Orpen Gate. The animals we saw last were impala, not surprising considering their numbers in the park, 101,000 in 2005. They were also the first mammals we had seen on entering Kruger.

We drove about an hour further and pitched our tent at Blyde River Canyon Backpackers, not far from the towns of Kampersrus and Hoedspruit. I loved the gorgeous view of the Klein Drakensberg escarpment from our campsite, the towering cliffs red in the afternoon sun. We were the only campers. Mom made a simple spaghetti for dinner in the homey communal kitchen.

-- Eliza (Dad, thanks for the editing help . . . simplify, simplify,

simplify!!!)

Days 24-30. June 24-30, 2008. Blyde River Valley, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Camping at Blyde River Canyon Backpackers (24º28.23’S 30º52.77’E).

So far our camping/living/traveling systems are working well because we feel at home wherever we are. And by the time we left this scenic (Pics 1&2)

show the lovely gardens and the Klein Drakensberg escarpment), friendly, and surprisingly empty backpackers, we felt thankful for the slower pace and the abundance of space here. We spread out all our gear in the communal kitchen/lounge area and culled anything that we hadn't used, whether school books (the girls didn't complain!), pleasure books, kitchen items, or extra winter clothes -- after our decision to skip the very wintery Lesotho on the way back to Knysna -- and mailed it all in three boxes to a friend who's been watching over Estrela. Our car's suspension is thanking us for lightening its load.

show Abby and Eliza feeding her rooibos tea); the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, an educational and veterinary center where injured wild animals are treated)

(Pic 5) shows Abby feeding a rehabilitated Cape vulture); and the Panorama Route drive, a circular scenic drive up and down the northern Klein Drakensberg escarpment and Blyde River Canyon (Pic 6)

shows us with The Three Rondavels in the background). But mostly we stayed at the backpackers, worked on our Kruger log entries (Pic 7),

and played with the resident dog population (Pic 8).

I also did laundry by hand in the sink with the abundant hot water and hung it out to dry (Pic 9)

It was a lovely week at our temporary home.

-- Kyle