Āfrikas kameras, 2014-2024

[Vērotāja]

Gnū antilopes mazulis





Atpakaļ pie lauvām.
Otrs vēl neēd, sēž tuvumā, bet klāt nenāk. Galvenais lauva jau ticis pie aknām, purns asinīs

[Vērotāja]

Turpmākie notikumi bija negaidīti pat Pīteram, ņemot vērā, ka lauvām bija tikko nomedīts bifelis.
Tālāk guļošie lauvas kļuva nemierīgi, jo tuvumā parādījās neliels bifeļu bariņš.



Viņi aplenca bifeļus un ieņēma uzbrukuma pozas



Vēl vienam nepieaugušam bifelim šī diena bija pēdējā.Upuris tika notriekts no kājām

[Vērotāja]

Tad kodiens kaklā no apakšas, tādā veidā upuris tiek žņaugts





Pieaudzis bifelis (māte?) metās uzbrukumā lauvām, taču lauvas metās pretī un lielais bifelis bija spiests bēgt

[Vērotāja]

Komentāros cilvēki apspriež vai lauvām bija vajadzīgs otrs bifelis vai tās bija medības sporta pēc. Laikam jau lauvas labāk zin ko viņi dara, tā ir viņu pasaule. Bez tam no lauvu medījumu pārpalikumiem taču pārtiek tik daudzi dzīvnieki un putni.

[Vērotāja]

1.decembris, Rīta safari

Īsu brīdi ielūkojos.
Apkārtējos kokos ir daudz maitasputnu.





Viens lauva pie pirmā medījuma. Vakara medījums bija jaunāks.



Intereses pēc paskatījos ar ko tad ievērojami Birmingemas zēni, izrādās tā ir bijusi ielu banda Ziemeļanglijā 1910-1930.gados

Birmingham Boys http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Boys

[Lianaliesma]

Labrīt, Vērotāj Ieskatījos 5 minūtes pirms 9.00 un pirms rīta safari raidījuma beigām. Paldies par jaunu informāciju ...

Viens no Birmingemas zēniem pilnīgi relaksējies






Uz atvadām lauvupuika pagriezās ar seju pret mums... un man jādomā par to, ka šie dzīvnieki ir tik ļoti nosodīti būt par sanitāriem dzīvnieku valstībā, jo ir lieli, tiem daudz jāēd un neko citu nevar lietot pārtikā, kā vien gaļu, kuru pašiem arī jāsagādā...

[Vērotāja]

Labrīt, lianaliesma
Neizskatās, ka lauvas būtu sarūgtināti par viņiem atvēlēto lomu, kādam jau vārgākie pārnadži jālikvidē, lai nerodas pārapdzīvotība, neizplatās slimības un turpinās spēcīga suga. Tāpat no šiem jaunajiem lauvu puišiem tikai viens tiks pie sava praida un iespējas atstāt pēcnācējus - veiklākais, stiprākais, apķērīgākais. Māte-Daba

[Lianaliesma]

1.decembra vakara safari

Beidzot saulains...

[Vērotāja]

2.decembris, Rīta safari

Ļoti daudz maitasputnu! Mums parādīja debesis, tur riņķo vēl tikpat daudz.
Nez kad nogalināts šis bifelis? Aizvakar nogalinatie bija jaunāki, bet šis izskatās pieaudzis, ja spriež pēc ragu formas.

[Vērotāja]

Maitasputni nevar pārknābt cieto ādu, tāpēc viņi stāv rindā, lai tiktu pie vaļējām vietām.

[Vērotāja]

2.decembris, Vakara safari





Mēsluvaboļu pāris veļ savu bumbu Auto pabrauca atpakaļgaitā, lai nesabrauktu vaboles un ļautu tām noiet no ceļa.

[Vērotāja]

16-17 gadus vecs zilonis pēc dubļu vannas

[Lianaliesma]

17.30 Kudu... Skaistas acis

[Lianaliesma]

18.00 Black Belly Curon

[Lianaliesma]

Interesanti... Te uzgāju kādu Sabi Sand rezervāta apmeklējuma aprakstu.Sajūta, ka gribas aizbraukt.. vilinoši, vai ne?...

Lodges in Sabi Sand?

A member on here, ca_vol, stayed at EP and has written a very long trip report with all the animals she saw whilst staying there. If you do a search of her name you should be able to find her trip reports which are really great!!


Here is the Elephant Plains part of my very long trip report:

Trip Report: Part I

After a very long travel period (27 plus hours), we arrived late afternoon on December 20th to the OR Tambo Southern Sun Hotel in Johannesburg. There was a free airport shuttle to take us there. Our room had a bad smell and the toilet didn't work. My husband got our room changed and since the hotel was full, we got an "upgrade" to the kind of room they show on the hotel website. hmmmm....

We went down to get a light dinner but after seeing a huge buffet, we caved. But we both agree it looked baetter than it was, although some of it was good. It was then bedtime and the next morning we had another buffet for breakfast that looked better than it tasted.

we took the shuttle over to the airport. From there, the charter plane company put us in a van which took us over to their terminal, which was quite nice. They had free drinks and snacks sitting out (not just packaged snacks but hot food, too), and a place to sit outside or inside while you waited for your plane to take off. You can sit there and watch the planes. Then we got into our small jet. Rob, my very tall husband, barely fit. He sat in the front row, barely fitting into the seat. That ride was about an hour. When we got there, we found out that our plane was "too big" for the airstrip next to our safari lodge. So Rob and I got onto an even SMALLER plane. He had to sit sideways in the seat and not buckle his seatbelt. The plane was really, really small. We flow low to the ground so we could see animals. We saw a big herd of giraffes running across the land. After the short ten minute flight or so, Lisa, our pilot, landed us onto a DIRT airstrip. She did a good job! Someone from the lodge then picked us up in an open-air Land Rover and took us down the hill to the lodge (about one minute driving).

As we drove up into this REALLY, REALLY nice lodge, Elephant Plains in the Sabi Sands Reserve, they greeted us with fresh orange juice in martini glasses and from there on, we were treated like royalty. We were amazed by the fact that all service was spectacular. We checked into our room, a separated rondoval, with high, thatched roof ceilings. The room was remodeled recently and has a beautiful bed with a mosquito net. Also, there is nice furniture and a huge, huge bathroom behind the bedroom. It contained a full glass shower with pebbled flooring, a huge bathtub, two sinks and a separate room with a toilet and a third sink. We were also right next to the lodge's second swimming pool. We had air conditioning but rarely needed to use it. We keep the screen door open, specially made to keep the monkeys out, at night and the air was cool and refreshing. It was warm in the daytime but cooled off at night and was not humid at all. Rob and I both agreed it was straight out of a movie. Rob said, "This is the nicest place we've ever stayed." It's true, too.

Our balcony overlooked the wilderness, no buildings or people, and had a small table and chairs. Part of the view was the watering hole where animals drink, but they weren't going there at the time because it rained all five days before we arrived. We were very lucky because we were told it has been rainy and cold, causing the animals to "hide." It was warm and sunny the entire time.

After we checked into our hotel, they served a buffet lunch (again, looked better than it tasted). They serve lunch at 2:00 pm everyday. Again, the service was remarkable. A ranger/animal tracker sat with us. To be a ranger in South Africa, you have to go through a six month training. Three months are theoretical and three months are practical.

Before the game drive, they serve fresh guava juice on the balcony. I loved that stuff!

Then it was time for our first game drive! At 4:00 pm, we, loaded up into the Land Rover. The people in our vehicle were two adults from Frankfurt, Germany, a family of four from Germany, but they are Canadian and their children are 18 and college age and two people from The Netherlands. Our ranger's name was Prince and he has a strong accent but he is GOOD. The tracker didn't speak much, I think maybe because he didn't speak English. He sat on a seat out in front of the vehicle and held onto a handle...eek! He helped Prince track the animals. We saw them looking into the sand and dirt to see what has been there and where it was going. It was fascinating!

OKAY, NOW TO THE GOOD STUFF!!! In just two game drives, the first night's and the next morning's, WE HAD ALREADY SEEN ALL OF THE BIG FIVE ANIMALS!!! Prince is really good at finding them.

Game drive, December 21, 2007, was from 4:00-7:30 pm. No restroom breaks!!! EEK! The first hour and a half were really slow. We saw a few things, but it wasn't until the last two hours that things really started getting exciting! Here's the list, in order of what we saw last night, with a comment added when necessary:

***=One of the Big Five Animals

1. Impalas

2. Wild Boar

3. Flying Banana Bird

4=6 Three more different kinds of birds we haven't ever seen before

7. Dung Beetle-He rolled a huge piece of dung up a hill and then we saw him bury it. He was underneath the ball and dug that huge hole in just a couple of minutes. It was so cool!

8. Zebras

9. Ducks and a Grey Heron

10. Nocturnal Bird

11. Silk Monkey in a Tree-Was playing "Peek a Boo" with us!

12. Waterbuck

***13. Leopard, female-One of the Big 5. She was literally ten feet away from us. I was scared! I started leaning against the woman sitting next to me. Rob was in the front row (for legroom) on the other side. The leopard was staring straight at me. CRAZY!

***14. Elephants-a family of EIGHT-Second of the Big 5-We saw this family tearing down trees and eating the fruit. At one point, it broke a huge branch off and we all jumped. They were literally ten feet from us and the ranger, Prince, said people never get this close. We were scared but fascinated. We also saw one of the babies drinking from the mother. I can't even tell you how surreal this was. I really can't.

15. We stopped for what they call a "sundowner." They set out snacks and drinks onto a portable table and everyone watched the sun set.

16. Hyena.

On the drive back, it was pitch black dark. Bugs were flying all into as and everyone was "screaming" and laughing about it the whole time. It was funny.

When we returned from the Game Drive, we went back to the room and only had a minute to change clothes since it had gotten a little chilly (but not cold). Our rooms had been serviced for bedtime while we were gone. The mosquito net was let down and we had some mints on our pillows.

We went to dinner at 8:00pm. It was so nice. We started in the bar area where they took our drink orders. Then a woman with a congo drum beat it to let us know it was time to move to the outdoor seating area around the boma. They had tables set up with tableclothes and such around the boma (open fire). They served us an appetizer (cooked vegetables with sauce in phyllo dough) and then we went up to a small buffet setting where they served us what we wanted. We both loved the lamb stew. It was kind of sweet. I also liked the squash just like I did at the Johannesburg hotel. It tastes more like sweet potatoes than squash but it's squash! The rest of the food and the dessert were pretty bad. We think food is the one thing this lodge could definitely improve. It wasn't terrible, but it was not very good either. Anyway, the nasty dessert was mint creme cake and neither Rob, the two Germans, nor I liked it. We left because it was already 9:00 and we thought dinner over. We found out the next day that we missed cooking marshmallows over the boma fire.

I, of course, woke up at 2:30 AM that night, even though I took Ambien (sleeping aid) before bed? I seem to have this problem lately when traveling, but at least I went back to sleep for a little while this time.

The wake up call the next morning came at 5:00 AM. Our morning drive left at 5:30 AM. Rob and I decided I would take my journal this time so we could write down what the animals were. That way, we would understand the pictures (he had the camera). Have you ever been on a trip and gotten home to see pictures of a bunch of buildings and you don't know what they all are? That morning was AWESOME! Here it goes:

Morning Game Drive, December 22, 2007:

1. Wildebeest-About ten minutes into the drive, we saw a HUGE herd of wildebeest all around us. VERY cool.

2. Black Belly Curon (a bird)

3. Banana Bird

***4. Lions-third of the Big 5 we have seen-Three males laying down. Prince said they probably had just eaten a huge meal and were now resting. Again, about ten feet away. Crazy!

5. Impalas

6. Zebras

7. Buffalo Weaver Nest (high up in a tree)

8. Whiteback Vulture

9. Walback Eagle

***10. Family of Elephants-we think it was the same family as last night. Today, they were stripping off strips of bark with their trunks. They eat the inside of the bark. After they strip the bark, the tree dries up and dies.

11. Steenbuck-a male and female; they mate for life with each other (no "divorces" and when one dies, the other never finds another mte)

12. Waterbuck-their meat tastes really badly because of an oily gland they have.

13. Giraffe-female with Impalas all around her. (thought of you, Aunt Dianne)

***14. Buffalo-Fourth of the Big Five-a herd of all males

15. Hippo (no picture)

16. Baby Giraffe (again, thought of you, Aunt Dianne)

17. Monitor Lizard (big)

***18. Rhinos-Last of the Big Five!!!-five of them, males and females

19. Leopard Turtle (one of the Little Five)

What does The Little Five mean? Small animals that contain part of the name of one of the Big Five animals, such as the Leopard Turtle for the Leopard.

After the morning drive, we came back here and had breakfast at 9:00 AM. Cold food was a buffet and hot food was made to order.

At 10:00 AM, we went on a bushwalk with Prince. He had his handy rifle with him and told us NOT to run if we saw one of the Big Five. They are not allowed to shoot unless someone is in real danger. It was the real thing, too. He showed us the very big bullet inside of the gun. On the 45 minute to one hour bushwalk, we saw:

1. a hole where an elephant had dug

2. a Lion Ant (one of the Little Five)

3. Elephant Dung... Prince picked it up. Yuck!

4. Turtle, small one.

I talked to the receptionist at the lodge. She was the youngest worker there, 19-years-old, and she explained the benefits and downfalls of working here. You work six weeks straight, without any days off, but then you get two weeks off. You don't cook your own meals and you don't clean your own room. She said the lack of social interaction is the downfall though...obviously. If you're young though, what a great job to do for a little while! Trust me, that place isn't like sleeping in the type of camping lodges we think of in the United States. It was luxury living! There was even a spa here which happenned to be next to our room, too, but we didn't use it.

The couple from The Netherlands said they saw a leopard eating another animal the other day over in Kruger National Park. Seeing something like that would really have been neat.

Rob and I kept saying to each other, "This is just like a movie." We both really felt we were in the middle of a Hollywood film. It was SURREAL there. If you haven't done it, start saving your money. This is a MUST DO in life.

Trip Report: Part II

After the morning game drive, we went on a bushwalk and then hung out until the 2:00 pm lunch. I decided to go to the pool while Rob took a nap. The pool deck was awesome in that you could lie in the lounge chairs and look over into the wilderness. As I sat there, I watched animals "hanging out" in the distance. Such a neat and different experience. At 2:00, we went to lunch, the best so far. Again, a buffet and some of the things included were lasagna, tuna, macaroni and cheese, etc.

After lunch, we hung out a bit until our 4:00 afternoon game drive. Rob admitted he was scared a little during the game drives. He said, "I didn't realize we were going to get this close to the animals. I thought it would be like at the [San Diego] Wild Animal Park where you see them from many feet away." He really, really enjoyed this trip. He even said, "I'm glad you made us come here."

This is what we saw on the second evening game drive

2nd Afternoon Game Drive, Elephant Plains Lodge, December 23, 2007

1. Two male lions lying in the middle of the road-I kid you not, only about ten minutes into the drive. It was so cool. They were just lying there, sometimes cuddling and evidently digesting a big meal. We watched the lions a long time. I am not kidding nor exaggerating when I tell you we were literally eight or ten feet, maybe less, away from them.

2. Impalas, a herd running quickly.

3. Warthog

4. Hippos-many, many of them in a lake.

5. Wildebeast (one) with several impala around him.

6. Blackberry Coran (bird)

7. Duiker (no picture)

8. Red Billed Hornbird

9. Longtail Shry (Shrike?)

10. scrub hare

11. barn owl-It is amazing how Prince, our ranger, spotted this animal. He was driving down a road, pretty quickly, when he stopped all of a sudden. He started staring off into the bush for a long time and then asked, "Do you see what I see?" Everyone, including the guy sitting on the front of the Land Rover, had not idea what Prince was talking about. He then asked to borrow my binoculars. After about ten minutes, literally, he pointed out this owl in a tree covered with branches. How in the world he saw it that far away, hidden behind branches, while driving amazes me. It took most of us a long time to see what he was referring to, even after he started trying to show us!

12. leopard-same female as yesterday but in the grass lying on the top of a small hill.

13. sundowner-again, snacks and drinks

You have to have a lot of patience on safari. An hour and a half can pass without any significant sightings. It's really just the luck of the draw. We just got really, really lucky on our first two game drives.

After the nighttime game drive, we came back and went to dinner around the boma again. The food was much better. Appetizer was spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce, and when we went up to be served, they had rice, mashed potatoes with green beans inside (I can't describe it), cooked carrots and onions in oil, roasted chicken and roast beef with this really, really good red wine vinegar sauce. They also had green salad but we are avoiding uncooked lettuce since it's so hard to clean. Dessert was a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of what they call a "pancake" with caramel sauce on top. Their "pancakes" are kind of like thick crepes, folded over on top of each other like an omelet, sort of... Then the servers sang and danced the traditional African way around the boma. It was really, really neat. We were going to wait for marshmallows but almost everyone had left so we assumed they weren't roasting them last night. We were really tired anyway and didn't care much at that point. We went back, showered, and fell asleep.

Guess who woke up at 4:20 AM? Yes, me, but at least it's progress. I woke up later than 2:30 this time and went back to sleep for the most part.

Wake up call was the next morning again at 5:00 AM. We went on our morning game drive, minus the Dutch couple who had checked out the afternoon before. It was a "slower" morning, again thinking about patience, but we still saw quite a bit.

2nd Morning Game Drive, Elephant Plains Lodge, December 23, 2007 (note number 11)

1. Wildebeast-almost straight out of the gate next to the dirt airstrip

2. Zebras and impalas

3. Cokie Frankelin (bird)

4. Kudu-three, all males

5. Guinea Fowl

6. Walback Eagle

7. Black Belly Curon

8. Zebras, whole herd

9. Dwarf Mongoos (no picture)

10. Rhinos, four, far away on a hill (no picture)

11. Ground Hornbill-RARE! ON THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST!-Four of them. Very neat to see something on the endangered species list and an added bonus is that they were absolutely beautiful.

12. Water Monitor Lizard-This thing was HUGE and the largest lizard we have seen here so far.

13. Two buffalo and many impala by a lake/pond

14. Warthogs, two

15. Hingeback Turtle

After the drive, we had our 8:30-9:00 AM breakfast. Again, cold food buffet, including raisin muffins and such, and made to order omelets, bacon, sausage, etc...whatever your heart desires. They also had that awesome fresh guava fruit juice (and orange juice).

Rob and I met Prince for our second morning bushwalk. We were the only ones in our group to show up which suprised me. How many times do you get the chance to go on a bushwalk in South Africa?

Second Morning Bushwalk, December 23, 2007:

1. There is a plant where if you tear off the outside of the stem, you can "break" apart the inside to make a toothbrush. There was another plant next to it that makes toothpaste if you add water to its insides. The toothbrush plant also changes colors after it has been used and can be used as lipstick. So with these two plants, you can brush your teeth and put on lipstick!

2. An elephant foot in the dirt.

2. Just lots of talking and looking at different things. It was interesting. Prince is very, very knowledgeable. Did you know "elephant" is an English word where "ele" is Latin and "phant" is Greek? Anyway, "ele" means "big" and "phant" means "arch". That's how it got its name.

Then we went back to finish packing. The staff served us lunch fifteen minutes early, at 1:45 PM, so we could eat before taking our small airplane to the next lodge. Again, very, very, very good service.

We then got on an even smaller plane than before to go to the Honeyguide Mantobeni Lodge. A staff member said the flight was short in that we will go up and then back down. That was true! Evidently, it's a long way to drive because of the zones and organization of the roads, but a very, very short flight. Only 24 or so people stay there at a time and no children are allowed. A famous chef originally from Johannesburg planned the meals and they were FABULOUS! Since it was a tented camp, it was our version of "roughing it" to get the full safari feeling.

[Lianaliesma]

18.25 Burvīga noskaņa... Zilonis apgāja apkārt mašīnai, izraka no zemes kādu bumbuļveidīgu sakni, notīrīja to gar snuķi, turēdams snuķa galiņā, un tad ielika to mutē... pasakaini...

[Lianaliesma]

18.55 Hiēnas mazulis vakariņo...


Izcēlās mazs kašķis starp pieaugušo hiēnu un abiem pusaudžiem, bet Pīters arī nesaprata, kāpēc...

[Vērotāja]

Brauciena beigās - hiēnas. Jauna mātīte ar mazo, kuru mēs jau iepriekš esam redzējuši. Un divas pieaugušas hiēnas, par kuram nav skaidrs kāda dzimuma tās ir, jo tas vizuāli grūti nosakāms.
Māte mazo vēl zīda. Lielās hienas pienāca tai klat un sāka spiegt un rūkt- kaut kadas sarežģītas hiēnu hierarhijas problēmas, tur jābūt speciālistam, lai tās saprastu.

Mazais


Mamma ar Mazo


Divas citas hiēnas

[Vērotāja]

lianaliesma, ja ir finansiālas iespējas, aizbraukt uz Āfriku un izbaudīt visu klātienē taču ir pavisam reāli.
Paskaties, Begonijā ir visai plašs piedāvājums, Īpaši var papētīt to piedāvājumu, kur izbrauc no Vācijas, cenām vajadzētu būt zemākām.
Izmantoju Begonijas pakalpojumus kad kaut kur braucu, viniem Vācijā ir sadarbības partneri, kuri savāc tūristus no visām valstīm un tad kopā ved uz iecerēto valsti.
http://www.begonija.lv/south+africa/south+africa.html

Bet var jau individuāli, pa taisno uz Djumu http://djuma.krugerpark.co.za/

[Lianaliesma]

Izrādās, visus safari braucienus var atkārtoti redzēt youtube...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvLh80 ... 1JRr6AAQjA

pievienots: Paldies, Vērotāj, par informāciju, papētīšu