South Africa — Page 6

Enough Driving Already

January 18, 2010 By Danny

Our camp on the third night was supposed to offer us with plenty of cheetah sightings but somehow we missed out on that and the nearby leopard. Pulling into our fourth and final camp we were simply exhausted of sitting in the car and were quite pleased to find out that this camp not only had a resident lion pride but also offered bike tours through the bush…so we signed up.

The bike ride was easy enough, just making our way through the bush and through fields. We took in a bit of education, learning that the buffalo would eat the grass in front of us even though it tasted bad because they were so big they had to eat anything they could find and no one else ate that grass. We learned that the bike ranger with us had used his gun once, Dec ’06, to give a bull elephant a few warning shots. We also talked a lot of lions and how they are opportunistic hunters who will basically take what can get. (this is foreshadowing)

In the end, other than rhino tracks we only found live hippo to look at but it was quite nice sitting on the riverbank watching them as they woke up (nocturnal) and began setting out to begin their night of foraging for food. Apparently they can travel as far as 15k in a single night, before returning where they started from, in search of food. As a result, they make nice easy trails for bikes to follow and we followed one of those back to the truck…hoping (well, I and the rest were hoping, Jill wasn’t) to get up close and personal with an elephant but we didn’t. Back at camp nothing was stirring but a couple of hyena looking to collect food scraps.

The next day as we were leaving camp we very nearly ran into hyena as they were running around doing something, probably with a carcass but we couldn’t see. Another car there told us that if we turned around and went the other way we’d find a pride of lions, and we did….a bunch of them including not just lioness but also a big lion who couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to sleep, or mate.

Continuing on with the day we saw more elephant, zebra, giraffe, ostrich, and buffalo as well…all before we stopped for our first break…probably our best morning yet. Driving out of the park though we were being very careful to stop at the stream beds that were rumored to house leopard and the fields rumored to house cheetah but still no no avail. Then suddenly Jill screamed “stop, lion.” Yes, we know the video is awful, but we thought you might get a kick out of it!

After having seen our fill of lion earlier in the day, this wouldn’t have been quite so exciting except that this lioness was hunting, completely frozen and staring down a couple of warthog a mere 10 meters away. Usually the cats don’t bother hunting in the day so this was quite a sighting and we were, well, excited at the chance of seeing an actual kill. (The bike ranger the night before had only seen 2 kills in the 4 years he’d been working at the park.) In the end, the warthog got away (the lioness missed the pounce and probably didn’t want to chase it down in middle of the day when it was hot out…warthog isn’t so big anyhow) but you can see from the video, we were clearly excited…and missed most of the action but oh well. It seems that lioness was part of a group of about 5 that had been likely sitting minding their own business when the warthog strolled nearby and this lioness couldn’t resist the opporuntity, despite the sun, since they were so close. In that little group there, not far from where we saw (likely) this very pride hunting two nights prior, we saw several lioness, another lion, and even a cub. Not a bad way to end 4 days in Kruger, not bad at all.

Foodie Friday: Potjiekos

January 15, 2010 By Jillian

When the hostel sign said, “Tonight, Free Dinner!” we were expecting meat from the braai (barbecue), so when we saw a large three legged cast iron pot on the coals we were a bit confused.

Like settlers during America’s westward expansion, Dutch settlers in South Africa brought their own form of cooking, potjiekos which survives today as a traditional Afrikaner cooking method. Very similar to a stew in the United States, potjiekos is a dish of meat and vegetables slow cooked over the fire in a caldron that we would call a “dutch oven.” Essentially a layered stew, the cast iron pot sits on the coals for several hours without opening the lid.

Starting with a layer of meat and potatoes on the bottom, the pot is layered in order of cooking time with more potatoes, butternut squash, onions, zucchini, mushrooms and other vegetables. From the sounds of it, you can use just about any vegetables you have lying around, douse them with water or the more traditional flavoring- beer- and cover. The pot simmered for about 4 hours at our hostel, but the time depends on what ingredients you use.

Like the braai, a potjiekos is a social event, with everyone standing around, enjoy the company waiting for the food to finish. “It’s done when the time’s up,” the hostel owner told us, and after explaining that he’d made the dish more than 600 times we left the art of the potjiekos in his hands.

Is elephant damage covered under our car insurance?

January 13, 2010 By Jillian

It’s not often that we find ourselves behind the wheel of a car, but to see Kruger properly it was necessary to rent a car. So in our tiny little rental we took to the roads of Kruger, the paved, the dirt and the gravel. Our days were the same, get up early (sun rises at 4:30 a.m in the summer) pack up our tent, hit the road for some game viewing, arrive at our next camp around noon, rest until 3pm and head out for another game drive. The game drives are always exciting, sort of like a scavenger hunt through the bush- herds of elephants in the distance, giraffes eating from the tops of trees, but it wasn’t until our third afternoon when things got umm… up close and personal?

On our afternoon drive we had been severely disappointed. Game viewing is all about luck, being in the right place at the right time and so far we hadn’t seen anything that afternoon besides a few impala. Disappointed we came around a curve face to face for a giraffe. Moving out of the road for us, he trotted into the bush and continued eating the leaves. Carrying on our way, we hoped to see a lion or cheetah, but as we continued down the road nothing happened. Over taking another car we came around a bend and there in front of us was a huge maseth bull elephant standing in the road. Thankfully it was not turned towards us, but he took his dear sweet time getting out of our way.

For nearly twenty minutes we followed this bull down the road, each time Danny inched the car forward I nearly had a heart attack. There is no way I wanted to be that close to a male elephant, umm.. in “the mood.” Somewhere I remembered hearing to stay 20-30 meters back from an elephant, and as many things in life, husband and wife had a difference of opinion as to the exact distance of 20-30 meters. So there we were inching along behind the elephant that wouldn’t clear the path. Looking at the clock I realized that time was winding down fast, and we would have to either turn around or make a run for it if we wanted to get to the camp gate before it closed. Unwilling to turn around, we decided to wait the elephant out. Finally the bull stepped off the road and into the bush far enough that we could no longer see him. Making a run for it, Danny gunned the engine and we took our chances passing the elephant. Startled by the sound of our engine, the elephant, who wasn’t exactly as far as we thought from the road, turned towards us as we passed and made an angry grunting noise and motion, which prompted me to hit my darling husband in the arm and scream “move, move, move.” We were soon out of harms way although it took a good 20 minutes for our hearts to stop pumping.

Putting the petal to the metal, we sped along towards the main road and our camp gate. Each time we saw fresh elephant dung in the road my heart skipped a beat, and it wasn’t long before we saw a breeding herd along the side of the road. This time they were further away from us and thankfully paid no attention to us. Speeding along, we turned onto the paved road hoping and praying that we could convince the guard at the gate with our video footage that indeed the elephant had made us late. Cruising along we saw the familiar stopped vehicle ahead. Slowing down for a quick view, we thought the car was only looking at wildebeest in the distance, until a hand came out the window and pointed to the lioness not more than 5 feet from the road.

Of course we stopped. Screw that 1000R (about 135 USD) fine- the lioness was hunting. Within a minute we saw the wildebeest start to scatter and from a distance we could see the herd split in two. My family uses the phrase “national geographic moment”, which I think is rather self explanatory. This was indeed one of those moments. As we watched the scene unfold, several other lionesses came into view and a large male. We could see the lions rounding up one half of the herd and sorting through the chaos to find their target. Unfortunately the chase continued over the hill and we turned towards the people in the first car in shock and awe. The car behind us sped off towards the gate as we had about 10 minutes and 15 km to go. Gathering ourselves, we quickly did the same. Half way back to the gate we came over a hill and saw a man standing in the road with a gun. Great I thought, speeding ticket. Fortunately the car that left the hunt before us was already pulled over and we were waved on.

Sneaking into the camp gate behind another car, we couldn’t believe our luck. We had almost been trampled by an elephant, witnessed a lion hunt, avoided a speeding ticket and snuck in through the gate without a fine.

What a ride.

A shot-gun, biltong and pink champagne…

January 11, 2010 By Danny

We were quite lucky to even get park reservations over new years and once we arrived at the park were hoping that we’d be able to arrange for a New Years Eve night safari at our Satara camp.

The ride out to the remote picnic spot, where some champagne was waiting for us, was a quick one, but eventful nonetheless. Pulling out of camp we saw giraffe galloping, startled at the light, our first water buffalo, and a group of elephants move to protect a baby. This was interesting to us because during the day the elephants didn’t really feel the need to encircle a baby but I guess it was different at night with a bunch of lights being shined on them. We also saw bunches of spotted hyena off looking for whatever food they could find.

At the picnic spot, completely unaware of what time it was (we’d left camp at 11pm) our ranger guide joked that there were no lions around as he sat loading shells into his shotgun. Nice. We were escorted to the picnic tables where some chips and biltong sat waiting for us and a several bottles of pink-ish champagne, at least one bottle in each shade of red, and waited for the countdown to begin. One of the rangers told us a minute remained and then began talking, wishing us “Shalom” or “completeness through peace” as he translated it and several minutes later after being reminded started counting down from 10 for us to celebrate the new year. We shot off the corks, drank a touch of the pink stuff, spotted a crocodile across the river, and got back in the trucks for the remainder of the ride.

On the way back we missed spotting a rhino (the other truck saw it but it was hidden in bush when we arrived) but a bit later did get to hear the male and female rhino engage in mating calls. Our guide managed to spot a snakes, the boomslang, in a tree whose bite would kill us in a matter of hours and we continued on spotting more hyenas (whose howl was quite eerie), buck, and zebra. To round out the trip, several juvenile male lions were hanging out on the road just before we got back to camp (literally about 200m from the gate) . Just what we wanted to see before heading off to bed!

Foodie Friday: Biltong

January 8, 2010 By Danny

When we were at our first Braai a few weeks ago biltong was mentioned but we’d yet to try it. Similar to beef jerky, but made of just about anything, our CS hosts ensured we went to Mozambique with a good supply of the stuff. When we ran out, some other South Africans staying at the same place as us, ensured we’d continue to have enough.

On our way into Kruger National Park we read in our guidebook that the park actually began as a refuge for the animals from biltong poachers. Ironic then that the first gift shop we walked into had entire wall of biltong from a host of different animals ranging from the traditional beef and not so hard to find ostrich to all manner of game including kudu, impala, springbok and the list goes on.

Later that evening, while sharing a Braai with some friendly people in the campsite, I asked some questions and was told that kudu is probably one of the better game meats to try because it is a browser (eats bushes) rather than a grazer (eats grass) and that usually means the meat is of a better quality. We opted to try some Kudu and taste it alongside the beef and….could not tell the difference for the life of us.

Enough Driving Already

Foodie Friday: Potjiekos

Is elephant damage covered under our car insurance?

A shot-gun, biltong and pink champagne…

Foodie Friday: Biltong

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