28 August - Lions (and Tree Clearing)

Within minutes of leaving the lodge this morning we came upon two male and one female lion laying stretched in the sun. This was a good start for this morning's activity, predator monitoring, albeit that we were in the north and the monitoring was planned for the south of the reserve. We watched for half an hour while the dominant male repeatedly had his interest in the lioness rebuffed and then

headed to a nearby lake where we saw two hippopotamus (or at least the bits sticking above the water). It was then off to the south and, with few animals being around again during the journey (today's cold wind today apparently was keeping them inactive), Luke educated us on various plants we encountered: the wild asparagus good for urinary infections; the poison arrow plant with a white sap that local indians once used to make poison for hunting; the spekboom, tasting of apple, high in vitamin C and able to store energy to allow photosynthesise even at night; and many others too.

We arrived in the south and drove around in areas new to me, high terrain with great views across open plains. Luke had decided we would search for elephants but once again we had no luck. We did see baboons as they rushed across the track and more hippopotamus by a river. We then met the second vehicle, which had been following a loop in the opposite direction to us, and Jamie advised us they had seen two cheetah, finding them using the electronic tracking equipment. They had been seen from a distance and required binoculars but they had been found. We headed off and saw them too in the far distance, but even with binoculars they were just two tiny white dots under a tree; to me they could have been sheep.

Lunch was spent on a high point overlooking the plain and scrub beyond and as we packed up we saw on the edge of the scrubland, a mile distant, three tiny grey dots: at last, elephants. We headed off but it still took some searching to find them: how can such large animals be so elusive? As we sat watching, one headed towards us, slowly and methodically, and passed within inches of me as I sat in the wagon, my whole field of vision filled with its grey, wrinkled massiveness. For a moment we looked each other directly in the eye and then it moved on and back into the shrub.

From here we headed off to do some work. The other group were doing some fence painting, using some home developed mix of oil and chilli that supposedly would deter elephants. Our group was once again clearing Black Wattle (our daily routine had been reversed today as apparently predators are more easily found in the morning). We worked for an hour or so before Luke decided that mid afternoon would be a wise time to depart our isolated location; as a smaller group we would be less intimidating than usual should lions be in the area.

We returned home, via the lion site from this morning (no longer there) and the lake with the hippopotamuses (still there), and then a quiet evening chilling in the common room with a game of cards with some of the newcomers to round off the evening.