Beautiful Pilanesberg (1)
I made sure I was seated right at the front of the high open truck and had taken a jacket and all as I was warned it'd get very cold once the sun had gone down. I complained (already !!!!) that a 5pm start was a bit too late to take any decent pitures with a film camera (esp. with a zoom lens) as it cannot function in low-light... well, it might do with a tripod, but not from a truck on the move! Sure enough, by 5:30pm my camera could no longer work properly, eeek... A friend had kindly sent me a small digital camera with a small zoom on it, but this seemed more appropriate for landscapes... and I still had to learn how to USE it, which I had not had time to do YET at this point... having picked it up from Parcel Force just the day before I was due to go.
But it was still an awesome drive. I was astouned by how much game there was. Pilanesberg had been affected by some fires a few months earlier and whether it helped as the game had to be concentrated on the patches of grass that were left, I don't know, but it was SO easy to see SO much in just an hour. These are my stats for the 1st game: 40+ elephants (we saw 2 herds), 10 white rhinos, 20 giraffes, 20 zebras, 10 monkeys, 3 lions (a bit far, stalking a baby giraffe - that they didn't get, phew), 1 leopard (snoozing in a tree), and 1 baby chameleon ! (my driver picked it up as it was right by the side of the road, sitting on a branch at eye level, and within 1 minute it went from green to black ! It was so amazing to watch :).
I came back smiling from ear to ear... but was just gutted by the lack of photo opportunities. Most people struggled to take pictures, even with digitals. My driver had to use a spot light for us to see the leopard as it was pitch dark by the time we got back. They all radio each other, so that when one animal is spotted, they all alert each other. Which is good when you are the one who would have missed out otherwise, but not so good for the animals as suddenly you have a queue of 20 vehicles trying to see the same thing. They do not control car numbers in the park so pretty much anyone who stays at the nearby lodges can just get in with their own car = more noise, more pollution, more hassle for the wildlife than packing the equivalent of 10 cars' load into ONE truck. Sometimes there are so many cars with little space in between that if the herd of elephants is split in two it can be quite dangerous as the cars act as a barrier and the elephants get nervous. One car got badly bashed by a tusk. We are on their patch after all ! My driver was sensible and made sure that we had lots of space between us and the animals but most people do not care - they just want a good picture and do not understand animal behaviour.
When we got back, I told my driver, Sipho, that I was really frustrated by the fact the safaris were starting too late and by the fact that the morning drive wasn't happening tomorrow as they didn't have enough people booked on it. We struck a deal whereby he took me in his own car and I paid him what I felt was a fair amount for his time. He was pleased, and I was pleased.
I then had my dinner (nice yummy buffet) and then went to bed as soon as I could. I wanted to use the internet on site to say I'd go there safely and all, but, unsurprisingly in that part of the world, the PC was broken. I hit the sack at 9:45pm but was woken up at 2:00am as it was too hot and I couldn't find how and where to operate the air-conditioning... outside that, it was a reasonable night and I managed to catch up on some sleep, till I had to get up again at 5:30am for the next safari ! (no pain, no gain... same old !).
I made sure I was seated right at the front of the high open truck and had taken a jacket and all as I was warned it'd get very cold once the sun had gone down. I complained (already !!!!) that a 5pm start was a bit too late to take any decent pitures with a film camera (esp. with a zoom lens) as it cannot function in low-light... well, it might do with a tripod, but not from a truck on the move! Sure enough, by 5:30pm my camera could no longer work properly, eeek... A friend had kindly sent me a small digital camera with a small zoom on it, but this seemed more appropriate for landscapes... and I still had to learn how to USE it, which I had not had time to do YET at this point... having picked it up from Parcel Force just the day before I was due to go.
But it was still an awesome drive. I was astouned by how much game there was. Pilanesberg had been affected by some fires a few months earlier and whether it helped as the game had to be concentrated on the patches of grass that were left, I don't know, but it was SO easy to see SO much in just an hour. These are my stats for the 1st game: 40+ elephants (we saw 2 herds), 10 white rhinos, 20 giraffes, 20 zebras, 10 monkeys, 3 lions (a bit far, stalking a baby giraffe - that they didn't get, phew), 1 leopard (snoozing in a tree), and 1 baby chameleon ! (my driver picked it up as it was right by the side of the road, sitting on a branch at eye level, and within 1 minute it went from green to black ! It was so amazing to watch :).
I came back smiling from ear to ear... but was just gutted by the lack of photo opportunities. Most people struggled to take pictures, even with digitals. My driver had to use a spot light for us to see the leopard as it was pitch dark by the time we got back. They all radio each other, so that when one animal is spotted, they all alert each other. Which is good when you are the one who would have missed out otherwise, but not so good for the animals as suddenly you have a queue of 20 vehicles trying to see the same thing. They do not control car numbers in the park so pretty much anyone who stays at the nearby lodges can just get in with their own car = more noise, more pollution, more hassle for the wildlife than packing the equivalent of 10 cars' load into ONE truck. Sometimes there are so many cars with little space in between that if the herd of elephants is split in two it can be quite dangerous as the cars act as a barrier and the elephants get nervous. One car got badly bashed by a tusk. We are on their patch after all ! My driver was sensible and made sure that we had lots of space between us and the animals but most people do not care - they just want a good picture and do not understand animal behaviour.
When we got back, I told my driver, Sipho, that I was really frustrated by the fact the safaris were starting too late and by the fact that the morning drive wasn't happening tomorrow as they didn't have enough people booked on it. We struck a deal whereby he took me in his own car and I paid him what I felt was a fair amount for his time. He was pleased, and I was pleased.
I then had my dinner (nice yummy buffet) and then went to bed as soon as I could. I wanted to use the internet on site to say I'd go there safely and all, but, unsurprisingly in that part of the world, the PC was broken. I hit the sack at 9:45pm but was woken up at 2:00am as it was too hot and I couldn't find how and where to operate the air-conditioning... outside that, it was a reasonable night and I managed to catch up on some sleep, till I had to get up again at 5:30am for the next safari ! (no pain, no gain... same old !).
posted by Sylvie at 12:31 PM
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