Pilanesberg - a few facts & 2 more safaris
Well, the 6am drive was... painful. I was FROZEN on this open truck, so much so that I could not even function properly to take my camera out to picture the amazing sun-rise. I was wrapped in all the blankets I could get my hands on and just tried to move as little as I could to keep warm. It was another successful safari though as far as game went... with 3 hippos, 3 lions (still too far though), herds of elephants, zebras, 3 rhinos, herds of giraffes and all... but just too cold to enjoy it fully.
I did learn a few interesting facts though... Namely: mother zebras give birth all alone, this is to give their offspring time to identify their stripes so that they can find her again in the crowds (zebra stripes are like our fingerprints - unique). Zebras sleep in the mountains to be safe, as lions only hunt on the grassland. Lions sleep 18 hours/day, they leave it to the females to do the work and get the food ! Elephants eat 18 hours / day as they process food very quickly so are always hungry (they have too many in Kruger National Park actually and have to cull some every year otherwise they'd destroy the park - they've tried to take them to nearby Mozambique instead but they always want to come back!). Kruger is the biggest national park, 400kms by 600kms but is so big that people who go there can spend 2 weeks looking for animals and seeing ... none. Giraffes have to eat off trees because their neck cannot extend more than 45cms. They only sleep 20mns at a time, sometimes just 20mns per day !!! (my father would never survive this!). They have to kneel down but with their neck up straight. Hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa and have been known to kill the most humans - either by stamping on them or crushing their bones with their huge teeth. Malaria is only carried by pregnant female mosquitoes and they are attracted to blue clothes. So, one way to protect yourself is to avoid wearing blue - it reminds them of water, their breeding ground. Local women tend to shave their heads when they are in mourning (I saw a few and wondered why!). I'm certainly glad we don't have this practice in Europe !!!
After breakfast I then decided to do all my hand-washing, and sleep a bit more (at least 2 hours more) before my 2:30pm drive with Silpho again (Silpho in Zulu means 'gift', as he was born on Xmas day. His daughter was called Nahnda which means 'Goddess of Love'... how exotic, hey?).
That afternoon, he felt he should take me to the highest point in the province, within Pilanesberg, so we could have an overview of the whole park. Fewer game up there, but very scenic. I was torn... I really wanted to see a leopard again... but no guarantee. One had been spotted earlier but chased off by a rhino and so fellow drivers reported they had 'lost the visual'. We could gamble or try and look for it anyway, or just forget about it and be guaranteed beautiful scenery. Well, since I appreciate beauty in all its forms I agreed with him.
It was well worth it. It was SO peaceful up there... almost no cars. Animals seemed tamer too as a result. We saw some of the smaller antelopes (dik dik, springbuks...) and if people put their hands out of the car window, they'd come and lick the salt off their hands. We saw more rhinos on the way but they are my least favourites (too prehistorical like). I did ask if poaching was still a big problem, he said, not really in Pilanesberg as there are too many people driving around, so they couldn't get away with it. He also said that though the park isn't completely fenced off, the animals seem to sense where they are safe and stay put... which was good news indeed. I never saw a cheetah, they only have 6 in the park, but we did manage to see another leopard on the way back (they only have 15).. snoozing by the side of a nearlydried up river bank. Most of the cars had missed it, focusing on the giraffe that was drinking nearby but sometimes the giraffe would stop and have her gaze totally focused on the ground and this is always the biggest clue. They have acute eye sight and they always freeze when they see a predator... and then run (in slow motion!). So, sure enough, Silpho grabbed the binoculars and there it was... a lovely leopard oblivious to it all - and unnoticed by everybody else that drove past.
On the back back to the lodge, we went via a village and saw many women stand by the side of the road. I asked if they were prostitutes, he said 'not really, they offer free sex'... I said 'why?' he replied 'there is a 1:6 ratio of women vs men, so there aren't enough men to 'service' all these highly sexed women... so they advertise the fact that they would like some action'. I was stunned. I said 'Don't they know that 1 in every 3 person here is HIV+ ?', he said 'I'm sure they do, but they feel too lonely to care'... It seemed incredibly sad, to me, that this 'natural instinct' of reproducing was going to lead them to risk their own lives. I mean, 1 in 3, it'd be like playing Russian roulette! Assuming they were not HIV already... Silpho told me that many young virgins are still sold off to old chiefs to try and 'cure' them of AIDS as some still stupidly believe that having sex with a virgin could cleanse them of the virus. It seemed cruel and gruesome.
I said that as a woman I felt horrified at the plight of fellow women around the world... he said that such practice are very common in villages where there is little education. Just like most crimes in South Africa (be it rapes or murders) are not against tourists but usually among their own and are 'revenge' crimes.... "you raped my sister so I'll rape yours / you killed my brother so I'll kill yours" type of mentality. It still seemed incredibly harsh... where the blood of innocents never seems to matter much. What is the value of a life, one has to wonder, in such cultures??
I had dinner with Silpho and Hildah again for my last night in Pilanesberg and it was really nice to have company. Everybody at the lodge had been quite helpful really. I then thought I'd be able to update my travel blog for 2 hours.. but was soon informed that the internet was broken, yet again. Oh well... I headed for my bed 2 hours earlier than planned and fell asleep instantly. So I guess it was a blessing in disguise... the lodge was also charging 2R/minute (very steep) when I was going to pay 1/4 of that the next day when the next opportunity arose... (might as well!).
Well, the 6am drive was... painful. I was FROZEN on this open truck, so much so that I could not even function properly to take my camera out to picture the amazing sun-rise. I was wrapped in all the blankets I could get my hands on and just tried to move as little as I could to keep warm. It was another successful safari though as far as game went... with 3 hippos, 3 lions (still too far though), herds of elephants, zebras, 3 rhinos, herds of giraffes and all... but just too cold to enjoy it fully.
I did learn a few interesting facts though... Namely: mother zebras give birth all alone, this is to give their offspring time to identify their stripes so that they can find her again in the crowds (zebra stripes are like our fingerprints - unique). Zebras sleep in the mountains to be safe, as lions only hunt on the grassland. Lions sleep 18 hours/day, they leave it to the females to do the work and get the food ! Elephants eat 18 hours / day as they process food very quickly so are always hungry (they have too many in Kruger National Park actually and have to cull some every year otherwise they'd destroy the park - they've tried to take them to nearby Mozambique instead but they always want to come back!). Kruger is the biggest national park, 400kms by 600kms but is so big that people who go there can spend 2 weeks looking for animals and seeing ... none. Giraffes have to eat off trees because their neck cannot extend more than 45cms. They only sleep 20mns at a time, sometimes just 20mns per day !!! (my father would never survive this!). They have to kneel down but with their neck up straight. Hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa and have been known to kill the most humans - either by stamping on them or crushing their bones with their huge teeth. Malaria is only carried by pregnant female mosquitoes and they are attracted to blue clothes. So, one way to protect yourself is to avoid wearing blue - it reminds them of water, their breeding ground. Local women tend to shave their heads when they are in mourning (I saw a few and wondered why!). I'm certainly glad we don't have this practice in Europe !!!
After breakfast I then decided to do all my hand-washing, and sleep a bit more (at least 2 hours more) before my 2:30pm drive with Silpho again (Silpho in Zulu means 'gift', as he was born on Xmas day. His daughter was called Nahnda which means 'Goddess of Love'... how exotic, hey?).
That afternoon, he felt he should take me to the highest point in the province, within Pilanesberg, so we could have an overview of the whole park. Fewer game up there, but very scenic. I was torn... I really wanted to see a leopard again... but no guarantee. One had been spotted earlier but chased off by a rhino and so fellow drivers reported they had 'lost the visual'. We could gamble or try and look for it anyway, or just forget about it and be guaranteed beautiful scenery. Well, since I appreciate beauty in all its forms I agreed with him.
It was well worth it. It was SO peaceful up there... almost no cars. Animals seemed tamer too as a result. We saw some of the smaller antelopes (dik dik, springbuks...) and if people put their hands out of the car window, they'd come and lick the salt off their hands. We saw more rhinos on the way but they are my least favourites (too prehistorical like). I did ask if poaching was still a big problem, he said, not really in Pilanesberg as there are too many people driving around, so they couldn't get away with it. He also said that though the park isn't completely fenced off, the animals seem to sense where they are safe and stay put... which was good news indeed. I never saw a cheetah, they only have 6 in the park, but we did manage to see another leopard on the way back (they only have 15).. snoozing by the side of a nearlydried up river bank. Most of the cars had missed it, focusing on the giraffe that was drinking nearby but sometimes the giraffe would stop and have her gaze totally focused on the ground and this is always the biggest clue. They have acute eye sight and they always freeze when they see a predator... and then run (in slow motion!). So, sure enough, Silpho grabbed the binoculars and there it was... a lovely leopard oblivious to it all - and unnoticed by everybody else that drove past.
On the back back to the lodge, we went via a village and saw many women stand by the side of the road. I asked if they were prostitutes, he said 'not really, they offer free sex'... I said 'why?' he replied 'there is a 1:6 ratio of women vs men, so there aren't enough men to 'service' all these highly sexed women... so they advertise the fact that they would like some action'. I was stunned. I said 'Don't they know that 1 in every 3 person here is HIV+ ?', he said 'I'm sure they do, but they feel too lonely to care'... It seemed incredibly sad, to me, that this 'natural instinct' of reproducing was going to lead them to risk their own lives. I mean, 1 in 3, it'd be like playing Russian roulette! Assuming they were not HIV already... Silpho told me that many young virgins are still sold off to old chiefs to try and 'cure' them of AIDS as some still stupidly believe that having sex with a virgin could cleanse them of the virus. It seemed cruel and gruesome.
I said that as a woman I felt horrified at the plight of fellow women around the world... he said that such practice are very common in villages where there is little education. Just like most crimes in South Africa (be it rapes or murders) are not against tourists but usually among their own and are 'revenge' crimes.... "you raped my sister so I'll rape yours / you killed my brother so I'll kill yours" type of mentality. It still seemed incredibly harsh... where the blood of innocents never seems to matter much. What is the value of a life, one has to wonder, in such cultures??
I had dinner with Silpho and Hildah again for my last night in Pilanesberg and it was really nice to have company. Everybody at the lodge had been quite helpful really. I then thought I'd be able to update my travel blog for 2 hours.. but was soon informed that the internet was broken, yet again. Oh well... I headed for my bed 2 hours earlier than planned and fell asleep instantly. So I guess it was a blessing in disguise... the lodge was also charging 2R/minute (very steep) when I was going to pay 1/4 of that the next day when the next opportunity arose... (might as well!).
posted by Sylvie at 1:39 PM
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