South Africa Day 4: Lovely pachyderms

I started the day going west and then north along the sandy road that runs parallel to the paved main road to Shingwedzi. It started off fine; as I drove down a small hill to cross a body of water, I saw the road was blocked by two humungous birds and several smaller ones. They barely moved as I came closer and I could have reached out a hand and slapped seven kinds of snot outta them.

Some types of stork, I believe.


This big, bad mofo looks an awful lot like a wolly-necked stork according to my trusty Honeyguide Kruger map.


Pioneer Hide, just up the road from the birds.


Then I passed a small family of zebras, saw waterbuck, African Stoopid Bird, some warthogs… and then… nothing until I hit paved road two hours later. I saw a family of ellies, which I think was the same I later photographed at a waterhole, a huge group that had been moseying around camp for a couple of days.

Zebras.


Waterbuck. I love the target they have on their butts.


African Stoopid Bird quarreling.


Warthog.


Ellies out walking. Ah lubs the babies.




As I had forgotten my trusty map, I went back home to fetch it before heading to breakfast. My neighbors were outside, and I had a little chat with them, an elderly, retired Dutch couple.

They confirmed what I already knew about ellies in the park; the heartbreaking fact is that there are too many of them. They'd been coming to the park every year for 23 years and said they'd seen the changes in the scenery; mopani trees that used to grow three meters (10 ft) tall now barely managed a third due to the constant pachyderm onslaught.

Breakfast on the small deck of the Mopani restaurant, looking out on Pioneer Dam and the bathing ellies.


After breakfast, I followed their advice on where to go next and the first part of the trip was a return to Eden - as in it was the same general area. I got in a big ellie bull walking down a side road towards me, ears flapping in the heat, throwing up dust above his shoulders every now and then.


There then followed a series of zebra upon zebra. According to my guidebook, there were an appx. 30,000 animals of this species in Kruger, and I felt at least 29K were out and about this very day in these very same fields.

Video of zebras.


Then I stopped to look at a herd of cape buffalos and in the middle was an elephant, merrily stealing their water and using it to shower his head and body with. He was towering over the bovines, splashing water here and there and I imagined him humming a little tune and maybe having a yellow rubber ducky somewhere too.

Slurp.


Drink.


Damn, they waste a lot of water.


A yellow rubber ducky was really all that was missing.


I wonder what this is? Common duiker?


Tortoise crossing the road.


Baby ellie. Awww.


After that came a long, dull pause as I drove north to Shingwedzi. The boredom was only interrupted by a few episodes of torrential downpouring, which had the effect of lowering the temperature 4-5 degrees Celsius each time.

35C/95F. That was as high as it went on this trip.


The view from *taking a deep breath* Shibavantsengele Lookout.


The fucking peacemongers are destroying the natural scenery even way out here.


Rains in Africa. Those Toto guys don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Rains in Africa are a cunting, dreary experience.


I finally made Shingwedzi, where I stuffed face on a very good chicken burger. The guy who served me saw me struggling to break apart the pointless wooden stick that had been driven through my burger to use it as a toothpick, so he brought me the real deal instead. To top it off, he endeared himself to me by not including a penny as tip when he came with the credit card machine, so I gave him a 50R note as I left.

Gaaaah.


The long drive back to Mopani was largely uneventful, but just before the waterhole north of camp I once again encountered a big herd of ellies. They were heading to the waterhole to stuff face (literally) and I followed them the last five minutes of the way and then spent about a half hour taking video and pics and generally just sharing in the quiet joy of these gentle giants.

First video:


Second video:


I'm a sucker for babies.


Penis envy.


More baby pics.




Two "teens" were shoving each other and playfighting the whole time, except for when the matriarch clearly told them to break it off. They stayed apart for thirty seconds and then they were back at it. I also watched two larger bulls tussling.

A couple of animals were trudging along the road behind me and I suddenly heard angry trumpeting and then some asshole in a car came roaring up past me (I was parked on the side, engine turned off). It looked like one of the natives, doing his utmost to kill or frighten off the wildlife his job depended upon.

At one point a guy came the opposite way and we talked a little but just as I was about to show off my big 600mm lens, he had to back off due to two gentle giants moving towards him. Naturally, they veered off long before they reached him. Such is the nature of every single pachyderm I have encountered so far in the park.

Third video:


Anyway, I spent about 30 minutes in the company of that lovely herd, and it was a very nice closing to a long, exceedingly hot day behind the wheel. In the evening I went to the restaurant, which was hot as hell. I positioned myself in front of the laughably weak AC they had running in there and spent the next half hour brushing bugs off my table, my food and my person. Ugh.