Early (notice the trend?) the next morning, we went on our morning game drive. Early on in the drive our guide Jason, and tracker Don spotted some tracks that belonged to a black rhino. Don got out of our vehicle and began tracking on foot while we drove around looking for him. The black rhino became our white whale. We looked for over an hour, driving back and forth looking for him. It was frustrating. Mainly because we did not see a single animal while looking for the rhino. Not even an impala.
Interesting fact: The rhinos are heavily poached for their horns. Chinese men think this helps them out in the male department. For this reason, if the guides or trackers see a rhino, they don't report it over the radio. Sometimes they will use code phrases or words, but only in rare circumstances.
After a while we took a break to use the... bush... and eat a little snack. Off of the truck we were given a lesson in identifying animal droppings. I can tell the difference between elephant, white rhino and black rhino, giraffe and impala. Impressive, right? And then Jason grabbed some impala poop and put it in his mouth and spit it out like a watermelon seed. He told us we should all do it. I'm all to embrace the experience, but I do have to draw the line somewhere, and this was it!
We also took a walk. I felt safe with Jason and his gun. But I couldn't help but wonder if he was that quick with it if something were to charge us. Thankfully, we didn't need to find out!
The afternoon was a lazy one with time spent at the pool.
For our evening game drive, I sort of mentioned to Jason that we wanted to be sure to see a giraffe. The other truck had seen several. We had not. The other truck saw a bunch of animals in the morning. We spent our time searching for the black rhino. Well, say no more! The evening drive did not disappoint! We saw the male lions that are usually on the property. We saw giraffes! We even saw a leopard with it's kill in the nearby tree. It was fabulous!
After our drive, we went to a fire pit and had drinks (whisky and ginger for me!), and roasted kudo (deer type animal). We had a dance and singing show. At one point they said we should join the dancing line around the fire. Some of us girls did. And then we had a sort of dance off. Each dancer paired up with one of us. My guy said that I better not let him down! It was awesome!
From there it was back to our lodge for another amazing meal.
Interesting fact: The rhinos are heavily poached for their horns. Chinese men think this helps them out in the male department. For this reason, if the guides or trackers see a rhino, they don't report it over the radio. Sometimes they will use code phrases or words, but only in rare circumstances.
After a while we took a break to use the... bush... and eat a little snack. Off of the truck we were given a lesson in identifying animal droppings. I can tell the difference between elephant, white rhino and black rhino, giraffe and impala. Impressive, right? And then Jason grabbed some impala poop and put it in his mouth and spit it out like a watermelon seed. He told us we should all do it. I'm all to embrace the experience, but I do have to draw the line somewhere, and this was it!
We also took a walk. I felt safe with Jason and his gun. But I couldn't help but wonder if he was that quick with it if something were to charge us. Thankfully, we didn't need to find out!
The afternoon was a lazy one with time spent at the pool.
For our evening game drive, I sort of mentioned to Jason that we wanted to be sure to see a giraffe. The other truck had seen several. We had not. The other truck saw a bunch of animals in the morning. We spent our time searching for the black rhino. Well, say no more! The evening drive did not disappoint! We saw the male lions that are usually on the property. We saw giraffes! We even saw a leopard with it's kill in the nearby tree. It was fabulous!
After our drive, we went to a fire pit and had drinks (whisky and ginger for me!), and roasted kudo (deer type animal). We had a dance and singing show. At one point they said we should join the dancing line around the fire. Some of us girls did. And then we had a sort of dance off. Each dancer paired up with one of us. My guy said that I better not let him down! It was awesome!
From there it was back to our lodge for another amazing meal.
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