Two Bits – 10 October 2014

Sometimes nature just excels herself, providing extraordinary events one after another.
Last week was another visit by the Hardy Annuals to the Djuma private game reserve in the Sabi Sands – Rose and I, my brother and his wife, and a group of friends from Pretoria. We’ve been going for nine years now, the others for longer, and every time it’s different.
What really makes the difference is that Lex Hes, author of a beautiful book The Leopards of Londolozi and a fount of knowledge about almost all things in the African wilds, is our guide every year. Some years we might view the game and birds – he’s a whizz on birds – then discuss the wild flowers or the habits of dung beetles.
This year it started and ended with a bang. On the first afternoon we went to visit a kill made by a leopard and her two cubs, only to find them unhappily squatting up three marula trees while a pride of nine lions munched a freshly killed impala on the ground. Unlike Kruger Park, where you have to stick to the roads, we can drive right up to the kill in our Landcruiser and view the action in bone-cracking, bloody, full Imax colour. There is nothing as thrilling as being almost in touching distance of a sleek, muscled beast utterly committed to killing with lightning speed.
Lex can find leopards like a honeybadger finds honey. He’ll say: “Mmm, I hear a Francolin distress call (about two kilometres distant!). Let’s take a look over this hill . . .” And sure as nuts, there’ll be something interesting going on. We saw giraffe, lion, leopards, rhinos, hippos – you name it – by the arkfull until our heads were spinning. Admittedly, most years there is a decent interval between game sightings. This year they came thick and fast.
Like the morning we were driving across a dam wall to look at two brownheaded parrots on top of a nearby tree.
“Look, wild dog!” came the shout, and a wild dog burst out of the bush, chasing an impala right past us. You won’t believe a buck, or a dog, can run that fast. They run like bullets.
“Quick, reverse!” And so we careered backwards along the wall, praying Lex could drive straight. Then another shout: “In front, another wild dog!” And another impala burst out of the bush, chased by another dog. Then another dog and another impala streaked by, ‘til we didn’t know if we were coming or going.
At one point an impala leapt into the water and swam right across the dam, watched anxiously by the dog. Lex said it wouldn’t also swim across as it was afraid of crocodiles. But the moment the impala touched shore and made off, the dog was in full pursuit.
We careered across the veldt trailing the most likely dog. Just missed the actual kill, but saw two dogs rip apart an impala and wolf it down at lightning speed.
Tipped off by another guide, we then set off to watch two male cheetah on the hunt. As far as I am concerned, they are the most beautiful creatures alive. Often you see cheetah lolling about or sleeping, like most cats, but to watch them hunting is the most thrilling experience ever. They glide through the bush, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and they just know they are drop dead gorgeous.
Suddenly, they spot an impala across the clearing. They accelerate from trot to full speed in a blink of an eye. If you think a Ferrari is fast, the cheetah can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in three seconds!
They missed the catch, as apparently they often do, but I managed to get what I most desperately wanted this trip – a pinsharp photo of a cheetah running! I was so chuffed I nearly fell out of the van.
Next morning, we’re driving along when Lex stops the truck and says “Listen!”
Far, far away is a faint bellow. That was all the encouragement he needs. Pedal to the metal, we bucket along until we catch sight of 11 lion in violent confrontation with a herd of buffalo. You can never forget the sight of a fully-grown male lion leaping onto the back of a buffalo, its huge teeth sunk into the buffalo’s back, blood spurting everywhere.
The buffalo threw it off, but not without losing its tail and buckets of blood. Then the herd charged the two male lions and lionesses. As the herd turned their backs, the lions charged the buffalo! Dust boiled up as the grass was trampled flat and crimson blood from the wounded buffalo was spattered everywhere.
The wounded buffalo eventually sank to its knees, but four of its ‘daga boy’ companions gathered round him, licking his wounds, while the rest of the herd faced down the lions.
Eventually the lions, too, were exhausted, from a confrontation that could have been going on for many hours. They settled down in the shade for a rest and to lick their wounds, for they hadn’t escaped their confrontation with the huge buffalo horns and hooves unscathed.
We had to leave, but it was obvious that the fight was far from over. I doubt that buffalo lasted another night. But the memory of the lions snarling, the buffalos bellowing, the dust, the heat, the furious charges and counter charges, will stay with us forever.
This is Africa and it’s on our doorstep. What a privilege it was to see so much of the wild in action, with companions and a guide who appreciate the beauty, the savagery, the soul of Mother Nature.
Here’s to next year!
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“Every morning an impala wakes up knowing that it must outrun the fastest lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning a lion wakes up knowing that it must outrun the slowest impala or it will starve. It makes no difference if you are a lion or an impala, when the sun comes up in Africa you must wake up running.”
– Zambian saying.