7^th July – Garonga

Another 6.15 start and a freezing cold day. The temperature was above freezing but with the wind chill of the open vehicle it was glacial. Though admittedly we did underestimate the cold, we had packed enough clothing for the temperature, but not for the wind chill. We wore everything we owned and took blankets from the lodge and all. All cocooned up and still freezing.

But…poor Peir and Avery (the Jackson Holes people), still had no luggage, only what little they were wearing – including a distinctive lack of shoes, just thongs. None of our shoes fitted them but we did load them up with socks, scarves etc.

So off we went. We found a group of Rhino and got very close. The matriarch had the biggest horn we have ever seen on a Rhino, even on TV. Ginormous. We spent quite a while with them but then Josiah, decided they were were going to the other side of the reserve. “there are Cheetahs”. “No, cannot stop” as we speed past Elephants, Giraffes, Impala, Warthog, Zebra, Wilderbeast and more. At least we had seen them before, but poor 10year old Avery was getting her first look at these amazing creatures as we zipped by at 50 ks on twisty dirt roads. “No! no common animals – we will see them later”.  So we hung on and went for the ride. And it went on and on. And no Cheetah.  We tried to say that we would be happy just pottering along, seeing what ever but “No! The Cheetah are just up here”.

After nearly three hours we happened to see an African Civet so at least our frustration was overwhelmed by joy at seeing that cutie.  A Civet is a badger / raccoon / cat type animal and another animal we were very keen to see. We only got a glimpse of it but that was great.  

The afternoon drive was fairly similar as Josiah again decided that we were going to find Cheetah. So off we went again “No stopping”.  Not the best safari drive, but we had fun with our new friends and yelling out “Impala, Don’t Stop”  “Wildebeest, Don’t stop”, “Elephant, Don’t stop”. Poor Avery hadn’t had a good look at a single animal yet.

The Cheetah hunt was abandoned as it was nearly dark – we are too far from the lodge, we have to go back”. We didn’t get to do Sundowners at sunset either. As we drove along in the darkening light, all ready to kill Josiah we saw a Honey Badger. Sarah nearly exploded with excitement. The Honey Badger is a member of the “Secret Seven” the seven most elusive African animals. It’s a big like a giant bumbling skunk and is the badger is the mascot of the Hufflepuff house (of which Sarah is a member of) in Harry Potter. The other house mascots are a Lion, a Snake and an Eagle. There is footage of the good ol’ honey badger chasing and owning all of these animals. GOOOOO Honey Badger!!!!

We also saw another Black Backed Jackal. Additional awesome animals.

Then in a spectacular occurrence of chance, up ahead, the ‘Elusive Leopard’ crossed the road. It was beautiful, and huge –really huge and didn’t just run across the road. It wandered. Then it stopped in the grass and starred at us. WE GOT A GOOD LOOK AT A LEOPARD! Such a magnificent animal, and we even snagged a few photos each as well as time to look before it turned and streaked off into the bush.

So we were ecstatic – and no longer wanted to do punch Josiah in the face. Thank goodness for Petrick and his brilliant spotting skills.

We (us and Peir) asked if maybe we could go out tomorrow at 6m instead of 7am. Lets get out before sunrise to maybe see animals going home after a night of foragging. “No” was our answer. Unlike other lodges that we have stayed at that are constantly searching for ways to discover and meet your wishes.

A few new groups had arrived so we got to sit around that evening with a really nice group. Pommies, Scots and a newly wed couple from Noow Yourk. They were so funny and entertained us all evening with stories of the wedding. The wedding that they didn’t want to have but was just for the family. They wanted to elope. They had us rolling around the floor in stitches. They were both from Queens and had the classic rough hard Queens accents. They drank Corfee and owned a dowg.

She invited someone to the wedding – “Don’t know why. Don’t even like her but she invited me to her wedding. Then she gets up and says she wanted to sing us a song that she wrote for us. All about communication. As if we need to know about communication It was teeerrrible. I just sat there giving hur the stink eye”.