I had a pretty awesome experience last weekend. My Grandma Eilert is here visiting and so we decided to take her on a safari. First off I would like to say that I am so grateful that my Grandma came. She doesn’t really enjoy flying, but she came to see her six grandkids anyways. We are so lucky to have such an impressive and loving Grandma.
My family and I left Saturday afternoon and drove north to a place called Pilansburg National Park. We had reservations for a Night Safari (5-7:30 pm) and a cottage to sleep in overnight. But first we met our guide/driver and he explained to us the rules of night safaris. They can be very dangerous because of the animals hunting habits, but he promised that as long as we stayed in the truck we would be ok. We climbed into the truck and set off into the park. Almost as soon as we were in the park, Patrick (our guide) stopped. We were really excited and thought that he had seen something interesting. In reality he had just stopped to load his rifle! It was kind of comforting that he had a rifle with him, but at the same time I really hoped that he would not have to use it.
In the park there were antelopes called impalas everywhere. They were boring for us to see them…again, but my Grandma really enjoyed them.
We continued driving further into the park and came across a large herd of elephants. It mostly consisted of mommy and baby elephants. Personally I think that the babies are the cutest so I loved it. The elephants were right next to our truck, but left us alone, because they were eating. It’s so fun to watch them eat because they just tear off a huge branch and eat it like stick of celery. Grandma really enjoyed them and said she would be satisfied, even if we didn’t see anything else all night. Well she was in for a treat!
Next we passed three white rhinos, but unfortunately only got a shot of their butts. Still we saw them and heard them snort. Patrick was very nice, and next allowed us to take a potty stop in the middle of the tour. (That really benefitted Sarah, Mom, and Lydia. Haha) There are toilets in the park that are fenced in so that lions and stuff won’t eat you. They also have things called hides which allow you to look out over lakes without the animals seeing you. Dad and I went out and looked at the lake. We got to see two white and gray owls fly and land on a tree. It was an awesome thing to observe.
We got back into the safari truck to search for our main goal: Lions. We have not been able to see any lions and how can you go to Africa and not see a lion? (Keep in mind that by now it is freezing cold outside and dark. We are driving really fast and so the wind blows through our coats. We eventually snuggled up in blankets. Who thought it could get this cold in Africa?) Almost as soon as we got into the truck, Patrick heard on his radio that a male lion had been spotted. We sped over to the place and found a traffic jam of safari trucks; a sure sign of a lion sighting. There is a certain etiquette that the guides follow. They allow each truck to have a turn looking at the lion. By the time we got there, most of the people had gotten to see the lion already, and so we moved right up to the front of the line. I can’t really express how majestic and beautiful the lion was. It was walking along the road like it owned the world. He was a young male, and had a small mane starting to grow. He didn’t seem to mind the lights and cameras flashing around him. He was walking away from us, so we didn’t really get to see his face. After about twenty minutes, he turned and walked into the brush. Our guide drove us away from the other trucks and we just stopped to look at the sky. Patrick turned off the engine and turned off all of lights. The stars here are so spectacular. The Milky Way is so clear and you can look up into it. It’s almost as if the whole sky is coated in stars with how many stars there were. So there I was gazing into the sky and I hear branches crack behind me. As soon as I hear that, our guide spun around and shined his light on the road behind us. There was the lion! He had gone through the brush and then popped out later back onto the road. This time, we got to see his whole profile because he was standing sideways. After “posing” for a while, he turned and walked around our truck and laid down in the grass to left of us. He was about twenty feet away. After shining the light at him, and then also what was further away, we discovered that there was a herd of wildebeests. It turns out that he was stalking them and so we decided to watch. Seeing a lion kill in the wild is really rare and we were pretty excited to watch one ourselves. After about ten minutes, we heard deep growl sounding-like things. Patrick explained that the sound was other lions talking to our lion. Apparently the other lions were telling our lion to come home or something like that because our lion got up and left. That was the last time we saw him, but it was still such an incredible experience. This the only decent picture of the lion and even then it pretty much sucks. But it was extremly dark and the lion was constantly moving. We also spent a lot of our time just soaking in the lion's presence!
Unfortunately, it was time to head back to our cottage because the tour was over. Patrick drove us home, we ate dinner quickly at the restaurant and then fell into bed.
The next morning, we arose at six, so that we would be able to get into the park at the opening time. (Six-thirty) This time, we just drove around in our own car. It was rather squished because of how many people there were. (the eight of us and Grandma) There are only seven real seats, but somehow we managed. Anyways, our plan was to drive through the park until nine, pack up the cottages, go eat breakfast, and then go home. We started off driving and before we knew it, there were two other cars stopped. We looked to our left and spotted a full grown male and a female lion. We were astonished that we were able to see another lion! And this time it was two. How amazing!! They were just snoozing under a tree and behind a rock. After a little bit they both stood up and stretched. The male shook his mane and we were able to see it. What a remarkable experience. After having a satisfactory stretch, they trotted off further away from the road and soon we lost sight of them. It was incredible.
I don’t remember the order in which we saw things next, but I will still tell you everything.
We stopped at a hide overlooking a really big dam (lake). We knew it was where the main group of hippos lived, but we weren’t expecting to see any and we didn’t really feel like getting out of the warm cozy car. Working up willpower, we unloaded into the crisp morning air and walked out to the dam. There they were, seven, eight, or nine (it’s hard to count them) huge hippos lounging in the water. In our previous experience with hippos we have only seen their ears, nose, and eyes. This time we saw over half of their bodies. There were also some babies who were floating a lot more out of the water than the adults. We were content for watching them for a long time. We saw a couple of tussles where they opened their mouths wide open. We heard snorts and grumbles that were very cool. It was so picturesque because they were all gathered around a dead tree and there were mountains in the background. It’s also hard to imagine hippos being so violent, but they are. They kill more people in Africa, than any other animal. They seem very lazy, but in reality they are so ferocious and large. Luckily we didn’t have any bad encounters with them.
Another animal that we saw was jackal. The first couple of safaris we went on, Jackals were the ONLY carnivores we ever saw. So we freely admit that they are one of our favorites. They are very small, but extremely beautiful. They have orange-ish bodies and a black back. It kind of reminds us a fox. Not very big or anything, but they are very cool.
Ever seen the lion king? Well we have and love it. Every time we see animals we think of Lion King. Especially Pumba. Pumbas, or a warthogs, are everywhere. Pilansburg has been blessed with a large amount of rain this year. Warthogs thrive when there is rain because they eat grass and also give birth in the grass. Because of the rain, the grass has grown extremely tall, rewarding them with protection and food. We saw many warthogs on this trip.
We spotted another Lion King character- the Wildebeest. They are the ones that stampeded and killed Simba’s father. They have a very intimidating look about them. Their eyes are very dark and they stare at you all the time. The Wildebeest were grazing right beside our car and came really close. They are actually very large animals and it was quite breathtaking.
Giraffes everywhere!! There was this one area and there were about six giraffes. Three on the left and three on the right. The ones on the left were further away, but the ones to the left of our car were so close we could have almost touched them. Those consisted of a mom, dad, and baby. O so cute! The giraffes to the left were eating trees in the distance. As we continued driving slowly, the ones on the right followed us. Giraffes are so graceful. The way they walk is so impressive. Their bodies just flow perfectly. My Grandma’s favorite things were the giraffes.
To conclude our advernture, we saw a couple of herds of zebras occasionally. The local nickname for them is Pajama Donkey and it suits them very well. They stick out so much because of their vivid stripes and are very stunning. They are the first animal that we saw once we got here and we continue to enjoy seeing them.
Well, after the final zebra herd, we had to go back to our cottage where we packed up and headed to breakfast. The drive home went fine and we really enjoyed our time. It was especially nice because our Grandma Eilert was there. We love her so much and are so glad that she decided to come and visit us here. I had so much fun laughing with her and I know that the rest of the family did too. I know that she will remember all of the marvelous animals that she saw with us. I know that she is also very grateful that our guide, Patrick, did not have to use his rifle. Love you Grandma :)
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We have an amazing day in Soweto to tell you about, but I will let Hailey do that later. I am still enjoying playing the organ at church, although it is not easy. I am also directing the choir, which I love. We just performed in church yesterday. They did so well. We sang, "Master the Tempest is Raging." They sounded beautiful. There are 30 people in the choir, only about 4 of them read music, but they have natural ears and great voices. It was very fun.
