Pilanesberg

For the last three days, Njabulo, his father, Mike, and I went to Pilanesberg Game Reserve, staying at the same resort that my host parents took me to, years back, and that the ISD school group stayed at 3 years ago.

Now, let me preface this by saying that my seat-mate on the plane from NYC was a young fellow who was coming to South Africa on a hunting trip, off to shoot relatively-captive animals with a bow/arrow.  Driving around and "hunting" for game with a camera is, in my opinion, much more rewarding.

As we were checking into our little chalet, there were impala roaming about the grounds -- which appeared to be common. We saw them every evening when returning "home."  They clearly have little fear of the humans roaming around.

Before getting into the park itself, we saw a large kudu limping through the tall grass off the side of the road, prompting the first of a million questions about animals from our resident six-year old.  Pilanesberg itself is huge … not by the standard of the Kruger National Park, but large enough that you can drive for a while before spotting anything.  But in the meantime, looking at the views of an "unspoiled" northern South Africa landscape is very soothing.

We of course saw dozens of zebra, giraffe, warthogs, and impala throughout the three days.  They are very common, and after the first few times, one doesn't stop to take pictures or watch them. It became a running joke. The conventional wisdom of the park is that when you see a cluster of cars, something "good" must be there to see. Now and again, we'd find a cluster watching zebras, which prompted  us to roll out eyes and announce that the people must be "new arrivals."  So jaded, we were.

There were highlights, of course.  A herd of elephants about fifteen feet away, tucked into a cluster of trees:  adults, young "teens," and a few CUTE little babies!  Unfortunately, the elephants would peek out of the trees just briefly, so picture-taking opportunities weren't the best, but the memory of the thrill is still there.

Njabulo had his heart set on seeing lions, even though we told him time and again that they came out only at night.  As night would fall, he would ask, "Are the lions hunting now?"  But on Wednesday we came upon the carcass of a giraffe that had been killed by a lion, who was nowhere to be seen.  On Thursday, we were in a blind near a dam when a man told us that the lion was back, eating the giraffe. We made our way back and were just able to watch for a few minutes before the lion stopped and disappeared into the bush.  People had told us that it was a "big, fat lion"… and they were right!

I'm having difficulties with the card reader for my camera, so no pictures just yet.  To be continued...