While we were on our mid-drive break of hot drinks and muffins, we spotted zebra (and then impala) crossing the road in front of us.
We also saw buffalo, dwarf mongoose, warthog, impala, common duiker (small antelope bigger than a steenbok).
We also looked to the trees and saw a magpie shrike, eagle owl, a white-backed vulture, and more gray lourie (go-away bird).
Here are the magpie shrike, eagle owl, and the vulture:
After breakfast, we had a full 2 hour walk with Isaac. It was very hot, unseasonably so. It was so fascinating to hear Isaac talk about his culture and his knowledge of flora, some real, some fanciful.
For the silver cluster leaf, he showed us how to make rope from the innards of the branches. He talked about marula berries (amarula liquor comes from those), wisteria with its pretty spring flowers (early according to Matt), baboon’s tail (black stick lily) used as a candle, mother-in-law’s tongue (lily family maybe) whose root can be boiled for food. He also showed us tamboti, whose sap is poisonous and will cause blindness if you touch your eye with sap on your fingers, and if used to make a fire will cause you to get sick as well. We asked how to spot it among other similar looking trees, and he said, “you just get to know how.”
And we walked right by a giraffe:
At lunch, we saw baboons right at the camp, and took pictures as we headed out.
This cute baby elephant walked himself into a branch and took a while to figure out how to get out:
And the rhino again:
And this time 2 lions. Lisa and Mila. Mila has cubs hidden away somewhere, which the guides are not allowed to go anywhere near, and they mark it as a negative location. meaning don’t go.
In this video we see that lions do what cats do.
Our sundown break:
On the way back in the dark with the spotlight, we almost had an elephant run into us :) We also spotted a boomslang snake (very poisonous but shy and only attacks if threatened), a chameleon, and honey badgers. Below are honey badgers:
