Pilanesberg

With the painting done at the house (apart from the doors, which can be done slowly) and with the house set up pretty well, we decided to treat ourselves to a trip to our favorite game park, Pilanesberg.

We left early one morning so were able to enjoy an African sunrise. What made this sunrise special to me was that a group of my old school friends had met up in Aberystwyth (Wales) that weekend and had shared photos of the sunset in Wales hours before I could share the sunrise in Africa. Even though I’m far away geographically, it made me feel close to my old friends.

The cost of entrance into game parks has risen tremendously over the past few years. In addition, non-African international travelers pay the top tier. Last year, it cost us around $45 daily to get into Pilanesberg (two international visitors plus one car). This year it costs $100 for the same. However, that long drive to LA to get our S. African Retirement Visas only 3 days after my hiatal hernia surgery has already paid off; instead of $100 per day, we paid a daily fee of $20 ($5 per person a$10 for the car). At this price, I foresee a lot more visits to Pilanseberg in our futures.

The efficiency of nature never ceases to fascinate me. Last year, we had come across the very-smelly carcass of an elephant that had died of old age. We didn’t expect that there would be much left now that it’s 7 months later and we were right; only the bleached skull remains! I have looked back through our previous posts to see if we had shown this before, but could not find anything. But I can still remember the odor around that area, which is now gone.

One of the first things we noticed was how healthy the animals look; water and food is plentiful! Even wildebeest, which are not the prettiest of animals, look pretty.

For some reason, many animals seem to enjoy resting on the roads at the moment. Typically, they run away as cars approach; this time, however, they didn’t seem bothered at all by the vehicles. The group in this photo had no interest in moving and it took us and the vehicle coming toward us to edge right up to the wildebeest in order for them to move. We were stuck for quite a while…and needed to move as the game park gates close at 6 p.m. at this time of year and we had a long way to go. Even though Pilanesberg isn’t one of the bigger parks (Kruger, for example is 34 times bigger than it), it’s still about 570 square km! For the past two years, I have sort of dismissed ‘the beasties’ if we saw them. But this year, they have captured my interest. The young ones have a lot of energy, and there seem to be more of them this year.

People often ask how close we get to the animals so I’m going to try to take some photos to give perspective. Often, we’re so close that we could put our arms our of the windows and touch them.

The giraffes came out in force this visit; it felt as though they were being sent directly from Rachael.

This giraffe looked as though he’d rolled his trousers up to his knees…

He must have been a lover, not a fighter, as his ossicones were fluffier than any we’ve seen before.

We’ve seen more rhinos in Pilanesberg than anywhere else. In South Africa, they saw off the horns so poachers aren’t as interested in the animals. Just like our nails and hair, however, the horns grow continuously so it’s an ongoing process.

No visit to a game park would be complete for me without seeing my spirit animal…the elephant. I will never get tired of seeing these beautiful animals.

We’ve had a lot of rain since arriving here about 6 weeks ago; locals and long-term residents say they don’t remember so much rain. On the second day of our visit, the heavens opened so we were able to see some different behaviors.

The hippos seemed to be grumpier than usual and took it out on each other.

This elephant, however, took it out on the tree. He used his whole body weight to push with his trunk, tearing down about half of the tree. He then threw the branches onto the ground and walked away!

Apparently, many animals go into the foothills to shelter from huge storms. Some grazers, however, continue their day as usual…though are a bit more alert than usual because lions, leopards, and cheetahs tend to hunt during storms as the thunder and rain makes it harder for prey to hear and smell them.

Although the animals were soaked and looked a bit disheveled…

…it didn’t stop them from standing in the road, blocking our path forward!

The rain didn’t deter the oxpeckers either.

We were shocked to see a puff adder out in the rain (and it’s almost winter here). We spotted this one on what we now call Snake Road as this is where we saw the black mamba last year (see ‘Hunting for Elephants‘, our experience last year).

As is typical here, the day after the rain was sunny…though there was still a lot of water on the dirt roads. Within the first 30 minutes of entering the park, we came across an area that was deeply rutted and overflowing with water. I asked Dan if we should turn back but, instead of answering, he gunned the engine.

Even though we have a big truck, we didn’t make it through.

We were stuck!

In his wisdom, Dan then got out of the truck to take a look…we’re in a game park…filled with dangerous animals. I got a little snitty, not because he got out of the car (it’s his prerogative to do what he wants…but he left the truck door open and I certainly didn’t want to have a lion or leopard or baboon…or anything really…as a co-passenger! I have always been bad at closing doors and I should know that, for safety, I need to shut them. Even at our lodging, they encourage us to close and lock the doors because of marauding baboons. This experience also highlights the reason to actually carry tow straps, water, and other life sustaining equipment. We later ran across another vehicle that was stuck in the mud, and even though we had the power to pull, we didn’t have the straps to attach our tow bar.

Thankfully, after some finagling, we got out and were able to continue on our journey.

We spent quite some time watching an older male elephant who was delighting in playing in some mud. It was a lovely reminder that you’re never too old to play.

I had to do a double take with these wildebeest as I thought I’d entered a circus…until I moved slightly.

***I think that this is the youngest zebra we have seen so far. She kept getting smacked in the face by mom’s tale, but did not know what to do about it.***

Hippo have huge teeth but, my goodness, they need to see a dentist!

We are so lucky with white rhinos in Pilanesberg; just before leaving the park, we came across two blocking the path. We then saw another two relaxing and grazing to the side of the road…

And then, when a kerfuffle started, we understood the problem; the two rhino on the road wanted to go down a road to the left, but it was being protected by another rhino! Remember, this place is 570 square km so there’s plenty of room for a handful of rhino AND their egos!

***Kudos to that egret beneath the left rhino, who sat through the whole disagreement without lifting a feather, despite the aggressive puffing and maneuvering of multiple heavy animals.***

Something that makes us happy is that we’re beginning to recognize certain animals when we see them in different parts of this vast game park. For example, we’ve affectionately called this giraffe Gimpy because he seems to have a bad hip that gives him an awkward gait.

And Gimpy has a friend whom we call Slackjaw. It appears as though Slackjaw broke her jaw somewhere along the line and it healed poorly leaving her deformed. Thankfully, Slackjaw is still able to eat and she and Gimpy seem to have formed quite the friendship.