On Day 2 of our Motswari Safari, the wake up knock on our door came at 5:30 am, but I was awake already, listening to the birds. We were literally "up with the birds". The schedule was pretty planned--coffee and sweet rolls at 6 am and load up for the game drive at 6:30.
We sat out on the veranda and drank some of the best coffee I've ever had while eating fresh baked pastries and gazing at the giraffes browsing on the leaves in the treetops in the distance. The monkeys were gamboling around us, and I almost wanted to stay right there, but I was glad I didn't.
We loaded up and headed out and immediately saw a herd of Impala. You could easily tell which one was the leader of the herd. Impala groom each other with their teeth, so they keep the ticks off the other animals which is important for their condition. The lions will prey on this animal but they would rather have the bigger feast of a Cape Buffalo or a giraffe.
Then we headed down one of the dirt roads to look for big game. The radio crackled with news of a sighting of white lions. An independent filmmaker who was doing a documentary on white lions for National Geographic had seen some tracks. We met up with another vehicle and dropped off our tracker, Petros, who joined up with their tracker to follow the trail off-road into the bush on foot. We got another radio news tip that a family of leopards had been found, so on the theory that a leopard in the tree is better than a lion in the bush, we headed for the leopards. We had to get permission to pass through one private reserve, but that was granted, and we staged near the leopard sight. Only two vehicles can be at a view at a time, so we were on first standby and drove into a dry creek area when our turn came.
Mom and son and daughter were resting in a tree waiting for us to come and visit. They did not seem at all disturbed even though we drove practically underneath them. We settled in for a while to just observe and take photos and hear Andrew talk about their predation habits and their vulnerabilities. These were truly beautiful cats.
In the meantime, Petros and Jackie had tracked the lions and we were called in to be on hold to see them. We had to go cross-country off the road with Petros showing the way.
As you can see, we got very close to them and only moved backed a little when one of the mothers seemed a little anxious. This pride consisted of two mothers and four cubs. One mother and two cubs are "white lions". They are white because of a recessive gene--not because they are a different specie of lion--but they are pretty rare. We were privileged to see them up close.
We gave way to another group of SAS folks on our trip and headed back to camp.
We had a huge breakfast including omelets and a birthday cake for Rachel. She was sung to in English and what I believe was Swahili. She'll never forget this birthday. Grace showed the colors for South Africa by wearing the jersey as is the custom here on Fridays. It was a morning that none of us will soon forget.
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