The Last Game Drive

Before we went to bed on Friday, we figured out that we needed to leave at 10:30 am  on Saturday to catch our flight back to Cape Town. We all decided that we would get up at 5 am for an early game drive to be able to have enough time.  The knock on our door got us up, and we looked out to a rainy morning. Because of the early start, coffee was from the coffee maker in our bungalow with a cookie for breakfast.  We loaded up and put on the ponchos that were provided.

This was a different kind of drive than the previous morning because it was still dark.  We came across a group of giraffes who gave us a lot of entertainment.  We weren't going too far afield because of our limited time, but it was very relaxing and a chance to just enjoy nature.

We forded a river and then stopped on the other side and just say there quietly for a while.  We got to see birds, hippos and nature moving around us.  This was a perfect way to just spend the last time--no hustling about to find that last elusive big game while we let things come to us.  The rain stopped and a water buck moved toward us with a baby until she saw us and fled.

We drove a little farther and saw a magnificent male Waterbuck.  He was clearly courting a female who our guide described as "being in estrus".  They have a white circle marking on the haunches that serve as guides for following other waterbucks and also as a target for breeding.

We also stopped on a spillway across a river and just watched.  A small crocodile obliged us by swimming by.

Sadly, we had to leave, so we headed back to finish packing and have one last huge breakfast, knowing that we wouldn't have food like this again for a while.

 We all headed back to the airport from the various safaris, and the folks who arrived in their Range Rovers got the "cool" award.  We were actually the coolest since we arrived in an air-conditioned van.







Two flights later we were back on the ship after a bit of a race by the buses and riders to arrive at the gangway first.  With that many people arriving at the same time, it took about 45 min to process everyone.  Most of us were dead tired, but somehow a bunch of the students mustered up the energy to go back out.  I fell asleep in my clothes at 7:30 pm.