Rippons Safari day 2 – Termites, slippers and little sleep

Our summer vacation
Safari day 1

Safari day 3

Mauritius

The second day once again dawned nice and early.  An enthusiastic Mrs B leapt from her bed to greet a brand new day – or, to be honest, the Mrs B equivalent: her eyelids fluttered slightly and a feint whisper broke the silence, like the death rattle of an elderly relative uttering their final words.

 ….."Tea"….. 

A quick boil of the kettle, a leisurely dunk of a bag and a splash of milk and Mrs B’s liquid  defibrillator soon got to work and by the second mouthful most of her vital systems were coming back-on-line..

Bleary red eyes glared at me across the room – "who’s suggestion was this?".....…she uttered

Me – "I would say it was a joint decision"

Mrs B - "zzzz"

This was a vital moment, if Mrs B slipped back into her comatose state now it might well be lunch time before signs of life returned – Mars missions would have more chance of proof of life than a second or even third phase sleeping Mrs B…

As it was a little prodding and the mention of all the fabulous animals awaiting our viewing pleasure and Mrs B was heading for stage 2 recovery….

Mrs B - “I’m a sleepaholic and it had been 15 minutes since my last meaningful nap….”

We reached the truck to find Stephen and Jan (a couple who had got in after the first evening game drive) sitting in the middle seats and Rachel and Peter the Irish honeymoon couple at the back – The coveted front row seats had been left for us – The Beast seems to earn me a privileged place, as if I’m a professional photographer as opposed to a strictly amateur snapper with his own considerable weight in camera equipment …  We protested: but not too loudly.

We set off on our 40 minute drive, to the main part of the reserve, in almost total darkness only for a loud  shout from the back –

Peter – “I think I saw something – it might have been a cheetah”

I was thinking – Honeymoon, Irish groom, reasonably priced alcohol in the Rippon’s bar – he was still hung-over from last night…

Frances slammed on the brakes and we juddered to a holt – he selected reverse and we were soon careering backwards at high speed up a fairly steep dusty track…

Peter – "keep going!  It was much further back"

I was still thinking “That must have been some session – it will be leprechauns later” (It’s OK, my Mum’s Irish so I’m officially allowed to make comments like that) 

Peter – "Just a bit further, there over by that fence…"

Sure enough it was a Cheetah – and a living breathing one at that

I silently took back what I had been thinking and can honestly say I was impressed that Peter, from the back seat of the vehicle, being bounced around in almost total darkness had spotted this wonderful creature – Now, being picky, I feel Peter could have waited until it was a bit lighter before spotting a member of the Big Five (not the official version of the Big Five African wild animals but my unofficial, totally illegal and made up on no sound basis whatsoever, other than I want them in my big five version of African wild animals I most want to photograph)

I have a problem with the official big five – not all of them mind – but certainly one of them.

There was some discussion on what made the big five the big five and the initial answer from Ranger Frances was that it is the most dangerous animals.  OK, so….

Lion – tick no problems with that, king of the beast and all that , he has earned his place

Leopard –  beautiful creatures and as we all know it’s the beautiful ones that get you every time - Tick

Rhino –    With those huge horns you always feel they could do a bit of damage – a bristly tick

Elephant – Despite their reputation for being docile – I know they can turn nasty – Large tick

It’s the fifth one that I have the real problem with

Buffalo -  I can’t have what is basically a cow with overgrown horns and a coat that almost any English football manager in the 1970’s would crave, in My Big Five.   I have standards - they might be low - but I do have them….it’s not like I have anything against buffalo, I’m sure when push comes to shove they are a very wild and dangerous creature,  It’s just that, like I said, I can’t face having a cow in my top five. A big fat cross….

“Francis”, I piped up, “If it’s the 5 most dangerous animals, why is there no place for the Hippo?”

I read somewhere that they were one of the most dangerous animals in Africa and responsible for more deaths than most of the other dangerous animals put together…

Francis refined the reasoning behind the list and said it was the five most dangerous animals for man to hunt – and as hippos mainly stayed in the water, drowning anything in sight, they tended not to be hunted by man, because it was such a bugger to drag them out of the water…

As it happens we saw 2 ½ out of the Big 5 – Lion, Elephant and white Rhino (but not the black Rhino – thus the half)

I have selected a Big Five on the animals I most wanted to see

Lions

Leopards

Cheetah’s

Rhino (both black and white – ½ each)

Hippo

I have discounted Elephants and Giraffes on a technicality – they are almost impossible not to see…. The same goes for Blue Whale but based more on that they are so big you probably won’t recognise them scampering across the African savannah…

So what would your Big Five be….?  By the way you are free to select buffalo.  It is after all your choice,  just don’t expect me to respect you in the morning…

It turns out that Peter’s cheetah spot was very fortuitous as that was the last we saw of them….

Other highlights of the second day

Mrs B vs the termite mound.  Mrs B had mentioned to Frances that she was fascinated by termites.  Their high rise (although not to a giraffe) mounds can be seen littering the plains.  Francis explained that the queen can be found 5 metres underground (in a strange symmetry with those giraffes, whose heads can often be found 5 metres above the ground) – to keep her safe from aardvarks and other hive raiders such as Francis, who stopped the truck and did his best aardvark impression breaking into the side of a mound* to demonstrate the interior and bringing a whole heap of activity to the surface….soldiers to defend and workers to repair, I’m pretty sure there were some bureaucrats in there as well, sitting around with tiny little clipboards doing nothing except drink tea and fill in endless time and motion studies…

* I told him his name would be mud with the termite community

The similarities between termite life and a bee colony were startling, with the different roles for each Bee/Ant being decided by what they are fed – so creating workers, soldiers and the queen itself…Even down to the honeycomb interior design

Never underestimate the importance of having the right footwear on safari

During the afternoon game drive I noticed that Rachel (half of the Irish honeymoon couple) had not got out of the truck to visit Mrs B’s termite demolition site. Since  Jan had not got out either I assumed it was a fear of termites ….It was only when we stopped at sunset for drinks – which was enough to lure Rachel out of the truck, that I noticed Rachel’s footwear…. Pink fluffy slippers, surely the way forward for any self respecting Safari adventurer…

When I enquired Rachel informed me that it was better than the socks and flip flops she had worn on the previous two drives – Despite all of our assumptions about South Africa being permanently hot, dawn and dusk were pretty cold, especially when you are travelling at some speed in an open truck….

"What?"

Further enquiries revealed that Rachael was not some kind of Safari footwear nutter but had been forced down the route of “necessity is the mother of invention” when she had lost one of her bags which happened to have her shoes in, except the flip flops on her feet and the special edition pink fluffy Safari slippers which were in another bag….

Animals seen and our companions on day 2:

Francis - Ranger

Steve and Jan

Peter and Rachel

Morning Drive

Cheetah

Elephant

Giraffe

White rhinoceros

Warthog

Black wildebeest

Springbok

Impala

Eland

At Rippons Lodge

Various birds

Evening Drive

Francis

Steve and Jan

Peter and Rachel

We were joined halfway through by a second Honeymoon couple Andy and Rachel No. 2

Lion

Elephant

White Rhinoceros

Burchell’s Zebra

Warthog

Giraffe

Springbok

Impala

Termites

  

I had planned to cover the second and third day’s drives this week but since day two has already taken up enough of your time and I know some of you have lives to lead,  I’ll leave you with day two photo finish and pick up day three next week….

Photo finish
All pictures this week courtasy of The Beast
Thank you to Carl Chapman from http://www.wildlifetoursandeducation.co.uk/ for providing the bird information

Morning drive - day 2

"Was that Usain Bolt I passed back there?
I thought he was supposed to be a sprinter..."

"What do you mean I'm not one of the big 5?"

Just for Static, a Vervet Monkey

Even though we didn't see any on the second
day, Static was horrified when I failed to
publish a picture last week.

If you click on the picture and then rapidly 
close and then open your PC screen 
you get a sort of pop up effect...  

Francis -
The mirror image of a perfect Ranger

Barry, was mortified when he managed to
stall his Rhino on the start line...

Remote control warthogs have
proved very popular this year.... 

Walter was not convinced that these dry
showers would prove very popular?

"I taught Gordon Brown how to smile...."

 Rippons Lodge - Day 2 


1 of 2
An Eastern Blackheaded Oriole

"Can you guess my favourite hobby?"



2 of 2
"It's flower arranging..."

A female Pin Tailed Whydah

On a wing and a prayer...

Evening drive - day 2

"Of course I wish I could afford the colour licence...."

The termites were devastated to discover that their

moundhold Insurance policy did not cover them

against acts of Francis…

Francis -

"Rachel, I think you should probably stay in the truck

bright pink is a very edible colour this year…..."

 

The Lions were always pleased to see

a fresh “meals on wheels” delivery....



A male Crowned Hornbill
No I'm not a big fan of Guinness, I'm more
your two pints of larger and a packet of
eyeballs kind of date....



Molly decided she was going to take legal action

against the makers of her anti aging cream, not

because they had exaggerated the anti wrinkle

properties but also because she found out  it

contained extracts of her Great Aunt Enid…



Ethel liked basking in the moonlight...


Not bad for a shot taken in almost
total darkness....


Tune in next week for day three....