Our second day in the game park is just as much fun as the first. We spend the first hour with a family of warthogs. I find them amazingly ugly and cute at the same time.
At one point we encounter a buffalo on the street, and it walks right by our car within a couple feet. That photo is not zoomed in — Sophie had her window open and leaned her camera out just a few inches. Later I learn that this was probably not smart of us: buffalo are actually the most dangerous animals in the park. I mean, we were inside the car, but if it had decided to hit us I can’t be sure Sophie wouldn’t have gotten hurt.
At lunchtime we head to a visitor center in the middle of the park. As we approach, we go through a herd of mixed antelope crossing the raod. There must be seventy of them altogether over the course of a kilometer; impala, nyala, and gazelles. They are pretty comfortable with us until we get pretty close, then they hop away from the car.
The visitor center has a few snacks and an absolutely enormous selection of local art. It’s laid out on the floor of a huge circular hut-like gazebo. There’s sculpture and wall hangings and pottery and other assorted things that I can’t remember. Each item has a little bit of masking tape with the price and the artist’s name on it. When we buy a few gifts for the folks back home, the Zulu ladies that sit chatting near the entrance take the tape off and save them in a little jar. My guess is they pay the artists based on those little bits of tape. It’s a nice, low overhead way for the locals to make a little money.
Tonight we are doing the sunset safari and sleeping in the hotel inside the park. We check in, and find that the rooms don’t have keys, just a manual lock you can set from the inside. First time I’ve ever seen that. The room is just a cabin in the woods, and as we get settled, a couple monkeys walk by our porch. We head off to the tour.
At 4PM we hop into the Land Cruiser safari mobile along with a family from the UK and another from Sweden. The guide is a slow and gentle talking young Zulu fellow who works just the right amount of humor into his talk.
The first hour we don’t see much of anything, but then things do pick up; the most beautiful thing we see while the sun up is a giraffe herd. It’s dusk and so the green seems richer than under the bleaching sun, and the air takes on a dreamy haze. We’re on a ridge and looking down into a basin, and seven giraffes are walking through the think bush, just a series of heads moving in slow graceful waves, almost like they’re underwater. Later we encounter one of them near the road as we’re going pretty quickly; and the huge animal breaks into a run, galloping along right beside us for twenty meters before it veers off into the bush. It’s exhilarating and relaxing at the same time. Their huge size makes them look like they’re moving in slow motion.
The sun sets and the guide takes out a high powered spotlight which he sweeps through the grass and up into the trees looking for creatures. Our first cool discovery in the night is a pair of hyenas. As soon as he detects them, the guide mutes the spotlight against the side of the vehicle and waits for them to walk right alongside before letting some of the light leak out. Wow: hyenas are not just funny looking dogs. The thing walks along with a strangely determined gait, and it looks over at our group with intelligent eyes that scan our faces. I feel that I am looking at the most alien thing I’ve ever seen.
A few moments later we come suddenly upon a Rhino family. The encounter catches us all of guard, including the Rhinos. The largest one ends up behind the vehicle and the smaller one and a baby in front. The large Rhino is very angry and paces back and forth around our back and side while breathing in heavy gasps that make the young girls scream. The Rhino’s face is frightening and dramatically beautiful in the bursts of light from the sweeping spot beam. If it was an animatronic construction the encounter couldn’t have been more stylistic and satisfying.
Earlier on the guide had told us that early last century, the white Rhino had been hunted to the point that there were only 60 left in the world. It was at this park that the rehabilitation of Rhino population began, under the guidance of his grandfather. Apparently if you’ve ever seen a Rhino at a zoo anywhere in the world, it is a descendant of the ones in this park. Nearly all of the breeding still takes place here.
We’re dropped off back at the park hotel, we sincerely thank the guide for a great time out. Then we finish off with the expected dinner buffet.
As we pass the front desk, I hear a fellow asking if they have TV in the rooms. The lady behind the counter says no. Then he asks if there’s a central TV or something. She says no again. He seems very disappointed. “You’re in the bush,” she says, “get used to it.”
We head back to our room and we shower and sleep.