We get up early so we can get a couple hours of wildlife viewing in before we head to Dundee for our last few days together. We encounter two cool things on our way out of the park.
First we come across a tribe of baboons covering the road, probably sixty of them. They’re all ages, babies clinging to their mothers, youngsters fighting and playing, chasing each others up the trees alongside the roads, and the adults relaxing and picking bugs out of each other’s fur. They walk within feet of the car and we spend a while watching them.
Every once in a while the leader, the largest one with a battle scar on his lip, gets up and moves. When he does, the whole tribe instinctively migrates with him. He heads just a few tens of meters down the road and sits again, and they all go back to their baboony activities. We migrate along with them an resume our touristy activities.
At one point, the leader must have detected something amiss — the smell of a big cat or some other predator in the grass. He stops short and lets out a series of hoarse whoops. The entire tribe freezes for a moment, then several scouts fan out behind the leader. The rest of the tribe retreats and becomes very alert, watching in the direction of the apparent danger, sixty little baboon faces all looking intently in the same direction.
The scouts make some moves precise movements along the front line and whoop some more. After a minute of this, they decide to retreat. The leader walks back carefully, keeping his eye towards the danger, and the scouts follow. They eventually take the group off into the grass going the opposite direction. The operation is thrilling to watch; the communication and organization of it is beyond anything I’d seen from wild animals.
The last thing we see before we exit the park via the east gate is a single elephant in the distance, standing by a river. We wait and watch for a while, and eventually the animal heads slowly towards us across the plain. We had seen a couple of elephants in the park, but always well over 100 meters away. This elephant was approaching us and looked like it would get a lot closer. It does: eventually it crosses the street probably ten or twenty meters in front of us, much closer than the recommended safe distance. It’s a beautiful creature, but they are considered very dangerous, and are able to easily overturn or crush a car. I keep it in gear and myself ready to back up quickly. But it stays docile and just walks by, giving us a nice thrill for our last moments in the park.
We’ve chosen to drive back a different route than we came in. If you’ve read the April 13th entry this won’t be a surprise. It’s a little bit longer, but a much easier and well used route. It’s a lovely drive too, winding roads over hills and through forests and farms. We eventually arrive in the town of Nqutu. That’s where the new mall is, the one that Zenzo and I visited. Sophie and I decide to stop by and get our lunch at “Hungry Lion”.
The mall still seems to be doing well, which I interpret as a good sign for the local economy. It seems that the Nqutu area is a wholly black area; I don’t see any non-blacks in any case. Hungry Lion turns out to be a fried chicken place, which Sophie and I find amusing because lions don’t eat chicken. Although I suppose a very hungry lion might do so.
On the way back we pass the Enyanyeni school, and I spot Alan & Donna’s car, so we pull in. We help them wrap things up with the machines, and meet the principal. Then we head to the backpackers, check in, and relax for a bit before going to Spur’s for dinner with Alan & Donna. We have ribs and salad, and we describe the details of last Friday’s adventure to them. They seem to find it all amusing. It’s a good ol’ time.
The backpackers is a lot more Africa than the other places we’ve stayed, but we still fall asleep easily.