The Game (Part 2)

So we've seen the lions, the leopard, the buffaloes, and the elephants. The only big five we have not covered is the Rhino.

We saw two Rhinos on our second game drive. There are a few different variations of this species in different habitats--Black Rhino, White Rhino, and a few others. The one that's common in South Africa (the one we saw) is the white rhino, which is actually the smaller kind (still very big though). I might be wrong on this, but the white rhinos are herbivore while the black ones eat both plants and meat. We had to drive off-road to find these two giants hanging out in the bush. When we arrived, they were getting ready to get some power nap. According to Manus, Rhinos like to sleep in pair and one would lie with its face next to the other's butt and vice versa. They do this because their behinds are the most vulnerable area, so this position allows them to protect each other. Smart, eh?

So there you have it... the South African Big Five. Now, what other animals did we see?

We saw some very beautiful giraffes. During our first morning game drive, there was family out in an open area. They were a bit far off road, but we wanted to get a much closer look, so Manus parked the vehicle, got his rifle out, and walked us towards the animals (remember- no vehicle off-road unless it is to follow the big-five animals). An interesting thing I learned about giraffe is that although its neck is very long, there're about the same number of bones as there are in human's neck. Thus, a giraffe's neck is not that flexible. Here you see a lot of postcards of giraffes with their necks intertwined and make a knot. Those are actually photoshopped. It's not a ritual they do when they mate (of course, I knew that!).

In every game drive, about 2/3 into the trip, Manus would park the car and set up a picnic table for us. In the morning drives, the picnic would include tea, coffee, hot chocolate, yogurt, cereals, milk, etc. while the evening drive's picnics would include wine, champagne, chips, pate, and some other snacks. On our second morning, we picnicked by the river and we saw this HUMONGOUS hippopotamus swimming lazily upstream then disappearing around the river's bend.

The picnic is also a good time to converse with Manus and Million. We found out that Million is actually 58 years old while he does not look a day older than 36. He has 5 children and actually forgot the name of his 4th child when we asked him. Manus is 25 years old. He's been enjoying his job for 5 years and has driven quite a few high-profile guests. Recently, he drove Gale (Oprah Winfrey's right-hand lady) and also did some photo shoots for the O magazine. He said that his picture would be published in the the June edition (I'll buy one).

Other than the animals, there were a lot of other interesting things we learned. Million educated us a lot about his culture and his way of living. He showed us how to make a toothbrush and tooth paste from a tree (of which the name has escaped my memory at the moment). We all got to try brushing his way. The most fun thing was smoking the elephants dung. Apparently, elephants have a lousy digestive system. They eat a lot of herbs but very little of it actually disintegrated in their stomachs. So... we picked up an elephant dung that's been dried out by the sun, lighted it up, and inhaled the smoke through our mouths. They believe that this would help relieve fever. Everyone except my dad tried it. It's ironic because my dad is actually the only one in our group who actually smokes.

We also saw a lot of African wild orchids which apparently are crazy expensive, mainly because exports of this species are not permitted. And if you ever got lost around here, do not try to eat any fruits or vegetables you don't know. Actually... just don't touch anything. There are so many things that are poisonous. There's this one tree that has a very toxic sap, and if you burn it, inhaling the smoke could also kill you. Most of the trees here have some sort of defense mechanisms that work really really well.

I think I'll end here for the game experience. It's actually been a few days since we left Lion Sands, and I still have to blog about Cape Town and Winelands, so...

We left Kruger feeling very satisfied and educated. And we have taken about 5GB of photos in just two days.