May 12, 2019 - CAMELTHORN LODGE

May 12, 2019 - Mother’s Day! First off, HAPPY MOTHER’s DAY TO OUR MOMS! And also HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to Jennifer on her very first Mother’s Day!

Another early start as we set off at 6:30AM to find the cheetah Mom and Son who had been spotted near the area where we saw them on our first night here. Mama and baby (6 months old) were not sleeping about this time they were active and alert and the cub was super playful, boxing dried chunks of elephant dung, tackling his mother, and fetching sticks. After a bit Mom got up and started walking off in search of something to hunt and we followed along for about an hour until they disappeared into the brush. The pictures start out in the early morning flat light, then gradually she is in the golden morning sunlight. It is really rare to see a Cheetah up close and there are so few of them, so we felt very fortunate. “Sibs” our guide explained to that Cheetahs need to hunt in the open and not in the thick brush because they are actually more delicate than the bigger cats and many unexpected obstacles during a chase might cause a leg to snap or injuries due to the thorns. On the way out this morning we passed a small crew of men that are building a rhino compound, many acres, but they are trying to bring some rhino back into the area because they’ve been poached into near extinction. They hope to successfully raise them and if they lose a rhino for any reason during the first 5 years the government will never let them have another go at raising rhinos for this purpose. So they are taking it quite seriously. The government is finally taking poaching seriously as well and they are allowed to shoot an armed poacher on sight. If they are caught they are given harsh sentences of 6+ years depending on their offense, good news. So after the cheetah encounter we drove to a watering hole where later we would observe the elephants, but first we embarked on a walking safari. There were 6 of us plus two guides on either end of our line with loaded rifles. We were instructed to be quiet and to obey his hand signals if game was spotted, but most of all don’t scream! I tend to scream when frightened so was praying we didn’t have an aggressive encounter. Soon into our walk we came upon a herd of female elephants making their way to the watering hole in the opposite direction. The guide spotted them in the distance and quickly directed us off the path, crouching behind a tree. He said that because they were females with babies if the matriarch gave the word to charge us we’d be trampled. It was quite frightening but at the same time extraordinary to be so close to the herd out in the woods while they filed by us, thankfully not detecting our presence. Later we avoided more elephants also enroute to the water hole by changing our trajectory and giving them a wide berth. We walked for an hour and a half and really didn’t see much except we surprised one lone Cape buffalo in the brush who thankfully took off the other direction. We got back to our trucks and they had lunch set out for us and cold beers! Or gin and tonics, your choice. After a quick lunch we were ushered into the hideaway next to the water hole, which was basically a sunken cargo container with a viewing cutout that brought us to eye level with the elephants knees as they drank water. We were able to see them up really close looking up into their mouths and through their sea of legs. Yet another extraordinary experience. Now back at camp for a few hours, then we go out again tonight for a night drive with a spotlight to perhaps catch some of the nocturnal animals.