Yes we did see a whale shark!

I have been trying to capture a still image from the video to post but the camera is new and my software is old so the file type is incompatible. So eventually but not today.
Meanwhile, off we went in the zodiac boat on what was, mercifully, a relatively windfree and calm day. We stopped twice for small schools of bottlenose dolphins and I made the mistake of dropping into the water twice to try to see them and twice they ran away leaving me to have to haul myself (with help) back into the stupid boat.
Then we found the whale shark. So 16 people slide off the boat in front of it only to find that they have positioned us 'perfectly' in as much as the shark is running right at us. I scrambled just to get out of its way and then rushed to keep up with it. And just for the record they do NOT swim all that slowly. I was paddling my little heart out while trying all the while to keep my left wrist (with attached video camera) pointed at him.
I kept up as long as I could and then had to stop and wait for the boat to pick me up, gather other folks, and then drop us in again.
The second time I was not one of the first in the water so once I entered I started swimming to where they all were. It turn out the shark was by then ahead of them coming towards the boat so the guide hollered at me to look down. Crap! He was right under me. So more panic, more flailing and then I had to catch up to him again where he started swimming in circles so that everyone was trying to keep away from him and ended up running into each other instead.
So you are probably wondering where Michael was during all of this. Well for the most part I had absolutely no idea. In spite of my initial good intentions to stick with him, it was pretty much every man for himself down there. Miraculously, though, I did end up with video of Michael swimming towards me with the whale shark behind him. (Hence the need to be able to edit the video)
So when it was all over (including seeing two lazy humpback whales who ought not to still be around these parts) we were exhausted, nauseous, and absolutely covered with jellyfish stings (including one that smacked a tentacle across my upper lip); but we were victorious.
Pretty amazing.
Michael, Robin and Faye are content to check that experience off of their bucket lists. I may go again tomorrow just to see if I could relax and enjoy 'being in the moment' with a second pass. We'll see.
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Today we hunt for whale sharks

Yesterday we traveled from the Reserve to the airport and then flew to Mozambique. Why is it that the rest of the world feeds you on a 70 minute flight while in America you could starve going from NY to SF?
The immigration process in Inhambane was crazy, however. The forms were not handed out on the plane so suddenly 75 people are jammed into one small room filling them out and then trying to form ONE line through the crowd to get to the ONE guy working the desk with three different groups of people: those who didn't need Visas, those who got them ahead of time and the 10 or so of us who had to get them upon arrival.
Anyway, made it here to the resort. This is a simple, modest place but high-end for the area.
The beach is huge and the sand is so soft that it compresses under your feet with a squeaky crunchy feeling like walking in cornstarch.
Our first ocean safari is at 10:30. (Which is a nice change from 6a game drives) so 2 hours out in a zodiac in search of whale sharks (and dolphin and mantas and humpbacks but really whale sharks).
Fingers crossed.
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Last day in South Africa

Tomorrow morning we leave bright and early to head to Mozambique in search of the whale sharks.
Only one game drive today with the usual suspects. We will leave this time not having seen a leopard in the wild. We are obviously getting jaded because we've always had multiple sightings in shorter stays in the past. Then again we were flush with cheetahs sightings this time. And we had a great time hanging here with friends in Welgevonden.
Plus we can now attest to the fact that when it rains and the frogs come out on the road and the vehicle rolls over them in the dark it sounds rather like bubble wrap popping.
There's always something to learn.

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And a story

First thing yesterday we headed back to the lions assuming they would still be finishing off their wildebeest kill. The night before I had asked Jarine, the ranger, whether - looking rather full already - the lions would wait until they were really hungry again to kill again. She said that for now they would just stay with this kill and would only kill again if something was stupid enough to walk right in front of them.
Imagine our surprise then when we arrived at the site to find the wildebeest carcass abandoned and the lioness with one of the cubs gnawing away at a new carcass under a bush not 15 yards away from the first while the rest of the pride were nearly comatose under another tree!
Apparently, said second wildebeest had been stupid enough to walk right in front of them!
So there the lions slept all maximally engorged and stuporous like a bunch or Americans on Thanksgiving. I went through the pictures looking for comparison shots but they never stood up to show off their waistlines.
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baby giraffe

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baby waterbuck

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baby zebra

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A study in wee ones - Baby Rhino

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More rain on the plains

Our day was a lot like in soccer where 'something amazing almost happened'.
First of all, we went to a local zoo of sorts this morning. Not because we really wanted to see lions and leopards in cages (since that's really counter to the whole safari mentality) but mostly because they breed tigers and Jarine, our ranger now, spoke glowingly of their two bengal tiger cubs. They socialize their animals so we could pick up the cubs and hold them which is not something you get to do every day. So we took a break and drove over there. And the 'kittens' were cute and we got to pet leopards. Then in the afternoon when Jarine came for the game drive she told us that the lion pride we've been seeing was found feeding on a kill this morning (see why I NEVER skip a game drive!). It was a wildebeest , though, so they were still working on it. We would head over there to see them. On the way, however, we were going to be in for a treat. Her husband (who works on the reserve) was getting us front row seats, so to speak, for a rhino exam. A female rhino had brushed aside the attentions of a male rhino and been gored (not uncommon) so they were bringing in a helicopter and a vet to chase her to a clearing and dart her so they could assess her wounds. Pretty exciting opportunity made even more so by the fact that another thunderstorm was blowing in.
So off we went to Fig tree plain. Minutes later the helicopter arrived (a la M.A.S.H.), landed, tossed off its doors, took on an official, and took off flying around while four vehicles chased around in the blustery wind hoping to have a rhino barrelling towards us. But the vet decided that the rhino was not sufficiently injured to require medical attention so that was that. Good for the rhino. A bit of a let down for us.
But we were off to see the lions as the storm hit (now a la 'Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and the big blizzard that hit Christmas Town). The wind was whipping, lightning was crashing around us - vertically, horizontally, diagonally, everywhere) while we were bouncing in the open vehicle with our rain ponchos flapping. It was quite exciting. And the lions were just sitting in the rain fat and as happy as they could be under the circumstances. The cubs were gnawing on wildebeest bones and frolicking around and you couldn't help but be happy for them being happy. No pictures turned out cause it was too dark and raining but a great experience nonetheless.
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And a tiny creature

also putting on his finest colors in hopes of attracting a mate
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Spring is in the air

No comment
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Here is today's giraffe

The last one was a vertical composition. This one is diagonally aligned with the tree. Ooooh. Aaaaah.
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an oryx

And you don't see many of these around here.
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Boys night out

Went last night to find the two male lions sleeping under a tree a ways off the road. How the ranger spotted them, I don't know. He said when he passed by there was one foot up on the air and he saw the tail flick. This is the best photo we could get and then this guy plopped right back down again.
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And finally

Last night we saw a pride of lions. One young male (here), two females and four cubs lounging about at sundown right off the side of the road. We saw them again this morning but too far off for good photos. But we did get to watch the zebra catch sight of them and then the lions catch sight of the fact that the zebra had seen them and then the herd of wildebeest happened along and joined in the game of 'I can see you'.
The prey didn't leave but remained pointing at the resting lions apparently subscribing to the theory that a known evil is better than one in an unknown location.
Good times.
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And better poses from old friends

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And the under appreciated

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In the new category

Saw some less common creatures like this tsessebe and some eland further off.
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Get ready

We have now had new, exciting and or better sightings last night and this morning in addition to a great meal out in an enclosure on the plains last night on a beautiful, warm evening (after 108 degrees in the sun yesterday).
To start, this is the elephant sleeping below our balcony today.
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WATERBUCK HEAD

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HIPPO HEADS

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A study in heads

I don't want to imply that game viewing has been exceptionally difficult. No, I want to stress that game viewing has been exceptionally difficult. We have no idea where everything has gone. And to photo-illustrate the point, I am going to post three photos of just heads. I haven't cropped the rest of the animals out of the photos. What you see is what we got.
The waterbuck was in the reeds down by the river where he should be. The hippos were in the lake where they should be. But those three crazy cheetahs were cooling off in a trench under a tree on fig tree plane while warthogs milled all around completely unimpressed. (There is a pile of dung between the warthog and the cheetah heads, but those three equally spaced blobs in the forefront are the cheetahs' heads!)
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at our driveway

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pygmy kingfisher

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Slow days in the veld

It has been (in our limited experience but mirrored by our hosts frustration) pretty sparse game viewing. And very little chatter on the radio from other game vehicles throughout the park so it is not just us. The park is immense, though, (this photo is just a little bit in the southern part) and in the last year they added on another huge chunk. When that fence came down it gave the animals new places to go and things to see but there are no new roads for us to tag along. Perhaps that is where they are hiding.
Only mentioning new and different sightings, last night we saw two black-backed jackals and a little zebra maybe 2 or 3 days old.
The big elephant photo to follow was at the bottom of our driveway when we got home. And the pygmy kingfisher (also to follow) was spotted this morning.
We tried twice to see a hyena that was intermittently feeding off of an old rhino carcass but missed him both times.
Robin and Faye slept in this morning and got to see five elephants walk down the hill to visit the river in the valley below the lodge.
Hoping things pick up but it's still gorgeous weather, lovely driving, great food and tremendous fun.
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And our three cheetah friends

Were even lazying about this morning.
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The elusive cape buffalo

Quiet day. Could hardly fine the ubiquitous impala or warthogs. But did manage to track down the two Cape Buffalo. This one was quite obliging and gave us a nice pose.
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African Siesta

This morning we did something a little bit different. Rather than heading our at 6A for your standard 3 hour morning drive, we packed a lunch and left at 7A for what ended up being about 7 hours so that we could get all the way to the far side of the preserve to find the large family of elephants hanging out over there.
Stellar weather again. Lots of sightings along the way including a nursing rhino with the most pathetic little cry for such a big baby. Hopefully I got some video of it before my battery died.
Meanwhile, we found the elephants who were also quite obliging and walked across/along the road with us. And one stopped right beside us (well as close as you'd want an elephant beside you) to uncover some tuber root, break it in two with his foot and then only eat half of it so I suppose it wasn't that tasty after all.
Lovely light lunch out on the planes and then passed these two rhinos getting a bit of rest on our way back to do just the same.

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Ask and ye shall receive

We did finally arrive yesterday even ahead of schedule and managed to hit 4 green lights out of the 6 highway construction stops. So we got to Hlegamanzi in time for a game drive. Lovely evening. Saw some of the usual suspects warthogs, kudu, waterbuck, impala and a giraffe. But there was also a lion right by the east gate sitting on a kill - well mostly lying on a kill - so we could hardly make him out in the lion-colored grass. But he was there. And we went searching for three cheetahs. Joe, our ranger, saw them coming down the hill all the way across the valley. Faye and Jon claimed to see them too but I think they were just playing along. But Joe headed off to where he thought they might cross the road (as Melody requested that they should be agreeable and do just that). So we went down the road, turned around to head back and then heard monkeys chattering. So we turned around again and damn if I didn't see them in the grass and if they didn't just walk across the road in front of us.
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15 hours in Madrid

We are taking the leisurely route from Anguilla to Welgevonden Game Reserve. At least that is how we try to see it. For some of you this kind of travel only reinforces your conviction to stay home. But we do it coz free tickets don't typically allow for the most expeditious of itineraries.
Monday we took the ferry to SXM and then the plane to Miami. Spent the next 20 hours at the embassy suites before flying overnight COACH (clutch the pearls) to Madrid. Slept fitfully at best.
Arrived about 10A. Cleared immigration and customs. Stored our bags in the lockers. And then took the metro into Madrid. Just to get some fresh air and to stretch our legs. Recognized the area from our last trip here. Found our way easily. Saw a procession through the plaza (several different groups of horsemen, limos and a Cinderella like carriage went back and forth and back and forth. ) Cappuccino and jamon/queso bocadillos and a nice stroll and we were back here at the airport by 3P.
Bags, check in, immigration and to the Iberia VIP lounge. Nice enough lounge. Tried to take a nap in their beds but it's probably just as well we couldn't sleep right now. So showered and changed back into my new, perfect-for-overnight flights maxi dress and now just hanging.
Midnight departure (business class, thank you very much) will get us to JNB around 10A to meet up with Robin and Faye for the 3-1/2 hour transport to Welgevonden - likely just in time to dash out for a game drive.
It's a small-er world than it used to be but it's still not blink-of-an-eye travel. Nevertheless, next update from under the Southern Cross.
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