Little Tidbits

For the most part, these entries have captured the weekend trips, longer excursions, and non-work activities I engage in while on assignment down here. But, since I burned all my vacation days on trips when visitors came to see me, I find myself without new fun exciting adventures to talk about. For the time being at least.

However, as I’m about to be 75% of the way through my assignment and starting to think more about what’s going to be next for me, I thought it would be good to document some of the down and dirty about living in Johannesburg. There are some things I love, some things I find amusing, some things I could do without, and some things I down right hate.

Let’s start with some good stuff first, shall we?

What I love.

I love, love, love, my balcony. I cannot tell you how many spectacular sunsets, morning coffee musings, pleasant nightcaps, and awe-inspiring thunderstorms I have enjoyed from this spot. It’s largely why I picked this apartment. The city center is just west of my balcony, so the sun sets right over the city, allowing beautiful reflections and highlights to dance off the skyscrapers. I must have 100 sunset pictures on my phone from the balcony. The other nice thing is I am 11 floors up, so I can leave the balcony door open without worrying about anything but the occasional fly that sneaks in. 

 All from my balcony...

Sunset 1

Sunset 2

Sunset 3

Sunset 4

This one is just nuts! Still can't believe I got lightning and a rainbow in the same shot.. 

The storms here are something else.

Another thing I love about Johannesburg is the thriving local music scene. In many other countries I have lived in, you do get some good local artists mixed in with the global garbage pop (which unfortunately is largely American) that seems to be prevalent everywhere, but South Africa has more diversity in types of local music. Which I suppose, given that SA is more diverse than many other African countries anyway, makes sense. There’s a lot of infusion of different styles of music, spanning rock, hip hop, jazz and funk, and truly South Africa deep house music has very complex rhythms and melodies. I’ve enjoyed sampling different types of local music through festivals, radio, and outdoor markets. There’s one more festival I’m hoping to go to in May, and looking at the lineup, I have never heard of a single artist performing. But that’s half the fun.

One more activity I quite enjoy in Joburg is all of the different weekend markets. There are a lot of them, and all of them are a little different. Some are inside, some are outside, some of them are mainly geared towards food, others are more geared towards arts and crafts. I even went to a night market that was Halloween themed! But they’re all good fun.  

Outdoor farmer's market

Indoor farmer's market

Craft beer kiosk

Finally, the natural beauty in South Africa is just breathtaking. Both the landscape and the wildlife here are just incredible, and surprisingly varied. There are certain plants, for example, that are only found on the Cape Peninsula, and literally nowhere else in the world. I have greatly enjoyed traveling to different areas of South Africa and enjoying the scenery.

Hiking trail in Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve (south of Joburg)

Cape Peninsula

Cape Peninsula

Bourke's Luck Potholes in Blyde River

Beautiful cliffs in Waterval Boven

Kruger

I could do without this nonsense.

Given South Africa’s history, I definitely understand why this is a norm, but my goodness South African’s love to go on strike. I am signed up for international alerts on South Africa, and I swear I get at least one a week about some sector or group going on strike. Strikes tends to cause road closures and depending on who is striking, there are other mild irritations that arise. For example, when the sanitation workers went on strike, neighborhoods were covered in trash for the next few weeks. Or when the Gautrain workers (what we would call the metro) went on strike and the trains closed, the increase in road traffic was a nightmare for weeks. The union factory workers at our facility even went on strike one day last month as well, but they were picketing somewhere else with the rest of the union, not at our manufacturing plant. So fortunately, or maybe unfortunately? I didn’t get to experience a strike firsthand. Now, I understand that strikes are an important tool in society, and can push for equality and improvements, and ultimately can lead to sweeping positive changes, but can we please solve SOME of these smaller issues another way, South Africa? I’m talking to you, people in charge. Stop making the people strike.

Another annoyance I have, is the number of people who want to talk to me about Trump. Now, again, I like asking people about local politics too, so it’s only fair that what goes around comes around. But one of the nice things about being abroad to begin with is not being bombarded by Trumpiness all day every day thanks to the 24-hour news cycle in America. So, it’s not my favorite topic of conversation. For example, I had an intern start a conversation with me by saying, “Trump is the best President America has had because he solved the North Korea problem.” *insert big sigh here* Where do you go from there? In general, though, people in South Africa consider Trump a big buffoon and mostly find American politics these days rather funny. A lot of people here also watch the Daily Show, so that could be a contributor.

Something else I could do without – the hazard of driving in this city. There are so many trucks on the road that look like they have never been serviced in their entire existence, carrying precariously balanced loads. Drivers here are also quite aggressive with tailgating and will run riiiiight up behind to try and force you to move out of the way. It’s a bit dangerous. 

This looks precarious.. 

One final thing I could do with is the mall culture here, which is off the charts. Everything, from grocery stores to trampoline parks, are inside the mall. Every five feet, or sorry, meters, there is a mall. And that’s what people do most weekends – they go to the mall. I’ve been told that a big driver of the mall culture here is safety – because it’s much easier to secure a building than a city block. But, I’ve never been a big mall person, except maybe when I was 13 and there was literally nothing else to do, but even then, the novelty wore off quick. So, a city that’s entire existence revolves around the malls has not been the best fit for me.

What I hate.

Anyone who has been to visit me will know what’s going to appear number 1 on this list. Those. DAMN. Birds. that live outside my apartment. They are the more ANNOYING creature to ever walk this earth. I would literally take a room full of mosquitoes over a room full of these bozos. They are the loudest birds I have ever come across, and the noises they make are ungodly. It sounds like they are choking on a kazoo. Little sister helped give a name to their evil while she was here, and apparently, they are called the hadeda ibis. 

But I hate these birds. Hate them. They live on the roof right above my apartment as well as in the fields to the back of the building, and they wake me up constantly. Maybe I should organize a strike that will only cease once all these birds are exterminated…  

Imagine this 100x louder.. 

I'm not the only one who hates them either. Found this funny video of Pharrell... (beware of profanity though Grammy :D)...
Click here: https://twitter.com/thekiffness/status/1069636948803940353?lang=en

So traumatized by these effers...

There is also one spot I hate more than anywhere else in Joburg, and unfortunately, I have to drive through it five days a week. But it’s the Gosforth Toll Plaza, which I pass through on my way to work. South Africa recently implemented an electronic toll collection system, to mixed reviews, but in general the roads seems well maintained to me, so I think the system overall is working. There is a mix of ways to pay the toll, just like in the US (cash, card, or EZpass type device) HOWEVER, it is literally impossible to tell which lane you need to get into until its wayyyy too late, because the color scheme on the signage is horrendous. Which means, everyone gets in the wrong lane, and doesn’t realize it until they’re at the front, and inevitably they have to back up to get in another lane, causing a huge pile up, and delays. Imagine ten cars trying to all back up as more cars are coming up behind them, to let one car at the front try to back up and get in another, already crowded lane. 

Whoever decided to paint white letters on an orange background and grey letters on a navy background should be drawn and quartered. Imagine trying to make out those letters with the sun blinding you at the same time. Its asinine. 

Aggghhh, this is so irritating. 

Let’s end with some funny things. Because I really find these funny.

In terms of what I find amusing, there are a lot of silly South Africanism that never fail to make me smile. For one, they call traffic lights ‘robots’ which is just so much more fun than traffic light. Or stop light. Or any other name you would hear in America.

Another expression I love is ‘now now’ which in fact does not mean now at all. It’s like the two nows cancel each other out. So, if someone says they’ll see you now now, it essentially means see you later.

Bonnet and boot are also pretty amusing. No, those are not articles of clothing. Bonnet is the car hood, and boot is the trunk. You say trunk in South Africa and they think you’re talking about an elephant.

Also, if someone is sick, it means they have flu. It doesn’t matter what sickness it actually is – it could be a cold, an infection, or anything else – but it’s still called flu. I once brought up that flu was short for influenza, but my coworkers just laughed at me.

One more South Africanism that I see and hear everywhere is T’s and C’s apply. Which stands for terms and conditions. This phrase is everywhere, on promotions, radio ads, posters, menus... literally everywhere. We do this in America too, but the South African phrase is just much better. To be honest I don’t know why I find it so funny, but I do.

A few more funny phrases, then I swear I’ll move on. But two great ones are izzit and howzit. Izzit, or really “is it” but my spelling is more accurate, is used the same way we would say “oh really?” or “did you?” As in; Me: I’m going to kill all the hadedas in South Africa; Coworker: Izzit?! As for the other one, howzit is more of a greeting; a shortened version of, how is it? The response always be goodn’you?

I also find it pretty amusing that there is an American Indian themed restaurant chain here. I don’t know how or why, but here it is... 

Spur is everywhere!

One final thing I find funny is the go-away-bird. Yes, it’s literally called the go-away-bird. Because it the call it makes really sounds like its saying, “go away.” I first heard this bird in Kruger, but occasionally I will hear one out my window, or in the trees around the office. And I giggle every time. I was never quick enough with my phone to capture the go-away-bird call, but I found one on the internet if you want to hear it. Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qZDL3arvok

Looking forward to seeing everyone on my brief trip home in a few weeks! 

The Sister Excursions

Over the past two months, thanks to my numerous visitors, I have been lucky enough to see more beautiful places and do more exciting things in a very condensed timeframe. But, one especially exciting item I was finally able to check off my bucket list that had been sitting there for a while  was shark diving. It was definitely worth the wait, and only made possible by a visit from my delightful little sister, as our other companions on this trip were not so interested in the activity… can’t imagine why ;)

Shark Diving

South Africa is one of the best destinations for shark diving because of the high density and diversity of sharks off the southern coast, closer to Cape Town because the Atlantic ocean waters are cooler than those of the Indian ocean.

For the cage diving, we traveled to the small fishing town of Gansbaai, which is known for its high density of great white sharks, largely because of the cape fur seal and penguin colonies that serve as a convenient smorgasbord for the sharks. There are a number of cage diving operators in the area, and all are pretty strictly regulated to protect the sharks and ensure limited impact on the ocean’s ecosystem.

The Journey

Being the biologist that she is, little sister was quick to talk to the guides about the ethics of shark diving, to make sure we were not about to spend money on an activity that would negatively impact the sharks. We learned, however, that nearly all of the cage diving companies use the money from shark tourism for conservative, which serves as the biggest source of funding for these efforts. The guide also explained that chumming the water does not alter the behavior of sharks, as they’re not being fed, but rather the sharks are being lured by the scent of potential prey. The sharks are thus not attracted by the sounds of boats, which could be dangerous for the sharks, but they would only approach a boat because of the smell. He also added that because sharks are a big tourism draw, they have gotten increased governmental protection, which is a positive as well.

So with all of that in mind we departed for our shark excursion!

Setting off from Gansbaai, we took a little fishing boat a few miles off the coast towards what is known as shark alley – a strip of shallower water between two off shore islands where the seal colonies hang out, again, serving as a prime food source for the sharks. The waters are rather choppy, and riding in a smaller boat meant that once we anchored, the boat was constantly rocking back and forth.

Once we anchored, the guides lowered the cage over the side of the boat, and started to “chum” the water, which essentially means they were throwing fish guts overboard to use the smell of the dead fish to attract sharks to towards the cage. A funny byproduct of this activity is the attraction of seagulls, who come in large, obnoxious flocks to try and scoop the chum out of the water. Whenever I see huge hordes of seagulls like this, I am always struck by how much Pixar got it right in Finding Nemo (mine…mine….mine…)

Surrounded!

Anyway, we donned our wet suits, masks, and a weight draped around our necks to help us stay below water more easily, dodged the rain of seagull poop, and climbed down into the cage to begin viewing the sharks from below. It. Was. Awesome. The sharks swim so close to the cage that sometimes their tails even slap the side. You can even see their teeth as they swim by. At one point there were able 14 sharks swimming around us – unfortunately not great whites though – we saw mostly copper sharks. There was also a huuuuge stingray circling our cage as well.

Thank you, Dave, for the GoPro!

A few things I didn’t expect – you tend to get tossed around a bit in the cage. I am not prone to sea sickness, but there were a few moments where I definitely felt a wave of nausea from the constant waves rocking you into the boat. It’s also surprisingly hard to keep yourself under water. We eventually perfected a technique of pulling down on the bottom rail of the cage to keep ourselves underwater, but it was a challenge in the beginning. 

I also want to stress how utterly disgusting it is to be in water full of fish guts. They float by your face and cloud the water and get stuck in your hair.. it’s just all around revolting. But totally worth it in order to see the sharks! The other thing we learned is that underwater selfies in a snorkel mask is about the least flattering photo you could possibly take J

No fingers outside the cage

We like sharks!

Swimming on by

Sharky fin five!

Need..oxygen..

Unsurprisingly, we were the last ones remaining in the cage of the ten or so people that came out on the boat. We just couldn’t get enough. Eventually the cold got the better of us, and we climbed out of the cage, but we must have been in the water for the better part of an hour. You do get a pretty good view of the sharks from the boat as well though, as the guide has a chunk of fish on a line that he moves around in the water to keep the sharks engaged. We even saw one leap through the water at one point! But neither of us was quick enough with the camera to catch it.

Luring the shark towards the boat. 

Post shark viewing high.

Victoria Falls

The other adventure made possible by the visit from little sister was our 24 hour weekend getaway to Victoria Falls. We packed a lot into those 24 hours, including a guided tour of the falls, a sunset booze cruise on the Zambezi river, and an adrenaline filled swing or zip off the Zambian bridge over the falls (I’ll explain that later).

We stayed in the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, a sleepy little village right on the edge of the falls. Compared to South Africa, this area of Zimbabwe was more reminiscent of the places in West Africa I was familiar with. And while, yes, there is political unrest in Zimbabwe right now, residents of Victoria Falls like to say they are not part of the same country, and we did not feel any hint of the current turmoil.

As you would expect from a natural world wonder, the falls are simply spectacular. Just by happenstance, we were there at one of the best times for viewing - right at the beginning of the rainy season, meaning the water levels had picked up, but the water levels were not so high that the mist prevents you from seeing anything at all. Victoria Falls is not the tallest of widest waterfall in the world, but it is the world's largest in terms of volume of falling water, which leads to the constant spray.

An indication of the spray

There are 15 different vantage points to view the falls on the Zimbabwean side (as opposed to the Zambian side which we did not visit because who wants to pay for a visa every time you cross a border) and we walked along for about two hours appreciating the different views. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so more often than not we had a rainbow from each vantage point of the falls, because of the mist and sun and the wind. We learned the local name for the falls is Mosi-oa-Tunya—"The Smoke That Thunders" – which is a very appropriate name as there were a few different points we could barely see through the mist.

I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.

Pano of falls

One of the many rainbows

Guided jungle walk between vantage points

Rainbows rainbows everywhere

So majestic

We got soaked

Yet another rainbow

Still more rainbows

Sometimes we like each other :)

After the guided tour of the falls, we joined a group of tourists on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river, and this was an absolute highlight for us both. For me, because it was beautiful and relaxing, for Becky, because it was all you can drink… just kiddinggggg Bex… Really it was because this river cruise was a safari experience in itself. We saw tons of wildlife! But yes, there was lots of booze.

Our cruise vessel

Baboons on the riverbank

Cheeeeeeeers

Biggest croc I've ever seen

Cutie with the elephants

Elephants having a munch

Pod of grunty hippos

Gorgeous sunset

The next morning, we went back to the falls for a little adrenaline rush. I didn’t realize that Victoria Falls was such a hot spot for adventure sports – white water rafting, bungee jumping, ziplining, etc – all possible in this beautiful area. I chose to do the bridge swing = freefall for a few seconds before swinging out over the water. Becky chose to do the ziplining, which takes you from Zambia across the river to Zimbabwe. It was definitely nerve wracking! But ultimately a great way to conclude the trip.

Got the gear

Ziplining...

...like a boss

Freefaallllllling

That tiny spec is me...swinging away...

And the sun sets on another African adventure. All the more special because of how close to not happening this whole trip became. Thank you, RAD for making it happen.

Until the next one

How Lucky Am I?

I can’t believe it’s already 2019. My how time does fly. I was recently reminded by a friend that 2019 will be the ten year anniversary of the study abroad program we did in Niger – which was my very first trip to Africa. That program in Niger was a turning point for me, and kicked off my career in ways I am still benefiting from today, especially as here I am, once again, back in Africa.

However, unlike every other time I have lived in Africa, I was FINALLY able to get my parents to come visit!  No small feat I might add…

They arrived!

 But, after months of planning, they finally arrived to spend the holidays with me in South Africa! Saving me both the money and jet lag of flying home myself, and giving me the added bonus of being able to escape winter for another year!

I feel so lucky to have had my parents over the holidays.

This trip was very, very special for a number of reasons: 1) this was the first time I’ve been able to share my passion for Africa with my family directly through mutual experience; 2) this was my Dad’s very first trip to Africa (and he didn’t swear off coming back, I might add); and 3) my mother was able to come back to South Africa for the first time after living here as a teenager some 40 odd years ago, which was pretty meaningful for me to hear more in-depth about that experience.

We had a jam packed itinerary for the 10 days the spent here, spanning Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Kruger. And it’s a brutal journey to get here, so credit where credit is due – mom and dad were not dead on arrival, and seemed to adjust pretty quickly to the time zone, despite one sleepy episode on the bus in Soweto. But that’s understandable.

It would take too much time and space to recount the whole, amazing trip – but I wanted to share some highlights from each of the three locations we visited. First, Johannesburg.

Johannesburg

You may recall in an earlier entry, I talked about the Monkey and Elephant Sanctuary located about an hour North of Johannesburg. Well, the last time I visited the sanctuary, I only took part in the organized activities with the elephants, which, I’ll say, was just as fun the second time around. Even though my mom stole all of the elephant kisses.

Posing with the elephant

Matching elephant snot prints

But the real highlight for me this time was participating in the monkey tour the sanctuary had to offer – which was both interesting and hilarious. The sanctuary gets monkeys mostly from private individuals who thought it would be fun to have a pet monkey, only to realize that monkeys are clever, high-maintenance, and capable of significant damage – both to property and to humans. As a result, the sanctuary has a hodge-podge mix of primates, most of the which are not native to Africa, like the capuchin, which is found mostly in Central and South America. But, the sanctuary does have a few lemurs, which came to them because of habitat destruction in Madagascar.

Lemur... likes to move it move it

These clever little monkeys have these tours figured out though, and are not shy at all about crawling all over participants, looking for buried treasure in backpacks and pockets, or searching through hair to find tasty treats. One unlucky participant on our tour even had a monkey crawl down the back of his shirt to check out those back pockets, just to be extra sure that he didn’t miss anything of interest.

And while that was funny, my Dad’s reaction to the monkeys was even funnier. You can just tell how much he’s enjoying it…

Dad <3 monkey

Mom getting pick-pocketed

This poor kid... 

Mom being groomed

Another highlight from the Johannesburg portion of our trip was the tour we took of Soweto, which I had not done before. Soweto, which is an abbreviation for South Western Townships, is an urban area in Johannesburg created in the 1930’s when the white government first started separating residents by race. Black South Africans were forcibly moved out of other areas of the city and relocated to Soweto, and were only allowed to come into downtown Johannesburg for work, which had to be proved with registration papers.

Soweto is infused with South African history, as it was the backdrop for numerous violent conflicts during apartheid, and served as the base camp for the anti-apartheid movement. Nelson Mandela and many other freedom fighters lived in Soweto, and many died there as well. It’s a sobering experience to visit a place with such a relatively recent history of struggle and violence, and many of the remnants can still be seen – including bullet holes.

The tour touched on the history of Soweto, and took us to many of the historical landmarks. One of the most interesting was the Freedom Charter memorial – which displays the 10 core principles of the Freedom Charter carved in stone. The Charter was created by the African National Congress during the anti-apartheid movement to codify the freedoms the people were demanding of the government, many of which were integrated into the constitution of South Africa after apartheid ended. While not all of the Freedom Charter principles have been met in modern South Africa, the memorial serves as a reminder for what the people were fighting for, and should continue striving to uphold.

The freedom charter

A more sobering experience on the tour was the visit to the Hector Pieterson museum, which sits diagonally across the street from where Hector Pieterson, a 14 year old student at a nearby school, was murdered by the police during the 1976 Soweto Uprising, while waiting for his sister to leave school so they could walk home together. A photo taken a of fellow Soweto teenager carrying Hector’s lifeless body down the street was published around the world, and sparked international outrage that led to increased pressure and sanctions against the apartheid government, demonstrating the power of and the need to protect journalists… a lesson still very much relevant today…

Hector Pieterson memorial

Cape Town

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this city. It’s just so beautiful. So while I’d already been here twice, I did not mind going again. (And will still not mind going a fourth time when I get my second round of visitors next week…)

View of Table Mountain from our balcony

We did the Cape Peninsula tour – on an incredibly beautiful day – covering the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point, and the penguins at Boulder beach – but the new part of the tour for me was a harbor cruise to Seal Island, which as the name suggests, is overrun with seals. And when I say overrun, I mean an absolute infestation to the point of barely any surface area of this spit of land not being covered by seals. They are on all the rocks and in the surrounding waters, and I have no idea how our boat did not run them over, but somehow we didn’t.

Hout bay in the background

Penguin taunting...

Driving down the coast

Cape of Good Hope

SO many seals

Seal and seals and seals.

Another highlight from Cape Town was Christmas dinner, which was a lovely, gourmet three-course dinner at Groot Constantia, the oldest winery in the Southern Hemisphere. Founded in 1685, this winery is gorgeous, situated right behind Table Mountain, and produces many, many delicious wine. Our waiter, who was a hoot and a half, let us split glasses of wine into three glasses for a de facto tasting experience, as the tasting room was closed for Christmas.

The beautiful vineyards

Mmm..wine..

Our lovely table setting

Delicious food 

Fun side bar: our waiter told us he aspires to be the South African Eminem. So if anyone hears of a white Afrikaans rapper named Carlyle Black, that’s our guy. He played one of his tracks for us at the table, which he recorded himself at his home studio, and although I really know nothing about rap and how to judge quality, it sounded kinda catchy to me. So who knows?

Our last day in Cape Town we had poopy weather, which was a bummer, so we were not able to go up Table Mountain as planned. But, we made the best of the day and drove through the endless thick clouds for the fun of it, and visited an old fort on the outskirts of the city.

Mom and Dad hiding in the clouds

Kruger

Just like Cape Town, I think Kruger is a place I won’t get tired of… its only my wallet that’s getting tired of it ;)

Both visits I’ve made to the Kruger area thus far have been unique, in terms of lodging, animal sitings, and overall experience. The first trip, we stayed in a lodge outside of the park – but with my parents, we stayed in tents at a private game reserve within Kruger National Park, called Sabie Sands. Now the main reason we stayed there was lack of availability elsewhere, as December and January are peak season for safaris, but it was very fortuitous that it worked out that way for a number of reasons.

First, because it was peak safari season, the public part of Kruger would have been mobbed because they allow personal vehicles to drive through. Even when I was there is September, there were a number of cars to navigate around, and if animals were close to the road, sometimes we’d be stuck five or six cars back. Because Sabie Sands is private, no public vehicles are allowed, which meant at any given time we were one of five maximum vehicles driving around the park.

Second, in Sabie Sands, there are no paved roads and the safari vehicles are allowed to go off-road in certain circumstances, which would never be allowed in Kruger. This meant we were able to get very close to a lot of the animals we saw. Our guide even drove pretty deep into the bush to follow the leopard we came across, allowing us to watch her scale a tree and settle down to rest before the rains arrived. Unreal! I was able to get fairly close to certain animals my first time in Kruger, but in Sabie Sands we got close to pretty much everything – except for the big male rhino and elephant that might have charged had we gotten any closer. 

Adorable elephant baby

Tracker in training.. 

So close!

 Leopard scaling the tree

Smushy baby elephant butt :) 

And third, the Tydon Bush Camp, where we stayed, had only five tents on the property, which made for both a quiet and personalized experience, and the camp was literally in the middle of the park, so we had animals come right into our campground! Apparently a leopard had wandered through the night before we arrived, which was a bummer to miss, but while we were there, we had a few different types of antelope and some mischievous little monkeys pass by.

Campsite

My tent

So much fun

Safari crew!

The drawback, because there are always drawbacks, is that Sabie Sands is much smaller than Kruger, meaning we had fewer animals within the confines of where we could drive, and the animals tend to wander in and out of Sabie Sands and the Kruger area. However, despite the smaller size, we did see four out of the big five, missing only the lions, and we had an absolutely AMAZING encounter with the African wild dogs, which I had never seen before and are quite rare to come across. Our guide said he doesn’t see the dogs often and had not seen them for about six months, as they had gone to den with new puppies – so again, an extremely lucky find!

Wild dogs approaching the vehicles

We saw the wild dogs right after they had killed and devoured an impala, so by the time we arrived they were taking a snooze with full, satisfied bellies. (One of them even had hiccups!) They we lying quite close to the road, so we were able to see them up close and personal. Their coats are beautiful – a mix of colors and spots – and they have adorable big ears. The pack we saw was about 15 dogs, which was slightly larger than normal because the young adult pups were still with the pack. Interestingly, it’s actually the female dogs that will move to a new pack when they get older, rather than the males.

We circled back to the wild dogs later in the game drive, to find a hyena trying to sneak up on them to steal the remainder of the impala carcass. It was incredible to watch – and the hyena ended up using the safari vehicles for cover, first hiding behind our vehicle, and later hiding UNDER one of the other vehicles. The wild dogs surrounded the vehicles to investigate the hyena, and then, after I guess assessing that the hyena was not a real threat, made a game of letting her get close to the carcass, only to push her back into the trees. Our guide said that usually hyenas will dominate the wild dogs and easily steal their food, but because this hyena was alone, and a bit older, the dogs were not giving in. Interestingly, I thought hyenas would be towards the bottom of the food chain as scavengers, but apparently they are second only to male lions, and will intimidate and chase off lioness, leopards, and wild dogs.

African wild dogs

Hyena patiently waiting.

Wild dog hiccups

But after watching the wild dog and hyena interaction for a while, a chilly rain started and we were forced to head back to camp. So we don’t know if the poor hyena ever got her meal.

It was a fantastic trip, and a great way to close out 2018! Thank you to my parents for making the trek, and thank you to my siblings for sharing them over the holidays.

And to kick off 2019, in just one more week – I’ll get a new crop of visitors! So really, I am just the luckiest.  

Beautiful wildebeest sunset