Game Drive Fun

Exploring the bush with Victor and Andre was loads of fun. Every morning we did the game walk and every evening we did the game drive. After my Bokdrolspoegkompetisie, I was thinking that it would be hard to make our bush explorations more interesting. Boy was I wrong.

The weather had been fantastic for our entire time in South Africa. Then on the second night at Thula Thula, the tropical rain moved in. We headed out on our game drive on day 2 with threatening clouds overhead. I think we all sort of ignored the potential for rain because we were very excited to have some more bush adventures.

Every time you left the tented camp, there was this overhanging air of danger present. It wasn’t that you saw dangerous things everywhere or you heard creepy sounds. It was more of a mood really. Victor and Andre did their best to build the suspense and give you a sense that you could be trampled or eaten at any moment…but you weren’t supposed to be scared. One minute they were assuring us that we were completely safe and they wouldn’t let anything happen and the next minute they were building the excitement by giving you a feeling that danger was lurking just around the next bush.

This feeling of suspense is enhanced as you drive through a gate out of the tented camp with an electric wire strung about 12 feet off the ground. When you see a fence wire 12 feet high, you can’t help but ponder the size of the beast it’s meant to keep out. In this case, they were repelling elephants and giraffe with the high wire. Every time we went under that wire, I got the feeling we were entering a wild frontier where I went from being the hunter to the hunted. Never mind the fact that there were no animals on the reservation that were less scared of me than I was of them.

As we headed out under the threatening skies, we headed north to see if we could catch a glimpse of the Rhinos. One of the 2 rhinos at Thula was sick and the woman that introduced them to the park was spending significant time around them. She was not that keen on us spending time around them, but we were hoping for a drive by anyway.

Suddenly we came to a creek crossing. The water was not that deep, but the banks were eroded away quite a bit from the previous storms. It was obvious to me that they don’t do a lot of road maintenance on the dirt trails had been using. As we approached the stream, Andre stopped and engaged 4-wheel drive low on the transaxle. He lined up the Land Cruiser, revved the engine and launched us into the water. The truck lurched one way and back to the other before coming to rest with the front bumper firmly lodged on the far bank as the truck leaned heavily to the left. He tried to reverse, but the truck was not going anywhere. We were stuck in the middle of the stream, unable to go forward or back.

At this point, everyone was thinking the same thing. It was a mix between “I hope we don’t get eaten on the long walk back to camp” and “If we all have to run from a savage beast, which one of you is the slowest?” I was immediately reminded of the movies where the group gets out of the vehicle in some strange situation and not everyone gets back in. I was hoping that the imagined danger was far worse than the real danger.

We all jumped from the truck to the shore and assessed the situation. There was some chin scratching and some discussion, and it was determined that several of us would hang off one side of the truck (to keep it from turning over) while others would push from the front. Several guys jumped on the right side, while Wayne and I pushed from the front. Andre worked the throttle and we rocked the truck in unison. Slowly the truck started to reverse its course. Suddenly the front broke free and headed back up the far bank as Wayne and I avoided taking a bath in the creek.

Andre took aim again and surged across the stream again. This time the truck climbed out of the water and up the trail just as planned. We cheered as he climbed the hill to pick up those that had abandoned ship. I know for a fact that we were all hoping there was another way home.

Not long after our creek adventure, we came across the jeep of Alison, the rhino attendant. She waved and asked us to move along so we wouldn’t disturb her giants. We obliged and headed over the top of the hill. Just as we crested the top, we came face to face with a herd of Zebra. (By the way, you have to pronounce Zebra with a “eh” instead of an “ee”. No African says Z-ee-bra. It’s always Z-eh-bra.) Seeing them up close was a real treat, because they didn’t scatter like the times before. They were standing their ground feeding on the grass on the edge of the road.

Andre stopped the truck and shut off the engine, and we sat there snapping photos and discussing zebra facts with our experts. Then some Kudu ran through the scene between us and the zebras. It was really great to see the animals wandering around through the bush. Suddenly, Andre stood up and looked behind us. We all immediately followed suit. Much to our surprise, the rhinos had come out on the road and were bringing up the rear. Alison was signaling for us to go away, and Andre was taking her seriously. He announced that we had 15 seconds to take our photos and we’d be underway.

We continued along the road towards the pond that contained some crocodiles. We had been told that one of the crocs had killed a zebra and they were feeding on it. As we approached the pond, it started to rain. Not a heavy rain, but a slight drizzle. Andre stopped the truck next to some huge bones. They explained that this was the resting place of the famous elephant that was shot in the “Elephant Whisperer”. He also said that they had scattered Lawrence Anthony’s ashes on the sight as well. It was a somber moment as we sat there in the rain reflecting on the beauty of what we were seeing.

Eventually, we worked out way around the pond to the floating zebra. There was a croc lurking in the water right near the corpse. Believe me, I can understand why the zebra met its end at the watering hole. When a croc wants to be invisible, you can’t see him. It was a little spooky seeing the eyes floating on the surface near a rotting, half eaten zebra. I was thrilled as this was the sort of “wild life” I had hoped to see in Africa.

The guys did indeed find a new way home, and we avoided the difficult water crossing on our return trip. It started getting dark and I was amazed at how much more exposed I felt when the sun went down. It was hard to see anything outside the truck’s headlights, and I was pleased that the guys new the way home. We rolled into camp drenched but invigorated by the adventure. A little rain couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm for what we had experienced at Thula Thula. It truly was amazing to see the animals in their own neighborhood.