One Last Day in the Bush . . .for Now

We woke early Wednesday, had another, quite hearty breakfast, then said our good-byes to Thaba Nwke, and our splendid host, Brent Anderson. After our good run of luck the previous day, we decided to return to Pilanesberg NP, as it was on the way back towards Pretoria. The park sits next to one of the top resort/entertainment areas in South Africa, Sun City, a sort of mini-Las Vegas, set back into the bush. It was the site of your braai the night before. As you can see, it is a bit of a surreal sight, as you come up onto it driving through the bush.

Upon entering the Pilanesberg, we chose the way opposite to what we'd driven the day before, with the primary mission to see some Cape Buffalo, and perhaps, a glimpse of lions, which are much harder to run across. The first view, and it was quite spectacular, was an entire herd of giraffe, over twenty animals, working their way across a ridge.

We had previously seen several giraffe, but it was always in a group of one, or two. To see an entire herd was, well, very Africa. Unfortunately the herd was quite spread out and wasn't able to get more than a few in the frame at a time, so imagine five or six more to both the left and right in this photo....

Another of the animal, one which I'd always wanted to hunt in a different context, was waterbuck. These are quite striking animals to me, and we came across a small group next to, fancy this, a waterhole. These specimens weren't exceptional from a trophy standpoint, but they do have a distinctive look I find quite unique, particularly the distinctive white ring around their rumps.

We also ran across a number of impala, which the locals jokingly refer to as "McDonald's",  because they're everywhere, just like the golden arches. This particular impala ram was a very nice specimen from a trophy standpoint, and from his attentiveness, you can tell they are quite wary.

But the kings of wary among the plains antelope may well be the kudu. Kudu bulls are often called 'grey ghosts', and these animals, which weigh over 600 pounds, can seemingly vanish in the blink of an eye. One of my priorities was to try and get good photos of a trophy class kudu bull, and this one (not quite a true trophy, where the horns would curl over 50 inches) almost seemed embarrassed when I snuck up on him in the open and broad daylight.

The remainder of the day's highlights were coming across several small groups of elephants, and watching them feed, which is quite a destructive process, is a bit awe-inspiring. This little guy, a mere grade school-age elephant, was less awesome than cute.

Later we came upon a solitary bull, the scene of which, as does the herd of giraffes, just says Africa. This old elephant was much like an elderly man, moving at his own pace, slowly and deliberately. The days of hurrying for this one are long since gone.

All in all, this last day out prior to the start of the World Cup was another special day. Neil has been an excellent travel organizer, and he confessed to having enjoyed getting out of the city, and into the bush, possibly even more than I. From my perspective, am not sure that is possible.

Thursday brings media duties, securing the FIFA credential I'm approved to receive, checking out the Loftus Stadium SMC (Stadium Media Centre), and getting a few last-minute errands taken care of before soccer consumes the next two weeks. While the start of the tournament is great news, as it is the purpose for being here, we have also peaked ahead on the schedule, and there just may be another 3-4 day window in the tournament's knockout phase, when another bush outing would be doable.

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