Giraffe falls into an open cesspool…Amazing video!…

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Last night, when Tom showed me this video he’d seen on Facebook, I knew the moment I saw it, we needed to share it here today. Peter and Mary Craig-Cooper, the people who took this video, are popular photographers in Marloth Park whose photos and videos we’ve enjoyed over the past year. All other photos shown today are those we’ve taken.

The story that unfolds in the video is fascinating, leaving the viewer holding their breath while attempts are made to rescue this huge male, with their weight information listed below:

“Male giraffes are 16-18 feet (4.8-5.5 m) tall; females are 14-16 feet (4.2-4.8 m) tall. Males can weigh up to 4,200 pounds (1,900 kg), and females weigh up to 2,600 pounds (1,180 kg).”
It’s easy to take giraffes for granted when we always see them roaming around Marloth Park all the time. But these enormous animals are genuinely fascinating. Here are some facts about giraffes from this site:
“With such a massive body, it makes sense that the giraffes’ organs and other body parts are equally massive. Their tongues are a substantial 21 inches (53 centimeters) long, and their feet are 12 inches (30.5 cm) across. According to the San Diego Zoo, a giraffe’s heart is 2 feet (0.6 m) long and weighs about 25 lbs. (11 kg). Their lungs can hold 12 gallons (55 liters) of air. In comparison, the average total lung capacity for a human is 1.59 gallons (6 liters).
Mom appeared to want to show her offspring how to drink from the river.

Habitat

Giraffes live in savannas throughout Africa. They like semi-arid, open woodlands with scattered trees and bushes, making the savannas perfect for these animals. According to the World Atlas, the tall creatures are native to Kenya, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Uganda, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Angola, and South Africa.

Habits

Giraffes are so social that they don’t have territories. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a group of giraffes is aptly called a tower. Towers typically have 10 to 20 members. Who lives in the tower can vary. Some towers consist of all females and young, or all-male or mixed genders. According to the Animal Diversity Web, members are free to come and go as they please.

Giraffes only sleep around 20 minutes or less per day, according to PBS Nature. They usually get their sleep in quick power naps that last just a couple of minutes. Staying awake most of the time allows them to be constantly on alert for predators.

Every giraffe has two hair-covered horns called ossicones. Male giraffes use their horns to fight with one another playfully. They also spar by swinging their heads at one another and entwining their necks, called “necking.” [Images: Animals’ Dazzling Headgear]

Down they went, in an awkward pose, to drink from the river.

Diet

Giraffes are herbivores, which means they eat only plants. According to National Geographic, they can eat hundreds of pounds of leaves per week. Their long necks allow them to reach leaves, seeds, fruits, buds, and branches high up in mimosa and acacia trees.

Though these animals eat a lot, giraffes can go without drinking for weeks at a time. They get most of their moisture from the vegetation they eat.

Offspring

As in cattle, female giraffes are called cows, while the males are called bulls. After mating, the cow will have a gestation period of around 14 months. Baby giraffes are called calves. The calf will drop to the ground during birth since mother giraffes give birth standing up. According to National Geographic, the fall can be as far as 5 feet (1.5 m).

According to the San Diego Zoo, new calves are quite large, at 6 feet tall (1.8 m), 100 to 150 lbs. (45 to 68 kg). They are also agile. They can stand up and walk around just an hour after birth. Giraffe mothers often take turns watching over the calves. Sometimes, though, the mother giraffe will leave the calf by itself. When this happens, the infant will lie down and wait for its mother to return.

This lovely girl (determined by the hair on her ossicones) posed for a face shot.

According to the University of Michigan, calves are weaned at around 12 months. At 3 to 6 years old, calves are fully mature. The animals can live 10 to 15 years in the wild and 20 to 25 years in captivity.

Other facts

You will often see giraffes walking around with birds on their backs. These birds are called tick birds or oxpecker birds (Buphagus africanus). They eat bugs that live in the giraffe’s coat and alert the animals to danger by chirping loudly.

Even if you spent a lot of time with giraffes, you would never hear them make a noise. This is because giraffes communicate using noises that are too low for humans to hear, according to PBS Nature.

This giraffe had five oxpeckers on its hide.

Thanks to their long legs, giraffes are very fast. According to National Geographic, they can run 35 mph (56 km/h) in short bursts and run for longer stretches at ten mph (16 km/h).

Giraffes are even-toed ungulates, which means they have two weight-bearing hooves on each foot and are in the order Artiodactyla, which also includes antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep, caribou, moose, hippos, and pigs.”

Each time we encounter a giraffe, whether it’s in Marloth Park, Kruger National Park, or other wildlife parks in Africa that we’ve visited in the past over nine years, we are always in awe of their beauty, their gentle gait, their size, and their uniqueness. We are blessed to live among them!

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, February 2, 2021:

Farmers and sellers were offering produce at an open market in Komatipoort, the village where we shop. For more photos, please click here.

Beware snakes in Marloth Park…Another snake bite here in the park…

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Not our photo. Last Thursday, this photo of a Mozambique Spitting Cobra was taken by Juan’s Reptile Rescue here in Marloth Park when he rescued it from a local woman’s home who was bitten inside her house.

There is never a time we can relax about snakes when living in the bush in South Africa, although they are seldom seen during the cooler winter months. Now, in mid-summer, snakes who roam the bush searching for food in the warmer season can be found anywhere. Nowhere is safe from snakes with their ability to slither their way up any set of steps, railings, sides, and interiors of structures of any type.

Regardless of how diligent we may believe we are, a snake like this, a Mozambique Spitting Cobra (or many other venomous snakes) with whom we had a close encounter in 2014, as described and shown in this post, can appear anywhere, at any time, especially during the summer months. These particular snakes can spray venom and bite, but those attacks aren’t necessarily fatal, although, under certain circumstances, they can be.

Our second snake encounter was in January 2021, described and shown in this post, with a boomslang, one of the most dangerous snakes in Africa. A bite from these bright green snakes is fatal if untreated with antivenom within a few hours of being bitten.

Piglets suckling from Tail-Less Mom.

Snakes are seen during daylight hours and at night when it’s easy to step on a snake when walking indoors or outdoors accidentally. In the case of the main photo snake, the Mozambique Spitting Cobra, the snake bit the woman on her toe when she got something out of her refrigerator. Fortunately, Juan, a young expert snake handler here in Marloth Park, found at his Facebook page here came to her rescue. She didn’t require medical care in this particular case.

But that wouldn’t be the case with many snakes in Marloth Park, such as the Black Mamba, Puff Adder, and others, as described in this article here.

So, what is a person to do to avoid being bitten? There are numerous reliable websites dedicated to this topic, such as this one here, relative to snakes in South Africa, but it can also apply to snake bites in other countries. We certainly are no experts, but the one aspect and precaution we follow is to always be on the alert. We both wear closed-toe shoes and wear them in the house and outdoors.

In no time at all, piglets learn to search for pellets.

Our days of walking around on bare feet are long over. Plus, we watch where we walk, both indoors and outdoors. Whenever we walk under shrubs or trees, we check the surrounding ground and up in the tree to ensure no snakes are lurking there.

One night in 2018, when we began walking up the steps to Jabula, people nearby alerted us to a venomous snake slithering along the stairway railing. We immediately backed down, and in minutes Juan was there to remove the snake. That taught us an invaluable lesson to be on alert near stairs, railings, and any structures when we’re out and about, in a business, or visiting friends at their homes.

I now have the habit of saying, each time we walk out the door, “Watch for snakes!”  I never fail to say this when we are outdoors, even going back and forth to the car in our driveway or when going in and out of restaurants and businesses, at any time of the day or night. One can never be too cautious.

There were actually ten warthogs in the garden when I took this photo.

It’s our lives we are talking about. And, if you live in an area where there are snakes, it’s your life too.

Stay safe while enjoying your surroundings.

Photo from one year ago today, January 27, 2021:

The waterbuck is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus Kobus of the family Bovidae. Irish naturalist William Ogilby first described it in 1833. The thirteen subspecies are grouped under the common or Ellipsiprymnus waterbuck and the Defassa waterbuck. Please, visitors and locals, stay away from the fence while waterbucks are on the wrong side of the rising river. They are easily stressed and frightened and could become injured in a rush to escape from humans. For more photos, please click here.

Here again, perfection is not possible…

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    •  It was good to see Broken Horn this morning after he’d had a busy weekend.

Today’s post is #3445. It’s hard for me to grasp how many posts we’ve done over the almost ten years we had been posting, beginning on March 15, 2012. I’m sure I’ll mention this ten-year mark again on the anniversary date. We sure are into anniversaries, most good, some not so good.

As I look back at some of our old posts each day, I see that many have lost the corrections I made after working on them for over a year. I can think of why this happens because our site is so large with this many posts and stuff happening.

When I encounter old posts with errors, I correct them. But, I have no interest in starting to do corrections all over again. So be it. It’s the nature of the beasts, and due to my commitment to attempt perfection, I am OK with this decision. Also, as political correctness has changed in the past ten years, I may have said something that I’d be more mindful of saying today in an attempt to avoid offending any group, individual, culture, or religion.

Tom reads what I’ve written moments after uploading a new post each day. He searched for typos I missed and any comments that could potentially offend anyone. Although not an expert in spelling and grammar, he is excellent in this capacity, and without his diligence, we’d have many more errors than we do.

The app he uses to pick up errors is different than mine and thus, he often finds five or six other misspelled words or typos. It would be easy for a person to be somewhat defensive under these circumstances of being corrected every day. But, long ago, I decided not to become defensive when he pointed out the errors. I allow him to nitpick.

He has quite a memory for dates where I remember places, people, and things. As he discovers each issue, I promptly make the corrections. After his app picks up errors, he then reads the entire post and photo captions, searching for any statements I may have made that might not be correct or may be inappropriate. Combined, we strive to be complete and accurate.

As for our dull and mundane days and nights…that’s another aspect of “the nature of the beast.” This is particularly the case during the past two years of the pandemic when we haven’t been able to be as mobile as we’d have preferred. There’s no way we would have spent an additional ten months in India, nor was our intention to spend over a year in South Africa this time around.

Vusi and Zef just washed the rental car inside and out. We prefer to give them the money for the cost of a carwash rather than pay the local carwash at the little shopping center. Soon, Tom will leave for Nelspruit to return the car. We are returning it one day late.

The car rental company called on my phone this morning inquiring as to when we’d be returning the car. I explained that we tried to phone the rental car company to inform them that the car would be delivered one day late, but there was no cell service over the weekend, nor was I able to get a connection on Skype. That happens sometimes.

After all, TIA (“This is Africa”) and services don’t always work as one would hope or expect. Tom should be back by three to four hours after he leaves, depending on traffic both ways. With many trucks on the highway and road construction that’s been going on for years, it’s difficult to predict when he’ll return. Plus, it takes a while at the Budget counter at the airport to process the two-month rental we need.

I stay working on dinner, my walking, and a few projects around the house, and we’ll be back with you tomorrow. Of course, I’ll be spending plenty of time checking out who’s in the garden and may need some pellets and attention. Otherwise, this will be a quiet day.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 24, 2021:*

*With no power and WiFi one year ago, we’ve included this photo from this date in 2013 while we were onboard the Celebrity Equinox, having a fantastic time!

Pastry Chef Xavier and Jess. He was determined to make me a special dessert. We shared “foodie” tidbits! And, he did so to perfection—what a wonderful experience. Gee, I wish I still had that dress and wrap. For more photos, please click here.

Fantastic evening in Kruger National Park with friends…Rhino, hyena, lions and more…

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Safari luck prevailed! It will take several days to post the many photos we took while in Kruger National Park on last night’s guided game drive with Rita (her birthday celebration), Gerhard, Petra, Fritz, Louise, Danie, and the two of us. We had the safari vehicle exclusively for our group only and dinner in the bush later on.

Our guide took this group photo of the eight of us.

I took the above video in error while I fast and furiously tried to take photos in the near dark without using any flash since using a camera’s flash is not allowed at night in the park. The flash can blind particular creatures, if not frighten them. We were in their space, not ours.

OK, I get it; a photo of a lion pooping is not necessarily worthy of posting. But, in the dark, in the moving vehicle, this was the best photo I could get of this lion.

As a result, the above video is all over the place. But I couldn’t help but share it with all of you when it included the dehorned rhino, hyena, and one of two lions we spotted in the dark. Also, some of our photos are not as clear as we’d like since many of the photos were taken in the dark, often in the moving vehicle. I’m not a good enough photographer to combat these issues. I did the best I could.

Hyenas are not always seen on a game drive. This one walked past us without giving it much of a thought.

With the eight of us in the safari vehicle with our highly competent guide and his significant other in the front seat, the conversation among us was fun and exciting as we saw more and more stunning wildlife. Our excellent guide, Xander van der Merwe, went over the top to provide us with an excellent experience, and he did. He’s highly skilled and knowledgeable, and the more experienced animal enthusiasts in our group learned a few things from him.

The two male lions were on the road at night in the dark.

If you are coming to or in this area, please don’t hesitate to give Xander a call for an experience such as ours. He will happily arrange an evening to be your guide and enjoy the dinner in the bush. He can be reached at +27 079 061 9995 or by email at xandervdmerwe14@gmail.com.

We waited for the rhino to turn around.

As it turned out, we saw four of the Big Five, but we weren’t disappointed to accomplish this common goal, as we mentioned many times. Sure, it would have been nice to see a leopard, but we saw many exciting and rarely seen wildlife. We couldn’t have been more content.

Finally, he turned, and I was able to get a shot of him, revealing he had been dehorned.

After stopping many times for various sightings on the evening drive, we didn’t arrive at the dining boma until around 8:00 pm, 2000 hrs, instead of the intended hour earlier. The fire was roaring, the tables were nicely set, and the buffet was set up with various options.

Quickly, he wandered off.

We gathered near the bonfire for exciting conversations over our special game drive. Firstly, wine and beer were served, and although all of us were hungry, we didn’t cut ourselves short on “sundowner time.” I drank regular red wine instead of my usual low alcohol wine but monitored myself carefully to avoid drinking too much. Tom drank beer.

Rita and I were standing under the sign.

Before dinner, the servers announced they were serving “champagne,” actually sparkling wine, to celebrate Rita’s birthday. We all raised a glass to her in tribute to her 60th birthday. After drinks and more photo-taking, we were seated at the table with our plate filled with good food. There were plenty of meats and vegetables available for me, while I avoided the starchy sides and dessert.

A beautiful sky at sunset.

Finally, we were on our way back to Louise’s and Danie’s Info Centre parking lot. We all hugged goodbye, delighted over extraordinary memories we’ll all treasure in years to come.

Enjoy our photos, and know there will be many more in the days to come.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 15, 2021:

We posted this photo one year ago. Mom, now called Tail-less Mom, with Barbara and Lori when they were piglets. Now full-grown, they visit us every day with Tail-less Mom and her two new piglets. For more photos, please click here.

New visitors to the garden appear on trail cam photos!!!…

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Definitely, not as clear as we’d like. We were thrilled to see these two Meller’s Mongoose on the trail cam last night.

We had a relatively quiet day upon returning from Royal Kruger Lodge, where we slept on Saturday night after a pipe broke in the bathroom and flooded the house. The house was back in order. I’d already done the laundry the previous day, and nothing more than writing a new post, making dinner, and continuing with my exercise routine was required of me.

It was on my mind that we needed to go to Louise‘s office early in the morning to get clearer scanned copies of our passports and visa stamped pages from when we returned from Zambia in October with our current visas good until January 23, 2022. Now, the law firm has all of the necessary documents to begin processing our extensions. We wait.

When an application for an extension is submitted, the approval won’t be tendered until after the original visa extension dates have expired. We have to stay in the country until the approval comes through, or we’ll become “undesirables” if we leave earlier.

In other words, if the approval doesn’t come in until we need to leave for our April 8th cruise, we won’t have the benefit of the extension and will be banned from South Africa for five years. We don’t want that to happen. The usual processing time using a lawyer is under 60 days. On our own, it could easily have been much longer.

Immigration offices are poorly staffed right now due to the pandemic. It was worth paying the US $983, ZAR 15,366 for the legal fees. It is several thousand dollars less than we’d have paid to fly somewhere.

It is hard to get perfect shots from the trail cam, but we’d never been able to see these two Meller’s Mongoose in the garden without it.

If our transatlantic cruise on Celebrity Cruise Line is canceled, we’ll have no choice but to leave around April 23, when the new visa extensions expire. We can only wait and see what happens. Many cruises are canceling now, and ours could soon be on the chopping block.

We’d love to embark on this cruise, but the news isn’t promising. Instead, we’re keeping a positive attitude and loosely considering our options if we can’t sail away. No, we aren’t worried. This pandemic is now in its third year, and we’ve managed to figure out what to do, time after time.

We finally got our refund from Delta Airlines on the flight they canceled for what would have been our trip to friend Karen and Rich’s wedding, upcoming, on February 11. We’re disappointed we couldn’t attend the wedding but being stuck in a two-week quarantine in a hotel in Florida was particularly unappealing to us.

And yet there was no other way to fully provide peace of mind to the wedding party with us coming from South Africa. There are nearly 1,000,000 new cases a day in the US, and the misconception is that South Africa is worse. It is not. Now, 95% of all cases are the less dangerous Omicron variant. But, even if a bride or groom ended up with the cold-like symptoms, typical with Omicron, it could put quite a damper on their wedding. We understood the concern and chose to stay away.

Instead, this week we’re content in Marloth Park as always. It’s Rita’s 60th birthday week, and many fun activities are planned to which we’re included. Today, they are in Johannesburg, picking up Rita’s sister Petra and her husband, Fritz, from the airport, arriving from Germany and staying with them for a few weeks.

They will all be staying at the Khaya Umdani house starting today. On Wednesday, we’re going to that house for a dinner party celebrating Rita and Gerhard’s one-year US citizenship anniversary. On Friday, on the actual day of Rita’s birthday, we’re going on a night game drive with a guide into Kruger National Park, ending with a dinner in the bush, in the dark, with the wild animals surrounding us.  Then on Saturday evening, the six of us will head to Jabula for dinner.

Next week, we’ll invite the four of them for dinner at our house. It will be a fun and busy time. We’re happy to have an active social life with dear friends once again.

Vusi is here now cleaning the house, and we’re sitting at the table on the veranda as usual. Stingy is here along with Imposter Little, but we had many more animals a short time ago.  More and more holidaymakers are leaving the park after the school holidays have ended. Soon, we’ll see many more wildlife visitors, and I’ll be able to take more photos that have been sparse over the long holiday season.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 10, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #291. An owl we spotted in Kanha National Park in India. For more photos, please click here.

Marloth Park has suffered a sad loss of a beloved animal…

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Not our photo. Fluffy, male, and Dezi at the Impala Dam on January 15, 2021.

After a good night’s sleep, I awoke this morning at 7:30 and began my day by checking out the world news, my email, messages on Messenger, text, and WhatsApp, and finally checking out the most recent new posts on Facebook as I always do. I love knowing what’s going on in the world. I also listen to podcasts when getting ready for the day. But more on that later in this post.

When I read the following post this morning that popped up on Facebook, it brought tears to my eyes. Not only was it beautifully written and heart-wrenching, it was sensitive to the reality that few of us in Marloth Park had ever seen Dezi, but that didn’t mean we didn’t love her.

Many nights, we’ve sat on the veranda and listened to hers, and Fluffy’s roar permeates the air. Last night, the roars we heard must have only been Fluffy’s since, by then, Dezi was no more.

Please read the following unedited, beautiful tributes to her and her sad passing.

May be an image of big cat and nature
Not our photo. Fluffy and Dezi at the water’s edge in Lionspruit.

“✝️A TRIBUTE TO QUEEN DEZI ✝️ by Gerrie Camacho.

The roar from the Lionspruit lioness, also known as Dezi, will no longer be heard as she has spent her last night under the Lowveld skies. As of last night, she will no longer join her mate of the past 16 plus years in the always familiar duet of lion vocalization, claiming Lionspruit as their territory. She was a quiet legend and was most probably one of the oldest wild living lionesses but at the age of twenty years had to quit the African bush life.

Few people were privileged to spend time with her, many were lucky to see her, and most owners and visitors had the regular privilege to hear her at night time. After her radio collar transmitted from the same area for the past few days, it was pertinent to go find her on foot in an area too dense to enter with a vehicle.

She was hardly responding to any stimuli of the sound of humans and paid no attention to our approach on foot. A winding pathway was established from the nearest road to approach her by vehicle. Here she was darted and taken to a workable area where she was examined by Doc Peet.

We can only pay tribute to this female who kept a fighting spirit to survive until the last minute. Doc Peet who has been serving the Marloth community voluntarily and diligently over the past couple of years had the sad task to let her pass on as humanely as possible. This task could have been performed more easily, but he chose to help her out of this life with as much dignity as possible. Thank you to all those involved in finding her. Thank you Doc Peet for the professional, compassionate and respectful manner you once again showed while working with this magnificent beast in her last moments under the Lionspruit skies. R.I.P. Dezi!❤️“

Also, on Facebook was the following message further explaining her passing:

It is a sad day indeed for all of us who love our own Lionspruit lions.
Yesterday we lost Dezi. It has been a long week of hoping against hope that she would recover from age-related injuries that she recently suffered whilst still living her best lion life. But unfortunately, she was losing ground day by day. Dezi indeed lived to a great age for a lion.
We would like to thank Doctor Peet Venter for his caring, professional input. He concluded yesterday that Dezi was suffering, and it was time to let her go. Thank you also to Gerrie Camacho from MTPA, the Marloth Park Field Rangers, and the Honorary Rangers for this last day of care. A special thank you to Joce Gordon for the time-intensive monitoring, especially over the last few weeks.
Genie Retief, Chief Honorary Ranger.”
May be an image of big cat and nature
Not our photo. Another gorgeous photo of Dezi.

It is amazing that those of us who love wildlife can feel so deeply for an animal they’ve only heard but never seen. That’s the magic of living in Africa, or anywhere there is free-roaming wildlife. We fall in love with their beauty, uniqueness, and mystery, although we were never able to get too close to her or ever see her at all.

If we are so touched by the sound of a lion, living only meters away from Lionspruit, which abuts our holiday home in the rear, it is easy to understand how connected we become with the animals we see almost every day, who look into our eyes, with trust and interest and depend on us, in the leanest times, to toss some sustenance their way.

Soon, the holidaymakers who came to the park for the Christmas and New Year season will be leaving to return to their homes in other parts of South Africa and, for some, other parts of the world. When they are gone, the vast numbers of animals that routinely visit us will return to us in abundance.

Now, with the rich vegetation for the wildlife to eat after weeks of rain, they no longer need much in the way of pellets. And yet, day by day, they return, much to our joy and appreciation. Sure, we still toss a few pellets their way, the same way you’d offer your dog or cat an occasional treat, knowing with or without this offering, you are still loved, still important in their lives.

In the future, the lion roars we hear at night will only be those of Fluffy and, of course, the remaining five lions currently residing in our presence.

The holiday has ended, but our hope for the future is only just beginning. May the New Year bring all of us peace of mind and comfort.

Photo from one year ago today, January 3, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #284. Festival in the street in India. “Meena Sankranti is an important Hindu festival observed on the auspicious occasion of the sun’s transition from Pisces to Aries. Known as Meena Sankramanam in South India, the festival will be celebrated on March 14 (Saturday), 2020, all over India. Celebrating a Sankranti is often marked with the donation of various things. According to specific personal needs, the people celebrate the event at the onset of every month. Some Indian states like Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala observe the occasion at the beginning of each month. In contrast, states like West Bengal celebrate the festival during the latter half of the month.” For more photos, please click here.

Dinner on the veranda with friends during a sizzling hot night…Escalated lion warnings…

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Thirsty after eating pellets, piglets needed a drink from mom.

Last night’s dinner was easy to make when Rita and Gerhard came for dinner, which was decided on New Year’s eve when they surprised us at Flo and JiJi’s party as described in yesterday’s post, which is found here, in case you missed it. We had already planned a lovely New Year’s day dinner for the two of us, and in our usual manner, we had plenty for two more. We had enough for six more, so we’ll be eating leftovers for the next few days.

I’m thrilled I won’t have to cook for a few days with this awful heat and humidity. Last evening when we were situated at the veranda table with Rita and Gerhard, starting at 3:00 pm, while the meat cooked on the braai, it was so hot and humid, the sweat was pouring off each of us.

Moms and piglets stop by several times each day.

I had a few last-minute items to prepare that required the use of the oven. Rita sat on the barstool in the kitchen while I worked on the food, giving us a chance to catch up on some “girl talk” while Tom and Gerhard chatted outdoors. We often talked about how much we miss Kathy and Don, who are back in Hawaii, and how we wish they could be with us.

We made a plan to meet at Two Trees on Tuesday for sundowners and river viewing. Afterward, we may go out to dinner or each return to our respective bush houses for the remainder of the evening.

Poor mom with no tail.

But, the four of us will stay busy together this summer in Africa, frequently sharing our wildlife sightings and stories that come our way. Every Friday night, the four of us will go to Jabula, sit at the bar for drinks and later move to a table on the veranda for dinner. All of this is reminiscent of old times we shared beginning in 2018 when they first came to Marloth Park, again a couple who came here to this wildlife paradise after reading our posts for years. Little did we know, the four of us would become fast friends.

We introduced them to our friends living here before the onset of Covid-19, and again, typical for Marloth Park, magic happens, and social circles grow. Neither of us has ever lived anywhere where it is easy to make new friends. In our old lives, we socialized with the same wonderful long-term friends year after year, rarely including someone new in the “inner circle.”

This is the mom who lost her tail. She is the mom of Barbara and Lori and the set of two piglets. Poor girl, she also lost one of her latest piglets in the past few weeks. Check out her perfect tusks.

But, as I often say, there is something special about the commonality visitors and residents of Marloth Park possess, a passion for nature and wildlife that has a way of bringing people together. It may be true that those who love nature and wildlife have a different perspective of life, a passion that is unlike any other we’ve encountered along the way. We are very grateful to have met so many amazing people, many of whom have become dear friends.

This is our boy, One Tusk. His singular tusk is larger than any tusks we’ve seen on any other warthog.

As for the most recent comments about the lions possibly having returned to Kruger, it’s not the case. Here’s the latest post from Facebook that popped up last night:

“‼️CARNIVORE ALERT‼️
1st and 2nd January 2022
The Carnivore Team has released a warning that the three young lions have been spotted at 16h30, and they are highly mobile and hunting!
A very urgent alert for tonight in the following area: The whole block of Swartwitpens to Seekoei and tomorrow morning from Hardekool to Soenie an urgent alert for joggers and cyclists to be cautious along the fence!
Please do not allow children in these areas period as the lions could be anywhere! 😳
Unfortunately, the warnings are not taken seriously! The onus is on everyone to adhere to the alerts and warn others of the dangers.
Should you spot the lions, phone any one of the following numbers:
Rangers 082 802 5894
CPF/ Nadine 082 672 4545 Gerrie Camacho 082 353 9097,
Ernst Röhm /MTPA 083 626 6309,
April Lukhele: 082 807 1057. Jan Koekemoer 063 053 7601.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding – Carnivore Team, Rangers, MTPA, CPF, Security, and the Vet.”
Broken Horn has been digging in the mud based on his dirty face.
No doubt, this means the lions are still here in Marloth Park, although this time the warning was issued they are closer to us, now under 2 kilometers, 1.2 miles from us. Of course, for our concerned family and friends, we want to assure you we are safe. We don’t go out onto the roads on foot, and we proceed with extreme caution when going to and from the car to the house.

That’s it for today, folks. We hope you have a safe and enjoyable start to the New Year.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 2, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #283. This kind man, Mr. Ganapthay of Cholan Art Village, made the experience of visiting his nine-generation family’s bronzing business all the more special to both of us. For more, please click here.

Exciting lion story in Marloth Park and Lionspruit…Exercising caution in many ways…

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Marloth Park has a dedicated group of individuals who volunteer their time and efforts to preserve the flora and fauna of the Marloth Park Conservancy. They are known as Honorary Rangers, and over the years, we’ve come to know and admire several of those special people.

Yesterday, on Facebook, a post was uploaded by an Honorary Ranger that we found to be of particular interest. We are sharing that story today but leaving out the names of the rangers for their privacy. Instead, we’ll insert their initials in place of their names.

May be an image of big cat and outdoors
Not our photo. This photo of Fluffy (male) was posted on the Honorary Ranger’s story on Facebook.

It’s important to preface the following story with a description of Lionspruit, a game reserve located within the borders of Marloth Park. From this site, Lionspruit is described as follows on this screenshot. Please zoom in for more detail.

As it turns out, the rear line of our holiday home borders Lionspruit. We can often hear the two lions, Dezi and Fluffy, often roar at night. On occasion, during the day when lions usually sleep, we’ll listen to a roar. It’s music to our ears. Being so close to their habitat has only added to the joy of living in this property during the past 11 months.

Thus, yesterday, when we spotted the following story on Facebook, it was thrilling. Living in close proximity to the animals in our garden, let alone those at a short distance, had been, by far, the most exciting aspect of our world travels over the past nine years.

“There has been lots of excitement about Kruger lions entering Marloth recently, but we in HR are so pleased that our own JG witnessed the most thrilling moment of all. It seems a just reward for her dedication to the wellbeing of our lions. Here is the Facebook story as told by the Honorary Rangers:

FLUFFY RULES HIS DOMAIN!

On December 8th, RD and I were privileged to see Fluffy in attack mode for the first time in all the years that we have monitored the health and activities of our Lionspruit lions.

We were parked on a track next to the fence, quietly waiting, when the drama suddenly unfolded, and we had to hastily put up our windows! A strange lion burst into view, racing straight towards us, with Fluffy and Dezi in hot pursuit.
Fluffy was on the attack against one of the young Kruger males who dared to enter his domain. It was gratifying to see the young male flee, having experienced the wrath of our magnificent lion. Fluffy followed up with some impressive roaring, ensuring the interloper continued to run.
Both lions are in good condition for their ages. Since the incident, they continue to patrol the fences – to make sure those Kruger upstarts do not get ideas about coming back again!

(The somewhat fuzzy photos of Fluffy are proof of the sudden excitement and being taken by R. through the windscreen!).”

When the park is packed with holidaymakers seeking the ultimate excitement and experience in Marloth Park during the busy holiday season, they couldn’t ask for more. With the two prides of lions recently sighted in Marloth Park who have entered via the fence between Marloth Park and Kruger National Park, locals and tourists must exercise extreme caution.

Everyone has been advised not to drive to the areas where the lions have been sighted and avoid making any lion sounds to attract them. Doing so could be life-threatening.

The usual children riding bikes and playing on dirt roads are dangerous and foolhardy during this time. We can only hope that parents will keep their children from being out of the safety of the holiday homes without close adult supervision. With curfews in place before dawn and after dark, we hope everyone will be safe.

Lions roam at night in search of food. Nighttime walks are forbidden and are surely “looking for trouble.” Why anyone would even consider being on foot at night is not only against the rules of the park but is totally careless and also inconsiderate of the lions. If one were to attack a human, it would be euthanized without a doubt. The goal is to get the lions back into Kruger National Park ultimately.

Dezi and Fluffy are busy protecting their habitat, as indicated above in the story, as they constantly peruse the fences/border to ensure no other lions enter their space. We’re listening carefully for the sounds of any of the lions.

Last night we didn’t go to Janula, as mentioned in yesterday’s post. They had a group of 18 coming to the bar at 5:00 om, 1700 hrs, the time we usually arrive. We didn’t want to be exposed to so many people who may be infected with Omicron, which is taking over South Africa as Delta wafts away.

Instead, tonight, we’ll give it a try but will remain mindful of those near us.

Have a safe and healthy holiday weekend.

Photo from one year ago today, December 18, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago today while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #270. This photo is from our post on this date in 2017 while sailing on the Celebrity Infinity along the coast of South America and dining in the fantastic specialty restaurant, Qsine. For more photos, please click here.

Shockingly cool today at 66F, 19C, a welcomed relief…Smart pigs…Wildebeest newborn photos…

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Please zoom in to see newborn wildebeests with umbilical cords still hanging, indicating they were born most recently.

What a refreshing break after weeks of sweltering temperatures! Even Frank and The Misses feathers were all fluffed up when they arrived at the screen door, wondering when they’d get some seeds. I jumped up from the sofa in the lounge room and immediately placed the little container filled with seeds onto the veranda floor.

We can’t leave the seeds out since warthogs, bushbucks and kudus will come onto the veranda and wipe out the container. Each day, we bring them indoors when Frank is done, returning them to the usual spot when Frank and The Misses stand at the door, looking inside for us.

Wildebeest is nursing her newborn. Female wildebeests have horns, as do the males.

They are less afraid of me than they are of Tom. When I go out with the seeds, they barely move until I set them down. They step back or even off the veranda when Tom does this until he sets them down. It’s incredible how the wildlife can determine our gender by looking at us. Most animals will stay in place while I offer pellets, while many step back when Tom does so.

The exception to that is the bushbucks. They feel safe around Tom much more than me. This may be because he arises earlier than me and may spend two additional hours each early morning greeting them before I come outdoors. Then, of course, there are the warthogs, and they are more welcoming to me than Tom. Even Little steps back when he sees Tom but not when he sees me.

The newborn wastes no time in beginning to suckle.

Undoubtedly, Little’s reaction to Tom may be warranted when he doesn’t talk to them in a high-pitched loving voice as I do. He isn’t a big fan of warthogs when they chase away the various species of antelope when pellets are around. Animals have a keen sense of who likes them and who doesn’t.

Although we have about a dozen helmeted guinea fowl that live in and around our garden, we don’t have any relationship with them. They don’t seem too bright, never make eye contact, and don’t respond to our voices. However, they come out of the bush when they’re nearby when they hear me calling warthogs. They’ve learned that my animated voice means pellets which they swallow whole. I guess a certain degree of intellect is required to make that association.

There were two moms with newborns, both with umbilical cords still attached.

Of course, my love of warthogs is entirely based on their intellect and responsiveness. Considered the fifth most intelligent land animal on the planet, smarter than dogs, it’s no wonder I am frequently talking and interacting with them. They do respond, no less so and perhaps more, than your dog would when you interact with them.

Besides the usual “sit, stay, and heel.” When they came indoors on a rainy, muddy, or snowy day, they even learned to “wipe their feet, get a treat!” It was hard to believe unless you saw them do this and dozens of other behaviors they learned.

For a moment, based on this photo, we wondered if this mom did, in fact, have twins, which is quite unusual for blu wildebeests.

Of course, in today’s world with YouTube and social media, we see videos of dogs performing various actions that leave us in awe with our mouths agape. Is it any wonder that as a dog lover I’d be immensely attracted to pigs (thus, warthogs) while we revel in the joys of bush living?

No, I don’t try to teach warthogs “tricks.” But, I find it easy to impact their behavior simply by tossing pellets and talking to them while looking into their beady little eyes. The connection with them is palpable.

Mom was quite protective of her newborn, preventing us from clear shots. Finally, we hurried off to see what else we could find.

There are thousands of websites that provide detailed information on the intellect of pigs, including warthogs. I won’t bore you with those links. But, perhaps these observations may make it clearer to our readers why I am so attached to the warthogs in Marloth Park.

We’re off to Komatipoort to the Spar Market to grocery shop. Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard is bare, but we won’t be buying much with all of the power outages. As it turns out, we won’t go to Jabula until tomorrow evening. They have a group of 18 who will be hanging around the bar before they’re eventually seated for dinner. Dawn knew we wouldn’t want to be in such proximity to other people, so she let us know. We changed our reservation for Saturday evening.

Have a great day!

Photo from one year ago today, December 17, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #269. Most of the town is centered around seaport enterprises. For more photos, please click here.

Lions still in Marloth Park…Flights, canceling to and from South Africa…What shall we do?

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When Melissa Grobler of Dubai, currently staying in  Marloth Park with her mom, a resident, captured these lion photos, this morning we were enthralled. Melissa managed to witness this fantastic sighting of one of the female lions known to roam the streets of Marloth Park.

Finally, this morning, photos were taken of one of the lions that have been spotted in Marloth Park over the past few months and subsequently, posted on Facebook. These are the first photos we’ve seen of the lions. I contacted the photographer, Melissa Grobler, who is currently staying in the park for a few months, visiting her mom, a resident, asking if we could use her photos. She was thrilled to share.

After all the comments we’ve read about numerous sightings since the lions were originally spotted, with no supporting photos, we began to wonder if these elusive carnivore beasts were actually staying here. Often, at night, humans perceive certain animals to be roaming the bush, other than those we see regularly, At times, at night, we’ve often thought we’ve seen something when perhaps the light and the night tricked our eyes.

Melissa did this drawing to outline the shape of the lion she spotted in the bush.

In this day and age, with the advent of rampant cellphone and camera use, we longed to see an actual photo of a lion in the park. It’s not that we doubted their existence here, especially when, in this day and age, rangers and many locals have spotted them, over and over again. But, as they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words” and Melissa hit the jackpot this morning.

So, for all the naysayers, here are some good photos of the lions, keeping in mind they don’t care to be around humans and may be extremely poor subjects when hiding in the bush, and mostly making appearances at night in the dark when they are on the hunt for their next meal. Obviously, the pickings are good in Marloth Park with so many animals a part of this unusual wildlife conservancy,

You may have to squint your eyes to see the lion in this photo.

On to other matters…This morning at 6:00 am, I received an email from Expedia, that our flight from Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger to Tampa, Florida had been canceled by Delta Airlines. Apparently, Delta isn’t interested in flying to and from South Africa, in light of Omicron, the newest Covid-19 variant.

Although, so far, reports are showing this variant is no more lethal than other variants, a worldwide panic ensued and many countries locked their borders to South Africa as well as airlines suspending flights. In this prior post, we commented how we’ve canceled our plans to attend our dear friends, Karen and Rich’s wedding in Florida on February 11th.

We were sad and disappointed to be missing this event, which after the wedding, we’d planned to stay in Florida for an upcoming cruise sailing out of Fort Lauderdale on April 8, 2022. After a month-long stay with Karen and Rich at their oceanfront home, we’d also planned to spend time driving through Florida, visiting friends that have relocated to various oceanside areas in the warm weather state.

It’s been a thrill to see these photos. We can only thank Melissa for capturing these photos.

With everyone’s justified concerns about Omicron, we won’t be seeing our friends after all. If the trans-Atlantic cruise actually sails, we’ll come to Florida two weeks earlier and self-quarantine, not seeing any of our friends during this period. From there, we’ll board the cruise. But, by the end of March, new rules may be in place about mandatory quarantine for anyone arriving from South Africa, whether US citizens or not. Only time will tell.

When we decided to cancel our trip to the wedding, we left our flight, departing on January 22, 2022, in place. With Delta, we had until the end of December to move the flight to a different ending point and date without penalty. A few days ago, when I’d made a to-do list on this post, it included moving this flight. Now, this has been taken care of by Delta canceling the flight and offering us a full refund.

This morning after receiving the email, I requested a refund for the flight and we’ll book our exit out of here when we know more. Is the cruise going to sail in April? Will there be flights out of South Africa by then? What will we do about our visas expiring on January 24th? This all remains to be seen.

In the interim, we’ll be contacting all of our friends in Florida, telling them not to worry about being near us since we won’t be seeing them after all. Our biggest concern beyond that is what we’ll do about our expiring visas in January? We may have no choice but to return to Zambia for another short stay and another visa stamp. Will immigration allow us to make this trip once again? Or, will President Cyril Ramaphosa issue another visa extension for foreign nationals based on this Omicron situation?

Only time will tell. In the interim, we will stay positive and aren’t as worried as one may think. We’ll continue to enjoy our time in the bush and see how it all rolls out.

Today, we’re reveling in the lion photos and the excitement each day of wildlife visiting our garden.

Happy day!

Photo from one year ago today, December 8, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #260. We were with friends Lisa and Barry, enjoying one last night together on the ship in a private sitting in the wine room. For more photos, please click here.