The Lyin' Sleeps Tonight

The challenge my friend, Kait, suggested for this blog post title was to use a pun.  Again, this was the best I could come up with.  I guess I'm not very good at this.  However, it is an original (as far as I know) so there is that.

The morning after I arrived in Botswana, I planned to try to go across the border into South Africa to visit the Madikwe Game Reserve.  Admittedly I hadn't done much research so all I knew was that it was an underrated park where visitors have a chance to see the Big Five (elephants, leopards, lions, buffalo and rhinos) without dealing with all the crowds at the larger and more popular Kruger National Park near the Mozambique border.  I had originally wanted to go to Kruger, but then I realized how far away it was from Johannesburg and decided this was the next best thing.  In retrospect, I should have gotten more information before I left, though it all worked out in the end.

Since I didn't want to use the same cab driver as the day before, I asked the woman at the guesthouse where I was staying to call the driver she normally used.  The taxi arrived and I explained that I wanted to go to Madikwe and from there on to Johannesburg.  The driver didn't think that there were any public buses that stopped at the park, but he had another possible solution.  Since the park was only about 20 kilometers from downtown Gaborone, he could arrange for someone to drop me off there and then pick me up later in the day once I had finished my visit.  He couldn't do it himself because his passport had expired and thus he couldn't drive over the border.  We went to the bus station and made arrangements for me to get a ride with another driver there.  It was agreed upon that I would call the original guy back when I was ready to return to Botswana.  That's because it turned out I was going to have to go back across the border in order to get a bus to Johannesburg.

Everything went smoothly as we drove to the border and passed through immigration.  Beyond the border, it was only another five to ten minute drive to get to the park entrance.  That's where I hit a bit of a setback.  When we got to the gate, the unnecessarily rude ranger who was working there, curtly informed me that Madikwe was actually a private park and the only way I would be able to get in was if I had a reservation for a game drive with one of the park's lodges.  I, of course, had no such reservation so she gave me the number for one of the lodges and using the driver's cell phone, I put in a call.  The woman at the main reservation center told me that there was space on the evening drive, which started at around 4:00pm and cost the equivalent of about $100, including lunch.  At that point it was just after 11:00am so I would have had a few hours to kill if I just booked the drive.  I decided to ask her how much it would be to spend the night.  She told me the price was normally the equivalent of about $400, including all meals and an evening and morning game drive, but she would give me a discount of 50%.  Even $200 was way outside my normal budget for one night's accommodation, but since it was only $100 more than the single game drive and I would get two drives plus the room and board, I decided to book it as a splurge.  The $400 rate was also normally per person for double occupancy so I really did get an amazing deal.  I guess for once it paid to not plan ahead since with the lodge being at low occupancy they were willing to take whatever they could get to book out another room.

Once we finally gained access to the park, it took another ten minutes or so to get to the lodge since we had to drive down narrow, winding dirt roads.  When I finally got to the Buffalo Ridge Safari Lodge, though, it was like I was entering a jungle oasis.  The lodge is the only one in South Africa that is own wholly by the local community, which made it even more special.  As I checked in at the open air lanai, staff members brought me a glass of orange juice and then helped to carry my bags to my personal chalet with its own viewing deck and king-size bed.  This was definitely the nicest place I had stayed in hotel-wise on this trip and perhaps ever in my life!  I totally felt like queen for a day even though I was paying a cut-rate price.

I quickly returned to the pauper's life, however, by spending the rest of the morning and early afternoon emptying out my backpack and hand washing some clothes that were in desperate need of a cleaning.  I hung the clothes outside to dry on my deck, though I did fear their possible theft at the hands of local baboons as one of the staff members mentioned the sticky-fingered apes might be in the neighborhood.  After finishing my laundry, I went to go sit out by the pool for a short time before lunch was served.  The two-course meal was delicious and it was so nice to eat in an open dining room that overlooked the bush spread out before us.  When I finished my lunch, I went to the lodge office to send a few e-mails from the computer and then went back to my room to bundle up for that evening's safari.

Half an hour before we left on the drive, the lodge served tea and sweets in the dining room.  I then joined 15-year-old Nikki, her older brother and parents --  South Africans now living in Australia -- and an older German couple along with our guide in the Jeep.  I had a front row seat next to the two teenagers.  We took off down the road and first encountered some zebras and kudu, which look a bit like large deer.  The next discovery was much more exciting -- three large elephants eating in the brush.  That morning the South African family had seen a pack of wild dogs and a pride of lions eating an elephant carcass so they were keen to instead see some buffalo.  On our hunt for buffalo (an animal I have a hard time mustering too much enthusiasm for being from America) we passed a rhinoceros off in the distance as well as several giraffes.  Soon enough we came upon a huge herd of buffalo moving across the plains.  As our guide was radioing to other drivers to alert them to the location, the South African family (seasoned safari vets) noticed a poisonous mambo snake slinking under the car.  When the deadly snake didn't come out the other side, the dad started to fear that it had climbed up into the Jeep's engine where it was warm.  Luckily, when the guide pulled the Jeep forward, the mambo was coiled up in the grass and we were able to drive off.

Our next stop was the site of the elephant feeding from earlier in the day.  It was a bit of a distance so the guide took off pell mell through the bush shouting out warnings to watch out for the tree branches, which were nearly impossible to avoid.  Along the way we saw more zebras, giraffes, kudu and impalas.  By the time we reached the feeding ground it was already starting to get dark and we had to wait for another tour group to clear the area before we could move in ourselves.  We finally got our chance and I got my first glimpse of a lion in the wild.  A mother lioness was lying down resting with her cubs and a few other adult lions that were hidden under the bushes nearby.  We could see the smelly carcass, but there wasn't much eating going on as the big cats appeared to be too sleepy.  Our driver got as close as he good to the lioness until it started to get too dark to see much of anything.  As we were driving away, however, we got a quick glimpse of a hyena lurking around in the shadows waiting for his chance to move in on the decaying corpse.

We were supposed to stop at sundown for cocktails and snacks, but since we were rushing to see the lions, we had to wait until after dark to have our drink break.  By the time were driving back to the lodge, it was too dark to see much of anything, though our guide did shine a big flashlight back and forth trying to catch a glimpse of something.  His efforts paid off as we briefly spotted a small mammal -- perhaps a pole cat -- darting out alongside the Jeep.  When we returned to the lodge at about 7:30pm, we sat right down to a three-course dinner and the South African family graciously invited me to join them at their table so I wouldn't have to sit all alone.  It was then off to bed early as we had to be up at 5:00am to get ready for the morning drive.

Before taking off in the Jeep the next morning, we were served tea, coffee and rusks (the South African equivalent of biscotti) in the main lodge.  Just as with the day before when the sun went down, it was quite chilly until the sun rose so we all bundled up and covered ourselves in blankets.  The morning started off slowly with just some sightings of impala, kudu and guinea fowl.  Then we hit the big cat jackpot.  On coming upon a watering hole we first sighted a jackal running at a bit of a distance and then tucked away in a clearing, a whole pride of lions.  There were three or four lionesses and another three or four cubs, one of whom was heartbreakingly playing with a plastic soda bottle.  Outside of the clearing, lay two adult male lions who most likely were brothers.  At first they were just resting, but eventually they got up and one of them walked to the watering hole to get a drink.  Several zebras were also in the area, not initially noticing the presence of the lions.  However, the lions didn't seem all too interested in pursuing them for a snack.  After several other groups arrived and we'd had our fill of the big cats, we went off to have our mid-safari tea and rusk break.  As we ate and drank, a group of wildebeests roamed about nearby.

Soon it was time to head back to the lodge since we were way over on the other side of the park.  There were more sightings of zebras, giraffes and impalas, but nothing else too exciting or different.  The elusive leopard eluded us, but otherwise we saw four of the Big Five between the two days, which in my mind, at least, added up to a successful safari.  I did feel bad for the South African family since in all of their many game drives they had yet to see a leopard.  They stayed at the lodge an extra day or so after me so perhaps they did get lucky.

After a nice breakfast out on the main lodge deck, it was time to pack my things and get ready to go.  The South African dad had offered to drive me to the Botswana border since my driver from Gaborone couldn't get across.  After walking back over, the driver met me going through immigration.  He dropped me to the bus station and it was right back to South Africa I headed!