November 22, 2021

 

Shingwedzi Camp, 1410

 

Sitting at table on deck in Shingwedzi. It’s a cool, overcast, humid day. Birds are making a racket around camp and there seems to be a buzz of activity. Unlike Mopani, this camp is laid out in a couple of large circles with many bungalows and decks facing a large open area, bare of anything except trees. Lots of trees. Yesterday remained overcast and the drizzle never let up, eventually leading to steady and sometimes heavy rain last night. But this morning was cool, not cold, with a heavy overcast all day. There were a couple of points during the day when the sun started to break through the clouds but whoever oversees overall cloudiness got on it and repaired the holes and quickly brought back the gloom. But at least no rain.

 

Got up early and headed north, taking the S56 toward the Babalala water hole.  Babalala is where leopard sightings have been reported over the past two days. Each camp has a ‘Sightings Board’ where guests can put color coded magnetic squares indicating where they’ve seen which of the big mammals - lions, leopards, wild dogs, elephants, etc. Generally, I don’t pay a lot of attention to the boards because, a) animals move so what was seen yesterday is not necessarily an indicator that you’ll see them today, and, b) I assume I’m not the only person around who’s too lazy to take the trouble to indicate where they’ve seen what. But they can be helpful in some circumstances, especially with lions. If lions kill a large prey animal (buffalo, or giraffe for example), they will stay at the kill for 2 or 3 days, resting, gorging themselves, and protecting the kill from hyenas and vultures. So, if lions are seen in an area for a couple of days, it may be a good indication that they have a kill there and that they may stick around. Leopards may also stick around, but their prey are smaller, and I don’t think they’d typically stick around that long.

 

But, what the hell. Even if a leopard is in the area, you are not going to see it unless it decides that it doesn’t mind. It’s all a needle in the haystack, but what other plan do I have?

 

And the fact is that the S56 is just a gorgeous drive along the Shingwedzi River. I’m embarrassed that I don’t know more about trees, but the trees along rivers in the Park are stunning. And this is one of the best birding spots in Africa. Though I’m not a twitcher, I fell down the rabbit hole of trying to photograph birds.

 

So, first, birds are jerks, and I’d say that if you don’t have enough frustration in your life, take up bird photography and you’ll never have an angst-free moment, ever again. Seriously. Here’s the deal. Birds are used to vehicles slowly traveling up and down these narrow unpaved roads and they carry on as normal. But you don’t get to be an adult anything out in the bush without being extremely observant and wary. So, yes, they’ve seen lots of grey Volkswagens slowly driving on the road and it’s no big deal. But the minute you stop, they’re out of there. Or the minute you reverse to get a better look. Or the minute you shut off the engine, or the minute you reach over for your camera, or the minute you point something long and black out of the window, they’re gone. The worst are the ones that wait for you to put your eye to the view finder and think, “Let me just bump exposure compensation down one click…” and… they’re gone. This goes on for like 4 hours.  Slowly creep along. Stop.  Back up. Damnit. Slowly creep along, stop, damnit. All the while, you marvel at the beauty of the setting and the amazing variety of birdlife. Because of the rain, termites were moving, and birds were all over the roads, just out of reach…. But still, I wouldn’t trade it. And then finally, I reach the turnoff to the Babalala Picnic spot, where you can get out and stretch your legs (and pee) and I decide to call it a morning. It’s the end of the S56 and I’m ready to go back and have breakfast. There’s a marker that the picnic site is 8 Km up the road and I slowly travel on. I come to an intersection, which isn’t marked, and I can’t tell for sure that I’m on the correct road, so I look down the lane to the left, which drops to a low spot where some water has collected and I see a hyena in the water. Hyenas often lay in water to cool off, so I thought, I’ll push my bladder and go say hi, but in that instant I realize that it isn’t a hyena, it’s a wild dog and there are several others moving down the road ahead of it. Holy shit. I was not expecting that. I move forward, careful not to push. The dog at the water got up and began limping badly after the rest of the pack. The pack had assembled and had that focused look that indicates that they’re getting ready to go hunt, and they drop off the road into the drainage and are immediately lost to sight. The injured dog sits for a minute to rest and then limps off after the others. A very brief sighting, no photos of worth, but any day you see wild dogs is a good day. So, no spots, but a wild dog morning is special. The dogs here seem to be different colors than the ones we often see around Orpen. They were much more light brown, almost golden in color, rather than the stark tortoise shell of the southern Park dogs.  

 

But wow. I wished them luck and considered that that means that there will likely be a few less impala lambs today than yesterday.

 

I arrived at the picnic site, and it was empty other than the attendant and his family (they live on site and maintain the grounds). All were out raking leaves. We chatted for a while (very unusual for certain introverts), and he knew that pack and knew the injured dog. Then, as I was walking back toward my car, I noticed three tricked out trucks pulling in. It’s not that unusual - some folks have vehicles that are way more appropriate for bashing about the bush than a Volkswagen Tiguan - and they were pulling nice camping and kitchen rigs. As they were getting out and stretching legs, I noticed the logo “Edward Bath Overlanding” on the door. Edward Bath is a YouTube content creator (I guess that’s what that job title is, right? There are a million ways to make a living.), creating videos of overland traveling/camping across southern Africa. I have watched many of his videos. I introduced myself, and he and his two travel pals and I chatted as you do in the middle of nowhere when you meet someone you weren’t expecting to meet. I think they were pleased and surprised to meet a fan from America at such a remote location. We chatted about our journeys, where we are going next and where the elephants are (he’s heading south, so he’s going to find elephants, I’m confident of that). Check him out on YouTube and Instagram. His videos are among the best I’ve seen of that type and, for me, they’re full of information and ideas about possible future travel.

 

And then a nice smooth drive on paved road to camp, a large breakfast, a short nap, prep veggies for dinner (I’m so sick of fried food) and now getting ready for an afternoon drive. I’m going to head south along the S50. I took that road into Shingwedzi last time I was here (12 years ago?) and I remember that it was also very beautiful.