We were on our last game drive in early November at Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, South Africa, when we came upon this male elephant. The elephant, took a drink, struck a pose and ambled on his way. Richard, our ranger, told us he was about 25 yrs old and as a lone male did not have a herd. He would not expect to mate until he was 40!
This was kind of an amazing morning. It was our last day at Kwandwe and we were trying to find lion cubs. We did not have much time, this drive was to be only half as long as a usual one. We were moving fast, but did not miss a thing. We did not find lion cubs but we saw this elephant, waited for a giraffe to clear a road, saw a hippo in the water and watched a lion sit on a freshly killed antelope. Not bad for a quick morning drive before catching a plane!
One afternoon on Kwandwe Private Game Reserve we saw a leopard and heard her roar and then she followed us. We could see her eating her kill through the branches. I heard the cracking of bones and rustling before I actually saw her. It may not seem that leopard spots are good camouflage, but they are.
We waited and watched, my fellow safari travelers and I, as she ate then climbed a tree. She called three times. For who? It was not at all the way I expected a leopard to sound. It was not clear why she called and we were not comfortable sticking around to find out.
After a time she left and so did we. There were congratulations all around for the wonderful and rare sighting and the even more rare sounds. We stopped in a lovely clearing with an amazing view of the valley below. South Africa is so big, the sky so wide. As time passed it became deep twilight, time to go.
As we prepared to leave, the Rangers and Guides began hurrying us toward the vehicles, looking quite serious. “Move quickly but slowly”, we loved that. Down the road, not 30 feet was the leopard lying in the middle of the tracks. She did not move, but looked very interested. I could imagine we looked like a troop of primates, hmm we were.
Last nite under an African full moon, I was able to participate in something as old as humans- Drumming. Wow! within an hour our group of overachieving intellectual type-A yuppies were drumming together! It was incredible.
We started at dusk, under a fiery red sky. Slowly as the drumming become more synchronized, the light changed from red sunset to full moon. It was so primal. It was like watching (or being?) a herding dog who has never seen a sheep. We know how to drum we just have to find it in us. Natural.
Our group was part of a Butterfield and Robinson tour of South Africa (lots and lots more on that later!) but our drumming facilitators, Drumming South Africa, do all kinds of events. Too bad they are not in California!
