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Saturday 26 July 2008

on the earth and into the water at St Lucia

How to reconcile the visual hunt of terrestrial sometimes antediluvian-looking animals with the urge of putting on a mask and a snorkel to spy on the submarine critters and all of that within the same day? South Africa possesses the answer and haven't finished to surprise us on its diversity.
We arrive in the village of St Lucia where we land up in a great guest house called Blou house backpacker. At the bottom of the garden, mongooses argue over the passion fruits the vervet monkeys have wasted.
St Lucia and the eponymous lake draw a large estuary – the largest one in Africa – propitious for wildlife. Birds and mammals live in this park, encircling the lake. The savannah vanished and trees grew up. In spite of the change of habitat, a variety of animals succeeded in adapting. Rhinoceros, kudus, leopards, zebras and wildebeests took up residence in this luxuriant land. The avowed goal of the park's managers is to recreate the former waves of animals migrations when wildebeests and the others ran away the Lebombo mountains to move towards the wetland of St Lucia.
Before getting in the park, at the end of the estuary, the owner of the guest house has promised us hippopotamuses. Better to trust local people than the paper guides, he wasn't wrong.

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following this starter, we dash off to cape Vidal, 35km from the village. The owner, him again, announced this thing to us: « on the way to cape Vidal, you'll see every kind of animals including rhinos, as soon as you arrive at the end of the road, you slip mask and snorkel on to see colourful reef fish before driving back to St Lucia ». His speech sounded like the tempting caption of a tourist brochure. And yet, he was right again.
Underwater:

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and a few hours later, on the earth:

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St Lucia, one of the good finds of our South African journey.

Friday 25 July 2008

the hyenas in action at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi

At the beginning of our trip, while our eyes and memory were virgin of pictures of savannah and its fauna, A South-African, met on the Waterberg plateau in Namibia praised us the beauty and the high concentration of animals clustered in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi park ( Zulu word pronounced Chluchluwi – Imfolozi). This name engraved on our log book and here we are now.
a few minutes after crossing the automatic barrier, several engine-stopped jeeps are crammed in the middle of the road. We switch off the engine and without seeing the scene, we recognize a characteristic sly cry. A lion is not far but about ten cunning hyenas succeeded in pinching a chunk of an antelope's carcass the predator had hunted. A laugh to flout it.
the bush sways. 2 hyenas appear, the loot in the mouth. Not at all disturbed by the human flock pressed against the protective guardrail of the jeeps, the 2 protagonists followed by some greedy and opportunistic fellow members cross the road before putting down the bloody carcass on the tarmac. One of females will finally have the last word and move away at the edge of road to enjoy its meal by dint of dreadful noises. Cracking sounds provided by a frighteningly powerful jaw.

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After this morning firework, the day will be more dull despite the constant pleasure to watch every bush and every branch in the hope of flushing out the presence of an animal.

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Sunday 20 July 2008

the Kruger park: a nation dedicated to the wildlife

At the eastern part of South Africa, stretching from the Limpopo river at the north to the Crocodile river at the south and flanking the Mozambique border, the largest and oldest South-African park is located: the Kruger park. As vast as Israel, it encompasses various ecosystems and hundreds of thousands of animals. The last inventory discloses : 25150 buffaloes
11700 elephants
5000 white rhinoceroses
3000 hippopotamuses
1500 lions
1000 leopards
2000 spotted hyenas
200 cheetahs
350 wild dogs
150000 impalas
32000 zebras
17000 wildebeests
and 1 000 000 visitors per year
To the visitors getting into the park, the tourist brochure announces « a trip in an inestimable heritage of southern Africa ». The staggering figures promise unforgettable encounters. They can be felines, cattle or pachyderms, each confrontation is unique ; each meeting, a part of feelings that vanishes. To silence their number, the impalas show their grace. Because, it's regarding to the quantity of rare animals we can recognize a lucky person or a good visual hunter. Our result is honourable with about ten hyenas, 2 lions, a white rhinoceros and tens or even hundreds of zebras, wildebeests, kudus, impalas, hippopotamuses and elephants. The leopard is still untraceable. It will remain the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi park to complete our “big 5” list.
We drive a lot to cover the different habitats and ecosystems. Steep-sided rivers, rocky areas, fields of twisted or partially jointed shrubs, long savannah plains. Our eyes scan the branches with obstinacy, in search for the spotted feline. On the knees, a map with all the animals we can find here. We learn a lot of names such as waterbuck, sable antelope, kori bastard or ground-hornbill. Unfortunately, most of these names will remain linked to an illustration.
New odyssey among the animals. New joys.

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