I think that everyone who goes to the bush wants to see the big cats. No matter how many other animals you see, if you don't see a predator, it has not been a great drive. Seeing one of the big cats in nature is always a special thrill and if you want your fill of thrill, then Erindi is your place. I managed to see all of the predators in just three days. There were lion, leopard, cheetah (with a kill - doing what predators do), wild dogs, spotted hyena, drown hyena and lesser spotted genet.
Lets start off with Lions. We did a great drive and on the way back, quite close to the lodge, the ranger told us, that as we had not seen a lion, we would go to the boma (fenced off area), as there was a lion there. There was an interesting story about this lion. He had come from Etosha in the north, some 300 km away, and eventually broke into the reserve at Erindi. He was not very popular with the farmers along the way and had been hunted. Once on Eridi, he was captured and put into a boma so that he could learn about the electric fences. Their plan was to release him into the reserve after a while with the hope that he would stay there. OK, so we will see a lion in a boma - bit like looking at lions in a zoo. When we arrived at the boma, the lion was pacing along the fence, not looking very happy. The reason for this, was other side the fence was the resident male and his female. He was starting to get a bit long in the tooth and this new lion would probably be the one who would replace him. The female was just lying around watching which of the males would win the fight! These lions were having a full go an each other, through the electric fence, obviously not paying any attention to the shocks which they were getting from the fence. After a while and an exhausting time fighting through the fence, both males settled down a bit and the female go up to show the male in the boma just what he was fighting for! Typical female. The expression of anger and frustration on the faces of the lions made for good photos. As a "good" wildlife photographer, I managed to get most of my photos without the boma fence in.
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| The reward |
Next on the agenda was leopard experience. These are really amazing animals, and very hard to see. I have spent many many hours in the bush and have not been rewarded with many leopard sighting. So the opportunity to "walk" to see a leopard was just too good to miss. There is a research project on the leopards in Erindi, and part of the cost of doing this experience goes to the leopard project. Money well worth spending. Also part of the experience was to listen to a lecture on leopards by the lady doing the research. Some very interesting finding have come out of the study. People once through that leopards were indiscriminate hunters, but it appears that this is not the case. They become very specialised hunters. Many leopards specialise in baboons, but the leopard we were going to see specialised in warthogs. Here brother was killed by warthogs, so maybe there is some sort of connection? Anyway, it turns out that the young female leopard we were going to look for had broken her leg some time ago. This would make her very vanrable. The rangers spent time with her 24/7 to make sure that she was safe, and this resulted in there being a bit of a bond between the rangers and the leopard, and she would allow people to approach her on foot. At this time, she recently had 2 cubs, so approaching her on foot was not a good idea, so we would look for her by landrover. Must say, I was just a touch relieved. I was a bit worried about walking in the bush with a leopards! To cut a long story short, we did find her and we were hoping to see the cubs as well, but no cubs. Still a great experience.
After seeing the leapard, we drove about 2 km, then stopped the vechile and the ranger set up the bar for sundowners. As this stage it was way past sundown time. Being in the middle of "nowhere" with the wonderful night sky was just the cherry on the cake of this amazing experience. On the drive back we also got a great sighting of a Genet, very close by in the tree. The rangers use red lights, which do not disturbe the animals at night.Not great for photos but at least you can see the animal.
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| Bush bar - end of a great time with leopard |
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| Genet using the red light |
I have had some really wonderful experience in the bush. I just love it and I try to get to the bush as often as possible. With all of my experiences in the bush, a visit to Erindi must rate as one of my best. Of course the trips to the Kgalagadi Transfronteri park will always be impossible to top, but Erindi has come close.
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| View from the deck |
Erindi has been used quite ofetn in TV programs. The TV series "Into the pride" where some crazy guy tried to make friends with wild lions was filmed at Erindi. A while after I got back, I was watching "The Amazing Race" and they were in Erindi with the wild dogs. Judging by the size of the pups, they were there about two weeks after I had been there.
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| White rhino - been dehorned so as not to be poached |
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