Today we didn’t have to be anywhere until 0730, but I was up at 0530 anyway. I had breakfast and then used the internet (which was pretty quick because no one else was using it!)
At 0730 we began the drive to the Kinyonga Reptile Centre. We’d been driving about 15 minutes when someone received a text from Derek, we had left him at camp. There’s 22 students, and only 21 seats, no one did a head count so we all just assumed ‘no empty seats everyone’s here!’ One person moved from the car to the floor of the minibus and the car went back to get him. We arrived at the reptile centre and while we waited for Derek, I had a chocolate milkshake – so yummy! We also saw an ostrich and some really brightly coloured parrots.
Our trip began with a talk from one of the guys there, all about reptiles and amphibians, the differences, about some of the individual species and a bit about the venoms too. Then we got to hold an African python. It was so incredible, you can feel just how many muscles it has, such a ridiculously strong animal and so beautiful.
Next we fed flowers to some really cute lizards and watched a mouse (already dead) be fed to a bullfrog.
Our next stop was to feed a mouse to a monitor lizard. Then we headed to the chameleons, they are so cute! Their tongues are amazing too! Next we held a bearded dragon, they are so smooth if you stroke them one direction and ridiculously spiny in the other!
We then got to see black mambas feeding, they were given a mouse each and they literally just shove the whole thing in! There must be an art to it. It looks so uncomfortable and impractical but was fascinating to watch!
Then we had a few minutes to relax and look around at all the other exhibits, loads of snakes, scorpions, alligators, spiders and other reptiles and amphibians.
Next we had a snake show, the guy got a few venomous snakes and showed them to us. He let them go across the grass and demonstrated how snakes aren’t aggressive or vicious and will only attack or try and attack if provoked. He had a puff adder, boomslang and a snouted cobra. After the snakes it was time for spiders, he showed us a couple of species of baboon spiders. We were allowed to hold the non-venomous one. It was so light and really fluffy – not at all like you expect. He then got out a type of bird eating spider (the second biggest species in the world) and some of us held that. This one was quite a bit heavier and not as fluffy – still very cool though. Our last animal was a scorpion, it was one of the ones with a thin tail and big pincers, which means it isn’t venomous, but it was still super cool to hold. I wasn’t keen on his method of making it move from hand to hand though, ‘just poke it until it moves’! I didn’t want to get nipped!
Then it was time for a well deserved lunch, we all ordered food from their little cafe. I had chicken burger and chips with fanta. It was really nice. We then drove back to camp and had about an hour before our afternoon game drive.
We began our drive in Makalali and Vaughan showed us a cork bush, the bark really does peel off and look just like the cork of a bottle. Our first animal sighting was a couple of giraffe, they are so beautiful. I will never get bored of them.
Next we saw loads of vultures, probably about a hundred all gathered, waiting for the chance to get at the wildebeest that had been killed by the lions late last night. There were two hyena there and a little jackal in the distance. Considering the carcass had been there less than 24 hours there is so little left of it. It was really incredible to see the vultures up close and be able to get to grips with the differences between the species, and the hyenas are so beautiful. What an incredible experience! It really is seeing the circle of life in full!
Next we saw quite a big group of giraffe, with a couple of babies too, so adorable. We also saw some wildebeest. We drove back around to the wildebeest carcass and there were three hyenas, two out on the grass and one hiding away in the bush with the carcass. The vultures were still around too. We sat there for probably about half an hour watching them. Such magnificent creatures, and so cute too!
Our last sighting of the day was three lions. They were so ridiculously close to the car, literally about 5m away. We sat there for quite a long time just watching them chill. They are so powerful, muscular and just magnificent creatures. We had to leave because it was getting dark and we followed them up the road for a while until they moved off into the bush. What a privilege to be able to watch such stunning creatures in their natural environment in such close proximity.
We drove back to camp, had dinner of some sort of lasagne but with extra pasta, less mince and some salami too and then went to bed – another early start tomorrow – but what a day!