Adventure on the Karoo

The Great Karoo of South Africa is a semi-arid land where the main economy is meat and wool from the sheep ranches that have grown up in the area. Many people visit South Africa and never see this vast, dry land, so I guess we should consider ourselves lucky.  We finally had the opportunity to go to the Aquila Game Reserve which is about two hours drive from Cape Town and located on the south-western edge of the Great Karoo.  It is north of us and only about an hour beyond Paarl and I expect this game reserve was started here because the land was cheap and they could get lots of it.  We are in the middle of a serious drought here in South Africa that has been going on for about 3 years.  (We really need to get these people to start paying their tithing! )  There are some periods of rain, but the high desert where this is located suffers very much when the rain doesn't come often.  Those of us from the southeastern Idaho area really understand this and I think you will be amazed at just how much the countryside in and near the park looks like Idaho.  We are always amazed as we drive along and think that we could be in Idaho judging from the terrain.  The word karoo is from the Khoi language and has "uncertain entymology" which means no one really knows what it means.  But I have read that it means "thirsty,dry land" or "place of great dryness".  

But enough about history and on to the show!  We left home a little after 9:00 am and picked up the Fosters in Stellenbosch on our way.  It is always fun to have some company on these expeditions and of course you have to keep in mind that it is nice to have others along in case the animals are hungry---maybe you can outrun your friends and not BE dinner!  This was not our plan however because even though the Fosters are older than we are by a couple of years (Elder Foster is over 80!) they are very active and healthy and would have left us in the dust!  They are fantastic company and always ready for weekend explorations.  They are newlyweds who have only been married for two years.  They both lost spouses and then found each other and were brave enough to join their lives together and come on a mission!  Aren't they amazing!

This picture of the Fosters was taken on the deck outside of the main building of the reserve.  There is a swimming pool there and the little huts you see behind them are the places where people stay if they come out for an over-night adventure.  That's when you are inside a large fenced area and the animals are all roaming out around you looking IN at YOU (I guess).

Of course, the first thing they want to do is fatten you up a little so you'll make a decent meal for whatever you happen to run into out on the game drive.  I should mention that this game reserve is only about 5 years old and they are really at the beginning stages of getting the business going.  It was a very quiet Saturday, but then it has been so dry and many people know that the animals may not be in the best shape during a drought.  Of course, that would not keep us away because we have a limited time here and the drought is not about to end in the next 8 months enough to make a huge difference in what we see.  Below is a picture of the buffet lunch we were served which was really delicious.  There was ox-tail soup, sauteed lamb neck (and these two things sound bad, but they were really very tasty) eggplant vegetable stir fry, roasted butternut squash, lots of salads and warm bread and then fruit and bread pudding with custard sauce and some kind of almond pie for dessert.  We were stuffed---as you can tell by my mouth in this picture.

Here's a picture of just the salad buffet---the main dishes were down on the end.  I was a beautiful meal as well as tasty.

We went outside for a look around while we were waiting for our land-rover to pick us for the game drive.  We saw this water buffalo on the other side of the fence and walked over by it.  It started moving toward us.  It wasn't long until a park ranger came out and told us to be very careful as this was one of the most dangerous animals in the entire park.  They are like the buffalo in Yellowstone---seem very quiet and docile but can be very dangerous.  Notice the fence between us and him---we thought if the animal was dangerous they might have a little stronger fence between us!  Actually you can see the posts for a taller fence, but they have been digging quite a bit and working to add some water holes using well water that will make the park have a little more foliage and plant life.  They will put up the fence when they get all the pipes put in.  Now I realize why people often walk up to the buffalo and elk in Yellowstone---I guess they think if it was that dangerous we would put up fences to separate them from the people!  I really never thought of it like that before now!

It wasn't long until they came to pick us up for our drive through the game reserve.  The land-rover was very tall and I was proud that I was able to climb up in it all by myself.  Dad's knee won't bend enough to let him climb up, so he sat in front with the driver.  We had four others with us and they were from Germany and spoke very little English, so we didn't get to talk much to them.  We just smiled and signed to them a little!
I feel bad we didn't get any pictures of them---they kept moving out of the picture so we couldn't.

We first drove by this stream of water that looked like a mud hole.  These are African Shell ducks---a mother and babies, but the babies are pretty big now.  We also saw a terrapin here, but I didn't get a picture of it. 

A little further down the river we could see something that looked like big rocks, but as we got closer, we realized that they were hippos.  They are laying on the bottom of the stream, but the one is a little one that is standing up and trying to bug his parents.

The adults kept a wary watch on us to be sure that we weren't coming any closer.  We learned about how tender their skin is and that they can't spend much time out of the water and in the sun.  They actually have sun screen that is secreted behind their ears and somehow gets rubbed all over their bodies.

They wait until the sun goes down and then they get out of the water and go eat all night.  Yes!  They are nocturnal animals and mostly sleep in the daytime.  We stayed and watched them and they moved around quite a bit.  When they started to open their mouths and show their teeth, our driver said they were getting nervous and we had to move on.  

They only have two giraffe in this game reserve and one of them hasn't been seen for a couple of weeks.  We felt fortunate to have a few minutes watching this female giraffe as she moved along and ate plants.  She was watching us as carefully as we were watching her.  Don't worry--they said the other one will show up one of these days---he always does. 

This is a Springbok---a type of antelope that is found all over South Africa where the people haven't driven it out.  The colouring is for camouflage, but the dark stripe helps it be warm when it lays down in the winter.  The lighter color keeps it cool in the summer when it is standing.  He looks like he has been trained to pose for the cameras! The South African Rugby team is called the Springboks and the people here really revere this animal. 

 You can really see the "Idaho" terrain here in the background.  I never imagined rhinos living in an area like Southern Idaho!  I don't think this is their natural habitat, but they do live on the plains.  I think this is a little drier than they are used to.  This is a mother and a young rhino.  We learned that their ears turn completely around so they can hear predators coming from any direction.  It is amazing to watch them move---you can see it a little in this picure. Mother has one ear forward and one back.
They say they can turn and charge you at any moment, but again these animals seemed so quiet and docile and safe to be around.  They are very big though and they watch you very carefully, so you know that they are aware of you. The black rhino are under attack in South Africa---maybe they've had a little on the news at home.  The Chinese and other Asian people value the rhino horn and grind it into a powder that they take for health and vitality etc.  It is very expensive on the black market because there are so few of them left in the world.  I'm not sure if these are black rhino---Elder Herbert says he thinks that our guide said they were. 
 After the rhino we came upon a small herd of Springbok that were very fun to watch. They are very agile and move very gracefully.

 This is another type of antelope called an Eland.  It is much larger and the horns are very long on this one.  It is a beautiful animal although this one looks a little thin.

The elephants were about 300 yards away and were eating quietly.  Our guide, Tammy Dennis, told us they were probably not dangerous right then.  You can tell when they are upset because they stick their ears out and try to look as large as possible.  About that time they stuck their ears out, but we decided they were fanning themselves in the heat.  She told us elephants seldom sleep---only a few minutes each night.  They have to eat continually to keep themselves healthy.  These are two young bulls and they have not bought any more elephants for the park  because they are going to wait until they are a little older so they won't fight so much over new females.  They can do a lot of damage---they killed many of trees we saw because they ate off the bark and sucked the moisture out of the center of the tree.  Hopefully we will get to go to an elephant park and see some more of these beautiful animals.

 The lions were probably the most exciting part of the trip.  Our friends, the Plehns had gone to this park a few weeks before us and seen only one lion who was up on the mountain.  We drove up on the road behind this little shelter and saw the one lion and our guide said we were lucky to get so close to a lion.  Then we turned around and came back in front of the shelter and got this great sight of a whole pride of lions.  Now our guide was really amazed and told us we were very lucky indeed.  It was a fairly warm day, so really they probably come down to this shelter often.  It was exciting to be so close to them and not have any kind of restraint between us.  You can see how close we were because you can see the frame of the car we were in right there.  The lions mostly could not have cared less what we were doing. 

Before we started to drive away Tammy said not to get upset if one of the females chases us for a while.  Sure enough the one on the outside of the shelter got up and started to come after us.  Tammy stopped the car and waited a minute and she turned back and we drove away quickly and she didn't chase us.

We were near the end of our "safari" and very excited to have seen so many of the animals in the park.  Tammy said we had seen almost everything.  We stopped for a cool drink and a few minutes out of the landrover.  Here is a picture of our vehicle and the fantastic day we had to enjoy this game reserve.

Here we are enjoying a lovely sparkling white grape juice in dainty stemmed glasses with our little red-headed guide, Tammy, who is a South African native with Dutch ancestry.  She has a degree in animal science with a minor in oceanography, so don't under-estimate her.

 To get back in the vehicle you had to climb up a tiny ladder and then walk along a little ledge and climb into your seat.  These pictures aren't very flattering, but I was so glad I was able to do this and I truly doubted that I could when I saw the land rover. I am stronger and more agile than I think!  Of course Sister Foster had to show off and pop up easily---that's okay, I love her anyway.

As we drove back toward the main buildings, we got this view of them.  Once again--it could be Idaho! The roofs are thatched roofs.

We didn't expect to see any more animals, but were pleased to come to these zebra as we turned a corner on the road.  It couldn't have been more perfect if it had been planned.  (And we wondered if these animals just stay in their usual places and the drivers just have to drive through, but that was not what our friends said because they did not see quite as many animals as we did.)
As we left the area, we each were praying in our hearts I am sure that this little area would have the rain they so desperately need to make these animals more comfortable and keep them for future generations to see.  We did our little part by buying our tickets and coming to see it, and we hope that our money will be used for the well and the other water items they need.  Now it is about a week and a half later and they are having some rain in the Karoo today!  I'm sure everyone there is so happy and hopeful for the future.  Hope you enjoyed your visit too!  Wish you could have been there!  We hope to have a few more opportunities like this in other places in South Africa that have a little more water than this one.