Thursday, Mar 16. Routine drive back into South Africa. Roads are still excellent, though two lanes make it hard. Slow trucks compete with fast cars, with the bus in between. Lunch was in another very pretty resort.
Before arrival we visited a traditional Zulu village, which may or not be lived in. It’s hard to separate tourist site from real-life living. A reader of bones tried to “read” two of us with little accuracy. But she is a very imposing figure considering that this is very male dominated society. We witness a traditional dance where everyone did high kicks that would put the Rocketts to shame.
The hotel sponsors a cheetah farm. Several folks went over for their 5 o’clock feeding. I skipped it. Captured animals no longer have any appeal to me.
Dinner was outdoors again, by lantern light. Sigh.
Doug,
Your comment, “The hotel sponsors a cheetah farm. Several folks went over for their 5 o’clock feeding. I skipped it. Captured animals no longer have any appeal to me.” resonates with me. I’ve yet to take an African tour with OAT or any other tour operator. My fear is that game sighting are contrived – that is, a spotter in a scouting vehicle locates game and transmits coordinates to other jeep/bus drivers loaded with camera toting tourists.
I understand the commercial benefits to the wildlife parks of tourism which is partially spent on conservation of the land and animals. But seeing images of a wild animal devouring a carcass with a background of fifteen Range Rovers each with four khaki-clad gapers, tends to dampen my enthusiasm for this type of tour.
Tom
I can understand your concerns, but I’ve been on no less than 25 full days of morning and late afternoon viewing drives and can say without question that there are no spotters. Just other trucks with travelers and a very good driver. The drivers do indeed share sightings, and at times a large number of trucks converge. But sometimes it’s a passenger who spots the animal first. Moreover, most parks have rules on how many trucks can converge and set viewing time limits. (These rules are ignored when leopards are concerned, for good reason: they are hardly ever sighted.) On one trip we spent more than a full day searching for lions and as the driver gave up and headed back to camp, three lions literally walked right in front of the truck. Nothing is contrived. In all my drives I have seen two lion kills, but neither were being chewed upon. The lions were nearby, resting. I have seen one lion limping away from an aggressive buffalo herd, showing that it’s not always a one-sided battle. Finally, the thrill some people experience has nothing to do with the Big Five. One lady last week punched me with pure enthusiasm when she saw her first a dazzle of zebras. While others search for lions, I now search for birds. To each their own.