Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa!!!
Trip Start
Nov 14, 2007
1
17
20
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
Campiso Aguia Pesquiero,
Mozambique
Monday, November 26, 2007
Where: at a safari lodge in the middle of nowhere.
When: November 26th, 2007 - morning.
We woke up at 4am this morning. 4AM!!! Who the hell is up this early?! It's Safari Day today and Angela and I didn't have trouble waking up this morning. Thank God! There was no way in hell we were going to be late for something like this. Philip, or shall I say Uncle Phil since I have now been officially adopted by him, has packed us a meal for our trip. He even let us use his binoculars for our viewing pleasure during our safari. More on what ended up happening to his "binos" in a minute. But first...
We didn't know what to expect to see today, to be honest with you. Or if the weather would be fair enough for us to even enjoy the ride. However, the gods must've liked my sundance last night because the morning greeted us with an African sun. It pushed away the remnants of Saturday's doldrums and eventually ushered in a beautiful day. Observing the sunrise with the jungle in the foreground, was something that I thought I'd never experience. As the sun's rays slowly lit up the surrounding brush, I started to get a sense of the magnitude of this place. It's big. It's expansive. It's a little scary to think about what's out there. Huge hulking spiders, massive animals with sharp teeth, birds with killer talons, and the jungle itself. However, I was a little skeptical about actually seeing any animals on today's safari - let alone the Big 5. We were going to be on roads for most of the safari and it was hard for me to fathom that any animal wouldn't be scared of the sound of our jeep barreling around the corner. They're going to scurry away.
We entered Kruger Park around 5:45am - which is, according to our Safari Guide Johan, the perfect time to view Earth's wonderful creatures. You mean to tell me that these things are awake this early? Well, that makes me feel good about myself. I'm hardly awake around 11 in the morning, let alone at sunrise.
We drove for a good 10 to 15 minutes into the park with nothing much to else to see but shrubbery. Then we encountered a family of impalas. Cute, but it wasn't really anything for me to get excited about. Just a few minutes later, we run into the first of the Big 5 - the Buffalo. I was in awe of this beast. Johan tells us that unlike the other big 5 game, this is the only animal that doesn't give any warning as to when he will attack. Unfortunately, we didn't stick around long enough to find out for sure. I was ready to start flying insults his way to see if he would charge at me. Oh well, maybe next time.
Then, we encountered a family of giraffes, more impalas and kudus, a bunch of zebras, and herd of wildebeests. For all of you at home who are wondering, yes. Wildebeests are just as ugly as you can imagine. I must admit that I find it Hi-Larious whenever my friend compares the likes of a girl to that of a wildebeest. But after seeing these guys, no girl deserves to be compared to one. Ok... wait, I lied. It's still pretty funny. Hahaha.
I spotted the second of the big 5 just a few yards from where we saw the buffalo - the Rhino. But, it was a little too far for my liking. Even still, it was cool to have a rhino walking by our Jeep. Then we saw the third of the big 5 - the African Elephant. This thing was monstrous. Apparently, this guy wasn't a full-grown adult yet. I couldn't imagine how big his dad is. I've ridden an Asian Elephant during my holiday in Bali, Indonesia but this guy dwarfs the Asian Elephant.
We drove for a few more "clicks" East when Johan suddenly stopped the vehicle and stared intently at the golden savanna to the left us. He muttered, "I think I just saw something." Something?! What's that suppose to mean? What is it?! Don't tease me like that, man. Angela and I scanned the savanna thoroughly but couldn't see what he was talking about. So we all decided it was best to keep driving. That's when another safari guide informed us of the location of another one of the big 5 - the Leopard. Lucky for us, the leopard's location was just a few "clicks" north.
Sure enough, the slight silhouette of the leopard can be seen standing on a rock, surveying the land before him. It's no wonder these creatures are the hardest to find out of the big 5. Their spotted camouflage blends perfectly with its surroundings. We all just sat there in amazement. He eventually, stood up and walked away.
Johan decided to back track a bit just to see if that "thing" he saw a few minutes ago decided to bless us with it's presence. But when we got there, it was much of the same thing - more open golden savanna and not much else. We sat there for a few minutes when suddenly, something popped up. Holy shit... MUFASA!!!!! "Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa!!!" It's really him! What do I do?! What do I say?! How does one greet someone of such high importance? "Hi King... Um.. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please don't eat me." C'mon! How can I be so lame? Mufasa, king of the muthafucking jungle, is sitting just a few yards from me in all his heavenly glory and I'm completely speechless. This is the craziest thing ever! But just when I was about to curtsy, Johan calmly instructed us to, "Remain quiet and don't make any sudden moves. Just listen for a minute." And then, Mufasa belts out a monstrous roar. Ok... that was by far the most amazing thing I've ever heard in my life. Johan told us afterwards that lions normally let out a morning roar to let everyone around him know that this is his territory. And by the sound of it, it looks like this guy owns the entire African continent.
Five out of Five in less than 2 hours - Not bad. Some people go on 5-day safaris having only seen 3 or 4 of the big 5. We saw them all in less than 2 hours!!! Crazy! And it gets better. Remember how we didn't really get a good look at the Rhino? Well, I spotted a rhino slowly making his way towards us. I told Johan where I spotted it and he positioned the jeep so that we would cross paths. As it got closer, we noticed not one, not two, but an entire family of rhinos coming our way. Ok - that made our day even better.
All this action and we're just barely finishing breakfast. Which was great a breakfast, by the way. Uncle Phil packs a mean meal. Speaking of which, about Uncle Phil's "binos". Yeah, I fucked them up. You see, I put them down for a second to set up my camera equipment for the safari this morning. I noticed that it was a little wet. I didn't think anything of it because it was working fine throughout the morning. Until I picked it up just a few minutes ago and noticed one of the lenses was fogged up. FUCK!!! Way to go Alain.
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