October 23, Thursday. We started our last day here with another early morning drive and a small group of zebra. When they were just standing and grazing, each was turned in a different direction from the rest so each could keep watch for predators the others might not see. They prefer grazing in open savannas for this reason because they can often outrun danger. After that, we bumped and swayed at high speed for a very long time without seeing anything very exciting until at last Iggie took us to a spot where an adult lioness was devouring her share of a large zebra that had made the mistake of wandering into a grove of acacia trees that provided excellent cover for the lions. There were two adult females and three youngish cubs all sated and sleeping while mama finished her meal. Iggie said the male of the pride spends little time with the others, being busy patrolling his territory to keep out other lions. Looks like mama waited until papa went off to work and then bagged some groceries for the rest of the family. Clever lady. She finished feeding while we were admiring her ability to toss around the huge zebra carcass while neatly cleaning meat off the skin and bones. It was not all gone when she finished, so if dad shows up in time, he will get some, too. If not, the scavengers--hyenas and buzzards, will finish the job. Nature is remarkably efficient.

 We saw more zebras, a few elephants, and even a few rhinos trotting along off in the distance about the time we stopped for our tea break. Our best sighting after the lions was totally unexpected--a big ostrich standing right in the middle of the road and politely posing for a few photos before moving off into the bush. Lots of downtime this morning, but some very nice rewards anyway. I was happy to have both my fleece and my windbreaker today. 

  

We had a little visitor during our tea break.

Of the Big Five (lion, elephant, buffalo, hyena, and leopard) we missed only the leopard during our visit here, and they are so elusive that a leopard sighting is truly rare in this reserve. I really don't understand why the Big Five is made up the way it is, actually. I'd much rather see giraffes, zebras, kudu, and water buck than hyenas or even buffalo, but I guess they are not rare enough to make the list. 

A last breakfast on the terrace, just enough time for another open air shower, and back onto the jeeps for a ride to the gate and a rendezvous with our busses. A couple hours on the bus, and we are back on the train. Too bad the train drivers didn't come on the bus with us as we had a three hour wait before they showed up. It is 4:30pm and we are at last moving. Of course we have already been plied with food and wine, and now a nap is sounding like an excellent idea. Then we will have more food and wine, and bed before our morning arrival in Pretoria. We have calculated that we are drinking between 1½ and 2 bottles of wine a day EACH! We have just three more nights on the train and then we will be waddling around Cape Town. I see a diet and wine fast in our future, but not this week!

The Tau Lodge guides say goodbye to us

October 21, 2014, Tuesday. We have arrived at the Tau Game Lodge in the Madikwe Game Reserve, just across the border from Botswana in South Africa. As usual, we were about an hour later arriving in Gaborone, Botswana, than planned. Gaborone is the capitol and largest city of Botswana, which has the third largest economy in Africa and is growing very rapidly. The bits of the city we were able to see from the train and the bus looked more prosperous than any place we have seen so far. That is nice for the people, but less interesting for us because along with prosperity comes a look that could be anywhere.

Most of the train crew stayed behind and waved us away.

We drove for a while and then exited the bus to walk through immigration in order to leave Botswana, then walked a few hundred yards further to go through South Africa's nearby immigration checkpoint. Back on the bus and on to the entrance to the Reserve where we climbed aboard game drive vehicles that brought us to the lodge. Climbed is the operative word. They are a little challenging to get in and out of. We hope to secure a shotgun seat for John for the rest of our stay here.

The entrance to the Madikwe Game Reserve

The entrance to our lodge at the park--one of 135 lodges at all different price points

Lunch on the terrace, a chef who promised vegan meals for us from now on, conversation, a breeze, and an elephant before we walked down to our room. Really, more like our own little home because it is en entirely separate cottage.  Bedroom, bath, OUTDOOR shower, deck, all out of view from any other accommodations. Nice!  John is napping while I write and marvel at the view. We are at the edge of a nearly dry pond filled with birds. When we arrived, an elephant was just outside our deck, and just now a large water buck is up to his knees in the muck, feasting on whatever Is growing there. I can't say it is totally quiet here, but all we hear are the birds, twittering, chirping and calling to each other. We have been told to return to the terrace for high tea at 4pm, followed by our first game drive. I don't think this place will disappoint us at all.   

The double mosquito nets covers our beds at night. The greens spell 

w-e-l on one bed and c-o-m-e on the other.

I LOVED this open-to-the-sky shower!

I've always wondered what the inside of a thatch roof looks like. 

Now I know.

Our first elephant!

Lurking in the pond...

Water buck

Baboons are pests here. We were warned to keep our doors locked!

Later. We have experienced our first game drive.  next to our driver/guide. The jeep holds up to 10 passengers plus a ranger. Off we went, bumping along over dirt roads, some rocky, some thick with dust that must  turn into mucky bogs in rainy season, some slanted at a 45 degree angle, and a few slightly graded and graveled. We were warned to keep hands and legs inside the vehicle, partly to avoid alarming the animals we hoped to see and mostly as protection from the thorny acacia trees that frequently reached in to grab us. We were happy that our jeeps had canopies, making hats largely unnecessary--a good thing if you didn't have a chin strap to keep them from flying off. We would drive fairly fast until our guide Ignatius (Iggie) spotted something of interest and then we would stop to observe and photograph it. Then off again in search of the next surprise. Our first sighting was a group of guinea fowl with their tiny colorful heads, slender necks, matchstick legs, and bulbous bodies. They were everywhere on the reserve, but fun to see the first time. We saw Egyptian geese and ducks, and then our first "real" sighting, a small herd of zebra. So pretty.  Iggie told us we could tell they were healthy because their manes were standing upright and not flopping to the side as they do when the animal is in trouble. As the afternoon passed, we saw impala, a magnificent adult male kudu with its spiraling twisted horns, a small herd of elephants, and a few tiny steenbok that were too shy and quick to be photographed. At around 6pm we stopped for a sundowner break. We saw the sun setting behind a rocky mountain rising from the dry plain, the sun casting its light over a small lake with a sculptural dead tree turning the whole scene into a work of art. Back in the jeep, we drove around in the dark for nearly an hour, finally spotting a sleeping herd of buffalo it was too dark to photograph even with Iggie's spotlight. We were glad to return to the lodge for dinner, wine, and bedtime. Good day!

This is what a safari jeep looks like.

Guinea Fowl

The shadow of our jeep

Iggie

Kudu

Impala

We climbed into a tiered Jeep, John riding up front