OUT OF AFRICA: A Grand Adventure and a Tragic Death

About four hours away from Johannesburg is the 4th largest game reserve in South Africa (about 200,000 acres). It's called Madikwe and we took Maddie and Chad there and had the adventure of a life time. We stayed at the Mosetlha Bush Camp and slept among the animals.

Moseetlha Bush Camp, no electricity, no running water

This is called a 'donkey boiler'. To get warm water, we poured
cold water in the spout on top and warm water came out the end.

. The camp is fenced, and the only gate is just one coiled strand of electrified wire with 10,000 volts running through it. The only problem is that the wire is about 7 feet off the ground. It is only there to keep elephants from wandering into camp. I guess they could make a real mess of the cabins if they got nervous inside the enclosure.

We did get a visit from a hyena, civet and cape buffalo the very first night. They just wandered through the camp during the evening before we went to bed. And the next morning some of us heard the low roar of a lion.

Our cabin was about three feet off the ground. It has kind of a half door with a fabric panel in it. The front and back of the cabin is open with a canvas flap. Some of us heard foot steps and loud banging the minute we got in bed. Some of us didn't sleep much because we had one eye open just to make sure the critters didn't visit us. But we all had a great time though and would certainly go there again.

Our home for 3 days

We got to our camp about 2 pm the first day and went on our first game drive (safari) at about 4 p.m. to 7:30 pm. We finished the drive in pitch black. Our driver/guide Kgmotso, shined a spotlight and we were still seeing animals in the dark.

All our meals were provided and were cooked in Dutch ovens and they were really good.

The restroom with shower and VIP toilets (ventilated, improved pit) was just a couple of feet from our door. There is a fenced path that leads to the restrooms so people don't have to worry about unwelcomed guests.

Our path to the bathroom and the showers had a fence
all around it

When we came back from our first game drive, there were well over 100 kerosene lanterns all over camp, lighting the paths to the cabins and rest rooms. That was really a pretty sight.

A rare sighting of a leopard

A male Kudu and his sweetie

The next morning our game drive started at 6:30 (in the dark again). It was pretty cold riding in the open vehicles until the sun came up but they had blankets for each of us to wrap up in.

Form left to right: Gregg (our host), Chad and Maddie,
Kgmotso (our guide), and Ming in the jeep

Mike's daughter, Sophie, had sent us Flat Stanley to take with us on our African adventures. Grandma Susan dressed him up in some authentic African fabric, and we took him along on our Safari. He was such a good boy while with us and never caused any trouble whatsoever.

Getting ready for the drive with Flat Stanley

Stanley with the Rhinos

We saw so many beautiful animals there. They always talk about the "big five" when going on safaris. Those are the 5 most dangerous animals; lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and Cape Buffalo. By the morning during our second drive, we had seen all 5 of them. Plus we had seen 4 cheetah brothers sunning themselves and also a pack of wild dogs. Those are a very rare sight in the park.

Two Cheetahs sun bathing at the dam

The wild dogs

Rhinos

Because Madikwe is a regional and not a national park, the guides can drive "off road" if they need to go follow a special animal through the bush. Our driver ended up doing that several times during our 4 game drives.

A beautiful animal

During the afternoon of the second day, we spotted a large herd of Cape Buffalo. They are spectacular looking animals with the most beautiful massive horns. We watched them for about 15 minutes until they crossed the road right ahead of us and wandered off into the brush again.

Cape Buffalo

All the driver/guides from different companies, keep in touch with each other on CB radios. When a vehicle spots some great animals, they make a call and several vehicles in the vicinity may converge so everyone gets more chances to see the animals.

We watched this elephant for 10 minutes eating this bush

The bush is almost stripped clean. Elephants eat for 18 hours a day.
They consume about 500 pounds a day but only 40% is digested.

STANLEY'S BIGGEST, GRANDEST ADVENTURE

Just after dark, our guide, Kgmotso, spotted 2 male lions lying in the grass near the side of the road. She put the spotlight on them and they just laid there. She told us they were brothers and had just been brought to Madikwe from another game reserve in Namibia. Animals are quite often moved around because it helps keep the gene pool strong. These 2 males were quite large and she said they were not afraid to attack a large buffalo if they had the chance.

Two male lions waiting for the right time.

As we were watching them, another vehicle a few hundred yards ahead of us radioed that they had just spotted a herd of buffaloes. Kgmotso got really excited and told us all to keep quiet. She said those 2 males by us were very likely stalking that heard. She didn't want to move up closer to the buffaloes because she said if they stampeded, it would be really dangerous, even in the vehicle. So we waited.

SURE ENOUGH

About 5 minutes later the lions started moving slowly through the brush in the direction of the buffaloes. Kgmotso didn't want to shine the light on them because it would make them easy to spot by the buffaloes. We didn't see anything for about 5 minutes, but all of a sudden we heard the
terrified sound of the buffaloes and from a couple of hundred yards away could hear their hooves and bellowing as they stampeded. Even in the dark we could see a big cloud of dust as they headed towards the road. Unfortunately the vehicle in front of us was directly in their path. The driver slammed in into reverse and "got himself out."

Kgmotso then took off into the bush in pursuit of the buffaloes and lions. Real soon we heard the terrified sounds of a young buffalo that had been taken down by the lions. We watched as one of the lions dragged the buffalo through the brush. The buffalo was still kicking as the lions dragged him away. Kgmotso said the lions move their kill so the buffaloes wouldn't come back on them and disturb their dinner.

Kgmotso followed them for a hundred yards or so, driving over rocks and trees or anything else that was in our way. Everyone followed us through the dark until we stopped. Then we just parked and watched the lions eating their happy meal. We shined our spotlights on them and the lions couldn't have cared less. They just sat there and watched us watching them as they had dinner. We could hear all sorts of noises, from the tearing of flesh to the crunching of bones.

Happy meal

Cape Buffalo sandwich

Commentary by Madeline Parson

I guess that seeing a kill like that is one of the rarest of sights. We felt extremely fortunate.

UNTIL WE MADE A SAD AND TRAGIC DISCOVERY

We wanted to take some pictures of Stanley with the lions. But we couldn't find him anywhere. At some point during this chase, Stanley must have become dislodged from his seat and thrown from the vehicle. Poor little fellow. We'll never forget little Stanley in all his flatness. He had some of the finest moments of his life here in Africa. We do believe that he died a hero.