Photographic Safari: Self Drive Tips for Capturing the Big Five

There are pros and cons for paying to go on safari or do your own self drive. When you go on a paid safari, you have the advantage of a trained spotter usually and you don't have to worry about watching the road as you ride along; they are doing that (you hope!) You are also in a vehicle that sits high off the ground and so sometimes you can see things people in a regular passenger car cannot.



This being said, the freedom of a self drive is immense. When you find something, you can sit and watch to your heart's content. If if it something of everyone's interest like a lion for instance, my advice is to turn your vehicle so no one can block your view! If you in a busy park like Kruger during the school holidays there are pluses and minuses. One advantage of going at this time of year is that there are more eyes out spotting the game, though it can get quite hectic when one of the Big Five is spotted. People can get a little crazy so you have to assert yourself and hold your ground. This is one big advantage of a small car: you can quickly zip into a space or move around some big clunky 4 x 4's as needed.

When out driving, and you see a car stopped, backing up etc., slow down and start segmenting the viewing field and looking for it. We were able to spot a leopard in a tree by slowing down, stop, go forward six feet, look around, go forward six more feet and so on. It allows both the driver and passenger to look for what has been spotted.

We also if possible, see which direction the people are looking so we can both be looking in that direction. Before setting out on a game drive, it is advisable to look at the sightings board, and if you can talk to others at the board to see what and where they have seen anything. We go a cheetah report from a man who had seen two cheetah that very morning. We went out looking but were not successful. We did the game drive at about 10-15 km where the cheetah had been spotted which did allow for both of us to be looking.


Another tip is to not just look on the ground; look in the trees especially ones that look like a likely place to find a leopard. Look ahead, something could be crossing the road--the elephants can just suddenly appear on the side of the road. Lions seem to enjoy lying around and if you are lucky it is on the side of the road!

Vultures circling usually indicate a kill somewhere and you can try to follow their path or if they are in a tree, look around so see if you can find something nearby. Prey animals like the impala are worth watching if you see them "alert." They may be sensing one of their predators is in the area and may show themselves!

For more of our pictures of Lions Mating, see
Vicious Lovers: Lions at Dusk, Mating, Then Stalking Off For Their Nightly Hunt at http://www.traveljournals.net/stories/30097.html

More Adventure with Safari Mike: Luangwa Lions Lounging, Male Giraffe Necking

Lounging Lions of Luangwa

Because the park entrance fee is good for 24 hours, we were able to do both a late afternoon and early morning game drive with Mike. He had been working for Born Wild Foundation in Malawi. According to Mike, this organization was founded by the actors from the classic movie.

When we set out on the early morning drive, Mike informed us if we saw lions, be prepared to sit and watch them for a couple of hours. We said that would not be a problem for us. He had been on several safaris at Flatdogs and had yet to see any lions. And, afterall, since he had been working for Born Free wildlife conservation in Malawi for several years, we simply had to help him study his lions! We had noooo problem with that idea at all!

We drove through parts of the park we had not been to but were not finding any lions. We would get hopeful when we would either see very little in the way of wildlife and what looked like an animal alerting as if there might be a lion around.

Finally we came on a safari vehicle and stopped and asked them if they were seeing anything. They said there were lions right back where they had been. As we approached the area where they had been, we saw a giraffe sitting on the ground. We wondered if the lions were still there because the giraffe did not seem concerned. We drove into the clearing and there they were! It was 10 lions in two groups sitting on the ground.








Suddenly, they got up and looked like they were getting ready to start hunting. Some began to move out and others went plunk, back down on the ground! They moved into several groups and began to do what according to Mike they do 80% of every day------resting! Mike hopes one day to become a safari guide and has a book with facts and figures about the various animals.

Mike drove from the open area where some were resting, "off road!" ,to a place where another vehicle had gone. They turned around and left, we saw nothing, turned around barely missing trees and such, when Laura cried "look", two lions were coming up behind us. They, too, went plunk, and began to rest. We watched them for some minutes up close and personal, and it was thrilling, I tell you.

Then off stage, we heard a thundering of hooves. What was that?
Later we learned from the folks in the Flatdogs game drive vehicle that the lions all of sudden got up and chased the giraffes! No luck, though.

Just after we heard the hooves another self drive vehicle drove up, this one carrying people in muslim dress, one man driving, three women passengers. Laura commented that the back window had been broken out, and she wondered if by elephants. As if the man read her lips, he began telling us that they had been in a lodge near Flatdogs and had left oranges in the back. Oops, seems that "Wonkie Tusk" had been busy....

We then spent the next two and a half hours ,moving between and watching the resting lion small groups. Many times they were very "cat-like" in their behavior--rolling over and stretching, preening and cleaning and yawning and stretching. It was all very entertaining!





Male Giraffe "Necking"
We also came up to three male Giraffe doing the strangest thing. According to Mike, the males were "necking." They were butting each other with slow but great force, apparently in preparation for the mating season. Mike told us that male Giraffe are distinguised in part from females by the hair being worn off their horns.

Lion on the Hunt , Night Game Drive, Birding South Luangwa

Night Game Drive into South Luangwa National Park

Friday after lunch I was taking a nap in the tent when Robert woke me up and suggested we go on a game drive. We had met Johann, a South African, and his new wife Nancy, who was from Virginia at the bar the previous night and decided to go on the same night game drive they were taking. Robert jokingly told them that they were obviously having good luck and surely would spot us a leopard. Johann replied he had dreamed that Robert showed them a leopard. Sure enough, we saw a leopard on the drive!


Johann and Nancy

From the reports we had been hearing from people, the night drive sounded like the best option to see animals. You gather in the dining room at 3:30 for tea or coffee and cookies and cakes. The drivers of the various vehicles meet you and let you know which vehicle you are riding on. We then set off. We were in the vehicle with Johan and Nancy. Johann said he had a dream the night before if we were on the drive with him, we would see the largest leopard ever!

Park Entry Fee in US Dollars or Kwatcha
You stop at the entrance and pay your fee of $25.00 for the entry that is good for 24 hours so technically you could do a game drive one evening and the next morning do an early morning game drive. The fee varies for people from outside the continent of Africa and those that live in Africa. From there we crossed into the park. This park is in what would be considered woodland according to the description in my book, "The Wildlife of Southern Africa: A field guide to the animals and plants of the region." Woodland is defined as region of open woodland with trees that are spaced sufficiently apart so that there is an understorey of grass and no closed canopy. The area of arid savanna is dominated by acacia species and is generally more open. As we drove through the park, you would be in a forested area and then in an open area with few trees. The Luangwa River runs through the park and the escarpment to the north marks the northernmost boundary. According to our guide, the park encompasses 950,000 acres. (I believe that is correct)


Puka, Zebra, Bush Buck, Giraffe, Hyena, Impala, Kudu
The first two hours we drove through herds of puka which we had not seen before.They are similar in appearance to the impala which we also saw in great herds along with the bushbuck.

The puka is a beautiful rich tan in coloration. We saw some female kudu which of course are not the same magnificent species as the male. We also saw zebra of a variety that are a subspecies of the Burchell's zebra that are not found except in Zambia and parts of Tanzania. There stripes are different and you can tell the sex of the zebra by the width of the stripes on the backs of their legs; the female's stripes are wider than the males.


Hammerkopf, Gray Lourie, Bateleur, White crowned Plover
We saw some birds on the first part of the trip that we had not yet seen on our trip this time. There was a group of hammerkopf (hammerheads) around a lagoon. They were displaying their distinctive hammerhead as we watched. In the trees you could hear the gray lourie telling us to "go away." This is their distinctive call and they are also known as the go-away bird. There were some flocks of the quelea and we saw a few whitebrowed sparrow weavers. Several times we saw bands of the blue-helmeted guinea fowl. We saw two immature raptors, one the bateleur and the other the martial eagle.







One of the most interesting birds we saw was the White-crowned Plover, which has longer yellow wattles than the Wattled Plover. Very strange yellow things hanging beside his beak!






Sundowner Break with Hyenas
We stopped for a "sundowner break" just as we saw a young spotted hyena. We didn't see the larger hyena lying in the grass until the guide pointed it out to us. The animals really do a could job of camoflouging themselves! We did get to watch the two hyenas get up and lope off to begin their evening hunt. According to the guide, they are mainly scanvengers and so they are hunting for some other animals leftovers from a kill. The Spotter and The Guide served drinks and peanut snacks and pointed to a clump of bushes for those who needed to releive themselves. Hmmmmm. The hyenas were nearby, and no telling what else.

There was a family of Thornikroft giraffe coming up as we drove up. These are a species that is only found in the South Luangwa National Park. They have brown patches on their face that distinguish them from other giraffe.









Darkness Falls, Lions Get Up to Hunt
Then the sun went down and the night part of the drive began! Each vehicle is equipped with a spotlight which enables the guide to look for the animals. We and several other safari vehicles immediately ran into a pride of about 15 lions! They were just beginning their evening hunt.






As we had been told, the vehicles get right up with the animals and all are shining their lights on them. I guess the animals are immune to this because they just ambled past us. For about 20 minutes, it was almost like rush hour traffic. The line of safari vehicles following along behind the pride. We soon figured out eating dust and exhaust was not the way to go and so our guide pulled out of the the line and we took off on our own.





Leopard!
In about 10 minutes it became apparent why the guide and spotter are such a big part of the drive. The spotter was moving his spotlight back and forth across the grass and spotted a leopard crouched down apparently hunting. We would have never seen it. The leopard took off and we were able to follow at a distance as it was hunting an impala. Fortunately, the leopard moved out of sight and so we didn't see a kill take place.


Leopard!

Genet and Civet
As we continued driving we saw in various places 5 different genet and 5 different civet cats. Throughout the evening we saw five of each and at times they would stand still long enough for us to look at them closely and also take pictures. We saw two more individual lions, both males. One did a nice pose for us, turning so we could see his mane and then he wandered off into the bush.






Lazy Lion
We also saw a final male lion near the entrance to the park. Two girls we had talked to called him the lazy lion. When we drove up to him (very close) he turned and looked at us and then layed down. Then he began his calling, grunting, roaring for a prone position. It was quite interesting to watch!


White tailed Mongoose and Giant Eagle Owl
As we were heading back to the entrance we saw a white tailed mongoose and then a giant eagle owl. It was too dark for us to see owl's pink eyelids but we did get to watch him for a minute or so.

As we drove back to the camp and crossed the Luangwa River bridge, we saw a buffalo near the road water and right outside the reception area we saw a swamp mongoose. Wow!

Game Drive Ethics
We discussed with Johann and Nancy the ethical question of getting so close to the lions and other animals with so many spotlights and vehicles right on top of them. At times the safari vehicle was within a few feet of the lions.

So all in all, the night drive was quite an adventure and is well worth repeating! We went to bed early and people told us that as a consequence we missed the giraffe walking along the path near our tent.


Croc!