Shiwa Ng'andu Game Drive

Following this map from the manor, we managed to get on the correct road to drive out to the family boat house on Shiwa Ng'andu (the lake) and game drive.  And fortunately for us, Charlie Harvey was behind us on the road when we almost took a wrong turn.

At the lake:

After leaving the boat house we drove parallel to the lake, and stopped to investigate this group of wildebeest.

 As we approached them from behind a grove of trees this group of zebra surprised us (and we them)

We kept walking closer, slowly, of course, but got quite close until the leader of the group snorted and they trotted away.

 And here is the group of wildebeests coming along the lake to the side of the grove where the zebra are.

 The "leader" of the zebra kept his eye on us the entire time.

Back in the our Patrol, after walking back, we drove and stopped when we spied this new animal on an island in the lake.

Something caught our eyes on the left side, in the trees.  

 These animals are well adapted to blend in, but Mary's sharp eye was able to locate what we heard.

 On the opposite side, way out in the field was another animal.  Tom let me get out, and creep closer, trying to get a better photo.  These were two lechwe, male and female.   The male kept his eye on me.  I went as close as I felt comfortable ... and went away with a few battle scars ... long sharp grass, with seeds intent on penetrating skin, clothes and leather boots.  They made foxtails appear domesticated.

 Tom captured a much better picture, which you will see in a bit.

 These next three were attempts at taking photos of more skittish animals, and try as we might, could not determine is we caught them or not.  Can you see anything?  They are there, but blend in extremely well.

 

We heard movement, but have absolutely no idea what it was, or even if they were captured in the photo.

Another grazing pair:

And then this group of puku ahead of us on the road.

 They didn't stand around waiting for us.  The animals in the beginning photos, across the lake were likely puku and lechwe.   Look closely at these photos, and note the black stripes on the rump .. typical of impala.

Here is Tom's great photo of a lechwe.  They have wide spreading horns.

In the profile of the one I photographed you can see how long the horns are.  Same type of animal, they have very distinctive black markings on their front legs.

Another group of wildebeest, much closer to the road:

 And as they were entering this small tree grouping this animal popped out the other side.  A nice close shot of a puku.

On the road back to Kapishya, through the farm, Mary took these.  The Estate does offer horseback riding, but only for experienced riders.

This boar was attempting to push his way into the pen where a sow was busy with her little nurslings.  Quite honestly, we would have felt much more threatened confronting this huge guy in the bush than the animals we did see.  What an amazing, completely unexpected treat this morning had been!

Part 5 will be the afternoon of this day, captured as the camera battery gave out.  Our next planned purchase in the States will be an extra battery.