We woke up to the sound of screaming baboons, and we ran out of the tent to watch the ensuing madness from our porch. What seemed like hundreds of baboons ran out across the riverbed running away from what looked like a large male baboon fighting for dominance. We spent a long while watching them as they fled, carrying their babies and running into the trees, where they then began to relax and started grooming each other.
Sami also heard a leopard roar early in the morning, and again later in the day and we found out during breakfast that a leopard had entered the camp last week and had to be shot dead for the safety of the residents. A leopard's roar is absolutely bone-chilling, sounding just like a high-pitched chainsaw chopping down a tree.
Once we were ready to hit the road, we headed to the Lower Sabie camp, where we spotted tons of animals. Highlights included 3 sleeping lions under a shady tree, a dozen rhinos spotted in small groups throughout the day, and most impressive (and memorable) was a hyena waking up on the side of the road, vomiting its dinner, and then eating it again right in front of us (caught on video!)!!
An interesting fact we learned about lions is that they sleep 20 hours of the day, in order to conserve their energy for the short sprints and viscous attacks required to hunt their food. Lionesses are primarily the hunters, often hunting in groups and capable of bringing down just about any type of animal including young elephants. Besides sleeping and mating 50 times a day (each session lasting only a few seconds!) the males fight among themselves for dominance within the pride. We were also surprised to find that the continuity of the lion species is often in danger whenever there is draught and when food is scarce - the pecking order within a lion pride is that the lazy dominant male lion eats first, the lionesses eat second, and the cubs eat last, if there is anything left to eat!
Animals we saw today:
Baboons
Black-backed jackal
Rhinos
Kudus
Giraffes
Wildebeests
Zebras
Warthogs
Antelopes
Vultures
Sables (the mystical horned horse-like antelope)
Lions
Elephants
African fish eagle
Hippos
Crocodiles
Lizards
Hyena (vomiting!!!)
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