Giraffic Park

Wednesday, September 16

The mornings seem fairly calm and quiet at Zulu Nyala. Giraffe, by the dozens,
walked by ponds 
and pruned the acacia trees.

We added a wildebeest and gray duiker to the life list.

For the afternoon ride, Martha, teasing of course, put in a request to see cape buffalo which had eluded us as we hopped into the land rover. I requested a leopard. We had begun to believe Alan was a safari magician-making animals appear around the next corner somehow. We figured the requests would be no big deal to honor. Martha spotted the cape buffalo, a large herd of about 25 animals. Alan drove right smack dab into the middle of the group—very old to very young and--as you might remember-- they are the second most aggressive animal toward humans. 

They grazed around us while we snapped photos for about 30 minutes.

We drove until well after sundown, and with a flashlight Alan hunted for a leopard. A few pairs of bird and genet eyes glowed back at us. No cats. Dinner, usually warthog or impala fixed various ways, occasionally chicken or fish, salad, bread, soup, vegetables was followed by homemade desserts. We spent part of the evening packing up to head to Phinda when a knock came on our door. Our next-door neighbor, as she walked to her room from dinner, spied a leopard next to the pool just about 30 yards from our door. The night is young—maybe it will come back.