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Wild About the Wild

“Tennieeeeeeeeelle” yells Thandi, as she runs past the Swart’s front gate on her way to the bus stop. “We’re late, you’d better hurry, the bus is waiting”.

“Coming, Thandi, I’m just grabbing my sarmies!” shouts Tennielle.

Both girls are 10 years old and live in the Kruger National Park at Skukuza camp. Tennielle Swart, an Afrikaans “meisie” but fluent in English, and Thandi Mathumbu, a Shangaan, are best “buddies” and fondly known amongst the Skukuza locals as the “Terrible T’s”.

“Whew, that was a rush, I’m glad the bus waited” says Tennielle, out of breath, as she sits down next to Thandi. It is only a short trip to the school but the two girls enjoy the ride as they often see the resident Skukuza buck [Boris and Bambi] and the two warthogs [Warwick and Wendy] which graze near the school fence. The girls have a habit of naming all the animals depending on the first letter of whatever they are but they try and keep this between themselves as it’s always amusing to them who can come up with the most original name.

Tennielle’s father [“Pa” in Afrikaans] is Senior Ranger at Skukuza and Thandi’s Dad is a Senior Animal Tracker. Both men have years of experience and many tales to tell of their bush experiences.

“Did you remember to bring your binocs?”, asks Thandi.

“Yes” answers Tennielle smiling “I can’t wait for first break when we go on our game drive. I wonder if we’ll get to see Ethel and Eldred Ellie?”.

Their teacher has organized with Tennielle’s Dad to take the class of 10 children on a game drive for 2 hours as part of their biology/zoology lesson.

“Oh yes, and I brought each of us a Liquifruit and a marshmallow fish”, says Tennielle. What did your Mom pack for you to eat”?

“I have some fruit and a Yogisip, so if you like we can share each other’s lunch”, suggests Thandi.

“Cool, sounds good to me!” says Tennielle. “I think we’re going to stop at Afsaal for our break”.

“OK guys, everyone off, enjoy your day” shouts the bus driver.

“Bye Andraos, have a good day too”.

By 10 am the class is ready to board the landrover. Tennielle looks out of the window and waves to her Dad, Schalk. Then Thandi gets a huge surprise. On the small seat in front of the landrover, sits her Dad, Thomas. “Great, we’re gonna track some animals too”! she yells excitedly.

The landrover rides out of the camp gates and just then Tennielle spots something in the tree to their right. “Stop please Pa!... I think I’ve seen a Marabou Stork”.

Everyone looks and her Dad says “well done, yes, it’s a Marabou, but if you look further to the right you’ll see a few vultures circling. There must be a kill in that clearing. We were supposed to go south to Lower Sabie but should we rather head in the direction of the vultures?”.

“Yes pleeeeeease” shouts the class.

Mrs Steenkamp, the class teacher, reminds the class to keep their voices low and to remain very still if they came across any kill.

Tennielle looks at Thandi and whispers “I bet we’re going to see lions”. Thandi answers “maybe, but it’s very hot outside so if they did hunt and kill they probably did it early this morning leaving the remains to the vultures…”

Thandi’s Dad looks round at his daughter and grins, “you may be right, but let’s wait and see”.

The road forks and just then the “landie” stops and Tennielle’s Dad jumps off – everyone watches as he bends down and rescues a chameleon who is half-way across the road. “Come, little fella, you’re not going to make old bones if you do this too often” … “there you go”. Schalk shows the class the chameleon “watch how he clambers up my shirt and see how his colour is changing”. The class nod, and tick off their list of “Sightings” which Mrs Steenkamp has given them. Tennielle’s Dad then gently places the chameleon onto a bush off the road and thanks Thomas for watching out for any dangerous animals which may have been lurking.

They drive on and come across some fresh elephant dung. This time Thomas jumps off his seat and grabs a long stick asking “class, how will I know if the elephants are close by?”.. A show of hands rise up and Thomas points to Shane who answers “the dung will still be warm”. “Yes” says Thomas, “that’s right… well it seems that the giants are in the area as this dung is very warm”. As they all look up they suddenly hear a faint noise in the thick bush and there behind them are a herd of 7 elephants. Tennielle’s Dad whispers “guys, sit very still and be extremely quiet please, there are 2 babies and the cows are very protective. The last thing we want is for the matriarch to charge us. Elephants are amazing creatures, their large padded feet allow them to walk through the bush hardly making a sound”.

After a while, they slowly move off and the landrover continues toward the vultures. Along the way, they pass zebra and impala and then Thandi’s Dad spots warthogs and they also have babies! Everyone grabs their binoculars to get a closer look and they giggle as the warthog mom runs off followed by her babies, tails all erect scurrying for their burrow.

 

Mrs Steenkamp announces that there is a troop of vervet monkeys in the trees ahead. Schalk stops and they switch the engine off to watch them cavorting in the tree. “Look” says Tennielle, the one mother has a really tiny baby clinging to her tummy”. Thomas adds, “that baby is about a day or two old - look at the juveniles how energetic they are”. “It seems as if the Kruger is full of new additions at the moment” she adds.

The landrover drives onto a secondary road where only the rangers are allowed to drive. These roads normally have good game viewing as they are quiet and the animals are not harassed by traffic and noisy tourists.

“Class, don’t forget to remind us to look at the webcam later on the internet” says the teacher. The webcam is situated at Satara camp but the kids love to watch it as it changes every 30 seconds and only yesterday did they see a hyena sitting in the water trough cooling off.

Suddenly, everyone gasps, “there, in the clearing” says Schalk. “Ja, oh look, it’s a hyena and a jackal”, says Thandi, “I thought I could hear the hyena laughing”. She winks at Tennielle and says quietly “I nearly said Harriet Hyena but stopped myself in time!” “Wait” says Tennielle, “I can see something big in the shade…it’s 3 lions, two lionesses and a male!!” Sure enough, they are lounging in the shade, bellies bulging and there in front of them a few metres away are the stinky remains of a Wildebeest. The hyena and the jackal as well as the vultures, all being carrion feeders, are competing over the last few morsels.

“There isn’t much left but tomorrow there’ll only be a few bones” says Thomas. “Lions gorge themselves and then rest, and these three don’t care much that their age-old enemy is right there. They are too full and lazy now….”

“I wonder when they killed the Wildebeest?” asks one of the class members.

“I think it was early this morning” answers Thandi “as lions don’t normally hunt when it gets too hot”.

The hyena eventually moves off leaving the jackal to eat the last few remains.

After a while, Schalk starts up the engine and asks “who’s hungry”?! Everyone laughs, and they agree that it’s time for a snack so they drive to Afsaal where they pile out and sit at the picnic site. “Thandi, here’s your juice” says Tennielle. “Thanks Ten”, replies Thandi, “Dad, please can we go for a walk when we’ve had our snack”. Thomas agrees but reminds the class that they must keep close together in single file as although this is a get-out point, it’s still in the middle of a national park full of dangerous animals. “We won’t go far but let’s see what we can find”.

They move off and Thomas shows them a dung beetle busily going about his business in some dung. Then someone spots a hawk above and they realize the area must be full of little rodents.

“Look” says Thandi, “is this leopard spoor?” Thomas bends down and inspects the marks on the ground “yes, they are so solitary but I know there is a resident leopard in this area”. “Well done!”

A bit further along, they come across a troop of noisy baboons sitting on the rocks above a ravine. Then it’s time to venture back to the landrover.

“Oooooii”, shouts Thomas as the landrover rounds a bend and nearly drives slap bang into the back of a large rhino rump! Schalk slowly reverses so as not to pose a threat as by now the rhino mother has done a quick about turn, facing them horns and all protecting her baby beside her. Rhinos have very poor eyesight but they hear very well. “Luckily she is a White Rhino as the Black one would have charged us” mumbles Thomas. The children “ooh” and “aah” as the baby runs off. Thomas adds that the White Rhino is poached for it’s horn. Thandi says “and then they sell it illegally for lots of Dollars, I know as I saw the programme on Animal Planet last week”.

By now they are just bypassing the Skukuza golf course on their way back to school. “I wonder if that croc is still guarding the water hazard at the 3rd hole”, quips Schalk to his daughter, remembering when he last played a round, and had to negotiate the large Nile crocodile sunning itself on the bank below the green. “Ja, I’m sure many golfer’s have lost balls on that hole and never try and get them out”, laughs Tennielle. “Dad, we must go and putt again sometime… oh look, there’s a a kingfisher, he’s just swooped down to grab a fish from that waterhole”.

“Well, children, here we are, back at school. Say thank you to Mr Swart and Mr Mathumbu”. The children obey and pile off the landrover, rushing for their classroom door. “Now we can look at the cam as promised then I will give you an essay to write for homework”, smiles Mrs Steenkamp.

Tennielle runs to the computer and logs onto www.sanparks.co.za and then clicks on Webcams. The site immediately shows an approaching giraffe about to splay it’s long legs and have a well earned drink. In the background they catch site of another giraffe eagerly eating acacia leaves. “Isn’t it amazing how they wrap their long tongues around the tree and pull of the leaves without the thorns hurting them” mentions the teacher. “Class, don’t forget on Thursday evening we’re having a family Bring and Braai at the tourist area and then they are going to show the video “Eternal Enemies”. Who can tell me what this is about?” Two hands shoot up and both children shout out “lions and hyenas”. “Absolutely right” says Mrs Steenkamp “but why are they known as this?”. Thandi answers “because both compete for prey and hyenas can chase off lion if there are enough of them”. She looks at Tennielle “do you remember that time we saw the hyena and her baby hiding in the drain near Kruger Gate?”. “Ja”, says Tennielle, “and then she brought her pup out for everyone to see. It was so cute but the mother was really smelly!!”. Everyone giggles. “Maybe that’s why the lions don’t like them”, laughs Mrs Steenkamp. Okay class, your topic for your essay today is ‘Why I love the bush’. Remember, it must be over 2 pages and write neatly! Tomorrow morning we are going to e-mail our friends at Etosha National Park in Namibia to see how they are getting on”.

“Oh boy”, says Tennielle, “I love this place, there’s always something to discover and new things to learn”. “Yes”, answers Thandi, “living in a Sanpark is always a journey of discovery”.