Lion Spoor
(Day 2 16 January 2018-Marloth Park)
Continuation from previous blog post Another Hot Day in the African Bush. Continue below for the Lion Spoor spotting blog.
We exited out long grass heaven and settled down in some shorted grass to pull out a much-needed drink as we watched the trickle that is the Crocodile River flow past us.
After much chatting and a bit of laughter we headed to have sundowners at one of the benches along the Crocodile River. We arrived to find a game vehicle and spotted two foreign tourists some way down the side of the fence. There was a huge herd of Elephant right by the fence and so we headed toward them to get some photos.
My sister and I were walking quite happily chatting away and greeted the two tourists as they passed us when I looked down and saw rather large and very fresh lion spoor.
I’m no game ranger but I know lion footprint when I see one. We followed them for a while to make sure we went seeing things before trying around and calling the others over. Of course this created some panic as it confirmed that a lion had come under the fence and it had been very recently.
In my opinion, the foreign tourists had not been eaten and so we had nothing to worry about. My mom on the other hand felt quite differently. According to her we were going to get eaten at any moment.
Despite our disagreement on “to get eaten or not to get eaten” we continued walking and following the lion spoor that continued all the way to where the herd of elephants were grazing by the fence. We got our elephant pics and then rather hurriedly made our way back to the van.
The next day it was reported that there were a lion and her teenage cub in the park and that walking and cycling was not advised until the lion were darted and returned to the Kruger National Park.
Other than the Warthog encounter, lion spoor and the sausage tree find those first few days of the holiday went by in a blur as we unwound and started to relax from the stresses of everyday life. You only start to realize how stressed everyday life can be when you get to a place like this and let your hair down.
No street lights, wild animals everywhere and only the worry of Lion, Leopard, Hyena and Baboon eating you or jumping out the thick bush to scare the daylights out of you. Although I live a rather carefree life back home on my own time and under my own rule life still gets pretty busy and stressful and a bush break is a welcome relief.
Get 6 bottles of SPAIS Chilli sauce for R360. Available in South Africa only for now. Sorry international folk, we’ll be coming to your shores soon.
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