Whorton and Whorton Safaris is doing well :)

The drive yesterday with the film students was a roaring (literally!) success.  There were 4 of them (2 local South Africans, 1 Aussie, 1 Yank).  All had been to the bush many times before so they were going to be a hard crowd to please, but I think we did well ;)

The 2 major sightings for them were 3 rhinos, and the whole pride of lions (6 adults  and the cub).

The rhinos were nice as we spotted them in the distance and got about 50 metres away.  I know these rhinos (the sub-adults) are curious so i turned off the engine and they kind beasts did as i expected and walked over to us.  They literally came right up to the cruiser, so the guys had a beautiful sighting.  After the rhinos realised we weren't a threat (or food) they duely bumbled off.

The guys then asked if i knew where the lions were - i didn't know exactly but i did know where they had been earlier in the day so i pootled off in that direction.  It took about 40 mins to drive there so Rach and i impressed with our knnowledge of fauna and flaura along the way.  By the time we got to the last known sighting 2 other vehicles were also in the area looking for them.  This made life easy and we foound them after a short search - they were sitting, spread over about a 100 metre area, in a huge field.

The female with the cub was closest to where we entered the field so i went to them first, and as expected the cub looked cute for photos.  20 mins later i moved the cruiser to where the 3 other females were sitting.  They looked quite restless and i thought they might be about to go on the move so i placed the cruiser where i thought they would be walking.  Sure enough, 10 mins later the big girls got up one by one and went on the prowl, walking to within a few metres of the cruiser.  Then males being males, the 2 males lions also stired and walked after the females, again walking right past the cruiser.  The guys were amazed that the lions came so close to us - but at all times my engine was off and it was the lions that chose the  path to walk, so very ethical too :)   

We then tracked the lions for a bit on the road, but as we were right at the back all we really saw was that back end of the male, as the females had moved off ahead by 100 metres or more.  I told teh guys my plan was to come off the road, drive around one of the plains for about a mile, then re-join the road.  I was hoping the lions would stick to the road (as they often do) then we would be in the road and they would pass us but facing us.  Seemed like a plan and they all agreed.

Once back on theroad I called through to one of the other vehicles and sure enough the lions were still coming our way.  5 minutes wait saw the female walking towards us with little cub in tow.  Followed by the other 3 females about 20 metres back, then the young male and laastly the big male about 50 metres or so off the pace.

As the female (very grumpy one, famous for charging at cars!) hgot level with us a work vehicle from one of the lodges pulled up behind me and went to overtake me.  This freaked the cub out and he/she panicked and gave a yelp.  The driver of the car then reversed back and parked behind me but kept his engine running (a sign of agression to animals, engine noise). 

I knew what was coming next so I just said to the guys in the cruiser to stay quiet and don't move, whatever may happen.  And, sure enough the female turned to us and gave us a big warning growl.  Don't forget, we have no doors, roof or windows to our cruisers and we was only 2 yards from her, so this is a heart stopping noise.  Luckily everyone froze.  She stared at us for a bit, grumbled some more then moved off behind us.

The problem was, the cub would still not pass us and i had this bad feeling the female would come back and have another go at us.  Fortunately one of the other females came up to the cub, nuzzled it, then led it past us.  Then the 2 big males came through, and they looked huge :)

After all this excitement i thought it best to take the guys back to camp for supper.  And were they scared - abso-blinking-lutely.  they said they had never experienced anything like it before and it was so primeval to have such a dangerous animal so close and warning them.  It was certainly not my intention to get a growl from the big girl but at least no one freaked and we all stayed safe/.

They were also very impressed how Rach and i stated calm and in control and wasn't scared (like they were).  Not bllody likely, i sh!t myself every time these lions growl at us or charge us, but we have learnt to control this fear (through practice) in the knowledge that they are not real threats, just 'friendly' warnings!

And did they like our safari? Yes, one guy even said we should reconsider going back to London and take up the work offer, we were so professional (he'd been on other safaris in the past but loved ours).  Top praise but we are sticking to our plans :) Oh, and we take them out again tomorrow - hippos and hopefully elephants tomorrow!