The Lions Sleep Tonight

Although jacarandas are the national flower nursuries are not allowed to plant them because they are very thirsty trees. They won't be cut down but can't be planted much like the willow another water thirsty tree seen in this area that can decimate a water scarce country. 

We left Johannesburg today to embark on what for me is the highlight of the trip, the safari rides. En-route we discussed the importance of conservation and how important the Big 5 are to the South African community.  Nelson Mandela an important cultural icon is on the front of the bills, but the big five are on the back side of the paper money. The buffalo is on the 100 rand, the lion on the 50 rand note, the elephant on the 20 rand note, the rhinoceros is on the 20 rand note and the somewhat shy leopard is on the 200 rand note. The small five are the leopard backed tortoise, the rhinoceros beetle with its horn, the ant, the elephant shrew and the buffalo weaver. The ugly five are the hyena, the vulture, the wildebeest, the warthog, and the marabou stork. 

     Today we visited the Ivory Tree Game Lodge. The lodge sits on 127000 square acres of land. But you can only see less than half of it from all the driving trails which the animals sometimes use as pathways because the roads are the path of least resistance. This site is a national park maintained by the government but privately owned by a local tribe. The Ivory Tree Game Lodge is part of the Pilanesburg National Park and is situated in the north eastern region. The national park is made up of a savana biome, a bushland, and a grassland.
     We were greeted upon arrival by African drummers and served some traditional foods, sorry can't tell you what the ostrich tasted like just couldn't trick myself into trying it.
Ivory Tree is full of local flora and fauna in addition to the birds, and mammals.
The elephants and giraffes have a preferred snack that actually has a defense mechanism. Both animals like the acacia plant and will chew on the bark to get to the sweet sap in the cambium, the layer between the bark and the stem. After two to three minutes of eating the plant releases a chemical that makes the acacia bitter so that the animal will not eat the entire thing in one setting.
Some of the animals that live here and cool factoids we learned from our guides today.

• There only exist 9 species of giraffe, The species differences are based on shoulder heights and the darkness of their markings . Due to their awkward gait giraffes will often die if they try to climb hills.
• Impala have black socks that are scent glands for following each other. There may be as many as forty females and one male in a group of impalas. Impalas have a seven month gestation period and the mother can hold the baby in for an additional 2 months if the need arises such as a drought in the living space. They have a dark black lines on their rear end that form the shape of the letter m, jokingly giving them the moniker "McDonald's of the grasslands
• kudu are herbivores
• wildebeest "brindled moo" is the the local name
  
  
  
  
  
• controlled fires happen to control the vegetative populations occur 2-5 years in tall growing areas and in other areas every 5-7 years
• zebras forcibly exile the injured. The zebras living here are plains zebras and have a shadowlining.
• suicide birds
• marshall eagle
• franklin bird
• glossy starlings are black but look greenish blue when the sign shines through their feathers. 
• black backed jackal puffs
• grey go away birds
• black shouldered kites will dive at speeds of 100 mph into tunnels after prey, often mice.
• buffalo thorn bushes are used as a defense so lions dont flank. they contain 1 crooked thorn and one straight thorn. The branches are also used by some local tribes to throw over the bodies of the deceased representative of their crooked life time and then that they will have a pure and straight afterlife.
• Children under six are not allowed in an open safari drive because the crying mimics a snack for lions and elephants have been known to attempt to turn over vehicles looking for the source of the noise.
• bushbuck
• masked weaver bird . The female runs the show in this relationship. The male spends a ridiculous amount of time building a nest in order to attract a female. The nest is tightly woven and often at the end of a branch. The female comes and inspects it. If she is not pleased she tears it apart and he must start all over again. 
• hyena it ran away before we could snap a picture they are evidently very skittish. 
• jackal we played follow the leader with him until he found some pals and a snack along the roadway
• White rhinos are grass eaters. We witnessed a mother and her 2 -3 year old infant crossing in front of our vehicle and later a bull white rhino. They have big flat square lips. Their heads can weigh 300 kg. They have an arched back and they don't swim. Two rhinos are poached each day for their horns. There is a steep fine for the poaching and the park is monitored but with 127000 square acres of land monitoring and managing to catch the poachers in the act is sometimes hard. Rhinos have a 16 month gestation period so new babies are not being born at a rate to keep up with the deaths by poaching. White rhinos are larger than black  rhinos. Rhinos can live up to 40 years. They have poor eyesight but a great sense of smell and hearing. Males have thicker horns with a thicker base that they use to fight with other males and sometimes hit against rocks. Females therefore have a longer horn but it has a smaller base. 
  
• Hippos an adult can hold its breath underwater for about 6 mins. An infant can only hold its breath for about 2 minutes. The mother therefore stays in shallower water with the baby until it is able to stay in deeper water. Male rhinos will sometimes kill a baby in order to mate with the female who will not leave the baby if it is still unable to survive in the deeper water. A hippos skin is very sun sensitive and it can lose its pigmentation if it stays out in the sun. 
• Rhinos are shadowed by cattle egrets that eat the bugs that are unearthed when the large animal walks along. 
• Elephants like to rip the bark off of trees and the trees over so that they can get to the roots. Elephants only process about 60% of what they eat.A bull elephant may eat 250 kg of food a day. 
• A male lion's vocalizations can be heard from 7-14 km away depending on whether they are on a flat savannah or a mountainous area.

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Our evening culminated with djembe drummers and a marimba band. Small drums were also placed out for guests to join in the jam session. It was a great time to release some energy, practice long forgotten African dance steps we learned at Swarthmore and just enjoy each others company. Well off to bed part 2 of the safari ride is at 5am tomorrow. Oh and lions refused to show their faces to all but one on the safari groups hence the title for tonight's post :)
Pilanesburg Photos