| Species | Group Size | Group Structure | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elephant | 3 | Breeding Herd | 50m |
| Buffalo | 9 | Bulls | 70m |
| White Rhino | 1 | Bull | 28m |
| White Rhino | 1 | Bull | 50m |
| Buffalo | 50 | Breeding Herd | 50m |
| Hippopotamus | 1 | Bull | 5m |
| Buffalo | 20 | Breeding Herd | 70m |
For the first walk, as part of Viewing Potentially Dangerous Animals, I was the Lead Guide. The walk was 3 hours long.
First day of approaching dangerous game. There was a small breeding herd of Elephants outside of camp. They were out of sight when we left camp but I picked up on their tracks. The tracks lead us along the fence line, the fence can be a problem as it blocks a possible escape route if they are startled. Therefore I maintained a sensible distance and an unobstructed escape route. Unfortunately, the area was limited for cover so they knew we were approaching and when they felt uncomfortable with our presence they left.
We drove further into the reserve for a while. Eventually leaving the car and going on foot. As we walked further down the road we happened upon a group of bull (dugga) Buffalo. We diverted into the bush to get a more favourable position so that we could view them better. Unfortunately, the wind wasn’t in our favour and they startled. I was able to track them through the bush to a dam but they hadn’t stopped to drink and I chose not to pursue them any further.
We found some evidence that White Rhino may be nearby so I began to track. Soon after… we bumped into a lone bull! Luckily the wind was in our favour. He appeared to be aware of our presence but luckily the wind hid our identity, still, we took cover behind a large bush. While we sat and watched the bull another passed by behind us. The movement of this second Rhino and us checking on him startled the first who ran. We then turned and began to approach the second Rhino as the wind was still mostly in our favour. However, the first Rhino leaving startled the second and alerted him to our presence so at 50m I thought we should leave the sighting.
While leaving the Rhino sightings, walking down a road we bumped into another Buffalo breeding herd. I tried to lead us in a loop through the brush as the wind wasn’t favourable, though they were already aware of us. However, to our advantage, there were a few old buildings and a dam along the route. We made it to the dam and were able to view them across the dam without appearing to disturb them.
We were walking a different route on the way back to the Game Viewer and walked to another dam, a lone bull Hippopotamus was in the dam. One of the walls of the dam offered us good cover and an opportunity to approach. As we reached a slight clearing on the dam wall where we could view (approx. 10m away), he began to yawn, dive, blow bubbles and surface… that’s a hippo’s warning charge. Soon he appeared 5m away, and was still approaching the dam wall… so we very promptly left!
Whilst driving back to camp we found and third buffalo herd. We drove on to try and get the wind blowing towards us. As we approached on foot we had a densely vegetated spruit (creek/stream) on the left which limited our routes in to the sighting, and therefore potential escape routes. Dense vegetation sounds like a good place for cover but it’s difficult to know if any of the herd you are trying to view are in fact in there, or in deed any other animals, so it’s not advised to pass through. This meant I had to change the route slightly, and we lost the wind so they picked up on us. I chose to walk parallel to them and ignore them, as many animals don’t appreciate being looked at directly, so I attempted this as a possible alternative to viewing them without discomforting them. They approached us a little, to a distance comfortable to them. As they became more wary I decided we should continue on our way and leave the sighting.