The Big Five
It was at Punda Maria where, despite the intrusive Mopani trees and the irritating call of the Cape turtle dove, we got our first sighting. We couldn’t believe our good luck. If it wasn’t for a herd of impalas leaping idiotically over the road, we might have been able, with our Canon EOS 350D, to play with its shadow, its reflection, its profile. You guessed it: a silver Toyota Land Cruiser Prado VX Turbo Diesel . My hand was shaking when I ticked it on the checklist.
Our two-night stay at the Punda Maria rest camp was all but ruined by the crowds of long-tail cassias, Natal mahoganies, sycamore figs, tamboties, and the ubiquitous mopani. The birds were intolerable, especially that raucous francolin! Even worse, a pack of hyenas insisted on patrolling the boundary fence. But all was not lost, for, parked two tents down from our campsite, was a Range Rover, 3.6 litre, V8 turbo-charged and intercooled diesel engine, glovebox illumination… smell those leather seats… and emblazoned on its rump, the proud words: “Don’t try to follow me – you won’t make it”. We must have photographed it a hundred times.
After Punda Maria we headed southtowards Shingwedzi and, with the aid of our Zeiss FL (with fluoride glass) we almost completed our checklist: Mazda, Isuzu, Volkswagen, Ford, BMW, Honda, Opel, Nissan, Hundayi… you name it. But we were obsessed with the Big Five, and we’d already been fortunate enough to encounter two of them. The famed Kanniedood Drive was a big disappointment because the bush was teeming with game: obnoxious giraffe, silly wildebeest, vain zebra, supercilious kudu…. Even the skies were polluted, with kingfishers, bee eaters, storks, herons and, worst of all, eagles and vultures. At the sight of a ground hornbill waddling along the road with no fewer than three frogs in its repulsive beak, we almost decided to turn around and head for home.
If anything, our camping experience at Shingwedzi was even worse than those disturbed nights in Punda Maria. We had to erect our tent right under an apple leaf tree! The resident birds, none more obnoxious than the glossy starlings and the woodland kingfishers, completely spoiled our sundowner time; and our sleep was disturbed by the yelping of jackals and the eructations of rutting impala. We even had to listen to a leopard coughing. But then peace at last, nay joy, when we heard the arrival of the ‘best 4X4 by far’, the Landrover Defender 2.5 TDi with Aircon, CD-Radio, Power Steering, Centre Diff Lock/Rear Diff Lock, Customised Safari Equipment. Using our flash, we got in some good shots: from the back, from the front, and from both sides. We managed to get a wonderful close-up of the left back passenger door handle, a picture we intend to frame.
On our way to Balule we were surprised to find that the low-level causeway over the Olifants was under water. We, along with a number of other visitors, were afraid to attempt a crossing in case the powerful current swept us into the disgusting brown river. It seemed as if we had been marooned there for ages, pulling faces at the wire-tailed swallows and the yellow-billed storks, bored stupid by a fight between two male hippos, sickened by the cry of the fish eagle… when a seeming miracle took place. We heard the powerful diesel engine before we witnessed it: a snow white Toyota Fortuner 3.0TD 4X4 with all the mod cons including mp3, Elec. Windows, and Airbags. Almost simultaneously a huge rogue elephant with tusks that ploughed the earth before it, began crossing the causeway from the other side. There is no stopping one of the Big Five, however – except briefly, to engage low gear – and the Fortuner eased on to the causeway. The current swirled about its massive, beautifully treaded wheels as it approached the elephant, now flapping its ears like carpets being dusted.
We began to giggle with excited apprehension. Predictably the elephant chickened out and backed away, allowing the Fortuner to cross over to glory. We cheered and cheered, as did the other stranded visitors, all deeply satisfied with our photos of that ineffable vehicle.
After an hour or two the water subsided sufficiently for us to attempt a crossing, and we were mightily relieved to get to the other side. Balule was a most rewarding camp site since we counted no fewer than thirteen white and silver Toyota Hilux Double Cabs within the boundary fence. If there were a sixth Big One, this vehicle would be It. Our disappointments were restricted to a few squirrels and an ugly pair of plum-coloured starlings. Oh, and the far too many Terminalia prunioides with their creamy flowers in slender axillary spikes, their purplish red fruits, and their long, drooping branches.
The next day turned out to be our last because we got to see the last of the Big Five; consequently there was no longer any point in enduring unpleasant scenery: bush, bush, and more bush – especially when it teemed with game. We suspected something dramatic when, on our way to Satara, we saw a herd of buffalo surrounding a male lion, which had been mortally wounded in a battle with a sable antelope. That was on the left side of the road. On the right side a rhino and a leopard had teamed up to fight an elephant, and the result was carnage, enthusiastically welcomed by four species of vulture, a family of hyenas, a pack of wild dogs, a marabou stork, and God knows how many dung beetles. And guess what we saw in the midst of it all? Yes: the rarest and positively the most beautiful (and dangerous) of the Big Five: a Mitsubishi Pajero with Bull Bars, electronically controlled sequential multi-port fuel injection, and a place to hold a can of coke.