Since Suzanne and I have been based at Bumi Hills we've had the incredible opportunity to have some of the purest experiences of our lives!
Suzanne and I had a welcome chance to go out on a little game drive with Dean McGregor (our new pro-guide) yesterday. It’s quiet at the lodge over the next few days with just a few guests in house, so a chance to catch up on admin, but also make sure that we enjoy the beautiful spot we’re in and beautiful it certainly is. We went out specifically to do some birding and we made some brilliant sightings including Golden Orioles, Golden Tailed Woodpeckers, Dickson’s Kestrel, Eurasian Hobby Falcons, Broad billed Roller, Scimitar Billed Wood Hoopoes, as well as some good old faithfuls like the Red Billed Hornbills, Starlings etc... Was great!
As can often be the case when one heads out with a specific task in mind (in this case to ID birds, which requires careful patience and calculation) one is rewarded with other amazing sightings that would not come about if the patience had not been applied in the first place. Sitting looking at the Scimitar Billed Wood Hoopoes in a dense thicket of Crocodile Bark Ebony and Chinese Hats we inched forward when Suzanne alerted us to a tan brown colouring, to which Dean and I casually blew off as an Impala. “No” she said “Reverse!” So we did and there, about 10 metres into the bush, lay a huge lioness munching on a big rib cage of some poor creature. Whilst watching her for the next five minutes, unbeknownst to us a small herd of three Elephant had come up very quietly to within a few metres of the back of the vehicle. Alerted to a soft crunching noise behind us, when one of their soft grey feet had met a dried twig (the only give away) we spun round and watched them as they walked just inches away past us, without even a glance of concern in our direction, but with their whole beings fixated on chasing off the feline intruder that was sitting in their grazing corridor. The lioness cautiously backed off deeper into the dense thicket, but not without her prize rib cage firmly in her mouth being dragged along too. The elephants continued on their way and disappeared as quickly and stealthily as they had arrived. The lioness continued to snack and chomp, but our visibility had been reduced and we relied mainly on sounds to locate her. We sat for a further 20 minutes listening and getting the odd glimpse - just being there was special. We heard other chomping noises and decided that it must be the rest of the pride, all of which were not visible, but it made sense because we’ve only seen these lionesses on the estate in a pride together before. We continued on our drive down a sandy road, now a dry river bed, carved out by a flash flood from the 120mm of rainfall we had the night before. We ended on a beautiful beach and were greeted by one of those sunsets that only Kariba can produce, with a big herd of elephant neatly silhouetted close by! We managed to get the vehicle stuck and then un-stuck again. A few hair raising moments ensued as Suzanne and I had jumped out to push, whilst Dean sped away in order to gain enough momentum, leaving us marooned for a matter of seconds that felt like hours. This because when we turned around after the hard push we found the elephants had quietly come within 50 metres of us, obviously keen to find out what all the fuss was about. We leapt aboard the vehicle and had a lovely drive back to the lodge.
Pure experiences like these remind us of how incredibly privileged and humbled we are to share in a piece of this raw wilderness!
