Charge it!
A few of my loyal fans have been asking about my blog. Where have you been seems to be the common theme in their email... Well I have been working and since I don't have internet access at home I can only update the Blog during non-working hours. Much like anyone else I don't want to stay late and usually forget to update the blog.
Since my last post I went to Kharma Rhino Sanctuary for 3 days. We arrived with some friends on Friday night and had dinner and went on a night game drive looking for nocturnal creatures. The guide thought we might find a leopard, but we didn't see any. We did go out to a huge pan and see some Zebra under the moon. Totally cool actually. I wish I could have captured the scene on my camera.
The next day we decided to go on a self-drive game drive around the park. It was fun in the morning and we followed some Giraffe around for bit. Saw more zebra, wildebeest, blue gnu, and a punch of other animals.
Since my last post I went to Kharma Rhino Sanctuary for 3 days. We arrived with some friends on Friday night and had dinner and went on a night game drive looking for nocturnal creatures. The guide thought we might find a leopard, but we didn't see any. We did go out to a huge pan and see some Zebra under the moon. Totally cool actually. I wish I could have captured the scene on my camera.
The next day we decided to go on a self-drive game drive around the park. It was fun in the morning and we followed some Giraffe around for bit. Saw more zebra, wildebeest, blue gnu, and a punch of other animals.
We made it back to camp just in time because it started raining really hard. After lunch I stopped by the main gate to inquire about Rhino sightings. They didn't know, and didn't think we would find any because of the weather.
We went a different way into the park and ended up on a trail called "Pudohudo drive". It was about 3 miles long, narrow, and very curvy. About halfway through we found some fresh Rhino tracks. And Theresa saw about two of them in the bush about 20 feet away running.
Man did that get the blood pumping! We went another 100 meters and I got out to look at the tracks to determine direction. Funny thing about a 2 ton creature, while the footprint is wide it is not deep at all. Anyway I heard something snort or growl or bark and I jumped back the car. I took off down the road thinking how cool we were because we saw the buttocks of a Rhino running from us.
I drove around an "S" turn and BAM! There was a small, maybe 1500-2000 lbs female (found that out later) who was injured. She had a big gash on her side from protecting her young. Anyway she stomped back and forth the road to let us know she was in charge. We were no more then 10 meters / 35 feet from her. It was really cool! Camera were coming out, pictures were going off like crazy! We sat there for about 5 minutes or so, watching, observing, and just enjoying the mood.
Lisa's camera has an electronic zoom on it. And she zoomed in to get a great shot. Know I don't know if it is a coincidence or the Rhino didn't like that sound, but it whipped its head at us. We made a group effort of not moving. The Rhino walked about 2 meters toward us and stopped. Ok fun is fun, but that was enough for me. I realized that we were in a Nissan Terrano (a small 4 door SUV that was made in Japan to fight the traffic in Tokyo) and no match against the Rhino.
I wanted to back up and get out, but Doug suggested that in this case we shouldn't move at all. At the time it seemed like the perfect thing to do. I kept my hand on the gearshift to push it into reverse if I had to.
Lisa shut off her camera and the Rhino whipped her head at us again. This time she charged us and stopped about 3 meters / 10 feet from the car!! You only get to see stuff like that on National Geographic channel specials!!! We all decided at this point besides not moving, stopping breathing and heartbeats might be a good idea. Good thing Lisa's camera was away at that point.
The Rhino walked back to her starting position and about 5-10 minutes later went into the bush. 3 minutes later I took off down the road. It was good to be going away from that.
Another S turn and (yep, you guessed it) BAM! This time 3 Rhino's. One was so big it was twice the size of the others. After locking the brakes I backed up another 10 feet. I did not want to get charged twice in one day. I had a feeling that the big one would not stop. Of course Doug in the back couldn't see as well as me, and kept on urging me to get closer (ok if it was his car and he was driving I would have done the same thing). After 5 minutes the three of them took off and walked away.
So Terrano 2, Rhino's 0. We left that rode and went out into a pan and took a break after that. That was more Rhino then we paid for, and I didn't want to be greedy. Doug and myself wanted to go back through it, but Lisa & Theresa didn't.
We did bury our Geocache. Not much of a page to look at, but a great starting point down the road we saw the Rhino's on.
Now a word of caution when on a game drive. Its good to know what to do when you see different animals. For example Zebra. If you see them and they seen all is well. You can drive through the herd and part them like the Red Sea if you so choose. If you come up upon an elephant and it give you that "look" rev your engine a lot. Let it know you are the big bad one on the block. Elephants have great ears and smell. Heck toss an article of clothing out the door and drive away if the Elephant wants to charge you. (Think of it like flares and a heat seeker missile).
As for Rhino's I ask the senior guide what I should have done. He told me we should have hit reverse and gotten the heck out of there. He has not heard of the injured female stopping and leaving with out attacking. Guess she knew who was king. She recognized the power of the Terrano and more importantly she could see through my sunglasses that I meant business. I was going to back down, I owned her. I am MAN. My species eats her for dinner (she is a vegetarian).
I wish I would have read this site before going out and I quote her "Warned to either run in circles or climb a tree if attacked" and this part is also good "An hour later, I learn the meaning of fear."
I can say that during the Rhino charging it was all slow like a movie. I thought of every National Geographic show I had watch and wondered what would
Since my last post I went to Kharma Rhino Sanctuary for 3 days. We arrived with some friends on Friday night and had dinner and went on a night game drive looking for nocturnal creatures. The guide thought we might find a leopard, but we didn't see any. We did go out to a huge pan and see some Zebra under the moon. Totally cool actually. I wish I could have captured the scene on my camera.
The next day we decided to go on a self-drive game drive around the park. It was fun in the morning and we followed some Giraffe around for bit. Saw more zebra, wildebeest, blue gnu, and a punch of other animals.
Since my last post I went to Kharma Rhino Sanctuary for 3 days. We arrived with some friends on Friday night and had dinner and went on a night game drive looking for nocturnal creatures. The guide thought we might find a leopard, but we didn't see any. We did go out to a huge pan and see some Zebra under the moon. Totally cool actually. I wish I could have captured the scene on my camera.
The next day we decided to go on a self-drive game drive around the park. It was fun in the morning and we followed some Giraffe around for bit. Saw more zebra, wildebeest, blue gnu, and a punch of other animals.
We made it back to camp just in time because it started raining really hard. After lunch I stopped by the main gate to inquire about Rhino sightings. They didn't know, and didn't think we would find any because of the weather.
We went a different way into the park and ended up on a trail called "Pudohudo drive". It was about 3 miles long, narrow, and very curvy. About halfway through we found some fresh Rhino tracks. And Theresa saw about two of them in the bush about 20 feet away running.
Man did that get the blood pumping! We went another 100 meters and I got out to look at the tracks to determine direction. Funny thing about a 2 ton creature, while the footprint is wide it is not deep at all. Anyway I heard something snort or growl or bark and I jumped back the car. I took off down the road thinking how cool we were because we saw the buttocks of a Rhino running from us.
I drove around an "S" turn and BAM! There was a small, maybe 1500-2000 lbs female (found that out later) who was injured. She had a big gash on her side from protecting her young. Anyway she stomped back and forth the road to let us know she was in charge. We were no more then 10 meters / 35 feet from her. It was really cool! Camera were coming out, pictures were going off like crazy! We sat there for about 5 minutes or so, watching, observing, and just enjoying the mood.
Lisa's camera has an electronic zoom on it. And she zoomed in to get a great shot. Know I don't know if it is a coincidence or the Rhino didn't like that sound, but it whipped its head at us. We made a group effort of not moving. The Rhino walked about 2 meters toward us and stopped. Ok fun is fun, but that was enough for me. I realized that we were in a Nissan Terrano (a small 4 door SUV that was made in Japan to fight the traffic in Tokyo) and no match against the Rhino.
I wanted to back up and get out, but Doug suggested that in this case we shouldn't move at all. At the time it seemed like the perfect thing to do. I kept my hand on the gearshift to push it into reverse if I had to.
Lisa shut off her camera and the Rhino whipped her head at us again. This time she charged us and stopped about 3 meters / 10 feet from the car!! You only get to see stuff like that on National Geographic channel specials!!! We all decided at this point besides not moving, stopping breathing and heartbeats might be a good idea. Good thing Lisa's camera was away at that point.
The Rhino walked back to her starting position and about 5-10 minutes later went into the bush. 3 minutes later I took off down the road. It was good to be going away from that.
Another S turn and (yep, you guessed it) BAM! This time 3 Rhino's. One was so big it was twice the size of the others. After locking the brakes I backed up another 10 feet. I did not want to get charged twice in one day. I had a feeling that the big one would not stop. Of course Doug in the back couldn't see as well as me, and kept on urging me to get closer (ok if it was his car and he was driving I would have done the same thing). After 5 minutes the three of them took off and walked away.
So Terrano 2, Rhino's 0. We left that rode and went out into a pan and took a break after that. That was more Rhino then we paid for, and I didn't want to be greedy. Doug and myself wanted to go back through it, but Lisa & Theresa didn't.
We did bury our Geocache. Not much of a page to look at, but a great starting point down the road we saw the Rhino's on.
Now a word of caution when on a game drive. Its good to know what to do when you see different animals. For example Zebra. If you see them and they seen all is well. You can drive through the herd and part them like the Red Sea if you so choose. If you come up upon an elephant and it give you that "look" rev your engine a lot. Let it know you are the big bad one on the block. Elephants have great ears and smell. Heck toss an article of clothing out the door and drive away if the Elephant wants to charge you. (Think of it like flares and a heat seeker missile).
As for Rhino's I ask the senior guide what I should have done. He told me we should have hit reverse and gotten the heck out of there. He has not heard of the injured female stopping and leaving with out attacking. Guess she knew who was king. She recognized the power of the Terrano and more importantly she could see through my sunglasses that I meant business. I was going to back down, I owned her. I am MAN. My species eats her for dinner (she is a vegetarian).
I wish I would have read this site before going out and I quote her "Warned to either run in circles or climb a tree if attacked" and this part is also good "An hour later, I learn the meaning of fear."
I can say that during the Rhino charging it was all slow like a movie. I thought of every National Geographic show I had watch and wondered what would
posted by Michael at 5:56 PM
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