THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME BY CHRISTINE HIDE

“Climate change” and “biodiversity” are the buzzwords of today, and here in our corner of West Sussex we are fortunate to have so many areas set aside for wildlife. You may wonder about the photo of the lions!

Last August, my family and I were privileged to spend two weeks in Kruger National Park, South Africa, which is the same size as Wales, one of the earliest and largest designated National Parks in the world, home to natural landscapes and indigenous animals and birds which populate it. Humans are definitely the visitors! There are probably less than 15,000 people in the entire area on any one day.

We drove ourselves through the Park on the few tarred roads and interlinking gravel tracks, and estimated that we saw about one per cent of the Park! In the enclosed bush camps, some quite remote, we stayed in traditional round huts, called rondavels, with their grass roofs and mostly cooked for ourselves on simple barbeques (or braai) provided.

What a thrill to be up close and personal (in the car, of course) to all the animals and birds, for example to female elephants leading their herds from waterhole to river in search of water and the chance of a mud bath for their skin, carefully guarding their young. Elegant giraffe looked down on us, herds of buffalo crossed in front of us looking for fresh pasture, while zebra intermingled on the open grasslands. Herds of impala kept a constant watch for predators such as lion, leopard, cheetah and hyaena. We had only one sighting of rhinos. Sadly, they remain under threat from poachers who take their horns after first killing them. Crocodiles eyed us on riverbanks, while hippos wallowed in the water. And when there were no animals to be seen, there were always birds to delight us – spoonbills, herons and storks of various kinds in the water, vulture and eagles in tall trees and a myriad of small birds of varying hues flitting from bush to bush, our personal favourite being the lilac breasted roller. We spotted over 100 species of birds in the two weeks and berated ourselves that our bird spotting at home bore no comparison!

The holiday highlight one morning, miles from anywhere or anyone, was to spot a lioness who raised her head above the grass. She was in the grass with two more, who all moved to a nearby bush where a large male lion emerged into view, affectionately acknowledging his family including two small cubs that the lionesses were guarding. What an exciting opportunity to view family life for this pride!

Here, we are fortunate to have excellent wildlife programmes on television, but nothing compares with being out there and spotting it oneself. And if South Africa is too far away, then the same is true right here on our doorstep where we can enjoy the anticipation and excitement of what may be behind the next tree! Grateful thanks to our son-in-law and In Focus Magazine designer Andrew Illes who with Pip, our daughter, masterminded this holiday.