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The first Pangolin sighting in sixty years of being on safari all over Africa

  • February 03, 2022 | Rhulani Safari Lodge

“This was an incredible sighting. Not only was it the second Pangolin sighting in over fourteen and a half years that I have been in the safari industry, but it was the first Pangolin sighting for three generations of guests.” It hasn't been long since Daniel joined Rhulani's Ranger Team as a qualified Field Guide and he is already sharing one of those unique stories the African bush never fails to delight us with.

Pangolin - one of the most endangered mammals on earth

Daniel is a qualified ranger working at Rhulani since December 2021

The Pangolin rolled itself as a defense mechanism ...

... then  it got comfortable enough to start walking in front of us

“It was an afternoon safari, and I had three amazing guests from Johannesburg on my vehicle: a senior lady of 86 years old, her daughter and her grandson. My guests were all birders, very experienced safari people. They have been all over South Africa, and the senior lady was even all over Africa and doing safari all over wherever she could. 

After four safaris focusing on just birds, we decided to do the fifth safari focusing on the bigger things, so we wouldn’t stop for birds at all and go straight to one of my favorite destinations. It was my secret place called “Vlei pan”, a really beautiful area, very open, which I try to show to my guests at least once during their safari stay.

On my way there we were passing many beautiful animals, and as we were driving, close to Vlei Pan, we saw this animal walking parallel to the road. As we passed it we paused with disbelieve, and suddenly we all shouted: ‘Pangolin!’

It was this most incredible feeling that we had when we stopped the car. We were just completely in disbelieve. The Pangolin rolled itself as a defense mechanism. After a while of us getting out the car and talking near it, it got comfortable enough to start walking in front of us and we got to see it move and take a lot of photos.

Then the pangolin stopped and it was comfortable enough to keep its head out while we were taking pictures and videos of this incredible animal which is one of the most endangered mammals on the planet. 

I never expected to see a Pangolin so soon being at Rhulani for a short period of time. There were no other guides around. I tried calling the other guides on the safari channel for the southern side and they were all most in the north-western part of the reserve.

For the senior lady of 86 years old, she was very emotional, and this was her first Pangolin sighting in sixty years of being on safari all over Africa. It was a real milestone for her. She was speechless, so happy, and in fact, we were all speechless at the end and couldn’t stop talking about it. 

When driving back to Rhulani, we had very long moments of silence after the sighting because we were still digesting what we saw.”

The Pangolin was walking parallel to the road when we found it