One hot day in early December 2009, a young Mozambiquan was lifted out of the Luvuvhu....
Things like this usually happen in Hollywood, not Pafuri :)
21 December 2009
14 December 2009
Bush Proverbs
Proverb Number 1:
When your forehead, travelling at 40km/h because you're at the helm of an open air landy, meets up with a large dung beetle flying at around 20km/h in the exact opposite direction - the result is a mighty collision.
This is what happended to me a couple of nights ago when I was cruising back to camp at pace to make it in time for supper. Now, you must understand that there is this long and mostly boring (in comparison to the magnificence of the rest of the concession) tarred road called Pafuri Main, upon which one must travel to get places in good time. The concession is 27,000 hectares (ie large) and so you end up using the tar as a bit of a highway. 40km/h is the absolute maximun we are allowed to drive, and for good reason. At night my right hand is armed with a serious spot light. Serious in brightness and after 1 hour of holding it up, seriously heavy too. My talented left hand then steers, changes gears and mans the radio. So allowing anyone to travel faster than 40km/h whilst doing all this would probably be down right dangerous.
So this tar road is long and fairly straight, which means that all insects for miles around the landy are attracted to the head lights and spot light. Since the rains, night drives have become more challenging for me and unpleasant for guests as we are bombarded by swarms of all sorts of insect life. Christmas beetles and little miggies are the least of our worries - it's the dung beetles that you have to watch out for. Some of these chaps grow to considerable sizes, which may be hard to appreciate until you've been smacked on the noggin by a golf ball sized one travelling at pace.
I was shining around all enthusiastically when all or a sardine - SMACK!?! - you're knocked in the head by a powerful unidentified force, you swerve violently losing control of the vehicle and your spotlight arm gets tossed high in the air, as if your scanning the moon for signs of life. What has got me?, you think as your mind searches for answers...... have I been shot in the head by a german sniper tucked away in the mopanes? No, it cant be, surely. Has Mike Tyson climbed out of the bonnet and punched me on the nose? Unlikely. Then as the pain and shock subsides and you manage to correct the course of the vehicle and stay on the road, you realise, Oh just another dung beetle.
Proverb Number 2:
When the sufficient amount of weight is placed upon a small amphibian - it shall pop like a balloon.
Unfortunately I must admit, and I'm certainly not proud of it, that I now know exactly what sound a frog makes when you drive over it on a tar road. The answer is a resounding -POP-. More than insects come to life after the rains and on this one evening last week, I heard a couple of loud popping noises whilst driving back to camp along the tar road. After ruling out the idea that my tyres might have popped it slowly dawned on me that I had flattened a few of what must have been hundreds of small frogs crossing the road - which I was trying to dodge - that evening after the rain. Someone else told me it only happens if you drive over them from head to rear, causing the air to rush backwards and finally burst them with a pop louder than you'd expect.
Proverb Number 3:
A chinaman in the bush, is like a bushman in China - it doesn't occur naturally.
I have recently had the interesting experience of having to guide 7 non-english speaking chinamen on safari. They don't quite get the standard bush routine. You wake up, have coffee and rusks and then depart on game drive until late morning when you come back for a large and tasty brunch. NOT, wake up and start devouring your 2kg barrel of noodles that you've brought along for just such an occasion before drive!?
Then after your big brunch, lunch at 2:30 is light. Salad and small dessert. It is generally not polite to ask your host 'is that it, or is there another course coming?' Well when told that no further course was coming, they each whip out another 2kg barrel of noodles. Ok so these guys enjoy noodles. I get it.
So I took them on a great evening drive to Crooks Corner, showing plenty of nice big ellies, crocs, hippos and an abundance of antelope. At sunset on the way back, one of them cracks out their cell phone and puts on Alicia Keys at full volume. Hmmmm, this is strange, I thought. Then she (her name was Cindarella) sings along dramatically, causing all the others to whip out there phones too, each with their own song blaring at the same time. Oh well, I've never seen this before, so I'll just kind of enjoy the weird experience.
At the end of their trip, I just couldn't help feeling that maybe the bush just isn't the place for them. Ahh, Chinamen - they just don't get it.
When your forehead, travelling at 40km/h because you're at the helm of an open air landy, meets up with a large dung beetle flying at around 20km/h in the exact opposite direction - the result is a mighty collision.
This is what happended to me a couple of nights ago when I was cruising back to camp at pace to make it in time for supper. Now, you must understand that there is this long and mostly boring (in comparison to the magnificence of the rest of the concession) tarred road called Pafuri Main, upon which one must travel to get places in good time. The concession is 27,000 hectares (ie large) and so you end up using the tar as a bit of a highway. 40km/h is the absolute maximun we are allowed to drive, and for good reason. At night my right hand is armed with a serious spot light. Serious in brightness and after 1 hour of holding it up, seriously heavy too. My talented left hand then steers, changes gears and mans the radio. So allowing anyone to travel faster than 40km/h whilst doing all this would probably be down right dangerous.
So this tar road is long and fairly straight, which means that all insects for miles around the landy are attracted to the head lights and spot light. Since the rains, night drives have become more challenging for me and unpleasant for guests as we are bombarded by swarms of all sorts of insect life. Christmas beetles and little miggies are the least of our worries - it's the dung beetles that you have to watch out for. Some of these chaps grow to considerable sizes, which may be hard to appreciate until you've been smacked on the noggin by a golf ball sized one travelling at pace.
I was shining around all enthusiastically when all or a sardine - SMACK!?! - you're knocked in the head by a powerful unidentified force, you swerve violently losing control of the vehicle and your spotlight arm gets tossed high in the air, as if your scanning the moon for signs of life. What has got me?, you think as your mind searches for answers...... have I been shot in the head by a german sniper tucked away in the mopanes? No, it cant be, surely. Has Mike Tyson climbed out of the bonnet and punched me on the nose? Unlikely. Then as the pain and shock subsides and you manage to correct the course of the vehicle and stay on the road, you realise, Oh just another dung beetle.
Proverb Number 2:
When the sufficient amount of weight is placed upon a small amphibian - it shall pop like a balloon.
Unfortunately I must admit, and I'm certainly not proud of it, that I now know exactly what sound a frog makes when you drive over it on a tar road. The answer is a resounding -POP-. More than insects come to life after the rains and on this one evening last week, I heard a couple of loud popping noises whilst driving back to camp along the tar road. After ruling out the idea that my tyres might have popped it slowly dawned on me that I had flattened a few of what must have been hundreds of small frogs crossing the road - which I was trying to dodge - that evening after the rain. Someone else told me it only happens if you drive over them from head to rear, causing the air to rush backwards and finally burst them with a pop louder than you'd expect.
Proverb Number 3:
A chinaman in the bush, is like a bushman in China - it doesn't occur naturally.
I have recently had the interesting experience of having to guide 7 non-english speaking chinamen on safari. They don't quite get the standard bush routine. You wake up, have coffee and rusks and then depart on game drive until late morning when you come back for a large and tasty brunch. NOT, wake up and start devouring your 2kg barrel of noodles that you've brought along for just such an occasion before drive!?
Then after your big brunch, lunch at 2:30 is light. Salad and small dessert. It is generally not polite to ask your host 'is that it, or is there another course coming?' Well when told that no further course was coming, they each whip out another 2kg barrel of noodles. Ok so these guys enjoy noodles. I get it.
So I took them on a great evening drive to Crooks Corner, showing plenty of nice big ellies, crocs, hippos and an abundance of antelope. At sunset on the way back, one of them cracks out their cell phone and puts on Alicia Keys at full volume. Hmmmm, this is strange, I thought. Then she (her name was Cindarella) sings along dramatically, causing all the others to whip out there phones too, each with their own song blaring at the same time. Oh well, I've never seen this before, so I'll just kind of enjoy the weird experience.
At the end of their trip, I just couldn't help feeling that maybe the bush just isn't the place for them. Ahh, Chinamen - they just don't get it.
10 December 2009
Photo Session
Daring Chopper Rescue: Mozambicuan dude stuck on an island in the Luvuvhu is lifted out by some coppers in their chopper.
Help at last - 19 hours stranded, surrounded by crocs and hippos is almost over.
Isolation. He knows the feeling.
The new green grass through the Fever Tree Forrest
Landscape - chopper and Mozam dude.
One tired guy. After the rescue ordeal, only allowed 3 hours of sleep...
Impala Lamb. There are now plenty all over the shop. Theyre loving the new green growth.
Andria and I by Big Baobab.
The still dry Limpopo Riv.
Landy landscape.
Big Baobab and trusty Landy No.1, instead of 50c piece, shows perspective.
P in tree.
Muzza in tree.
P about to be in tree....
Juvenile bateleur.
Herd of buff in fever tree forrest.
Pierre at Lanner Gorge - admiring the view.
Bobcat and some Italian guy. Lanner Gorge
Wiling away the hot hours, 15m up in a baobab is a fun thing to do. One day Im gonna wait up there until an ellie walks underneath.
Bob in the rain.
A lonely ellie....09 December 2009
Man Overboard
Sheeepizzz - we have had a really busy time over the last 2 weeks, so here is some long over due news.
So, it was great to have Murray come down and spend a few nights with us a short while back. He arrived looking fairly hot and flustered which is a common symptom of spending a 7 hour no-aircon-journey on a 40 degree day. It was a well timed visit as there was a three day NGG (no guest gap). Or in other words - plenty of time to run amok. We spent a good amount of time having some good old fun. Notably we made a point of climbing every decent looking baobab tree on offer. There is a nice biggie just 500m from the lodge which we managed to scale and then we lazed about in its massive branches admiring the view, enjoying the shade and wondering how many ellies had walked beneath this guy over the many years its been standing there. (probably around 1,000 plus).
Then the real action began.....
At 7pm last Wednesday evening as we were returning from a pleasant afternoon staff game drive, we got some startling news. Eishh - there was a man in the river. Pardon what? Yes thats right, a man stuck on a tiny reed island in the middle of the crocodile infested Luvuvhu River. Some young Mozambiquan had attempted a river crossing at 6pm, after he had seen the lodge lights and was hoping to see if he could get some food. Luckily for him one of our staff, had been perched high up on the mountain in our furthermost room staring into space when she'd spotted the dude wading in to cross the river. When he was waist deep, the current became too powerful and he was swept many meters downstream before clutching onto some reeds and pulled himself onto a tiny, and I mean TINY, reed island smack bang in the middle of the Luvuvhu. And to top it all off, the dude couldnt swim, so he was definitely not keen on hopping back into the raging current.
We all drove down there in pitch blackness and walked down to get a better look at the guy's predicament. There was very little we could do, pitch blackness, a steep drop off from the river bank into the river, a raging current of 40 odd meters between the shore and his island, and to top it all off - the horrible reflection of many a crocodiles eyes shining back at our spot lights, scattrered all about on the other little sandbanks around the Mozambiquan. The nearest not 20m away. The only thing probably saving him was the fact the the current was simply raging too quickly past his present position.
So we did what we could, which was radio the section ranger, radio the anti poaching unit, and phoned the police. No one could help. The Anti-poaching dudes rocked up and said theres nothing they could do. The police were way less than helpful to be polite. They were fokn useless actually. After our first attemepts at contacting them in the evening, they eventually showed up at the lodge at 6am the next morning. In the end with all of our staff extremely anxious, and no help on the way by 2am we decided that there was simply no helping the dude until first light so we told him to hang in there until morning. A terrifying task. And a most unsettling sleep for all of us.
Murray woke us all up before sunrise and we raced back down there to see if the guy had made it through the night. Thank goodness - he was there. Tired, but there. A small figure stood up from his crouching position amongst his reed island probably glad to see us. He could speak no english, only Tsonga, so our staff translated his sad story, which stated that he and 3 friends had begun their journey from the Mozam border 6 days earlier and had been trying to cross the park on their way to Gauteng ever since. Tragically he told us that his 2 companions had been attacked and trampled by an elephant. He was half starved and having seen the lodge lights, tried to cross the river to look for a meal, when the river took him prisoner. The sad desperation that makes these poor people have to attempt journeys like this are difficult for us to comprehend. We simply cannot imagine the motivating factors that make these guys feel the need to take the risks that they do to make the crossing through the wild lands of Kruger.
So we tried to make a plan. The gap was too big so we couldnt throw across a rope, of course we didnt have a 40m rope anyway, but it wouldn't have worked if he had had one. Expecting a starved and tired guy on his last legs to hold onto a rope anwyay while we pulled him across the raging torrent of brown water would have been a tall ask, even if there weren't crocs and hippos all over the show. What the lodge bizarely did have though was a canoe. Murray and I loaded it onto the landy and for the umpteenth time set out to drive down to the river pretty set on paddling down the river to rescue the chap. As we were pulling out of the drive way, the cops rocked up. Just the 10 hours after initially contacting them. So what tools or apparatus do you think they arrived with? Errrrrrr.... nothing. Just 4 policemen with their pistols. So we took them down to the scene and they agreed that, ya, this oke was in trouble. The cop in charge said he'd have to call in a chopper. He also said Murray and I must not paddle in to attempt a rescue, as if the guy pulled us both into the water and out of the canoe with no life jackets and clung onto one of us - we would have a serious problem.
So 2 hours later or so, 2 more specialised search and resue cops arrived, with you guessed it. A large white fluffy german shepard. A beautiful pooch yes - a crocodile evading, rapid rafting super dog - errr, no. Amazing these guys had arrived with no ropes at all, just them and their pooch, all the way from Thoyandou. Only one option left now, get the chopper. If the river level were to rise as little as half a meter the Mozambiquan boy would be swept away again. the head copper made the call and a police chopper would be sent from Pretoria, because the closer one at Polokwane was presently on an armed robbery mission. The Mozambiquan who, we now knew by the name of Thomas Sithole would have to sit it out a little longer. One of our staff miraculously threw a bottle of ice water over to Thomas with accuracy under pressure like Ive never seen before. It landed at his feet and gave the guy atleast some fresh water to drink. The sun now was staring to bake and we were worried the poor guy might pass out from heat stroke exposure, also because the island he was on was 30cm or so underwater so his feet and bum had been in the water all night.
Eventually, eventually after 19 hours of being stranded on the island and Murray & I constantly having internal struggles whether to paddle in or not, we heard the chopper arrive on the horizon. Just like a movie with leaves and dust and water and grass being blown all over the shop the pilot lowered the chopper down over the waters, whilst a rescue copper clung out and lifted Thomas to saftey. A pretty impressive sight indeed. YahooO, he was saved! 19 hours stranded on his island, after 6 days walking through the park, and losing two of his mates, Thomas had understandably been through a rough few days. Remarkably he looked quite well considering his ordeal. Shortly after the rescue the coppers in their chopper flew off to look for the bodies of his mates, and Thomas was taken away by the police on the ground, to be escorted - back to Mozambique.
Andria & I will be back in JHB on the 13th December.
So, it was great to have Murray come down and spend a few nights with us a short while back. He arrived looking fairly hot and flustered which is a common symptom of spending a 7 hour no-aircon-journey on a 40 degree day. It was a well timed visit as there was a three day NGG (no guest gap). Or in other words - plenty of time to run amok. We spent a good amount of time having some good old fun. Notably we made a point of climbing every decent looking baobab tree on offer. There is a nice biggie just 500m from the lodge which we managed to scale and then we lazed about in its massive branches admiring the view, enjoying the shade and wondering how many ellies had walked beneath this guy over the many years its been standing there. (probably around 1,000 plus).
Then the real action began.....
At 7pm last Wednesday evening as we were returning from a pleasant afternoon staff game drive, we got some startling news. Eishh - there was a man in the river. Pardon what? Yes thats right, a man stuck on a tiny reed island in the middle of the crocodile infested Luvuvhu River. Some young Mozambiquan had attempted a river crossing at 6pm, after he had seen the lodge lights and was hoping to see if he could get some food. Luckily for him one of our staff, had been perched high up on the mountain in our furthermost room staring into space when she'd spotted the dude wading in to cross the river. When he was waist deep, the current became too powerful and he was swept many meters downstream before clutching onto some reeds and pulled himself onto a tiny, and I mean TINY, reed island smack bang in the middle of the Luvuvhu. And to top it all off, the dude couldnt swim, so he was definitely not keen on hopping back into the raging current.
We all drove down there in pitch blackness and walked down to get a better look at the guy's predicament. There was very little we could do, pitch blackness, a steep drop off from the river bank into the river, a raging current of 40 odd meters between the shore and his island, and to top it all off - the horrible reflection of many a crocodiles eyes shining back at our spot lights, scattrered all about on the other little sandbanks around the Mozambiquan. The nearest not 20m away. The only thing probably saving him was the fact the the current was simply raging too quickly past his present position.
So we did what we could, which was radio the section ranger, radio the anti poaching unit, and phoned the police. No one could help. The Anti-poaching dudes rocked up and said theres nothing they could do. The police were way less than helpful to be polite. They were fokn useless actually. After our first attemepts at contacting them in the evening, they eventually showed up at the lodge at 6am the next morning. In the end with all of our staff extremely anxious, and no help on the way by 2am we decided that there was simply no helping the dude until first light so we told him to hang in there until morning. A terrifying task. And a most unsettling sleep for all of us.
Murray woke us all up before sunrise and we raced back down there to see if the guy had made it through the night. Thank goodness - he was there. Tired, but there. A small figure stood up from his crouching position amongst his reed island probably glad to see us. He could speak no english, only Tsonga, so our staff translated his sad story, which stated that he and 3 friends had begun their journey from the Mozam border 6 days earlier and had been trying to cross the park on their way to Gauteng ever since. Tragically he told us that his 2 companions had been attacked and trampled by an elephant. He was half starved and having seen the lodge lights, tried to cross the river to look for a meal, when the river took him prisoner. The sad desperation that makes these poor people have to attempt journeys like this are difficult for us to comprehend. We simply cannot imagine the motivating factors that make these guys feel the need to take the risks that they do to make the crossing through the wild lands of Kruger.
So we tried to make a plan. The gap was too big so we couldnt throw across a rope, of course we didnt have a 40m rope anyway, but it wouldn't have worked if he had had one. Expecting a starved and tired guy on his last legs to hold onto a rope anwyay while we pulled him across the raging torrent of brown water would have been a tall ask, even if there weren't crocs and hippos all over the show. What the lodge bizarely did have though was a canoe. Murray and I loaded it onto the landy and for the umpteenth time set out to drive down to the river pretty set on paddling down the river to rescue the chap. As we were pulling out of the drive way, the cops rocked up. Just the 10 hours after initially contacting them. So what tools or apparatus do you think they arrived with? Errrrrrr.... nothing. Just 4 policemen with their pistols. So we took them down to the scene and they agreed that, ya, this oke was in trouble. The cop in charge said he'd have to call in a chopper. He also said Murray and I must not paddle in to attempt a rescue, as if the guy pulled us both into the water and out of the canoe with no life jackets and clung onto one of us - we would have a serious problem.
So 2 hours later or so, 2 more specialised search and resue cops arrived, with you guessed it. A large white fluffy german shepard. A beautiful pooch yes - a crocodile evading, rapid rafting super dog - errr, no. Amazing these guys had arrived with no ropes at all, just them and their pooch, all the way from Thoyandou. Only one option left now, get the chopper. If the river level were to rise as little as half a meter the Mozambiquan boy would be swept away again. the head copper made the call and a police chopper would be sent from Pretoria, because the closer one at Polokwane was presently on an armed robbery mission. The Mozambiquan who, we now knew by the name of Thomas Sithole would have to sit it out a little longer. One of our staff miraculously threw a bottle of ice water over to Thomas with accuracy under pressure like Ive never seen before. It landed at his feet and gave the guy atleast some fresh water to drink. The sun now was staring to bake and we were worried the poor guy might pass out from heat stroke exposure, also because the island he was on was 30cm or so underwater so his feet and bum had been in the water all night.
Eventually, eventually after 19 hours of being stranded on the island and Murray & I constantly having internal struggles whether to paddle in or not, we heard the chopper arrive on the horizon. Just like a movie with leaves and dust and water and grass being blown all over the shop the pilot lowered the chopper down over the waters, whilst a rescue copper clung out and lifted Thomas to saftey. A pretty impressive sight indeed. YahooO, he was saved! 19 hours stranded on his island, after 6 days walking through the park, and losing two of his mates, Thomas had understandably been through a rough few days. Remarkably he looked quite well considering his ordeal. Shortly after the rescue the coppers in their chopper flew off to look for the bodies of his mates, and Thomas was taken away by the police on the ground, to be escorted - back to Mozambique.
Andria & I will be back in JHB on the 13th December.
20 November 2009
The Rain she has come
Wow. The first proper summer rains have arrived at Pafuri. 100mm has fallen out of the sky in the last 24 hours, which is plenty considering that the usual annual rainfall is only around 350mm. Receiving almost one third of your annual rain in just one day means one of two things: either you live in a seriously dry place or you have had a shedload of rain coming down in a very short space of time.
For us it's both actually. Pafuri is the driest region of Kruger and it has been raining non-stop for 2 days solid now, and it certainly doesnt look like easing up any time soon. It is great though, soon soon, very soon everything will be green green green. The trees and their leaves and the grass........and the insects and the birds and the animalia. Ahh the place will come alive!
Just a couple of days ago, we spotted the first impala lambs of the season. Two tiny little youngsters bouncing around after their mothers. I'm sure that after these rains a flood of new impalas will enter the world. Some will be welcomingly snaffled by the predators, but many more will grow up and join the other 130,000 odd impalas in what is the largest herbivore population in the park.
On a birding note - it is starting to kick off madly! The Woodland Kingfishers arrived back and were first noticed on the 12 November, and are now everywhere and their calls are ever present. A real charateristic sound of summer, you know the, TRPPPPPPPP TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrr.....
The cuckoos are becomingly more vocal, with Red-chested, Diederik, Levaillants, Jacobin & Klaas's all been seen so far. I notched up a good lifer with the addition of a Bohm's Spinetail to my list with the help of 1 Frank Mabasa - the local Pafuri Picnic Site birding guru. This dude is quite famous in birding circles - he's based permanently at the picnic site and has an impressive collection of something like 250 species just seen around the picnic area. I was actually after a Black-throated Wattle Eye, but will settle for the Spinetail instead. The best news is I think Andria has been converted to a 'serious' twitcher! We'll be needing to get her some binos asap.
It's been pretty quiet around the lodge since we have been back, with only 4 guests staying here over the last week. A young Swiss couple, who we got on nicely with kindly offered us an invitation to go snowboarding near Geneva with them. Other than that, 2 ol Germans just rocked up without a reservation and lingered about for 2 nights. The lady was clearly enjoying the luxury after her unpleasant Mozambiquan journey stating that 'she vill never go baack zehr'
Sightings have been decent in the few drives done since our return from leave. Watched a beautiful big male leopard run across the road right in front of us on a night drive, saw 3 white rhinos chilling near Lanner Gorge and as usual have seen plenty of buff all over the place. The most special for me have been the elephants. They are my favourite animal, and always stir up some sort of emotion amongst people when viewed at short distances from the vehicle. The first encounter I had since the charging ellie episode 2 weeks ago, took place on my second drive back at Pafuri. I had wondered how I would feel about getting up close to one again and how I would deal with it. Anyway it went well. The 2 Swiss guests and I were parked next to a pan focused on some yellow billed storks when I noticed 2 big bull elephants standing 30m away drinking from a water trough. I drove forward to get a better look and turned off. The one chap closest to us was drinking away happily, but seemed to take objection to my interpretation of elephant feeding behaviour when he spun around wildly and unexpectedly ran a few meters towards us displaying his massive bulk to us. I reprimanded him by saying ' OK BOY' in my sternest voice which seemed to stop him in his tracks, to my relief and very much so to the two Swissies relief.
I love elephants. The only animal that can get your pulse racing even when you're in a car. Every elephant I've seen since the 'incident' has seemed to look at me funny. I think they know.... Could that be possible??
Andria's dedication to her comrades training is amazing. Every day she continues to pound away on that treadmill totally focused on being ready for the big day. She is definitely doing it now, as her application was successful. 6 months to go....
Will write again when I have some more interesting news. That may be a while if the rain she keeps on fallin....
Cheers for now.
Pierre
For us it's both actually. Pafuri is the driest region of Kruger and it has been raining non-stop for 2 days solid now, and it certainly doesnt look like easing up any time soon. It is great though, soon soon, very soon everything will be green green green. The trees and their leaves and the grass........and the insects and the birds and the animalia. Ahh the place will come alive!
Just a couple of days ago, we spotted the first impala lambs of the season. Two tiny little youngsters bouncing around after their mothers. I'm sure that after these rains a flood of new impalas will enter the world. Some will be welcomingly snaffled by the predators, but many more will grow up and join the other 130,000 odd impalas in what is the largest herbivore population in the park.
On a birding note - it is starting to kick off madly! The Woodland Kingfishers arrived back and were first noticed on the 12 November, and are now everywhere and their calls are ever present. A real charateristic sound of summer, you know the, TRPPPPPPPP TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrr.....
The cuckoos are becomingly more vocal, with Red-chested, Diederik, Levaillants, Jacobin & Klaas's all been seen so far. I notched up a good lifer with the addition of a Bohm's Spinetail to my list with the help of 1 Frank Mabasa - the local Pafuri Picnic Site birding guru. This dude is quite famous in birding circles - he's based permanently at the picnic site and has an impressive collection of something like 250 species just seen around the picnic area. I was actually after a Black-throated Wattle Eye, but will settle for the Spinetail instead. The best news is I think Andria has been converted to a 'serious' twitcher! We'll be needing to get her some binos asap.
It's been pretty quiet around the lodge since we have been back, with only 4 guests staying here over the last week. A young Swiss couple, who we got on nicely with kindly offered us an invitation to go snowboarding near Geneva with them. Other than that, 2 ol Germans just rocked up without a reservation and lingered about for 2 nights. The lady was clearly enjoying the luxury after her unpleasant Mozambiquan journey stating that 'she vill never go baack zehr'
Sightings have been decent in the few drives done since our return from leave. Watched a beautiful big male leopard run across the road right in front of us on a night drive, saw 3 white rhinos chilling near Lanner Gorge and as usual have seen plenty of buff all over the place. The most special for me have been the elephants. They are my favourite animal, and always stir up some sort of emotion amongst people when viewed at short distances from the vehicle. The first encounter I had since the charging ellie episode 2 weeks ago, took place on my second drive back at Pafuri. I had wondered how I would feel about getting up close to one again and how I would deal with it. Anyway it went well. The 2 Swiss guests and I were parked next to a pan focused on some yellow billed storks when I noticed 2 big bull elephants standing 30m away drinking from a water trough. I drove forward to get a better look and turned off. The one chap closest to us was drinking away happily, but seemed to take objection to my interpretation of elephant feeding behaviour when he spun around wildly and unexpectedly ran a few meters towards us displaying his massive bulk to us. I reprimanded him by saying ' OK BOY' in my sternest voice which seemed to stop him in his tracks, to my relief and very much so to the two Swissies relief.
I love elephants. The only animal that can get your pulse racing even when you're in a car. Every elephant I've seen since the 'incident' has seemed to look at me funny. I think they know.... Could that be possible??
Andria's dedication to her comrades training is amazing. Every day she continues to pound away on that treadmill totally focused on being ready for the big day. She is definitely doing it now, as her application was successful. 6 months to go....
Will write again when I have some more interesting news. That may be a while if the rain she keeps on fallin....
Cheers for now.
Pierre
14 November 2009
Some more pics from the Makuleke Concession...
A breeding herd of ellies crossing the Limpopo Floodplain at dusk.
Andria & I at Lanner Gorge. Where the Luvuvhu River has been cutting its path through the sandstone for a very, very long time.
A lone wild dog male. The same chap that I saw hunting impala twice. He never was successful and seemingly missed the efficiency of the pack when hunting.
6am one morning....
Me, 2 germans and 1 wild dog.
This boy is part of the Punda Maria pack of 5. Ive never seen the other 4. They fear that the rest of the dogs may no longer be around.
Ben & I. The 2 swiftest barmen this side of the equator. (he taught me everything I know......I mean, I can now make an espresso :)
Andria & I on our 1 year anniversary.
Andria posing on the Luvuvhu floodplain at an awesome spot called Mangala.
Andria chillin at emergency plan B site. My first secret spot for our anniversary picnic got disrupted by a trumpeting breeding herd of ellies.
Mangala and some kudu cows.
The driver - rushing to find another nice spot for our picnic....
Twin Baobabs. And the road that passes between them.
Andria in relaxed mode, cruising alongside the Luvuvhu in the shade of the tall riverine trees.
Anniversary picnic site A. (Shortly before we made our hasty retreat after the elephant alarm went off)
A very nice shady spot under a big old Natal Mahogany looking out onto the Luvuvhu.
The 'other' guineafowl. (Crested Guineafowl.)
Also known as the bob marley bird, thanks to it's hairstyle and reggae like call.
10 November 2009
The Fine Line
The last week has been a life changing one.
On Monday the 2nd November I arrived at Transfrontiers Walking Safaris looking forward to spending a week walking as a back-up guide in the Klaserie with the hope of notching up a few hours & encounters towards my full trails guide qualification. Never could have I imagined the experiences Brian, myself and the seven first time safari going guests were destined to walk away with.
Thursday the 5th of November was a strikingly beautiful day. The kind you really take notice of when the 3 days before have been grey and overcast in contrast. The morning started off as usual with the 4:30 am wake up call. This time it was easy to rouse the seven European guests, as a large troop of baboons had occupied the tall Jackalberry trees above our tents that night. The combination of barks, grunts and screaming infants, together with the regular showers of baboon droppings smashing against the roof of your tent is enough to ensure that even the deepest sleeper isn’t allowed their full quota of overnight rest.
After coffee and rusks, and a short unsuccessful drive aimed at locating the lions that had been roaring close by all night we started our morning walk from camp at 5:30 am. We headed South from camp walking parallel to the Klaserie river. I clearly remember thinking on more than one occasion what a magnificent morning it was. So clear and crisp, with out a breath of wind – a perfect day for a nice walk in the bush. How quickly that was all to change...
After about 30 minutes or so Brian spotted an elephant down in the river bed to our right. It was a good spot, as although the elephant was very close it was below our level and just the head could be seen sticking out amongst some bushes alongside the river. Before the guests had even seen it Brian instructed me to lead the guests out as we were too close at approximately 25m. So I walked around the back of the seven guests and began to lead them back down the path we’d come. This is the normal walking formation when getting out of a sighting on foot. Lead guide closest to the animal, guests in the middle and then back-up guide leading guests away to a safe distance. As we were walking away the elephant became more visible as it began climbing up the river bank. There was very little cover between us and her.
Now we were about 50m away when the elephant had climbed fully out of the river onto the same level as us. Brian again instructed us to retreat further which we did at a very brisk pace. I remember seeing the elephant cow standing there looking at us with her head held high and her ears spread out. She took a few steps forward towards us and then picked up her pace to a full charge. No trumpeting, no head shaking, no kicking up dust, no warnings at all – just a clean, quiet and full on charge.
At this point with all of us still on the retreat Brian stood his ground and began shouting loudly at the elephant in the hope that it would stop and turn. Most often a charging elephant will stop and turn metres in front of you trumpeting and displaying wildly, or so I've been told. I saw that it was covering the ground fast and getting too close, so I ran back around in front of the guests whilst chambering a round just in case. Now the elephant was almost on top of Brian and seemingly not planning to stop. Most definitely a committed charge. I saw Brian lift his rifle to his shoulder and put in the first shot at just 3m. I clearly remember the bullet making a little round, red hole as it entered the top of the trunk but the elephant didn’t go down. Immediately after his shot I began firing and in that same instant the elephant hit Brian who hadn’t had time to reload and his rifle, cap and water bottles went flying. As I fired off 3 head shots I remember being aware of Brian being somewhere in a cloud of dust amongst the elephants trunk and tusks. Thank God, after my 1st or 2nd shot the elephant’s front legs buckled and it toppled over onto its side. One of the shots must have hit the brain. Unbelievable relief is how I’d describe the feeling after seeing those front legs buckle. Brian miraculously then got up and moved clear as I put a fourth shot in to make sure.
He had survived. He could walk. Gratitude. Massive GRATITUDE.
The guests behaved really well considering the circumstances and had remained in a tight group a little further back down the path. Understandably shaken, we all marched the 1 or 2kms straight back to camp, leaving the scene just as it was with Brian’s rifle, cap and bottles scattered around the dead elephant’s feet. None of us could believe that Brian had escaped pretty much unhurt and I just noticed him being particularly dusty as I walked back behind him to camp. As we got back to camp at around 6:20 am Brian radio'ed the authorities who arrived really quickly as they’d heard the 5 shots and come to investigate.
Later on that day an official from the Mpumalanga Parks Board came out to look at the scene, so we had to go back and re-live the scenario and explain the whole story. While we were away the field ranger who was charged with staying at the site to make sure that no one changed the scene, told us that the whole herd had come up to sniff and stand around the dead elephant for a while. As we got back there the elephants were still in the river bed not far away, and I was just praying that nothing else would go wrong. We certainly were in no frame of mind to deal with another dangerous encounter that day.
Anyway, the inspector guy and the Klaserie Warden checked the whole scene out and listened to our story, and were satisfied that we had acted correctly and that it really was a last resort that couldn’t unfortunately be avoided. They also took statements from us under oath as he’d need to file a formal report on the incident. It was a little bit kak being questioned by some dude seemingly looking for reasons to say that it could have been negligence. Especially when he asked us where this one termite mound was in relation to the whole event. At first I honestly couldn’t remember and felt like telling him that when you’re being charged by an enraged elephant that is about to flatten your mate the last thing you do is look around and notice the scenery. I do understand though that he was just doing his job.
I picked up my empty cartridges at around 12-15 metres from the elephant carcass which I shot at about a 45 degree angle to the side of his frontal charge on Brian. Brian’s 1 empty cartridge was still inside his rifle, showing that he didn’t even have time to chamber a second round before he was hit. I’ll never forget going back there and seeing Brian’s cap totally dusted up lying at the feet of the elephant together with his scratched rifle and scattered water bottles. Indeed a miraculous escape. It could have so easily ended so differently. In the end Brian walked away with the best possible elephant injury one could hope for, a sprained ankle and a few bruises – truly amazing when you consider how much damage an enraged 4 ton animal is capable of.
For the rest of the day Brian, myself and the seven guests recounted our experience over and over, whilst drinking many cokes and allowing our adrenaline levels to slowly subside. It was really interesting to hear everyone’s version of how they saw the whole thing unfolding. Amazing how one truth can lead to 9 different stories after it has been passed through nine different peoples ‘filters’. Although the critical facts are the same, the minute details that people remember are varied and different. At the end of the day what we did have were nine people believing that the way things unfolded was the absolute best scenario and everyone understood that it could have been a whole lot worse. Understandably the guests weren’t keen on an afternoon walk that day, so we agreed on a short drive to a dam for sundowners to reflect some more. Here the Germans got properly stuck into the Amarula supplies.
Interestingly Brian said that after he put in his shot and was hit by the elephant all he remembers was making his body into a small ball, trying to protect his head and that he clearly remembered the feeling of elephant skin on him. He said that he felt the elephant trying to put its crushing weight on him and then heard my shots at which point he felt the easing up of the crushing pressure. I was completely unaware of what was happening to him besides knowing that it had hit him and a large ball of brown dust was being thrown up in front of the elephant. I find it quite remarkable at how when you’re faced with a really traumatic and intense moment your brain (may be the wrong word) only allows in information that is absolutely critical. For example I didn’t remember how many shots I had fired, and was completely oblivious to the usually deafening noise of 4 shots being fired right next to your ear. I just knew that I absolutely had to shoot it in the brain. I am really grateful that in the moment I could rely on the great training received at EcoTraining with Bruce Lawson kicking in, together with what I’m sure was a large dose of divine guidance :)
Coincidently or fatefully (you choose), it had been Brian who had also helped teach me how to handle a rifle before our shooting assessment on the EcoTraining trails guide course. Talk about coming full circle. Good teacher? Good karma? Who knows.
It all seems surreal now, much like a dream, and even though it happened in the blink of an eye, the events seemed to be all in slow motion. There really was no time to think, not even time to feel fear. There was only action. Action based on past training, instinctual knowledge of knowing that you have to do only what is necessary to survive in the moment and of course – divine guidance. At one point when we were walking back to camp in absolute silence and shock Brian turned around to me and calmly said ‘You saved my life’, which together with the whole experience seemed so unreal, and very much like a dream or a movie. Without doubt this elephant encounter and more specifically the exact moment when I knew I had to shoot accurately to kill and to save has been the most testing moment of my life to date. I do not like to think what would have happened had I missed.
Later the Warden told us that they’d been having quite a few aggressive elephant encounters recently, mostly with vehicles. He reckons it’s a combination of factors that’s causing this: the elephant population is too large, the increase in tourism is meaning that there are more elephant/human encounters than there were in past years, and at this time of year the elephant are most stressed because of the poor condition of the bush before the rains and the extra strain of there being more elephants that need to eat and drink.
On the last morning of the trail we took the guests back to the site, which was great for everyone to see and understand exactly what had happened. It became clearer and clearer for Brian and I each time we visited as each time you remember something else. In the end we were both clear where the elephant had come up and we could eventually even place ‘that termite mound’. I paced out the distances and it turns out that it was about 85 metres from where elephant came out of the river bed to where she eventually died. Certainly enough time and space for her to stop, turn or move off. Brian did everything possible to give this ellie the benefit of the doubt. No one can argue that when you see that he only shot it at 3m, which must have taken unbelievable courage in itself. This ellie definitely had it in for us that day, as there was no wind, or if anything a slight wind into our faces - the ellie charged purely on sight.
After that we all went on a short half an hour walk. It apparently is a good idea to get straight back up onto the horse, so that you don’t allow fear to take a grip in future. It was great being out there again, and as you can imagine the seven tourists had a new respect and militant like appreciation for the rules when walking. ie single file, silence, etc….
A couple of the guests did manage to take a few photos before and after the charge, which I will post in due course. I have tried to recount this story as objectively as possible, but I do realise that my perspective on events may differ slightly from others. Which ever way you look at it, it certainly was an unbelievable, life changing experience for everyone. Thankfully we are all able to walk away from this experience with a real appreciation for just how fine the line can be between life and death.
On Monday the 2nd November I arrived at Transfrontiers Walking Safaris looking forward to spending a week walking as a back-up guide in the Klaserie with the hope of notching up a few hours & encounters towards my full trails guide qualification. Never could have I imagined the experiences Brian, myself and the seven first time safari going guests were destined to walk away with.
Thursday the 5th of November was a strikingly beautiful day. The kind you really take notice of when the 3 days before have been grey and overcast in contrast. The morning started off as usual with the 4:30 am wake up call. This time it was easy to rouse the seven European guests, as a large troop of baboons had occupied the tall Jackalberry trees above our tents that night. The combination of barks, grunts and screaming infants, together with the regular showers of baboon droppings smashing against the roof of your tent is enough to ensure that even the deepest sleeper isn’t allowed their full quota of overnight rest.
After coffee and rusks, and a short unsuccessful drive aimed at locating the lions that had been roaring close by all night we started our morning walk from camp at 5:30 am. We headed South from camp walking parallel to the Klaserie river. I clearly remember thinking on more than one occasion what a magnificent morning it was. So clear and crisp, with out a breath of wind – a perfect day for a nice walk in the bush. How quickly that was all to change...
After about 30 minutes or so Brian spotted an elephant down in the river bed to our right. It was a good spot, as although the elephant was very close it was below our level and just the head could be seen sticking out amongst some bushes alongside the river. Before the guests had even seen it Brian instructed me to lead the guests out as we were too close at approximately 25m. So I walked around the back of the seven guests and began to lead them back down the path we’d come. This is the normal walking formation when getting out of a sighting on foot. Lead guide closest to the animal, guests in the middle and then back-up guide leading guests away to a safe distance. As we were walking away the elephant became more visible as it began climbing up the river bank. There was very little cover between us and her.
Now we were about 50m away when the elephant had climbed fully out of the river onto the same level as us. Brian again instructed us to retreat further which we did at a very brisk pace. I remember seeing the elephant cow standing there looking at us with her head held high and her ears spread out. She took a few steps forward towards us and then picked up her pace to a full charge. No trumpeting, no head shaking, no kicking up dust, no warnings at all – just a clean, quiet and full on charge.
At this point with all of us still on the retreat Brian stood his ground and began shouting loudly at the elephant in the hope that it would stop and turn. Most often a charging elephant will stop and turn metres in front of you trumpeting and displaying wildly, or so I've been told. I saw that it was covering the ground fast and getting too close, so I ran back around in front of the guests whilst chambering a round just in case. Now the elephant was almost on top of Brian and seemingly not planning to stop. Most definitely a committed charge. I saw Brian lift his rifle to his shoulder and put in the first shot at just 3m. I clearly remember the bullet making a little round, red hole as it entered the top of the trunk but the elephant didn’t go down. Immediately after his shot I began firing and in that same instant the elephant hit Brian who hadn’t had time to reload and his rifle, cap and water bottles went flying. As I fired off 3 head shots I remember being aware of Brian being somewhere in a cloud of dust amongst the elephants trunk and tusks. Thank God, after my 1st or 2nd shot the elephant’s front legs buckled and it toppled over onto its side. One of the shots must have hit the brain. Unbelievable relief is how I’d describe the feeling after seeing those front legs buckle. Brian miraculously then got up and moved clear as I put a fourth shot in to make sure.
He had survived. He could walk. Gratitude. Massive GRATITUDE.
The guests behaved really well considering the circumstances and had remained in a tight group a little further back down the path. Understandably shaken, we all marched the 1 or 2kms straight back to camp, leaving the scene just as it was with Brian’s rifle, cap and bottles scattered around the dead elephant’s feet. None of us could believe that Brian had escaped pretty much unhurt and I just noticed him being particularly dusty as I walked back behind him to camp. As we got back to camp at around 6:20 am Brian radio'ed the authorities who arrived really quickly as they’d heard the 5 shots and come to investigate.
Later on that day an official from the Mpumalanga Parks Board came out to look at the scene, so we had to go back and re-live the scenario and explain the whole story. While we were away the field ranger who was charged with staying at the site to make sure that no one changed the scene, told us that the whole herd had come up to sniff and stand around the dead elephant for a while. As we got back there the elephants were still in the river bed not far away, and I was just praying that nothing else would go wrong. We certainly were in no frame of mind to deal with another dangerous encounter that day.
Anyway, the inspector guy and the Klaserie Warden checked the whole scene out and listened to our story, and were satisfied that we had acted correctly and that it really was a last resort that couldn’t unfortunately be avoided. They also took statements from us under oath as he’d need to file a formal report on the incident. It was a little bit kak being questioned by some dude seemingly looking for reasons to say that it could have been negligence. Especially when he asked us where this one termite mound was in relation to the whole event. At first I honestly couldn’t remember and felt like telling him that when you’re being charged by an enraged elephant that is about to flatten your mate the last thing you do is look around and notice the scenery. I do understand though that he was just doing his job.
I picked up my empty cartridges at around 12-15 metres from the elephant carcass which I shot at about a 45 degree angle to the side of his frontal charge on Brian. Brian’s 1 empty cartridge was still inside his rifle, showing that he didn’t even have time to chamber a second round before he was hit. I’ll never forget going back there and seeing Brian’s cap totally dusted up lying at the feet of the elephant together with his scratched rifle and scattered water bottles. Indeed a miraculous escape. It could have so easily ended so differently. In the end Brian walked away with the best possible elephant injury one could hope for, a sprained ankle and a few bruises – truly amazing when you consider how much damage an enraged 4 ton animal is capable of.
For the rest of the day Brian, myself and the seven guests recounted our experience over and over, whilst drinking many cokes and allowing our adrenaline levels to slowly subside. It was really interesting to hear everyone’s version of how they saw the whole thing unfolding. Amazing how one truth can lead to 9 different stories after it has been passed through nine different peoples ‘filters’. Although the critical facts are the same, the minute details that people remember are varied and different. At the end of the day what we did have were nine people believing that the way things unfolded was the absolute best scenario and everyone understood that it could have been a whole lot worse. Understandably the guests weren’t keen on an afternoon walk that day, so we agreed on a short drive to a dam for sundowners to reflect some more. Here the Germans got properly stuck into the Amarula supplies.
Interestingly Brian said that after he put in his shot and was hit by the elephant all he remembers was making his body into a small ball, trying to protect his head and that he clearly remembered the feeling of elephant skin on him. He said that he felt the elephant trying to put its crushing weight on him and then heard my shots at which point he felt the easing up of the crushing pressure. I was completely unaware of what was happening to him besides knowing that it had hit him and a large ball of brown dust was being thrown up in front of the elephant. I find it quite remarkable at how when you’re faced with a really traumatic and intense moment your brain (may be the wrong word) only allows in information that is absolutely critical. For example I didn’t remember how many shots I had fired, and was completely oblivious to the usually deafening noise of 4 shots being fired right next to your ear. I just knew that I absolutely had to shoot it in the brain. I am really grateful that in the moment I could rely on the great training received at EcoTraining with Bruce Lawson kicking in, together with what I’m sure was a large dose of divine guidance :)
Coincidently or fatefully (you choose), it had been Brian who had also helped teach me how to handle a rifle before our shooting assessment on the EcoTraining trails guide course. Talk about coming full circle. Good teacher? Good karma? Who knows.
It all seems surreal now, much like a dream, and even though it happened in the blink of an eye, the events seemed to be all in slow motion. There really was no time to think, not even time to feel fear. There was only action. Action based on past training, instinctual knowledge of knowing that you have to do only what is necessary to survive in the moment and of course – divine guidance. At one point when we were walking back to camp in absolute silence and shock Brian turned around to me and calmly said ‘You saved my life’, which together with the whole experience seemed so unreal, and very much like a dream or a movie. Without doubt this elephant encounter and more specifically the exact moment when I knew I had to shoot accurately to kill and to save has been the most testing moment of my life to date. I do not like to think what would have happened had I missed.
Later the Warden told us that they’d been having quite a few aggressive elephant encounters recently, mostly with vehicles. He reckons it’s a combination of factors that’s causing this: the elephant population is too large, the increase in tourism is meaning that there are more elephant/human encounters than there were in past years, and at this time of year the elephant are most stressed because of the poor condition of the bush before the rains and the extra strain of there being more elephants that need to eat and drink.
On the last morning of the trail we took the guests back to the site, which was great for everyone to see and understand exactly what had happened. It became clearer and clearer for Brian and I each time we visited as each time you remember something else. In the end we were both clear where the elephant had come up and we could eventually even place ‘that termite mound’. I paced out the distances and it turns out that it was about 85 metres from where elephant came out of the river bed to where she eventually died. Certainly enough time and space for her to stop, turn or move off. Brian did everything possible to give this ellie the benefit of the doubt. No one can argue that when you see that he only shot it at 3m, which must have taken unbelievable courage in itself. This ellie definitely had it in for us that day, as there was no wind, or if anything a slight wind into our faces - the ellie charged purely on sight.
After that we all went on a short half an hour walk. It apparently is a good idea to get straight back up onto the horse, so that you don’t allow fear to take a grip in future. It was great being out there again, and as you can imagine the seven tourists had a new respect and militant like appreciation for the rules when walking. ie single file, silence, etc….
A couple of the guests did manage to take a few photos before and after the charge, which I will post in due course. I have tried to recount this story as objectively as possible, but I do realise that my perspective on events may differ slightly from others. Which ever way you look at it, it certainly was an unbelievable, life changing experience for everyone. Thankfully we are all able to walk away from this experience with a real appreciation for just how fine the line can be between life and death.
25 October 2009
A few more pics...
Ah yes please! Another mild day of 36 degrees.
The view from Space 12 looking westwards. That is the Luvuvhu River with all the green trees on its banks.
More view from Space 12 looking eastwards.
This is our pet dog. His name is Jorge (pronounced 'Ghor-gaey' in a thick spanish accent). Please note that he is not a real dog. He, or she, for that matter is actually a Yellow Spotted Rock Dassie. Its getting tamer and is pictured here lying outside our front door. Sit Jorge, Good Jorge.
In the words of Rudyard Kipling -'The great, grey, green, greasy Limpopo River'
Totally bone dry like a desert.
Same river. Nice beach. In a few months after the rains this thing will be pumping with a shed load of water.
Limpopo again. Looking east. Oh wait there is one puddle in the far right.....
The Limpopo Floodplain, and Makwadzi Pan. Nice road over some open ground before heading into some riverine forrest.
Trusty Landy No.1 in the 'Load the Guests onto vehicle area'
Jorge in a tree eating a leaf. Yes this is a ROCK dassie, not a tree dassie. Gorge must be ahead of his time. He is a nocturnal tree climbing rock dassie....
Sundowners with a Honeymoon couple at another Limpopo Lookout
Some Northern Lala Palms.
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