For the last few days I have been backing-up for Brian in the Klaserie at Transfrontiers. A short 4 day trail on which I was hoping to rack up a few more encounters and hours on foot all with a view to notching up the big 50 encounters needed to get the full trails guide qualification.
To begin - there are two critical aspects that must be in place when arranging a meeting point for the road transfer from point A to point B. One is the agreed time and the other is the location. My early morning departure from JHB to Hoedspruit on Friday began on a rather poor note, as tends to happen when you meet your transfer driver at the wrong hotel. It's all very well that both parties arrive punctually at 5:15am, but unless you're at the same place, well it's gonna be a bit of a balls up. So I got a call at 5:16 AM, saying 'Where are you?'. I found myself at the Garden Court Sandton, instead of the Garden Court Sandton City. Eeek. Thankfully though they're only a 5 minute drive from eachother so I escaped any serious punishment from the ex-policeman 120kg bus driver, and got away lightly with only being called a 'clot'.
Anyway we got to Hoedspruit swiftly and safely in the end. Considering that Brian had told me a day before the trail that they hadn't had an encounter for 30 hours or so of walking, I wasn't expecting fireworks, but it turned out to be a pretty productive weekend.
The trail had a fairly low key kind of vibe to it with just the one aussie guest booked on it, so it was pretty quiet one indeed. This is not a bad thing at all, because it means that you're able to move through the bush much more quietly and swiftly than with 10 people stomping through the veld, meaning that there's a better chance of you noticing animals before they notice you.
Anyway we got 5 encounters on foot that we could log. 1 each of buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion and hippo (out of the water). So a nice mix.
It started with the buff, which was a old tired dagga boy, just lazing about near the dam close to the reeds and ended on the last morning with 3 white rhinos, a bull, cow and calf whichwe viewed from across the Klaserie River without them being aware of our presence. But it was a weekend of lions. We saw and heard them on nearly every activity. On foot we saw (first heard) a lion & lioness mating, and so didnt approach but rather moved into a good position a long way off from which to have a safe viewing. Luckliy they were on the airstrip so we could watch them from a good distance without alerting them to our presence. It is never wise to approach mating lions or a lioness with cubs, as its aking for trouble.
From the vehicle though we saw them mating from close up, and also saw 3 other males lions who make up a powerful coalition of 4. The 3 other poor chaps seemed to be very patient in hanging around their buddy while he was mating for 4 or 5 days, which was great for lion sightings co they didnt move out of the airstrip area for the 4 days that we were there. At one stage we saw one of the non-maters trying to hunt some impala, which he didn't get. Its probably a good time to try though, cos during the rut the rams are so busy chasing eachother around and herding up females that they're often not paying attention to potential dangers.
It was also the first time I had been back to Transrontiers since the elephant incident in November. Almost 6 months to that day, Brian and I set out after brunch to go back to the site. The aussie chose a siesta instead, which is welcome relief after a few hours out walking from sunrise and then a massive brunch. I was glad that Brian & I could go out alone to revisit a significant place for both of us.
It was quite astonishing that after walking for nearly 10 hours without seeing much fresh sign of elephant activity, we encountered a breeding herd barely 2 minutes into out walk. They were a good distance off to our left, so we watched briefly and then carried on. 10 minuntes later and Brian spots a big hippo grazing in the midday sun 30m in front of us on the same game path. Weird, animals dont read the books about how theyre supposed to behave. ie avoid midday sun and graze at night.
Anyway, it eventually moved off towards the river and allowed us to pass and finally make it to the elephant site. It is still very familiar, only everything is greener and the grass a little taller. We stayed there a while reflecting on that hectic day. My predominant feeling was and still is one of gratitude. Amazingly at the spot where the carcass lay, where all that remains are a few vertebrae bones and a big circular path of dirt amongst the grass where nothing is growing, Brian peered down and spotted a piece of metal. No ways - it was one the bullets from my 375 which had been inside the elephant, and had now appeared, long after the body had vanished. The big rain shower from the night before must have unearthed the bullet allowing us to find it. wow. Brian had been back there many times since November, but only found it when we were there now. Amazing.
Im glad that I made the trip back to Transfrontiers and will definitely be back again, when the opportunity arises. Thanks Brian.
I only wonder how long it'll take for our hearts to stop beating so loudly when we encounter elephants. I hope it is soon... :)
04 May 2010
03 March 2010
The end of a chapter
And so for now, it is over.
But this is not the end,
Just a new beginning.
Another twist in the path,
Of a long and winding road.
Although our hearts remain in the bush,
for the time being - we are out of it.
The next chapter --> Living in -and out- of Kruger
But this is not the end,
Just a new beginning.
Another twist in the path,
Of a long and winding road.
Although our hearts remain in the bush,
for the time being - we are out of it.
The next chapter --> Living in -and out- of Kruger
02 March 2010
Bush Walk
Yesterday morning Andria & I got invited to go along and join on one of Eco-Trainings morning walks. We of course gladly accepted as Andria hadn't really gone on a proper bush walk in the Makuleke concession, and so we just had had to do this before we ducked. Not going on a walk in one of the most beautiful wildernesses in southern africa would have been sacrelige indeed.
So we awoke at 4:45 AM and cruised at pace over to the Eco-Training camp. Enroute we came across 2 cheeky hyaenas on their last patrol of middle road before first light. One youngster was particularly inquisitive walking right up to Andria's door to have a sniff around.
Anyway after skillfully dodging numerous night jars (without flattening any I must add) we made it to their camp by 6am just in time for the departure of the walk, led by Bruce. A walking guru. We proceeded to stroll around the Limpopo floodplain, walking in and out of the most amazing fever tree forests for a beautiful 3 hours. Quite early on we encountered a herd of 20 or so Eland which stared at us from a distance. We stared back, and then moved off in the direction of some vervet monkeys alarm calling like crazy a little further east. Bruce thought it may be because they had spotted a leopard, and right he was as a few minutes later we heard the unmistakeable sawing grunt of a leopard coming from a few hundred meters away. Exitement? Yes! We headed off in the direction of the sound, but it must have been moving quicker than us because all we found was tracks and the path it had taken through the long grass noticeable by the lack of due on that section of grass.
The birding was phenomenal. We must have seen and heard around 80 to 90 species during the walk. Because of the good rainfall we've had there are many seasonal pans which attract loads of water birds. Notable sightings included african openbill, hamerkop, brubru, verreauxs eagle owl, african goshawk, lemon breasted canary, and a whole heap of bee-eaters, rollers and kingfishers. We also saw plenty baboons, impala, nyala, a couple of hippos and 2 herds of buffalo. Not to mention loads of hyaena, lion and leopard tracks. All in all a very enjoyable walk.
There is no doubt that walking is the best and most in-depth way to experience the bush. A total sensual experience rather than the visual one you get from a vehicle.
So we awoke at 4:45 AM and cruised at pace over to the Eco-Training camp. Enroute we came across 2 cheeky hyaenas on their last patrol of middle road before first light. One youngster was particularly inquisitive walking right up to Andria's door to have a sniff around.
Anyway after skillfully dodging numerous night jars (without flattening any I must add) we made it to their camp by 6am just in time for the departure of the walk, led by Bruce. A walking guru. We proceeded to stroll around the Limpopo floodplain, walking in and out of the most amazing fever tree forests for a beautiful 3 hours. Quite early on we encountered a herd of 20 or so Eland which stared at us from a distance. We stared back, and then moved off in the direction of some vervet monkeys alarm calling like crazy a little further east. Bruce thought it may be because they had spotted a leopard, and right he was as a few minutes later we heard the unmistakeable sawing grunt of a leopard coming from a few hundred meters away. Exitement? Yes! We headed off in the direction of the sound, but it must have been moving quicker than us because all we found was tracks and the path it had taken through the long grass noticeable by the lack of due on that section of grass.
The birding was phenomenal. We must have seen and heard around 80 to 90 species during the walk. Because of the good rainfall we've had there are many seasonal pans which attract loads of water birds. Notable sightings included african openbill, hamerkop, brubru, verreauxs eagle owl, african goshawk, lemon breasted canary, and a whole heap of bee-eaters, rollers and kingfishers. We also saw plenty baboons, impala, nyala, a couple of hippos and 2 herds of buffalo. Not to mention loads of hyaena, lion and leopard tracks. All in all a very enjoyable walk.
There is no doubt that walking is the best and most in-depth way to experience the bush. A total sensual experience rather than the visual one you get from a vehicle.
22 February 2010
Can you give us a push please?
A couple days ago whilst out on the early morning drive, my trusty landy did what all good landies do from time to time and broke down while we were out in the bush, miles away from camp.
There's a certain type of horrible feeling that you get in the bottom of your stomach when you turn the ignition key of a landy, (that is packed with 4 guests paying 3 grand a night each) and all you hear is ....... click-click...............
Errr - so, quick as a flash you try to pretend that it never happened, by doing the exact same thing a few more times, only to get the same result over and over. I think it was Einstein that said 'The definition of insanity is to try the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result'. Anyway by this time you realise that it must be a flat battery, cos nothing is turning. Then with a somewhat sheepish smile on your face, you turn around to the guests and politely inform that that yes the car wont start, and that you think it is the battery and that would they mind hopping out the landy onto the muddy road (100+ mm of rain in a couple days will do this to a sand road running next to a floodplain) to give us a little push start??? Please??
I would have done it all myself but I just do not have the power to push a 2 ton truck, so luckily the 4 guests accepted my proposal and hopped out to push. Quite a comical scene as you can imagine. Anyway they managed to get enough momentum and a push start was achieved which soon had us heading back for breakfast. Happy days :)
There's a certain type of horrible feeling that you get in the bottom of your stomach when you turn the ignition key of a landy, (that is packed with 4 guests paying 3 grand a night each) and all you hear is ....... click-click...............
Errr - so, quick as a flash you try to pretend that it never happened, by doing the exact same thing a few more times, only to get the same result over and over. I think it was Einstein that said 'The definition of insanity is to try the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result'. Anyway by this time you realise that it must be a flat battery, cos nothing is turning. Then with a somewhat sheepish smile on your face, you turn around to the guests and politely inform that that yes the car wont start, and that you think it is the battery and that would they mind hopping out the landy onto the muddy road (100+ mm of rain in a couple days will do this to a sand road running next to a floodplain) to give us a little push start??? Please??
I would have done it all myself but I just do not have the power to push a 2 ton truck, so luckily the 4 guests accepted my proposal and hopped out to push. Quite a comical scene as you can imagine. Anyway they managed to get enough momentum and a push start was achieved which soon had us heading back for breakfast. Happy days :)
21 February 2010
Elephants. Sometimes they are aggressive.
Well it's happened again. Nowhere near as bad as last time, but definitely enough to shake you up a little.
Yesterday, on a routine afternoon game drive heading eastward along a road called Lanner Drive I had another elephant encounter that I won’t forget in a hurry. Myself and 4 guests (2 Germans and 2 South Africans) were happily taking a slow cruise to Lanner Gorge, when at about 5pm three elephants (a cow and 2 calves) moved quickly across the road ahead of us. So I turned off the engine to watch. 'Oh look a breeding herd of elephants...'
Now the road we were on is very sandy with many twists and turns, and at this time of year is surrounded by pretty thick bush. Not the kind of area conducive to quick getaways. This info didn’t cross my mind at all until - out of the blue, a previously unseen deranged elephant comes charging straight out of the thick stuff towards the side of our landy from our right with no warning whatsoever! It was the kind of charge filled with serious intent, one you just had a feeling that it was no mock. My immediate reaction was to shout loudly and hit the side of my door repeatedly in an effort to stop the charge. Stop, it did not, but instead it changed course slightly heading to the back of the landy and proceeded to ram the rear of the vehicle a couple of times, and at one point actually lifted the 2 back wheels off the ground.
Madness.
Looking back I saw terror in the guests' eyes and fury in the elephant's (its head was close and seemingly intent on ramming the landy to pieces). I thought now its time to get outta heee. So I started the engine whilst being smashed from behind, and luckily the standard large puff of diesel smoke that a landy emits upon ignition seemed to deter the ellie from its attack and gave me enough time to get on down the road as fast as I could which was probably 25km/h considering the nature of the escape route........deep thick sand.
The ellie didn’t follow up its charge much to our relief, and we made our way further down the road, not stopping to look at the other elephants surrounding us on the way out. Once some distance was achieved, I checked that everyone was OK and uninjured physically - which they thankfully were. We then made our way to Lanner Gorge which was just another 1.5km or so down the track where we sat together and relived the experience. A timely heavy shower of rain definitely gave us a nice opportunity to chat and reflect on what had just happened.
Understandably everyone was a little shaken, but OK and happy with the way it turned out in the end. This is certainly not the first time that an ellie has pushed a vehicle on the concession - its probably the fourth time in the 6 months that we've been here (and the 2nd in two weeks), but definitely the first for me. I'm not really sure whether it was a bull or cow, but definitely did notice a temporal secretion which means that its was either a stressed/excited cow or a young bull in musth, but I suspect the former.
I'm starting to wonder whether these creatures have it in for me, or if it's just the presence of German guests that they don’t enjoy :) The only common denominator in both my traumatic ellie encounters.
Experiences like this get you thinking. One thing for sure is that we're starting to hear and experience more and more of these elephant incidents - which must be a sign of an elephant population that is simply too big for the area supporting it. Looking at it from another angle one could say that the space problem is ultimately a result of the root issue facing the earth today - there are simply too many people on the planet. If we want to conserve the bio-diversity of the earth we need to control our own population so that there can be space for nature to be nature. Unfortunately history shows that when it’s a matter of the struggle to survive (which it is for millions of people) - humans will do so at the expense of the natural world. The sad thing is that we wouldn’t really have to worry about controlling animal populations if we could control our own.
Yesterday, on a routine afternoon game drive heading eastward along a road called Lanner Drive I had another elephant encounter that I won’t forget in a hurry. Myself and 4 guests (2 Germans and 2 South Africans) were happily taking a slow cruise to Lanner Gorge, when at about 5pm three elephants (a cow and 2 calves) moved quickly across the road ahead of us. So I turned off the engine to watch. 'Oh look a breeding herd of elephants...'
Now the road we were on is very sandy with many twists and turns, and at this time of year is surrounded by pretty thick bush. Not the kind of area conducive to quick getaways. This info didn’t cross my mind at all until - out of the blue, a previously unseen deranged elephant comes charging straight out of the thick stuff towards the side of our landy from our right with no warning whatsoever! It was the kind of charge filled with serious intent, one you just had a feeling that it was no mock. My immediate reaction was to shout loudly and hit the side of my door repeatedly in an effort to stop the charge. Stop, it did not, but instead it changed course slightly heading to the back of the landy and proceeded to ram the rear of the vehicle a couple of times, and at one point actually lifted the 2 back wheels off the ground.
Madness.
Looking back I saw terror in the guests' eyes and fury in the elephant's (its head was close and seemingly intent on ramming the landy to pieces). I thought now its time to get outta heee. So I started the engine whilst being smashed from behind, and luckily the standard large puff of diesel smoke that a landy emits upon ignition seemed to deter the ellie from its attack and gave me enough time to get on down the road as fast as I could which was probably 25km/h considering the nature of the escape route........deep thick sand.
The ellie didn’t follow up its charge much to our relief, and we made our way further down the road, not stopping to look at the other elephants surrounding us on the way out. Once some distance was achieved, I checked that everyone was OK and uninjured physically - which they thankfully were. We then made our way to Lanner Gorge which was just another 1.5km or so down the track where we sat together and relived the experience. A timely heavy shower of rain definitely gave us a nice opportunity to chat and reflect on what had just happened.
Understandably everyone was a little shaken, but OK and happy with the way it turned out in the end. This is certainly not the first time that an ellie has pushed a vehicle on the concession - its probably the fourth time in the 6 months that we've been here (and the 2nd in two weeks), but definitely the first for me. I'm not really sure whether it was a bull or cow, but definitely did notice a temporal secretion which means that its was either a stressed/excited cow or a young bull in musth, but I suspect the former.
I'm starting to wonder whether these creatures have it in for me, or if it's just the presence of German guests that they don’t enjoy :) The only common denominator in both my traumatic ellie encounters.
Experiences like this get you thinking. One thing for sure is that we're starting to hear and experience more and more of these elephant incidents - which must be a sign of an elephant population that is simply too big for the area supporting it. Looking at it from another angle one could say that the space problem is ultimately a result of the root issue facing the earth today - there are simply too many people on the planet. If we want to conserve the bio-diversity of the earth we need to control our own population so that there can be space for nature to be nature. Unfortunately history shows that when it’s a matter of the struggle to survive (which it is for millions of people) - humans will do so at the expense of the natural world. The sad thing is that we wouldn’t really have to worry about controlling animal populations if we could control our own.
09 February 2010
Out on trail in Pafuri
Early morning along the Luvuvhu....
Nwambi Pan, the Fever Tree Forest and a twitcher or two......
Elephant bull, at a dry Nwambi Pan.
Stopping to pause along a magical old baobab lined elephant path that descends the highest point in Pafuri (Sentinel Hill 390m) down to some lower ground though some tall mopane woodland.27 January 2010
Rain
'24 mills of rain today - doo dah - doo dah
24 mills of rain today, doo dah - doo dah day
The bush is gonna be nice and green,
All over again - hey'
40 degree temperatures a couple of days ago was bound to result in some cloud build up. And yes I have chicken brains...
24 mills of rain today, doo dah - doo dah day
The bush is gonna be nice and green,
All over again - hey'
40 degree temperatures a couple of days ago was bound to result in some cloud build up. And yes I have chicken brains...
24 January 2010
big brown one
O yes please!
I have conquered my nemesis. Nearly 5 months of relentless searching, without much luck, has finally paid off.
1 x Pel's Fishing Owl. What a beauty. Broad daylight - 6pm on the banks of the Luvuvhu. Sweet, sweet success.
At last...........................
I have conquered my nemesis. Nearly 5 months of relentless searching, without much luck, has finally paid off.
1 x Pel's Fishing Owl. What a beauty. Broad daylight - 6pm on the banks of the Luvuvhu. Sweet, sweet success.
At last...........................
20 January 2010
Stuck in da bush
Last night - we were stranded in the bush at midnight. After a pretty fun pool party at Pafuri Camp, where much Waboba was thrown about, and a lot of liquid succumbing to gravitational forces made its way down peoples gullets in a hurry, we thought we were in for a routine drive home back to camp. It's not often that the two lodges are both guest free at the same time, so us and 20 odd people from Eco Training had a good time. Pool cricket with this many fielders is cool - what is not cool however is searching for the ball every time someone whacks it overboard into the thick bush alongside the Luvuvhu. Why lodge architects do not take into account the pace at which a Waboba comes off the water when designing luxury lodge swimming pool areas is beyond me. There are just too many gaps, too many open spaces for the luminous orange ball to disappear into what is a very large garden. Searching for a ball in any suburban garden is hard enough, try finding one in the big garden that is the Kruger National Park. It requires patience and a good search party.
Anyway we eventually left and began our 23km drive home, which usually takes an hour or so because you stop to admire the various animalia on the way. Just 4km or so before reaching our destination, a mighty metallic crash, led us to believe that the engine had fallen out of the vehicle, which brought us to an immediate stop. Sheert! what was that?? So Andria, Karin and I climbed out to inspect the damage trying not to think too far into the future, cos then we'd have to start thinking of our options...
Turns out the front prop shaft had simply fallen out of its position under the landy, making a terrible banging/scraping noise as it banged about against various other parts under the landy. This meant that nothing happens when you put the car in gear. ie we could not drive any further. Ok, now it was time to make a plan and force yourself to think through the options.
Number 1: Radio for help - this we tried a few times......'errrrrr, All Stations, aaanyyboowdy come in for The Outpost..........', but .....silence.....was the only response we got. I mean who listens to their radio at midnight anyway?
Number 2: Karin was feeling courageous (more so than me anyway) and suggested we just walk back to camp. Hmmmmmm - I definitely was not keen to walk 4km back to camp on a moonless night, with who knows what lurking around in the shadows.
Number 3: Andria wanted to push the landy 4km back to camp. So Karin & I hopped out and were gonna push while Andria steered. I think we moved it 1.7m or so before we gave up. That Landy, she's a heavy one. We would never be able to push it up the slightest of slopes.
Number 4: Get comfortable and spend the night in the Landy and then radio, or walk back at first light. A reasonable option. We would only have to spend another 5 hours there then till sunrise, and the stars were a particularly magnificent distraction anyway. We still had a half full cooler box of refreshment on board too.
Number 5: Panic - no never do that - a poor option!
So we sat for a while - shining the spot light around every now and then. No sign of life.
Tried the radio again despondently. No sign of life. So we sat around for a bit longer, and then tried the radio again......'EcoTraining come in for Pierre' ....... Then thank the pope - someone answered back!! It was Callum from Pafuri - by some sheer stroke of luck he happened to walk past a radio and heard our pitiful pleas for help. HaHaa - we were saved!
Anyway we eventually left and began our 23km drive home, which usually takes an hour or so because you stop to admire the various animalia on the way. Just 4km or so before reaching our destination, a mighty metallic crash, led us to believe that the engine had fallen out of the vehicle, which brought us to an immediate stop. Sheert! what was that?? So Andria, Karin and I climbed out to inspect the damage trying not to think too far into the future, cos then we'd have to start thinking of our options...
Turns out the front prop shaft had simply fallen out of its position under the landy, making a terrible banging/scraping noise as it banged about against various other parts under the landy. This meant that nothing happens when you put the car in gear. ie we could not drive any further. Ok, now it was time to make a plan and force yourself to think through the options.
Number 1: Radio for help - this we tried a few times......'errrrrr, All Stations, aaanyyboowdy come in for The Outpost..........', but .....silence.....was the only response we got. I mean who listens to their radio at midnight anyway?
Number 2: Karin was feeling courageous (more so than me anyway) and suggested we just walk back to camp. Hmmmmmm - I definitely was not keen to walk 4km back to camp on a moonless night, with who knows what lurking around in the shadows.
Number 3: Andria wanted to push the landy 4km back to camp. So Karin & I hopped out and were gonna push while Andria steered. I think we moved it 1.7m or so before we gave up. That Landy, she's a heavy one. We would never be able to push it up the slightest of slopes.
Number 4: Get comfortable and spend the night in the Landy and then radio, or walk back at first light. A reasonable option. We would only have to spend another 5 hours there then till sunrise, and the stars were a particularly magnificent distraction anyway. We still had a half full cooler box of refreshment on board too.
Number 5: Panic - no never do that - a poor option!
So we sat for a while - shining the spot light around every now and then. No sign of life.
Tried the radio again despondently. No sign of life. So we sat around for a bit longer, and then tried the radio again......'EcoTraining come in for Pierre' ....... Then thank the pope - someone answered back!! It was Callum from Pafuri - by some sheer stroke of luck he happened to walk past a radio and heard our pitiful pleas for help. HaHaa - we were saved!
An hour or so later, Callum, Willem, Danni and Steve-O and their coolerbox came cruising at good pace to our rescue. They arrived in what some call a 'Toyota', others 'a Land Rover recovery vehicle', and others 'a lie'. They kindly gave us a lift back to our camp, accepted their rescue fees, had a quick swim and then dashed back off into the night. The next morning when I returned with our mechanics to retrieve our landy, the Pafuri guys had hi-jacked our cooler box which we had left on the landy. School boy error I know :)
All in all - another exciting bush adventure.
05 January 2010
Please stop patting me on my head
It is a mildly to moderately, but certainly disconcerting sensation to be repeatedly patted on the head by an Irishman every time he spots an impala.
I understand his excitement - first time in Africa and all, but bladdy fak man, leave my head alone man! What ever happened to a polite statement that gently gets your attention, something like..... 'Ooh look, an impala on the left'. The problem was the force of his slapping was directly proportional to his level of excitement. A tap on the head eventually progresses to a kLAP op die kop, when he spotted creatures more exciting than impala. Thank goodness I spotted that wild dog before him, and then had the presence of mind to use my mongoose like agility to project my neck foward at great pace, managing to propel my head out of reach just in time to avoid a mighty slap from behind. :)
The bush has been looking fairly scorched of late with no rain since mid November, and most days have been very hot at around 35-40 degrees. A couple days ago we experienced our first bush thunderstorm, and wow, it was a biggie. 47mm of rain in about 30 mins left me and a couple Irishmen sopping wet whilst out on an evening game drive. By the time we got back to camp we looked like we had been swimming up and down the Limpopo fully clad. Seriously, I have been drier after getting out of the swimming pool.
We've had a pretty busy time since arriving back on Christmas day. It was really nice to spend Christmas eve with the family in Nelspruit, before starting up early on the 25th to make it back to Pafuri in time to guide 4 Honkeys (apparently this is the name people from Hong Kong choose to refer to themselves). You may now know my attitude towards Asians on safari, and the next 3 days proceeded in a similar fashion to the 7 chinamen we had just before we went on leave. Talk about a flurry of chinamen eh?!
New years was quite nice. We had a bustling camp, with a good vibe, and we all celebrated the arrival of 2010 at ..... errrr......GMT +1.... yes thats 11pm SA time. In the bush it is customary in some places (ok very few), to celebrate the new year at 10 or 11 o clock in the evening instead of the usual midnight, because as there are so few of you - what's really the point of staying up an extra hour when you can all just cheer and toast new beginnings at a more convenient hour? So that we did, and welcomed in the new year at the same time as our brothers in .... errrr... Istanbul ... and other places on GMT+1. There were no big bright lights, no countdowns, no loud music - just 20 people wishing eachother 'All the best mate'
I have not had much chance to walk lately, but didnt really write about an awesome week we had at the start of December where we had 6 Canadians who loved doing bush walks, and so we ended up doing a 4 hr morning walk every day and then just game driving in the afternoon. A perfect safari format in my opinion. You really do get the best of both worlds. We had some great experiences. One morning we crept up to a large sleeping bull white rhino in the sandveld area just east of Palm Springs. Oh my hat - it was close. We got to 20m max. We stared at him for 5 minutes. Completely oblivious to our presence it was, until an almost inaudible metallic click made by someones rifle (ok mine), caused the sleeping giant to rise up to his feet in an explosion of dust and lightning quick action. There he stood staring in the direction of the noise, but not seeing us just 20m away. Wow - these chaps have seriously poor eyesight, but amazingly acute hearing. Anyway, there we had this face-off for what felt like ages, tension palpable, until the rhino trotted forward straight at us! Eek now what? I was certainly not even considering shooting this rhino (one of only 8 in the concession), and would have rather taken my chances diving for cover (behind the scrawny twig of a bush we were crouched behind), when Andrew (the lead guide) simply clapped his hands, which sent the great beast charging off at 100mph in the opposite direction. What happened next I could nevert have predicted - loud snorting noises began to be emitted from Andrew's mouth, which he later told us was the sound a territorial bull rhino makes, which he was now attempting to mimic in the hope that the fleeing rhino might stop and turn, so that the Canadians might get another photo. Amongst the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I almost burst into bouts of uncontrollable laughter, but luckily managed, somehow, to contain myself.
Anyway it's a ridiculous thought - a 2 and a half ton beast terrified by the clap of ones hands. Over the millenia us human beings have certainly done a good job of installing an overwhelming fear in almost every creaure on the planet, through our hunting, habitat destruction, and general annihilation of all things wild. Wow - we have a bad reputation.
The next morning I had my first encounter with an elephant on foot, exactly 1 month after 'the elephant story'. We got to within 60m from a lone big bull, who watched us from across a dried up pan. I must say I probably wouldnt have approached that close, considering we had a fine view from 100m back, but I realise I'm probably over cautious now when it comes to ellies. Anyway it turned out to be a very lekker encounter, with us watching him scratch himself all over against a well placed tree, before making a safe retreat without him following us, although at one stage it looked like he may have done so. A good experience, and I need many more of those, before I start believing that most ellies are not gonna try to flatten you.
On the last morning we did a very pleasant walk to Mashisiti Spring. A bizarre thing happened as we drove into the quarry to park the landy. A big, old dagga boy was loitering around the area and must have been in a terribly grumpy state of mind, because as we drove along side him, he spun around from 25m and charged at the vehicle! What-die-f0k? A buffalo charging at us in a car?? Man my brain took a while to register that. I must have driven past thousands of buffs in the past - not one has even looked like remotely considering running into a 2 ton piece of metal. But this bull came. Andrew whose side of the landy it was running towards, yelled loudly and banged the door, which did the trick and stopped & turned the buff. He then did not make any snorting noises, which I was half expecting. All in all, not a very auspicious start to a morning out on foot, when the buff would not be very far from where we parked the landy. Thank the pope, we didnt see him again.
Andria's Comrades training is going pretty well. She's up to about 60km a week. Mostly on the treadmill in our room, but we occasionaly go out and she does a long one on the tar road from Pafuri gate outside the park. I follow along in the Microbus, ready to let her in, when dogs, cows, donkeys or goats decide to chase her. I'm alos quite handy in that I carry cold water and good supplies of energy bars and raisins.
My folks bought us a very practical and excellent Christmas present - an AIR-CONDITIONER. Yesssss pleasse! Imagine our excitement as we set off on Christmas day with a brand new Air-con loaded into the back of our car. No more hot muggy nights and no more wet sarongs draped over our bodies at night. Then imagine our despair, as after setting up the air-con and putting it on full blast in 39 degree heat, it managed to get our room down to 36, before having a ........ errrr......... MALFUNCTION
oh noooooooooooooooo!!!!! Please dont let it be, it cannot be true! Serious panic and disappointment set in. I really thought the heat had claimed yet another victim. None of the buttons were working, just a red flashing light saying ' ALARM'. Eeeek
And then ......... it came to life. Sweet bejesus, the lights came back on! From the dead! And since then, good ol aircon seems to have adapted and is now pumping vast columns of cool, oh so cool precious air all over our bedroom. A mighty relief. Seems the little guy, had just a temporary malfunction. Although its no arctic wind, it definitely makes a massive difference. His record low so far is a very cool 23 degrees. What a beauty.
Andria & I will be back on 4 Feb 2010.
happy Happy, and merry Merry to all - may it be a cracker of a year!
I understand his excitement - first time in Africa and all, but bladdy fak man, leave my head alone man! What ever happened to a polite statement that gently gets your attention, something like..... 'Ooh look, an impala on the left'. The problem was the force of his slapping was directly proportional to his level of excitement. A tap on the head eventually progresses to a kLAP op die kop, when he spotted creatures more exciting than impala. Thank goodness I spotted that wild dog before him, and then had the presence of mind to use my mongoose like agility to project my neck foward at great pace, managing to propel my head out of reach just in time to avoid a mighty slap from behind. :)
The bush has been looking fairly scorched of late with no rain since mid November, and most days have been very hot at around 35-40 degrees. A couple days ago we experienced our first bush thunderstorm, and wow, it was a biggie. 47mm of rain in about 30 mins left me and a couple Irishmen sopping wet whilst out on an evening game drive. By the time we got back to camp we looked like we had been swimming up and down the Limpopo fully clad. Seriously, I have been drier after getting out of the swimming pool.
We've had a pretty busy time since arriving back on Christmas day. It was really nice to spend Christmas eve with the family in Nelspruit, before starting up early on the 25th to make it back to Pafuri in time to guide 4 Honkeys (apparently this is the name people from Hong Kong choose to refer to themselves). You may now know my attitude towards Asians on safari, and the next 3 days proceeded in a similar fashion to the 7 chinamen we had just before we went on leave. Talk about a flurry of chinamen eh?!
New years was quite nice. We had a bustling camp, with a good vibe, and we all celebrated the arrival of 2010 at ..... errrr......GMT +1.... yes thats 11pm SA time. In the bush it is customary in some places (ok very few), to celebrate the new year at 10 or 11 o clock in the evening instead of the usual midnight, because as there are so few of you - what's really the point of staying up an extra hour when you can all just cheer and toast new beginnings at a more convenient hour? So that we did, and welcomed in the new year at the same time as our brothers in .... errrr... Istanbul ... and other places on GMT+1. There were no big bright lights, no countdowns, no loud music - just 20 people wishing eachother 'All the best mate'
I have not had much chance to walk lately, but didnt really write about an awesome week we had at the start of December where we had 6 Canadians who loved doing bush walks, and so we ended up doing a 4 hr morning walk every day and then just game driving in the afternoon. A perfect safari format in my opinion. You really do get the best of both worlds. We had some great experiences. One morning we crept up to a large sleeping bull white rhino in the sandveld area just east of Palm Springs. Oh my hat - it was close. We got to 20m max. We stared at him for 5 minutes. Completely oblivious to our presence it was, until an almost inaudible metallic click made by someones rifle (ok mine), caused the sleeping giant to rise up to his feet in an explosion of dust and lightning quick action. There he stood staring in the direction of the noise, but not seeing us just 20m away. Wow - these chaps have seriously poor eyesight, but amazingly acute hearing. Anyway, there we had this face-off for what felt like ages, tension palpable, until the rhino trotted forward straight at us! Eek now what? I was certainly not even considering shooting this rhino (one of only 8 in the concession), and would have rather taken my chances diving for cover (behind the scrawny twig of a bush we were crouched behind), when Andrew (the lead guide) simply clapped his hands, which sent the great beast charging off at 100mph in the opposite direction. What happened next I could nevert have predicted - loud snorting noises began to be emitted from Andrew's mouth, which he later told us was the sound a territorial bull rhino makes, which he was now attempting to mimic in the hope that the fleeing rhino might stop and turn, so that the Canadians might get another photo. Amongst the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I almost burst into bouts of uncontrollable laughter, but luckily managed, somehow, to contain myself.
Anyway it's a ridiculous thought - a 2 and a half ton beast terrified by the clap of ones hands. Over the millenia us human beings have certainly done a good job of installing an overwhelming fear in almost every creaure on the planet, through our hunting, habitat destruction, and general annihilation of all things wild. Wow - we have a bad reputation.
The next morning I had my first encounter with an elephant on foot, exactly 1 month after 'the elephant story'. We got to within 60m from a lone big bull, who watched us from across a dried up pan. I must say I probably wouldnt have approached that close, considering we had a fine view from 100m back, but I realise I'm probably over cautious now when it comes to ellies. Anyway it turned out to be a very lekker encounter, with us watching him scratch himself all over against a well placed tree, before making a safe retreat without him following us, although at one stage it looked like he may have done so. A good experience, and I need many more of those, before I start believing that most ellies are not gonna try to flatten you.
On the last morning we did a very pleasant walk to Mashisiti Spring. A bizarre thing happened as we drove into the quarry to park the landy. A big, old dagga boy was loitering around the area and must have been in a terribly grumpy state of mind, because as we drove along side him, he spun around from 25m and charged at the vehicle! What-die-f0k? A buffalo charging at us in a car?? Man my brain took a while to register that. I must have driven past thousands of buffs in the past - not one has even looked like remotely considering running into a 2 ton piece of metal. But this bull came. Andrew whose side of the landy it was running towards, yelled loudly and banged the door, which did the trick and stopped & turned the buff. He then did not make any snorting noises, which I was half expecting. All in all, not a very auspicious start to a morning out on foot, when the buff would not be very far from where we parked the landy. Thank the pope, we didnt see him again.
Andria's Comrades training is going pretty well. She's up to about 60km a week. Mostly on the treadmill in our room, but we occasionaly go out and she does a long one on the tar road from Pafuri gate outside the park. I follow along in the Microbus, ready to let her in, when dogs, cows, donkeys or goats decide to chase her. I'm alos quite handy in that I carry cold water and good supplies of energy bars and raisins.
My folks bought us a very practical and excellent Christmas present - an AIR-CONDITIONER. Yesssss pleasse! Imagine our excitement as we set off on Christmas day with a brand new Air-con loaded into the back of our car. No more hot muggy nights and no more wet sarongs draped over our bodies at night. Then imagine our despair, as after setting up the air-con and putting it on full blast in 39 degree heat, it managed to get our room down to 36, before having a ........ errrr......... MALFUNCTION
oh noooooooooooooooo!!!!! Please dont let it be, it cannot be true! Serious panic and disappointment set in. I really thought the heat had claimed yet another victim. None of the buttons were working, just a red flashing light saying ' ALARM'. Eeeek
And then ......... it came to life. Sweet bejesus, the lights came back on! From the dead! And since then, good ol aircon seems to have adapted and is now pumping vast columns of cool, oh so cool precious air all over our bedroom. A mighty relief. Seems the little guy, had just a temporary malfunction. Although its no arctic wind, it definitely makes a massive difference. His record low so far is a very cool 23 degrees. What a beauty.
Andria & I will be back on 4 Feb 2010.
happy Happy, and merry Merry to all - may it be a cracker of a year!
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