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
03 March 2010
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.
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