It’s hard to focus on a specific species when you stay at Satara….you see so much…
We started off by going towards the H6 before we got to the turning we came across a massive herd of buffalo….John said 150+ I thought even more……
Johns choice for first spot was waterbuck mine was giraffe……we saw plenty of the later before we had even turned on to the H6.
We soon came across some kudu and once again a male ostrich.
We went the same route the truck had gone yesterday evening….we didn’t find the hyena but we did find the giraffe kill…evidently the lions were guarding it and laying flat in the grass unseen by the human eye….
We saw some lovely sights…long lines of wildebeests, a scattering of zebra as we headed off to the S100.
Part way down the S100 we came across a pride of lions resting up against an old water tower. The male lion had at least 4 lionesses with him.
Further on we came across a small herd of elephants with an absolutely tiny calf…probably the smallest we’ve ever seen.
Along the almost dried river bank an African Fish Eagle greeted us with its call.
We called back at our rondavel to use the facilities before heading out in the opposite direction….again an interesting route. Just after the gravel road we were going to take we could see an absolute frenzy of activity with dozens of vultures obviously feeding on something we couldn’t see.
We headed up the gravel to circle back around onto the S100… just after a quite deep Ford we came across a secretary bird. It took off and flew a short distance before landing and once again strutting around.
A male ostrich having a dust bath caught our attention.
Finally John saw some waterbuck.
The route was prolific with wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, elephants and a scattering of Waterbuck.
We stopped to have our lunch next to a group of impala and a pair of giraffe…such a peaceful.
Turning back along the S100 we were alone watching 1 lone lioness next to the water tower…the rest were obviously sleeping. We made our way back to camp for a rest.
At 4.30pm we went out again …we decided the H6 was our best bet. No sooner than we had turned on to it we saw a reed buck…took us a few minutes to identify as we don’t often see them.
The zebra and wildebeest were milling about on the edge and in the road.
We saw 3 hyena pups at their den before turning around and heading for camp.
On the main road near to camp we found a troop of Chacma baboons in the road…lots of youngsters were rolling in the road…we can only imagine that the tar was retaining the heat of the day and they were keeping warm.
The temperature rose to 26 degrees Celsius at midday but it also dropped sharply as the sun went down. We had a lovely sunset.
We went to the Cattle Baron for supper. This time we chose two different chicken dishes….mine was a poor choice…it sounded nicer than it was….John enjoyed his…
A frustrating start to the day…I had written Day 16 blog at the end of the previous day and scheduled it to post this morning…first it didn’t and then it did but the photos didn’t upload…..I spend considerable time writing the blog, I am not a natural with words, but dyslexics can achieve if they try hard and I am an achiever!! ….i have to read it back to John so I can hear my mistakes to make corrections. John down loads both his and my camera to his laptop. Then he selects the photos for the day, and I am proud to say a lot of them are mine, then he sends his selection of both of our shots back to me via messenger and I down load them and then upload them to the blog…..he has an arduous task, in getting them to me, if the internet is running slowly as do I in uploading…..it is particularly frustrating to think you’ve succeeded and then find out you’ve failed !!!! Thanks John for your patience.
Back to Day 17…. We were not really sorry to say goodbye to our only just basic mud- hut…opps I mean rondavel! Although we did spot 2 hippos on the river bank from our veranda.
A yogurt breakfast and then a brief conversation with the maintenance men who were trying, in vein, to unblock next doors sewage pipe….at least we hadn’t had that to contend with…..there was a giant African millipede next to the car which we asked them about, when I lived in Malawi we called them shongololo (or chongololo). The maintenance men told us its name in their language, it sounded very similar.
….and then we were off.
We headed down the 9km tar to the main road…not a single sighting… oh! John had selected Zebra and I had selected giraffe as first spot….We turned on the tar towards Satara. It was a cold morning but slightly brighter than the day before. Our first sighting were 3 warthogs in the riverbed, followed by 3 waterbuck.
Then we almost missed an elephant at the side of the road. You’d think something so big couldn’t hide in a small bush !!!
We turned off the tar to the right on the same gravel road we had taken yesterday. Braving the corrugations we rattled along…. Our first spot was a small group of Zebra..6-3 to John, he gloated he was catching up. Within a couple of minutes we came across a tower of giraffe, 11 in total…a real family gathering. We stopped where we had seen yesterday’s jackals and sure enough we saw a pair of ears sticking up and there was one of the jackals nestled down next to a bush. I was happy… walking along towards this area was a Kori bustard. It was a handsome male with his seemingly thick neck – the feathers around the neck are loose, giving the appearance of a thicker neck than they really have.
On we went and shortly came across three parked vehicles…we quickly saw what they were watching…yeah….a pack of wild dogs and some youngsters. There were some adults laid to the right of the track, who got up trotted around and crossed the road before lying down in the long grass making them vanish from view. The youngsters were huddled together under the edges of a thorn bush, protected from the coolish wind. What a wonderful sight.
We stayed watching for some time, eventually moving in front of the other cars, taking some pictures before moving on out of their way.
Not much further on we came across two male giraffes having a fisty-cuffs….its actually called “ necking”….male giraffes use their necks and heads to compete for dominance.
We were laughing about how wonderfully productive this route had turned out to be, when we caught sight of 3 ground hornbill. These are enormous, sociable, ground-loving birds which are easily recognized. The adult male has an extensive brilliant red face and throat wattles.
We scurried along to Timbavati picnic area…basically because I need the loo…the corrugated road really does shake your insides up!
Not long after my loo stop we pulled up next to a parked jeep. They kindly showed us where to look for 3 lionesses. We saw 2 ..they were watching zebra on the far bank of the river and soon disappeared from sight in stalking motion. We would never have seen these if the kindly couple hadn’t pointed them out and moved their car so we could get a glimpse.
Wow what a day we were having….around the next bend a martial eagle was eating something it had taken up a tree.
We continued on to the tar road which goes to Orpen gate…we turned the opposite way towards Satara.
Stopping at the dam we ate our lunch watching the hippos and their young frolicking in the water, while a hooded vulture watched on.
We continued along the tar sighting an ostrich before we got to camp.
We arrived at Satara Camp at 2.15pm and booked in…Luckily we were allocated C51…we like circle C and have often stayed in a rondavel there before. Whilst in reception we asked about a sunset drive, we had decided not to try for tonight as the windchill factor was high and we thought we’d be too cold. So we asked for the following night but it was fully booked. Oh No !!!!! …So I asked for the night after …our 3rd night and we booked that. I then asked for tonight and yes it was available…so to Johns some what dismay I booked that as well🤣🤣.
We soon found our chalet…this time we had a full kitchen and the rondavel was quite roomy. I rummaged through both cases finding a pair of jeans each for us. For John a polo neck to go over his tshirt and another tshirt to go over that, and his fleece, a pair of shoes and socks. For myself a cami vest, a long sleeved vest a cardigan, my fleece and a scarf….and because I am my mothers daughter – intuitive and resourceful, I also put 2 new hankies in my pocket so I could use them as earmuffs inside my headscarf….let me tell you they worked an absolute treat and my head and ears were as snug as a bug in a rug🤣🤣
Off we went on our sunset drive, John was still mumbling “waste of time….too cold to see anything..” Patrick was our driver…over the years he’s taken us many times…he has a wicked sense of humour and is a great spotter and guide…what’s more the truck wasn’t full so I moved to the double seat infront and Patrick really took the Micky when I said it was because my husbands “butt“ was too big 🤣🤣
Off we went, he started on the S100 then turned round and went on to the H6… a road which goes up to the Mozambique border. We hadn’t been going long when he stopped…there was a whole pack of hyenas, both youngsters and mature adults, both sides of the road.
We haven’t seen many yet, this holiday so it was a real treat.
Not much further along the road was the stench of death and our guide pointed out an elephant which had died of old age. He said the hyenas, jackals and vultures would soon dispose of every sign of it.
On we went and suddenly out of nowhere an adult rhino strolled across the road…what a treat. We’ve never seen rhino near Satara before. Within 5 minutes it was completely out of sight.
A while later we stopped again and about 80 metres from the road was a dead giraffe with lions feasting on it. As it was dusk it was difficult to focus on. We could see a lioness and several youngsters.
At this moment a young man on the truck dropped his phone out onto the ground. Patrick then spent a considerable time shifting the truck, moving the phone with a firebeater, shifting the truck again so that it was between the lions and the phone. He then stepped down from the passenger side and retrieved the phone. What a palaver, Patrick did so well and the young man didn’t even say thank you….so I thanked Patrick for being so kind. We watched the lions a little longer before heading back in the direction of camp…it was by now very dark and people were using the spotlights.
We passed the elephant carcass and our driver took us close to it so we could watch the hyena arriving for their supper….sure enough they did.
Continuing on ……Suddenly Patrick stopped the truck and right down in the grass on the verge of the road was a young female leopard. We watched it walk along the road and disappear back into the bush for nearly 10 minutes.
By now John was laughing and whispered in my ear “ who said we wouldn’t see much” …this was probably the most successful spotting day we have ever had and we will certainly remember it forever.
Even after the leopard our spotting wasn’t over, we had clear views of 3 different marsh owls both sat in the road, on a tree and in flight….wow.
Thank you Patrick for a marvellous drive, thank you John for forgetting to be cold and thank you Mother Nature for showing us your treasures.
Back in Camp we said goodbye to Patrick…he had certainly earnt his big tip.
We scurried to the Cattle Baron restaurant and ordered Chateaubriand flambé in brandy with chips, butternut and spinach and mushroom sauce …it was superb, we rounded it off with ice cream…..all for the superb price of £28.00 for us both….
We went straight to bed, it was too cold to sit outside playing cards…we were very happy, very grateful and very well blessed.
“The day that the rains came” – by Jane Morgan No. 1 on the UK singles chart in 1959 – she died a couple of months ago aged 101….(makes my dad look like a spring chicken at 94 this year 🤣🤣🤣). NO! I am not old enough to remember it, but it seemed an appropriate song to start the day….cold, grey, drizzle…that wonderful smell the bush exudes when it’s been dry for so long and then it gets damped upon.. The temperature didn’t rise to more than 17 degrees Celsius all day and in England we would have called it a miserable grey day….but we’re not in England and in SA it was yet another day for wildlife spotting.
We had a slow start to the day…both of us aching from the rock hard beds…we’re so used to our luxury encapsulated sprung memory foam mattress…we forget how fortunate we are until a bed like last nights reminds us 🤣🤣. But thankfully the shower was powerful enough to massage the aches and pains…
We made a plan and decided to drive the river loops between Olifants and Letaba…that was plan “A”….. John was allowed two choices of first spot today because he is 6-1 down…. He chose elephant and giraffe and I chose zebra….off we went …Oh my goodness!!!! The vibration from the corrugated roads was the worse so far…thank goodness we don’t have false teeth because I am telling you even our jaws were rattling and we’d defiantly have lost any falsies🤣🤣🤣….i didn’t need to bring the “tens” machine with us, these roads shock every fibre within your body….
After 45 minutes without a single sighting Plan “B” was made and we took the circular road back to Olifants…. John was just saying “in 5 minutes time we’ll have been going an our without seeing a single creature, animal or bird”. As he finished talking I caught sight of a Grey Lourie ( now renamed The Go- away bird) . Then 2 minutes later we saw a giraffe standing next to 2 zebra…John claimed the point..6-2 …
Back on the tar we were going to go down to Balule Camp on the dirt…but as I was actually having to use the windscreen wipers, the drizzle was slow steady rain, we hatched Plan “C”. Staying on the tar we saw a nice small troop of Chacma baboons.
Turning down towards Satara we saw a herd of Waterbuck in the rivers shallow channels. Other cars were stopped and it was soon apparent that they weren’t looking at the buck. We asked a car and they said 3 lionesses had been seen……been was the operable word…they could no longer be seen. ….some cars crawled along the road at the edge of the river…we asked again and were told 2 male lions had been seen..yeah! Who started this rumour…no one still there had actually seen a lion….we left them to it.
A little further on we saw a lovely African harrier hawk in a tree next to the road.
As we went over the bridge I spied two magnificent Goliath Herons…they really are majestic…we haven’t seen one since we were with Same Aaron in Botswana in 2023. We spent some time watching them wade in the shallows.
We had been going to turn towards the East and take the road which runs parallel to the Mozambique boarder….but we still hadn’t seen many mammals so Plan “D” was hatched and we turned to the west. It was again a bone-shaker road. After a while we saw a fabulous Kori Bustard….they are very strange looking birds…the largest flying bird native to Africa.
We continued on and as the surrounding area opened up into scrub land plains…and there darting across the plains, across the road and back again were not only one but 3 Black Backed Jackals…..
Black backed jackals are a widely distributed species that are known for their cunning and daring. They are often seen nipping in to steal a morsel from Lions. They have a distinctive call known almost as well as the roar of a lion. They are the most common and best known of all the African carnivores. The name jackal is frequently used to denote the cunning and versatility so typical of this species. They have a dark saddle on the back, which runs from the nape of the neck to the base of the tail. They have a black, bushy tail and reddish flanks and limbs; standing about 400 mm at the shoulder and a meter in total length. Our 3 black backed Jackals were racing around.
A red billed hornbill even photo-bombed my attempt at capturing a running jackal.
I was ecstatic about our sighting as they are one of my absolute favourites.
Shortly after seeing these little fellas we about turned and retraced our steps. On the way back we saw pockets wildebeest keeping out of the rain under a tree.
At the tar road we went straight over on to the Balule Camp Road. We saw quite large groups of impala mostly laid down, keeping warm out of the wind, it had by now stopped raining.
A group of waterbuck grazed at the road side and small groups of zebra hid behind bushes.
We crossed the river on the low pontoon, nothing was on the banks or in the water.
We sat overlooking the water to eat our sandwich before heading back to Olifants camp. We were almost back to the tar when I almost drove past a massive elephant just munching on a bush at the side of the road. We had a quiet conversation and he continued to enjoy his snack while we slowly passed by.
A few metres further on was a much smaller elephant who had obvious aggression towards us…shaking his ears and stamping his feet…we accelerated passed tout de suite, without incident.
Our viewing count for the day was quite low 99+ impala, 2 lilac breasted rollers, 1 grey Lourie, I African fish eagle, 1 African harrier hawk, 6 giraffe, 25 zebra, 2 Goliath herons, 8 baboons, 1 yellow billed hornbill bill, 3 red billed hornbill, 17 waterbuck, 3 black backed jackals, 18 wildebeest, 3 elephants.
Back in the camp we spent the afternoon resting before going to the restaurant for supper. It was heaving as no-one wanted to braii in this inclement weather. We both had burgers, I had chicken breast and John had beef, a Diet Coke each and ice cream to round it off…all for the princely sum of £17.00.
We wandered back to our hut using torchlight then snuggled down for the night…too cold to sit outside and play cards and no room inside.
I was awoken in the night by the heavy smell of smoke. I got up and checked our huts roof and those of the huts around us…all ok, so the smell was coming from the controlled burn. I returned to bed and had a restless remainder of the night sleep. We both woke early with headaches from the smoke, we needed the fresher air outside the hut to clear our heads.
Today we packed up ready to leave Shingwedzi. We were sad to leave. It was a great camp and excellent game spotting. We said goodbye to Josephine, who was busy chasing a large baboon around with her rake, because he had stollen her black bin liner full of rubbish…..yes it was as funny as it sounds but I kept a straight face and sympathised with her about what a nuisance the baboons were🤣🤣 But on a more serious note …visitors feed the baboons, we evidenced this when we saw one eating a cut up piece of fruit.
Feeding them is signing their death warrant, because they then become a nuisance, they expect food and they are dangerous wild animals…in the end the rangers have no choice but to shoot the whole troop to keep the visitors safe….so if you do safari PLEASE never feed any animal.
We set off down the road, on the way up it had been a tedious drive with very little wildlife to be seen. I gave John the first choice of what we’d see first and he once again said Waterbuck…they had been prolific in the area, I said I’d have pangolin as that way John couldn’t fail to win and he was lagging 5-1 behind….however John said that he didn’t want a gimme so I selected zebra.
Our first spotting was a large elephant, followed by a giraffe. A little later we saw a large herd of zebra…sorry John, it was several hours later before we saw waterbuck, whom John now declares are not his friends…. 6-1 to me!oh dear! 🤣🤣
We continued along the road….up until Mopani we saw a variety of game at fairly regular intervals.
There was a lovely waterhole with drinking tower where elephants were drinking both from the tower and the trough. Buffalo, tsessebe, zebra, impala were all loitering with intent.
Herd of elephant at water trough
A long line of waterbuck crossed the road to join the queue at the trough.
As we progressed we saw another herd of zebra and at the back of the group was a male ostrich. This is only the third ostrich we’ve seen all trip.
The ostrich is the largest and heaviest living bird. They are flightless. Ostriches are also the fastest running bird, they are able to reach speeds 35 kms an hour Males are typically larger than females, weighing up to 287 pounds and measuring up to 9 feet in height.
A kick from an ostrich is powerful enough to kill a human. They are sometimes referred to as the “ camel bird”. They are heavily farmed and rather frighteningly over a million a year are killed for the fashion industry. They are also farmed for their meat, every part of an ostrich can be used in the farming market- their skin for leather, feathers and meat. There are farms in the Cape area where you can ride an ostrich, sitting behind its neck. However we much prefer to see them in the wild and our sighting was very welcomed. We didn’t see a female with him…when they are courting a mate the males, usually white, legs turn bright pink and they put on a dance display by opening their wings and showing their jet black feathers and pink legs off. The female is a rather greyish brown.
About 12 km before Mopani Camp you cross the Tropic of Capricorn line.
On arriving at Mopani there was a huge herd of buffalo already sitting in the shade. The temperature had reached 33 degrees Celsius.
There was also along line of wildebeest strolling towards a very small waterhole…a few zebra mingled around.
We stopped at Mopani camp for a leg stretch and the loo. It is situated on a dam with a reasonable amount of water in it but there were no animals taking advantage of it. The shop was very well stocked. The camp used to be a delight, but a couple on our former sunset drive said the chalets were very tired and it didn’t seem to have been modernised or even refreshed since it opened in the early 1990’s.
From Mopani to Olifants with the exception of a pair of white backed vultures ( WBV) we saw “diddly squat”…..unless you count anthills. It was a long drive with the cars cruise control locked in to 47kmph all that was left for me to do was steer….it really is a dry area for game. We passed Letaba and headed on to Olifants. The turn up from the main road to camp is 9 km…we laughingly said “ let’s see if the number of animals we spot equals the number of km”…..no it was 9-0 to the kms🤣
We booked in…our hut was a small rondavel, not unsimilar to the Letaba hut….only this time the curtains had been replaced and did meet in the middle. There was only room for one case and the only plug socket was once again next to the sink….(because I didn’t book until April this was the only accommodation available, it’s wise to book 11 months in advance and choose the best accommodation you can afford. If it’s just 2 of you try for a 3 bedroomed hut so you have somewhere to open your bags and cases) . The air conditioning took several hours to cool the rondavel to a comfortable temperature. We did however have a view of the river and we could see two hippo having an altercation.
We headed out for a drive at about 4.30pm. We took the road down to Balule Camp because it runs alongside the river. We saw a couple of elephant in the river…apart from that our circle back on to the main road was once again devoid of any living creature. Once back on the main road we headed along toward the Olifants Camp turn off, suddenly a couple of large elephants walked across the road from the river, stopping on the road edge to browse from the shrubbery. Then more and more came. A car came up close behind me..I swerved on to the other side of the road and reversed next to them. I told them I’d done it because they had got too close to me and didn’t give me the opportunity to reverse at speed if I needed to avoid a stampeding elephant….turns out they were French and didn’t understand a word I said. Another car arrived and I reversed back to them….it was a breeding herd of elephants. A youngster stood on the road kneeled down and punched his head onto the tarmac… a strange gesture and we were uncertain whether it was scared or angry. Finally after 20 minutes they all, seemed to have crossed the road including the youngster. Although two were still feeding on the road edge we followed the French car leaving enough distance for us to be able to accelerate if necessary.
We turned up the 9 km road to the camp. This time it was 9-1 to the km…a giraffe obligingly gave us a nice view. We made it back into camp a few minutes before the gate closes….i don’t know whether an elephant roadblock would have been excuse enough, if we’d been late🤣🤣
We went to the restaurant for supper…I had roasted chicken and John had venison steak. It came to £23 which included two Coke lites each. We asked a couple who had come in from the parks sunset drive if they had seen much. We had been toying about taking it the following night. But as they had only seen a scrub hare, a jackal and an owl we decided to give it a miss and save the money for an extra drive in Satara.
We returned to our bijou rondavel for a game of cards and an early night…in beds which could have been made of rock.
After a superb day yesterday we awoke early ..just before 7am. John made the coffee, while I attached photos to yesterday’s blog….the best time to get a quick upload is around 1-2am…but failing that due to being asleep morning tends to be quicker …just 2/3 minutes per picture. My task completed I met with Josephine who had our laundry all fresh and sweet smelling. I gave her 170 Rands (about £7,50) which made her absolutely beam from ear to ear….it was a small price to pay to save me doing it…I hadn’t quite worked out how to dry it and I’ve never had much success at handwashing🤣🤣
We had our last two yogurts in peace…no vervet monkeys pestering us today…perhaps they have the day off on Saturdays🤣. At the garage the kindly attendant washed and polished all the car windows while filling it up with petrol, we showed our gratitude and away we went..
We had decided to go up to the northern end of the Park , to Punda Maria some 76 kms away. John hasn’t been doing too well at naming first spot of the morning so once again I gave him first choice…he chose Waterbuck, we had seen lots around camp yesterday, and I chose Elephant.
We didn’t see much game for about 20 minutes, probably due to the smell of smoke still hanging thickly in the air from the controlled burn yesterday evening.
Eventually we saw a giraffe…closely followed by a few elephant….oh dear!!! I couldn’t help but remind John that I was now 5-1 up 🤣🤣. it was almost an hour later when we finally saw a Waterbuck 🤣
We saw some great sights on our trip up the road. There were a herd of zebra in the dried river bed. We witnessed them drinking out of some holes in the sand we automatically presumed the elephant had dug. Elephant often do this when water is either dirty or in short supply. However while watching the zebra we witnessed two different ones using their front hooves to dig out the holes further…it made us wonder if they had dug the holes from scratch or were just deepening elephant drinking holes. It was a practice we had not seen before. We sat some time watching these ingenious creatures meet their own needs and helping the youngsters get water.
Further along the road a car was pulled up at the side of the road and we focused where they were looking. There were some buffalo to the right but they weren’t looking there. So I asked the lady who told me there were some Eland….and sure enough in the thick bushes we made out 4 beautiful Eland. We haven’t seen these in Kruger for many many years. They are only inhabitants of the very northern part of the park.
The eland is often referred to as the cow of the wilderness. It is the world’s largest antelope. It has the endurance to maintain a trot indefinitely and can jump as high as 1.5 meters. It is known for its strength, stately presence, and spiral horns. The eland is surprisingly agile and graceful. It is a browser which utilises a wide variety of plant species. It can survive without water for periods of time by eating fruits and using their liquid to sustain it. Wow…were we delighted when we caught this fleeting glimpse.
Further up the road there was a large water tank and trough with zebra and elephants milling around. The very strong smell of decay alerted us to the remains of a dead elephant near by. It looked as if it was just the skin and some bones left.
On a mound of earth near it stood a “Jimmy”…….he had a wee and skirted around the carcass before disappearing into the scrub land. Jimmy Jackal – my nickname for a black backed Jackal is one of my favourite creatures…Cheeky, intuitive, sprightly and intelligent. I was ecstatic as we’ve only seen one other so far this trip.
As we continued we came across a small pocket of water with a lot of zebra, a few waterbuck and a couple of buffalo.
Not far from here, on the opposite side of the road, was a huge amount of White backed vultures in the air, on trees and then we saw even more on the ground . We realised it was a feeding frenzy. The ones on the ground were feasting on the remains of a buffalo. There was even a Maribou stork getting stuck in. We could see no signs of the lions who had presumably killed and had their fill of this beast.
Almost walking behind and round the kill was a huge herd of over 100 buffalo obviously going to the water.
We really were seeing a lot. Continuing on our journey we got to a waterhole….it was literally teaming with activity..zebra, impala, several wildebeest’s, a small herd of elephants and would you believe it a herd of 7 tsessebe. All were strolling in to the waterhole having a drink and wandering back away again. We sat along time watching this amazing sight….
We left the main road which continues up to the border post of Pafuri. We turned left towards the gate and camp of Punda Maria. The vegetation was quite dry and we went a fair way of the 20 kms without seeing anything. Then we had a km or two of successful sightings. A handsome bull nyala stood at the side of the road in the shade with 3 females, a young buck and another bull…they really are a handsome antelope…
The males with their yellow stockings and shaggy brown coat with white stripes and patches,…. The female so much smaller with its tan shaggy coat and barcode type white markings and white dots…such a beautiful couple.
We continued to see zebra, giraffe, impala and the odd elephant.
We turned right up to the camp…..oh dear this really hasn’t moved on in the past 35 years… The two rows of terraced tiny rooms standing adjacent to the communal washrooms with their shower, bath and toilet. The communal kitchen stands next to this. The reception, shop and restaurant all housed in the same building at the far end of the camp.
The only difference I could see over the decades is that it now has a petrol filling station. We browsed the shop, used the toilets and left…this is not a camp we would ever consider staying at…just that little too authentic of a bygone era.
We retraced our steps stopping regularly at sightings both new and already seen on the trip up. The waterhole was still a hive of activity. We ate our rolls watching the feeding frenzy on the buffalo carcass…the Maribou stork was gone but a lapped faced vulture had joined the table…this is a rare sighting these day.
We turned up to the water tank and trough where the dead elephants carcass was…we soon realised we had joined a wake or perhaps a memorial service or celebration of life. There was an eery silence from over 50 elephants, spread around the area, in family groups, a respectful distance from the deceased. We felt very privileged to witness this final farewell attended by so many of the wildernesses giants…..with such a huge gathering one may have expected a lot of noise but there was total silence…..we showed our respect by backing away and leaving them to mourn in peace.
Returning to camp we saw a number of the usual wildlife- elephants, zebra, waterbuck, impala, and just before we got to the camp gate we witnessed a male nyala walk across the dry sandy river bed to a tiny pocket of water.
Back at camp we rested until 17:15 then made the barbecue. There was no outside spotlight on the braii so we decided to do it in daylight. However it was gone 6.00 pm by the time the coals were ready to cook on.
We had 8 chicken skewers… we were having it with noddles and sweet and sour sauce. It would have been very nice if I hadn’t of over cooked the chicken…I was anxious to cook it all the way through and over did it….but the meal was still tasty…the cremated chicken effort took my barbecuing skills back down to 3/10 which even John didn’t disagree with.
He kindly washed up and we played cards while eating some chocolate for dessert….i know I shouldn’t but we’d had very little edible food throughout the day and a little tastebud delight was required…followed by an early night.
2 J's World of Adventure 