I will be running a story behind the image segment on my blog coming soon... telling the story of the individuals that can not tell their stories themselves
Hope all is good... keep an eye on this space!
18 Aug 2015
7 Jun 2015
Not just another trip to kruger national park
Kruger National Park is one of the few places in the world that you can visit repeatedly and see something new every time you go. It doesn't matter how many times you visit, the magic of the place builds a deep excitement, especially packing and preparing the night before, Kruger eve.
Leaving camp at 4 am is always tough, especially knowing you are driving 4 hours on South African roads to get to your destination. We finally left, after waiting for the hire car to be returned, at 5:30 am. The race has started to get to Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center before 9:30, even from the start we realised we were fighting a loosing battle.
As we got closer to Moholoholo the road surface deteriorated, we were dodging pot holes at 120 kilometers an hour all over the road. Finally we arrived at the gate of Moholoholo at 10 am just as the talk was finishing, we didn't miss the tour! As we entered we were told that they had something special for us, and we stood behind a fence, appart from the lucky few who were allowed the other side, including Marjoleine. They announced that they were "running" their cheetah. one car had a pulley system that pulled some meat and then they released the cheetah from about 150 meters away. It was over in a second, if you blinked you would miss it. They then said they would run him one last time, at the word go my camera was up following the cheetah and I took one single photo.
After we went to see the lions, and the leopards. One of the leopards was climbing a tree to get meat, offering a few good photo opportunities. Looking back at the photos there was one single photo that stood out, one of the best photo's I have ever taken.
After leaving Moholoholo we headed to hoedspruit for a few essential supplies and headed in good spirits toward orpen gate. Driving along, listening to the Lion King and singing the songs split between 3 languages: English, Dutch and French.
Finally we made our final bets, on what will be the first Kruger animals we will see: we had Leopard from a very optimistic Oriane, Elephant from Aurore, Impala from Marjoleine and a zebra from me. Less than 500 m away from the gate an elephant was at the side of the road!
The evening was very chilled driving along the roads stopping for steenbok and elephant, one of the elephants fell asleep against a tree at the side of the road. We pulled into camp and settled into our safari tent that would soon turn into a freezer. Hearing Hyaena through the night was the highlight.
The next day was an early start to head for lower sabie. The first 3 hours to get to Satara was very quite, our first swap over of drivers and we were off again. Over a small rise in the flat landscape there were 10 cars stopped in the road. Excitement built up as we pulled up to our first pile up. After waiting for half an hour to get a decent spot, and a few minuets staring into the river bed, a cat, a leopard! Telling someone about the leopard they gave us a tip off that on a dirt road (S86) there had been a lion kill. Moving off, with almost a certain lion sighting coming up, the day was lucky and we had only just started.
We arrived at the kill, the lions were disappointing, a few cars around and they were being lazy as lions do for most of the day.
We had a clear view of the kill, an adult buffalo. Looking back to the road, all of the cars seemed to have disappeared. As if perfectly on que, one of the females stood up and made her way towards the carcass, she started feeding and dragged the Buffalo towards a male, who got up and joined her feeding. Magic.
We moved along towards our lunch break and swapped drivers after defending our kudu steak roll from sneaky vervet monkeys and baboons we headed out, unrealising that we were on the wrong road. We eventually reached the sabie river road, I knew that we were guaranteed to meet elephants on this road. With only 10km left to the camp and about 15 minutes to do it in we met our first crossing elephants. There was a break in the herd and we moved the car forward, only to be blocked by another car in front moving and then parking on our side of the road, we were blocked with elephants getting closer by the second, after a few pulse racing moments the car moved and we were on our way.
We reached Lower Sabie with no time to spare, I immideatly spotted our driver and went over to apologize for being late, it turned out that there was only us and two other people in the huge game drive truck. The driver introduced himself has lunga.
We headed out and stopped at a bridge over the sabie river to watch the sun go down, and see three hippo's that lunga named, Hippie, Poppy, and Thomas. The sun set and we were hopeful to see rhino, the last member of the big 5 for the day. Stopping for a couple of Genet's and buffalo on the far bank, it all went quiet for a while. Out of the darkness came 3 elephants.
We moved passed the elephants and in the beam of my spotlight I catch eye shine. "Stop! Hyaena!" I yell as we stopped I change my identification quickly "It isn't hyaena guys! It's a leopard!" The male leopard was lying in the bush, he then stood up and slowly walked back and then disappeared like a ghost into the bush.
Further down the road we come across two white rhino in the bush walking fast away from the car. We did it, the big 5 in one day. However the luck did not stop there. A hyaena was walking along the road next to the game drive vehicle, not long after, the driver suddenly picked up speed. We come across a Porcupine walking off into the bush, surprising us on how fast they can move.
Once again a quite spell and then in our spotlights, two more rhino, walking with their heads held high, I could not believe what I was seeing. The rarer, harder to spot species of rhino, a black rhino.
The game drive was coming to an end, as we headed back to camp. Eyes in the bush, the truck went silent, 3 lionesses lying in the bush. The big 5 in a 3 hour game drive. We left the lionesses only to find a single old male lion in the bush calling. We then rounded a corner and there was another 5 male lions lying in the road. What a way to end an amazing game drive and a stupidly good day, for once in my life as we pulled into camp, I was speechless.
The next morning we headed onto the golden loop below lower sabie with no luck, came back to camp to have a coffee with lunga the guide from the game drive. After we headed north back to tamboti. Heading up to a view point we came across a group of ostrich next to the road, having only seen them from a distance, this was a perfect sighting to watch these amazing birds.
Less than a kilometer from Tshokwane picnic site we stopped just before a bridge to try and find a bird that aurore spotted. Failing to do so, we moved onto the bridge and stopped to photograph some buffalo in the river bed. Just as we were pulling off to leave the bridge, Oriane's excited voice from the back of the car "There is a leopard!" Sure enough a leopard had just moved out from under the bridge we were on and sniffed a bush, turned and scent marked the bush slowly moving away from the car. He was about 100 meters away when eventually another car arrived on the scene, that was special. Pulling away from the sighting I was shaking like a leaf from excitement.
We signed in at open and it was a race to get back to camp before gates close, we made it, with not a second to spare as the clock ticked 5:30. After cooking and eating we headed to bed. Just before falling asleep there was rustling outside the tent, dismissing it as someone putting rubbish in the bin, I started to fall asleep. Ten minuets later the rustling was still there, I climbed out of bed and shined a torch through the window. "Marjoleine, you awake?" the reply was muffled by the number of blankets but clearly a yes. "There is a honey badger outside our tent".
We went outside the tent to see a honey badger that had just raided the bin, he was distractedly licking a packet. Turning on a sixpence he came towards us, both of us took a step back at exactly the same time and he then walked off around the side of our tent. Honey Badgers are the most tenacious and fearless carnivore in Africa.
After a relaxed start we moved out for our last day in the park, not long after passing Satara we came across a group of 6-7 white rhino in the bush. Not even 1km away from the rhino a single car was stopped, the driver wasn't paying much attention so I overtook him, Aurore spotted a hyaena walking along the roadside vegetation, he then moved into the road and trotted in front of us for 200 meters before moving back into the bush.
Leaving the park by Phalaborwa was strange for me, seeing as in exactly 7 days time I would be back in this town to make my way to C.A.R.E baboon sanctuary for the last leg of my African adventure. The trip to kruger was the most amazing for wildlife sightings, I know I will return someday, but for now the memories and photo's will stay with me forever.
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| Aurore holding a Lappet faced vulture |
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| The eyes of a king |
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| Cheetah running |
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| Leopard in the tree |
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| A purple breasted roller takes flight |
Finally we made our final bets, on what will be the first Kruger animals we will see: we had Leopard from a very optimistic Oriane, Elephant from Aurore, Impala from Marjoleine and a zebra from me. Less than 500 m away from the gate an elephant was at the side of the road!
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| A majestic elephant |
The evening was very chilled driving along the roads stopping for steenbok and elephant, one of the elephants fell asleep against a tree at the side of the road. We pulled into camp and settled into our safari tent that would soon turn into a freezer. Hearing Hyaena through the night was the highlight.
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| Leopard, Number 1 |
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| Lionesses near a kill |
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| A lioness standing over a buffalo carcass |
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| Lion Feeding on buffalo |
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| The Largest Owl in South Africa... The Veraux Eagle Owl |
We moved along towards our lunch break and swapped drivers after defending our kudu steak roll from sneaky vervet monkeys and baboons we headed out, unrealising that we were on the wrong road. We eventually reached the sabie river road, I knew that we were guaranteed to meet elephants on this road. With only 10km left to the camp and about 15 minutes to do it in we met our first crossing elephants. There was a break in the herd and we moved the car forward, only to be blocked by another car in front moving and then parking on our side of the road, we were blocked with elephants getting closer by the second, after a few pulse racing moments the car moved and we were on our way.
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| The smallest owl in South Africa, a Pearl Spotted Owlett |
We reached Lower Sabie with no time to spare, I immideatly spotted our driver and went over to apologize for being late, it turned out that there was only us and two other people in the huge game drive truck. The driver introduced himself has lunga.
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| The Sun setts over the Sabie River |
We headed out and stopped at a bridge over the sabie river to watch the sun go down, and see three hippo's that lunga named, Hippie, Poppy, and Thomas. The sun set and we were hopeful to see rhino, the last member of the big 5 for the day. Stopping for a couple of Genet's and buffalo on the far bank, it all went quiet for a while. Out of the darkness came 3 elephants.
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| Marjoleine looking over the bush |
We moved passed the elephants and in the beam of my spotlight I catch eye shine. "Stop! Hyaena!" I yell as we stopped I change my identification quickly "It isn't hyaena guys! It's a leopard!" The male leopard was lying in the bush, he then stood up and slowly walked back and then disappeared like a ghost into the bush.
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| Leopard at night, number 2 |
Further down the road we come across two white rhino in the bush walking fast away from the car. We did it, the big 5 in one day. However the luck did not stop there. A hyaena was walking along the road next to the game drive vehicle, not long after, the driver suddenly picked up speed. We come across a Porcupine walking off into the bush, surprising us on how fast they can move.
Once again a quite spell and then in our spotlights, two more rhino, walking with their heads held high, I could not believe what I was seeing. The rarer, harder to spot species of rhino, a black rhino.
The game drive was coming to an end, as we headed back to camp. Eyes in the bush, the truck went silent, 3 lionesses lying in the bush. The big 5 in a 3 hour game drive. We left the lionesses only to find a single old male lion in the bush calling. We then rounded a corner and there was another 5 male lions lying in the road. What a way to end an amazing game drive and a stupidly good day, for once in my life as we pulled into camp, I was speechless.
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| A Lion Roaring |
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| A female Ostrich |
Less than a kilometer from Tshokwane picnic site we stopped just before a bridge to try and find a bird that aurore spotted. Failing to do so, we moved onto the bridge and stopped to photograph some buffalo in the river bed. Just as we were pulling off to leave the bridge, Oriane's excited voice from the back of the car "There is a leopard!" Sure enough a leopard had just moved out from under the bridge we were on and sniffed a bush, turned and scent marked the bush slowly moving away from the car. He was about 100 meters away when eventually another car arrived on the scene, that was special. Pulling away from the sighting I was shaking like a leaf from excitement.
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| Leopard sits meters away from the car |
We signed in at open and it was a race to get back to camp before gates close, we made it, with not a second to spare as the clock ticked 5:30. After cooking and eating we headed to bed. Just before falling asleep there was rustling outside the tent, dismissing it as someone putting rubbish in the bin, I started to fall asleep. Ten minuets later the rustling was still there, I climbed out of bed and shined a torch through the window. "Marjoleine, you awake?" the reply was muffled by the number of blankets but clearly a yes. "There is a honey badger outside our tent".
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| Big male leopard mid stride |
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| Leopard smelling tree before spraying |
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| Goodbye Leopard |
After a relaxed start we moved out for our last day in the park, not long after passing Satara we came across a group of 6-7 white rhino in the bush. Not even 1km away from the rhino a single car was stopped, the driver wasn't paying much attention so I overtook him, Aurore spotted a hyaena walking along the roadside vegetation, he then moved into the road and trotted in front of us for 200 meters before moving back into the bush.
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| Spotted Hyaena |
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| Tawney Eagle feeding |
26 May 2015
Sharks, Seals and Sunsets
We are finally here, the last of the south African tour, how fitting for it to finish in Cape Town, and the Cape of Good Hope.
We touched down in Cape Town on a cool evening, Table Mountain had its table cloth cloud over its peak, with the African sun setting into the ocean. After a short drive from the airport through the center of Cape Town and over to the V+A waterfront we arrived at our hotel, Oxford House.
We were showed to our room and it was an amazing room. After settling in, we headed out to a local burger joint for dinner, the place was packed. There was an half an hour waiting list before we could get in, but boy was it worth it, gorgeous big burgers with avocado, feta and bacon. After with our appetite sated we headed home ready for a 9am start the next morning.
The day has come, butterflies making themselves known in our stomach. We are going to Gansbaai, to meet the apex predator of the ocean, the great white shark. The drive to Gansbaai took 3 hours, through the stunning wine regions. We arrived to be greeted by the crew at White Shark Project as well as the brisk cold Atlantic breeze. We had a talk about the threats facing great whites and what to expect during the afternoon, and were served lunch.
We kitted up with life jackets and rather fetching orange rain jackets and headed to the boat and then out to sea. It would take 15 minutes to head out to the dive site. There was a buzz of excitement on the boat and I was anticipating my first sighting of a great white.
About 5 minutes away from the dive site, off the starboard of the boat a fin broke the water, our first shark.
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| A fin breaks the surface |
As soon as we arrived at the dive site the crew started baiting the water with a mix of fish blood, oils and other fishy parts, known as chum, as well as throwing the bait and decoy into the water. We settled down waiting for the sharks to come to us while donning our wet suits.
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| Yum, Chum |
Minutes later a fin broke rose above the water moving fast towards the bait, its jaws breaking the surface as the bait handler pulled the bait away, just in time.
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| Divers in the cage |
The first divers climbed into the cage, more sharks appeared. One young cocky shark went for the bait and got a tail swiped by an older, wiser female. The young shark would not give up, he went for the bait a second time, the bait handler attempted to pull it away, not quick enough. The shark grabbed the bait and shook its head. Eventually he let go, all this happening within a meter of the divers in the cage.
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| Too Slow! |
A large 4.6 meter female shark appeared interested in the decoy, she came up to investigate it, passed once and turned to give it a nudge with her nose, a perfect example showing how the sharks are inquisitive and not cold blooded killers. In fact Great Whites can raise their body temperature higher than their surroundings allowing them to survive in the frigid Atlantic waters.
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| Pass number one |
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| "a perfect example showing how the sharks are inquisitive" |
One of the crew shouted, “Second group, you’re up!” now it was our turn to climb into the cage to view the sharks. Climbing in, the first thing that hit us was the extremely cold 12 degree water, thank god for the wet suit. Only seconds after entering the cage the bait handler yelled “Down!” we went underwater, the visibility was shockingly bad, only about a meter. Out of the murky waters a big shark came swimming effortlessly past the cage, less than 30cm from my face, eye to eye with one of the greatest predators on earth.
At the start we saw sharks every few seconds, biting the bait meters away from us, I could really appreciate not only the raw power but also the grace of these animals up close and personal. After the manic first few minutes it calmed down and we only saw a few other sightings in the next 30 minutes.
I had just climbed out of the cage, when one of the crew asked “Do any divers want to go back into the cage?” My hand shot up. Braving the icy water for the second time, I settled into the cage. Sightings were few and far between, until finally just after the crew told us 5 more minutes, “Divers! Eyes on the bait” came from the boat, excited chatter followed. Two fins, a big shark honed in on the bait, he went for it as it was being pulled away catching his tail on the side of the cage as he did so.
The waiting paid off, after a few more passes and he swam away and we climbed out of the cage. My lips were blue and I was unable to feel my hands, taking the wetsuit off was a struggle. Finally back in warm clothes we headed back to shore with heaters and warm tea, watching the video of our day, perfect. Driving back in the dark to our hotel, we ate toast and collapsed into our beds.
We woke to a stunning day and headed down to the waterfront to catch a ferry to Robben Island, named for the cape fur seal colony, infamous for its part in the dark apartheid years of South Africa’s history. The view from the ferry over Cape Town and Table Mountain was amazing.
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| Eye to eye with an apex predator |
At the start we saw sharks every few seconds, biting the bait meters away from us, I could really appreciate not only the raw power but also the grace of these animals up close and personal. After the manic first few minutes it calmed down and we only saw a few other sightings in the next 30 minutes.
I had just climbed out of the cage, when one of the crew asked “Do any divers want to go back into the cage?” My hand shot up. Braving the icy water for the second time, I settled into the cage. Sightings were few and far between, until finally just after the crew told us 5 more minutes, “Divers! Eyes on the bait” came from the boat, excited chatter followed. Two fins, a big shark honed in on the bait, he went for it as it was being pulled away catching his tail on the side of the cage as he did so.
The waiting paid off, after a few more passes and he swam away and we climbed out of the cage. My lips were blue and I was unable to feel my hands, taking the wetsuit off was a struggle. Finally back in warm clothes we headed back to shore with heaters and warm tea, watching the video of our day, perfect. Driving back in the dark to our hotel, we ate toast and collapsed into our beds.
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| A shark next to the cage |
We woke to a stunning day and headed down to the waterfront to catch a ferry to Robben Island, named for the cape fur seal colony, infamous for its part in the dark apartheid years of South Africa’s history. The view from the ferry over Cape Town and Table Mountain was amazing.
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| Cape Town from the sea |
We arrived and met our tour guide, an ex-political prisoner who took us around and told us stories of being incarcerated within the prison.
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| Back in time: South Africa's darkest hour |
We arrived at “B” block, where the leaders of the ANC (African National Congress) were kept, including prisoner 46664, Nelson Mandela. The cramped living quarters and horrific work environment in the lime quarry was a sobering reminder of the dark side of humanity.
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| Prisoner 46664, Nelson Mandela's jail cell |
Back for a quick lunch at our hotel and we readied to hike up Table Mountain, one of the 7 new natural wonders of the world, looming over Cape Town.
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| Dad and Table Mountain |
The sign at the bottom of Platteklip Gorge said it would take 3 hours to climb, I disagreed saying we can do it in 2. As we climbed higher the views over Cape Town got better and better. Powering up the mountain, with a few breaks to let dad catch up, him mumbling something about ice cream.
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| I think he needs a break |
We reached the summit in an hour and a half! The views from the top were the best I have ever seen. Looking out over the areas surrounding Cape Town with ice cream in hand, we nearly didn’t noticed the cheeky Dassie (Rock Hyrax) sneaking up on us.
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| Looking out over Cape Town |
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| Rock Hyrax |
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| Another African sunset |
That evening we headed out to Long Street, to a place called Mama Africa. We ordered a mixed game grill, it was huge when it arrived, containing: Crocodile, Ostrich, Springbok, Kudu and Warthog. The best had to be Springbok, with the warthog coming in close second. The Crocodile was extremely chewy and not too satisfying.
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| Looking along the top of table mountain |
The next day we headed to Simon's Town, this is where the first British settlers landed on the Cape of Good Hope, known then as the Cape of Storms. More recently it is known for boulders beach, a beach where a colony of African penguins call home. It was so surreal walking amongst the penguins with them not even looking at us.
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| An African penguin judges distance |
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| A Cape Fur Seal showing off its athletic ability |
As we headed home, I found out that it was world penguin day, what a perfect timing to see the African Penguin. We got ready to get an early flight the next morning back to Jo’burg to end our amazing trip.
I’d like to thank dad for coming with me and making this all possible, it was one of the best experiences of my life, and I’d like to thank my mum for letting dad come to South Africa for 2 weeks and for looking after Ben and Lucy while he was gone.
I am preparing for my third Kruger trip with a few of my friends from Lajuma, my next post will be about this.
On the 8th of June I am heading to Phalaborwa to work with orphaned baboons in C.A.R.E Primate Sanctuary, so look forward to more posts about the playful amazing baboons.
Thank you for following my exploits in South Africa!
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| Penguin Affection |
18 May 2015
St Lucia with Hippo's, Crocodiles and Cheetah
We left Kruger by Melane gate, ready for the 8 hour drive down to St Lucia, due to insurance reasons we had to drive around Swaziland.
The journey down took us through mountains and grassland, a landscape that would not be out of place in wales. Actually, driving through this it felt as if we had somehow traveled to the brecon beacons. I am sure the views from the top of the mountain would have been awesome, appart from the fog that then surrounded the car, unable to see 10 meters in front of us on a small road, most of the cars we met did not even have their lights on!
As we drew closer to st Lucia the landscape changed completely to forestry land, Rows and Rows of Eucalyptus trees. About an hour out of St Lucia we pulled off the main road at a big junction right onto a dirt track, that lead us to a crocodile and snake park where we had a guided talk about the snakes and crocodiles of southern Africa and held a Carpet Python (not very African I know!) The guide fed some of the Nile Crocodiles, the loud crunch of the jaws closing showing the power, always good to hear before kayaking with them tomorrow! We arrived at the B+B and had a nice cold beer with our host and settled in. Later that evening we went out for a nice steak after being warned about hippo's walking down the street. Coming back to the hotel with no electricity due to load shedding, we prepared ourselves with our kayaking safari.
Up nice and early with an amazing fried breakfast at the hotel before driving down to the launch site where we took the kayaks out to the water and had a safety briefing about what to do around the crocodiles and more importantly the hippos and the sharks. all in all don't fall in! Yes I am not out of my mind, the st Lucia estuary is home to one of the most dangerous species of shark and the only species to live in brackish waters, the bull shark also known here in Africa as the Zambezi Shark.
The first croc we saw was far away and then we got closer, and closer until we were 15 meters away from a croc that seemed to be sneaking up on a Egret (a bird) which eventually saw him and flew away. We didn't get as close to the hippos, we were close enough to here the eerie noise they make, sounding very much like an evil laugh! We were moving through a small chanel and another big croc was sitting on the bank about 5 meters away from us, amazing!
We headed back for a quick lunch and then went to book a night drive for the next night.
The next day was glorious sun, exactly what we needed for a trip through the reserve to the beach, the game drive on the way there was filled with huge kudu and bush buck as well as the cute red duiker. After sunbathing for a few hours both of us had burnt all over our backs, ouch! The drive back to the hotel we came across rhino again as well as watching a troop of baboons, the males were huge, almost twice the size as lajuma troop, I don't think they realised how heavy they were when one jumped on a branch much too small for his weight and with a loud crack down came monkey and branch.
That evening while waiting for the truck to take us on the game drive dad was about to walk out of the gated parking for the B+B when I said "dad! Stop now, walk back slowly!" he did so and meters away a hippo was walking casually down the road, rather surreal!
Our guide on the night drive was extremely knowledgeable about the area, and showed us ants that create webs as well as a dwarf chameleon that is endemic to this area. After stopping for a hot chocolate and rusk we headed towards the exit of the park when all of a sudden the guide turned of the engine and slowly rolled forward, whispering about something on the road, que everyone to jump up, eyes peering into the darkness. There were spots 10 meters off the road moving, a big male leopard moving silently along, you really can see why they are thought of a ghosts. The sighting was only for a few seconds until he moved off into the bush, what an unexpected and amazing sighting.
The next morning we headed to the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi park (pronounce shlushluwe) feeling pretty confident, on the way in we spotted rhino and elephants as well as the ever present impala, when a car pulled up next to us, "do you realise that by marker 27 there is a cheetah sitting on a bank next to the road" we said our thanks and headed to find the cheetah, and there she was, sitting in the shade of a marula tree what a clear viewing, she even yawned right in front of us.
Another car stopped to tell us something, fingers crossed we listened. "just 500 meters down the road there are a pack of Wild Dog, sitting in the bush" I just couldn't believe it, the two species we tried so hard to find were sitting 500 meters away from each other, off we went. We arrived at the location, desperately searching the bush without seeing anything, until a flick of the tail gave away a wild dog, extremely hard to see in the bush. after sitting with them for 10 mins we drove off as we knew they were staying there for a while. Half an hour later we were back with the wild dogs, as we sat there watching and eating lunch finally, one of the dogs got up and walked, we can count it as a proper sighting. I was ecstatic.
The African Wild dog is one of the most endangered carnivores in the world, they are also known as Painted Dogs or Painted Wolves. There are between 4,000 and 6,000 dogs left in the world with their population being decimated by human wildlife conflict and habitat destruction. They require large amounts of space, ranging over 900 square miles, they are the most accomplished carnivores, they have adapted to stop lions and hyenas stealing their kills by eating the animal alive during the chase and once dead they will consume the carcass within only a few minutes. They are so effective hunters that private land owners hate them on there land and therefore will shoot the animals on sight.
With huge smiles on our faces we headed up to camp seeing 7 more rhino on the way! Sitting outside the safari tent reading listening to the night sounds of the African bush, all of a sudden a torch came on from another tent and dad whispered "there is something out there" I grabbed for my torch and turned it on, a spotted Hyeana was prowling in front of us, it came right underneath the raised platform we were sitting on and then stalked off! What an experience, a hyeana just a few meters away from us. I woke up in the middle of the night to get a drink, id just got back when we heard my favorite sound, a lion roaring.
The next day we drove out of the park, more rhino, this is getting silly now, 15 rhino in a 24 hour period! The last animal we saw was a herd of giraffe. We drove down to Durban to get a flight from King Shaka airport for our last part of the trip. We arrived and was giving back the car when the attendant said we would have to pay for valet because there was the smallest amount of sand in the car, stupid!
Next week the last part of our trip, Cape Town!
The journey down took us through mountains and grassland, a landscape that would not be out of place in wales. Actually, driving through this it felt as if we had somehow traveled to the brecon beacons. I am sure the views from the top of the mountain would have been awesome, appart from the fog that then surrounded the car, unable to see 10 meters in front of us on a small road, most of the cars we met did not even have their lights on!
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| Really? Hippos at night?? |
As we drew closer to st Lucia the landscape changed completely to forestry land, Rows and Rows of Eucalyptus trees. About an hour out of St Lucia we pulled off the main road at a big junction right onto a dirt track, that lead us to a crocodile and snake park where we had a guided talk about the snakes and crocodiles of southern Africa and held a Carpet Python (not very African I know!) The guide fed some of the Nile Crocodiles, the loud crunch of the jaws closing showing the power, always good to hear before kayaking with them tomorrow! We arrived at the B+B and had a nice cold beer with our host and settled in. Later that evening we went out for a nice steak after being warned about hippo's walking down the street. Coming back to the hotel with no electricity due to load shedding, we prepared ourselves with our kayaking safari.
Up nice and early with an amazing fried breakfast at the hotel before driving down to the launch site where we took the kayaks out to the water and had a safety briefing about what to do around the crocodiles and more importantly the hippos and the sharks. all in all don't fall in! Yes I am not out of my mind, the st Lucia estuary is home to one of the most dangerous species of shark and the only species to live in brackish waters, the bull shark also known here in Africa as the Zambezi Shark.
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| <Kayaking in St Lucia |
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| The Nile Crocodile! |
The next day was glorious sun, exactly what we needed for a trip through the reserve to the beach, the game drive on the way there was filled with huge kudu and bush buck as well as the cute red duiker. After sunbathing for a few hours both of us had burnt all over our backs, ouch! The drive back to the hotel we came across rhino again as well as watching a troop of baboons, the males were huge, almost twice the size as lajuma troop, I don't think they realised how heavy they were when one jumped on a branch much too small for his weight and with a loud crack down came monkey and branch.
That evening while waiting for the truck to take us on the game drive dad was about to walk out of the gated parking for the B+B when I said "dad! Stop now, walk back slowly!" he did so and meters away a hippo was walking casually down the road, rather surreal!
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| Okay, Maybe there are hippos on the road at night |
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| The Ghost of the bush |
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| Cheetah Snarl |
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| Sleepy Cheetah |
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| The African Wild Dog |
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| Impala! |
The next day we drove out of the park, more rhino, this is getting silly now, 15 rhino in a 24 hour period! The last animal we saw was a herd of giraffe. We drove down to Durban to get a flight from King Shaka airport for our last part of the trip. We arrived and was giving back the car when the attendant said we would have to pay for valet because there was the smallest amount of sand in the car, stupid!
Next week the last part of our trip, Cape Town!
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