The last week was pretty hectic with mock assessments and getting ready for the final exams. Added to this four of us have started walking as lead rifle approaching dangerous game in order to build up enough approaches (and confidence) to attempt our Viewing Potentially Dangerous Animals on foot assessment. This is part of the Trails Guide and means you are qualified (after the required level of approaches) to lead walks in dangerous game areas. Being at the front, responsible for others’ safety, really focuses the mind. There is nothing like approaching a breeding herd of elephants on f [View Full Entry]

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The Eastern Cape is renowned for weird weather and this week we got it all, a tropical start to the week followed by 4 days of hard rain and cold conditions more like being back in the UK. It was miserable all the animals were hunkered down out of the rain and the problem here is that the set up is not geared for rain. The tent leaks, the sides of our lodge leaked and let’s face it driving around in an open topped vehicle is no fun. Well unless you happen to be driving it in which case trying to [View Full Entry]

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No, we haven’t been gored, eaten or otherwise destroyed (although Alex and Chris tried the best last Friday night but more of that later). It’s just been sunny, busy and generally hectic. We had a great week with the breeding herd of elephants who charged us twice, once on Monday when we returned from canoeing to find them coming down to drink. Chris bumbled into the matriarch while heading for the little boys bush. Cue mayhem, trumpeting and very scared looking Chris leaping into the Land Rover. Friday night our braii was rudely interrupted by them trumpeting and running past agai [View Full Entry]

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Friday was possibly the best day yet, we were asked to assist with the darting and capture of Damara and her two cubs. The objective of the exercise was to dart damara and move her into the boma for surgery to replace the transmitter which stopped working a couple of weeks ago and is essential for the monitoring programme undertaken by the conservation centre. The aim was also to take the cubs as well, both adolescent. This would enable measurements and health checks to be done as well as keeping mum and cubs together. It was a precision operation with the [View Full Entry]

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Last week I faced down a charging lion; I shouldered my rifle shouted clear instructions to my guests to stand still, dropped to one knee and fired a brain shot, quickly followed by an insurance shot. Gladly the lion was just a picture on a sled pulled rapidly towards me from 30m away. It’s all part of our assessment for Trails Guide rifle handling, which is a requirement for being able to guide people on foot in dangerous animal areas. The rifle was a .375 H&H which could take down an elephant and definitely feels like it could when you fire [View Full Entry]

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Two weeks of waking at 5.30 and I’m still not used to it, at least the daily commute only involves walking to the shower, mind out for snakes and scorpions, and then down to the main lodge. The resident bushbuck and its baby like to wait in ambush on the path which can be a bit disconcerting if you brave the walk to the toilet in the middle of the night. Rio swears she has a zebra stalking her which leaves only its tracks outside her tent each morning. In addition life has got serious with a Monday exam each week, [View Full Entry]

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After rain, rain more rain, broken fuel pipes and water in the diesel it felt good to finally leaving Cape Town, not to mention the rain. Our last week in Cape Town was fairly unmentionable; we did get to use all the public transport from trains to buses to minibuses while the Land Rover was in getting fixed. The whales turned out to say good bye and last week on Saturday we left Cape Town, next stop Ulovane. We arrived at Ulovane Environmental Training in Amakala Game Reserve on Sunday morning after a short drive from Storms River Village. Ulovane means [View Full Entry]

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This week was marked by poor weather and its cold, so cold in fact that we can see snow on the mountains across the bay, how weird is that! So we spent most of the week preparing to leave the comfort of the Simon’s town flat, I won’t say its hard to leave but the rain and cold has delayed our departure until next Wednesday as Sandra doesn’t fancy leaving the warm comfy bed and hot showers. Ok, its me really… We did manage to get out and about a bit and caught the train into Cape Town from Kalk Bay, [View Full Entry]

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Firstly thanks to everyone who sends us messages, it’s great to keep a link with home and I particularly enjoy hearing about how bad the weather. This week we decided to test out the Land Rover on a longer run up to the West Coast National Park to see the wild flowers. I’ve included a picture which pretty much sums up a Defender 110 TD5, let just say we are learning to drive patiently. Basically the West Coast of South Africa is relatively dry and becomes more so as you move up to the desert proper in Namibia. However, high winter [View Full Entry]

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Today is the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere so I thought the best way to start off the blog this week was to quote from today’s paper, “Hail, downpours, crashing waves, snow, plummeting temperatures and gale-force winds have for two days battered the metropole causing widespread disruption from power outages to flooding” Cape Times September 1st 2008. ….well it is winter! That pretty much sums up our weekend; it’s cold and very wet. The storms here aren’t like the ones in the UK as in an hour on Saturday 50mm of rain fell - all roads were [View Full Entry]

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