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Published: April 10th 2009
dawn at the waterhole
after our sleepover in the waterhole hide I had intended to publish my first blog from the Kruger after three or four weeks, but so much has happened that I am writing this on Friday, just six days after I arrived. Each day inCampfire Safari Lodge is different and fantastically rewarding. Some of the encounters with wild animals are over too quickly to photograph, but as you will see from the pix that still leaves plenty of opportunities to snap away to my heart’s content.
The first pic is of the green vervet monkey. The camp is full of these little rascals, who will steal the sandwich from your hand if you don’t give them the evil eye in time. They are cute but entirely without conscience.
The snap of the Impalas comes from the Monday bush walk. These are the most common mammals in the park, and you see their tracks everywhere. They are very shy animals, that won’t stand still for their pictures and what you usually get is a picture of their rear ends as they run away.
On Wednesday we went for a drive and came across alioness and her four cubs at a fresh warthog kill. She didn’t seem
golden orb spider
these impressive creatures are all over the bush to mind us being about ten feet away in what is called the “backie”, i.e. a four wheel drive open truck with four rows of benches in the open air, but it made the pulse race to see the size and power of this supreme hunter. I hope you like the arty crafty shot of the mum and her cub feasting together. The other lion snap is one of the cubs that came out of the bushes where the kill was to watch us reverse away.
On Thursday night we went for a sleep out in the open hide over the water hole. It was quite difficult to sleep at first with just a layer of plastic sheeting, torn in places where the elephants had put their tusks through so they could investigate the inside with their trunks, and the great outdoors. Every half hour or so, the roar of the lions, or the snapping of a branch or twig would wake me up, but it didn’t take long to get back to a very light sleep, until the next roar. The snap was taken at five o’clock, just before the sun came over the horizon, about two hours before
the backie came to rescue us.
This afternoon we came out for our walk and after about half an hour we came across the two white rhinos in the bush. The pic is of one of the rhinos just as it spots us. It thought about things for a minute or two, before ambling away from us. Letitia, who owns campfire, along with her sister Adele, was guiding us and asked if we wanted to walk in a big circle and get to the waterhole hide, before the rhinos. Our decision was a unanimous and enthusiastic yes. The atmosphere in the hide was electric as we waited to see if they were coming our way, but after about five minutes, they made their cautious entrance. Everyone in the hide held their breath as the two giants decided that the water hole was safe enough to drink from. As twelve cameras started to click, they were aware of us but decided that these strange noises were harmless and drank their fill for ten minutes before disappearing quietly back into the bush. This was a truly marvelous , magical time, the memory of which will stay with me for ever.
The people here are all from northern Europe except for one chap who is actually from South Africa, who is doing the game ranger course. There are youngsters from Finland, Sweden, Holland and one girl from Manchester. They all, of course speak wonderful English, which makes me feel ashamed that we English are so lazy and can only manage one language.
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mag & john
non-member comment
fantastic photos, really envy you. love margaret and john xx