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Published: February 20th 2006
Hippo Carcus
We think it was seriously injured during a fight with another hippoHello.
Unfortunately no photos yet. I had the memroy cards burned onto dvd and cant find an internet cafe that has a dvd drive :-( Any way on to what I've been upto.
Leaving Joburg It was a 7am departure from the backpackers in Johanesburg and I had been up until 2 am packing! I wasn't feeling ready for anything, yet alone 3 hours of waiting at the airport.
Yet that is what I did. I wasn't contemplating what was laying in wait for me (Lions, Rhino, Hippo, Elephants, Waterbuck, Wildebeast etc) I wonder if I can fall asleep standing up?
I managed to get half an hour on the flight to Hoedspruit.
Arriving At The Course So there I was at Hoedspruit airport at 11am stood there. No pick up. No contact number. Didn't even remeber the name of the company that I was doing the course with. The airport was is in the middle of no where. You litterally have a runway, departures and arrivals are the same room (about 10m by 10m) and then you have a small overpriced shop and a small airline office.
So I
waited. And waited abit more. Most people had been picked up by various game lodges. I was still waiting. I noticed that there were a couple of others that were also waiting. I went over and introduced myself (I wouldn't want to be rude straight away) and asked if they were going on the same course (GVI had informed that there would be others on the same flight). They where, but they both gave different company names.
So there we stood there in the midday sun waiting for some thing to happen. Nothing happened. Nothing happened for abit longer. Then a minibus turned up. We were informed that this was our transfer.
It wasn't.
By now it was about 1 pm and I was about to loose my sense of humour over the issue.
Eventually a minibus did turn up and was directed towards us. We where joined by a couple of others on the same course but had arrived the night before. Loaded up the minibus and sat there waiting to go.
We didn't go anywhere. Apparently there were a couple of others on the last flight of the day and we had too
wait for them. More waiting. Grrrrrr.
Eventually every one did turn up and we managed to get under way. I was so excited I promptly fell asleep!
Any way we eventually made it to a lodge called Ingwe. 'this looks plush, I wouldn't mind spending the next 4 weeks here' It wasn't where we were spending the next 4 weeks. It was only the meeting point for the instructor. We clambered into the back of a game drive vehicle and after a breif drive down the road we entered the reserve...
Straight away we were thrown int the rough and tumble world of game drives th road was bumpy, there were branches with thorns haning over it at shoulder height. Then we saw Wilderness Camp the place that we would call home for the next 4 weeks. A place in which I would face death on numerous occasions and one where I found my self stripping of my top infront of every one, a place where dreams and nightmares come true...
Camp Life (No not that kind of camp) Camp life, on the surface of it was simple. Wake at 5 am, go out
I thought I'd try photographing flowers
Pretty isn't it? I think I was supposed to lean something about it at first light/5.30. Get back for about 9.30 at whch time we had breakfast followedby a lecture at 11 am or 1 pm. We had tea at about 4 pm followed by an other outing. Dinner at 8pm.
The First Week The first week we was preoccupied with bush walking and learning trees, what they represented in terms of ecology, and their various uses. We also covered orientation (how to find north/south and the way back to camp), a subject that would give much amusement over the coming weeks.
What did we see in terms of animals? Zebra, Giraff, Hippo Warburgs Eagles and White Backed Vultures.
On or first day we saw a some 'royal' (I've forgotten the exact term) termites flying awayfrom their termite mounds. The feeding frenzy the swollows had was an amazing sight.
We were out walking in the morning and Rob (the instructor) decided that we should go up onto a rock for our break. The only problem was that we were in Hipo territory and if we didnt move quickly then we would be charged by them. On top of that we actually had to jump onto a
Praying Mantis
I never realised that its called a praying mantis, because it looks like it is praying rock in the middle of the river with the real possibility of falling in!
Basically thats all I can remember of the first week. We did some walking had lectures and sat a test at the end of the week, for wich I did no work (reallistically was I ever going to do any aftr sitting the finals?)
Week 2 Week 2 saw us learing how to drive the land rover. Easy? Hell no!
Firstly your not allowed to use the hand break, and use of the break should be minimised. Control of speed (we were only ever allowed to go at 20 kph) was through the accelerator and as ALL the driving is off road low range, high range and diff lock had to be considered.
There was also the matter of navigation. I quickly developed the the reputation as some one who got us lost. Every time. And no matter how much I told them that did it on purpose to help improve their driving the others didnt beleive me!
In this second week we also saw one of the Hyena for the first time. Hyena are amazing. Just as accomplished as
hunters as Lions, very resourcefull and highly efficient as a clan.
We also went on a night drive to track down the lions. We fond them. I was half asleep. So were the lions. They breifly woke took a look at what was disturbing them and decided that we where not a temptng enough dinner or a big enough threat for them to bother doing anything other than continue sleeping. But they looked so cute lying there. I want to go and cuddle them.
The first presentation was also due. We were allowed to present on any subject we wanted so long as it wasnt the big 5 (Lion, Hippo, Rhino, Leapard and Elehant). With my 'I've really had enough of study' attitude I didnt choose a presentation topic until the day before it was due. I chose the hunting pratices of the Cheetah. I rehursed the presentation. It was about right in terms of length (about 5 mins) and threw in a few jokes.
No one laughed at the jokes. I stumbled off the edge of the lecture room. I also spoke quicker than in my rehursal so it ended up 3 minutes long and I
I had to throw in some other stuff.
We also went on a long game drive during the day into the north of the reserve tracking in an attempt to track down the white rhino. We found it casually lying in the bush, minding its own business. So we went and had a look.
In the same drive we also drove over a place called Croc dam. Why is it called croc damn? Because there are crocodiles in it. We drove to the edge of the damn where two crocodiles casually swam up to the edge and waited in the water a meter and a half infront of the tracker seat (this is the seat that the tracker sits in. Its right at the front of the vehicle on top of the bonnet. No-it doesnt have a seat belt). Mike was a bit scared, they can actually propell them selves out of the up to ten meters quicker than any mammal!
Then it was time for the first camp out. Isnt that what we're already doing I thought? No. A camp out is you, your sleeping bag, a ground sheet and your prayers that it isn't going
to rain. It was an experince. Especially night duty. I decided that I wanted to walk to the camp site. Because it was so late in the afternoon Darren (the other instructor) had tyo set quite a hard pace. I gat to the point of 'I have to keep going or I'm going to fall over. I loved every minute of that walk!
On one of the afternoon walks it was my turn to guide every one home. I was handed the rifle, performed the safety check and after determining the direction off we set...
My idea was to find the river camp was based around and too follow it up stream all the way home. Easy? Er..no.
I didn't know this at the time, but when guiding you should try to avoid the rivers edge as thats where most of the animals hang out. So what? I hear you say. I neglected to mention that that is where most of the Hippo hang out, and lets not forget the real possibility of crocodiles.
I ended up following a hippo trail! I also eded up falling into a hole tripping over virtually every twig that got
in my way aswell as having to climb out of the river bed along a mud trail on a couple of occasions. Well I came to Africa for adventure (i'm not sure f every one else had as much fun as I did though)
This week was also the first time that I encountered a near death experience! I was sitting around the camp fire one evening when I felt some thing land on my neck. I reached back nd pulled it of and as I went to throw it away I felt a sharp bite followed by a really painful tingling sensation in my finger. We had a look at the bite under a microscope and saw two pincer marks! I had been bitten by a neurotoxic (something that interferes with the nervous system and stops you from breathing) spider. Fortunately it was only a small one. The tingling was gone by the morning. (I'm not going to die a virgin-YIPEEEE!)
The Day Off At the end of week two we also had a day off. I decided that I was going to try to do some of the touristy stuff that we hadn't been able
to do as firstly I dont really want to spend any more money than I had to and secondly if I buy anything I had to carry it ack to England. So joining the others to go shopping was not an option.
Vanessa decided too come with me. And for part of the journey we were joined by Mouse (from the other group) and Barry (an Irish lawyer/musician). We drove to Krasskop where we had pancakes for breakfast. I got over excited and ordered 2 lime milkshakes (mmmmm lime milkshakes) and a slice of cheese cake all topped off with a tuna salad. I had difficulty getting out of the chair.
After some shopping (on Vanessa's part) we went to Gods Window. The view is supposed to be amazng. All I saw was mist.
Next up was Berlin Falls. Apparently the view from the edge was amazing as well. My fear of heights kicked in. I couldn't get closer that 5 meters. From what I did see it looked quite spectacular. We had a scary moment on the way there. It started to rain. I saw the turn we had to take and started to brake. I
started to break abit harder. I started to skid as the turn slid by me. It was only 20 meters to the end of the road! Fortunately I didn't try to make the left turn while skidding, so we came to a halt just past it did a U turn and drove on.
Next up was Moholoholo (yes I have spelt it correctly) where there's a wild animal rehabillitaion center that does daily shows.
Mouse was dropping Barry off in Nelspruit and said that she may join us. We gave her a call. She'd had an accident. Vanessa and I drove down to where she was. I have pictures of the scene. They dont do the accident credit. What had happened is this....
She was driving around a hairpin bend when the car lost traction and slid across the roadover a hilly grass verge, clipped a tree and came to a stop 1 meter from a 20m verticle drop. We have one very lucky mouse.
We waited for the police too show up, and one of the other instructors on the course. Mouse was sxent to hospital for a check up and when she returned I
drove her back to camp.
And that was the day off.
Not very spectacular, but a break from daily trudge f the bush. Was I refreshed? Hell no I had been reminded of life out side camp. I wanted it back.
The Last Two Weeks The next day we were told about our second presentation. It had to be a concept, and not about a single animal.
Also this week we had more driving. More hiking and our first camp out!
The driving was improving on every ones part, although there was this moment when I was in the tracker seat that I saw a thick branch coming my way and no evasive action by the driver. I contemplated jumping out of the seat onto the bonnet. The Land Rover got stuck instead.
We also went on a night drive to track down the Hyena Den. We found them! Pretty much the same as the lions. They were half asleep.
During this week I was also bitten by a cytotoxic Sac Spider. (Cyto toxic means that its a poison that causes the cells it infects to putrify and rot. Not nice) Not
once but twice. The initial sensation is one of a mild burning followed by a more intense burning, that lasts about a day. Fortunatelt I was bitten on the foot and as the spider is quite small it only left me with a couple of uncomfortable scabs.
Then came the second camp out. For some bizzar reason Rob had pointed out a couple f animal calss over the last couple of days. One was a frog, and the other was a bird. Both were indicating a change in the weather.
The evening of the camp out arrived and every one set out. I decided to stay behind, with three others, as my foot wasn't up to it. The four of us were sat around the camp fire at about 10 pm looking up at the clear night sky going over some astrnomy. The words "wouldn't it be funny if it rained?" came up and we all dismissed it. A clear night, no wind, mild. Absolutely no way.
At about 4 am I was woken by a clap of thunder in my tent. This was followed by a really heavy down pour, that didn't stop. The others arrived
Cheetah
I was stood 10 meters away from 2 cheetah brother and this was the best picture I could get of them... back 45 minutes later, absolutely soaking wet!
Next up were the final assesments. We had to do:
A presentation
A walking test
A driving test
A written test
The Presentation I didnt know what to give mine on until the day before it was actually due. I decided to give it on mamal behaviour: How its stimulated and why they form groups. It is a very interesting subject and a very vast one. I put about 3 hours work into it!
The presentation time came up and every one was given a slot accoring to where they went last time. As I was second last time I had to go second last this time. Not good (I'd rather get it out of the way)
So I started and I started rambling. My notes became confused and jumbled. I skipped to the benefits of group living.
Here's how it sort of went...
"So why to mamals live in groups? Let me show you. Could I have a volunteer?" Nick was sitting in my line of site so became the volunteer.
"Nick I want you to pretend your an Impala eating." Nick
The Safari Guide Group
From right too left: Me, Sherry, Mike, Adine, Miranda, Rob (the instructor), Nick, Vanessa, Lizzy (the cook) and Lou kindly obliged by putting his hand up to his head and pretended to eat.
"Now pretend I'm a big hairy predato..." At which point, for some unknown reason I took my top off and said "I'm a big hairy predator." Nick had this look on his face that was a cross between horror and laughter. We proceeded with the demonstration. The second volunteer was quick to stand a bit further away!
The Walking Evaluation This test I was never going to do well in. I didn't. I managed a mere 27%!<(MISSING)br>
The Driving Evaluation This I was looking forward too as I was good at the driving part. However...
First up was the vehicle check. Went about aswell as I could have hoped for
Then came the weapon check. Ifollowed proceedure and right at the end I pulled the trigger. The pin went 'click'! If there had been a round in the chamber I would have given my guests one hell of a brown trouser situation! Basically I forgot to do something during the safety check!
Then came the actual game drive. I didn't remeber most of what I had
learnt, so what does a Grizzly Bear do? Make it up of course. The instructors own words were "In three years of teaching this course I have never been bulls**tted to as much". Still I did as well as I could have hoped for.
The Written Test This was weird. I was actually sitting a test that I didn't really care about. For some reason It took me 4 and a half hours in the midday sun (it get to about mid 40's, celcius). I handed it in thinkling that I hadn't scored enough marks to pass the course (I needed 500 out of a thousand).
Later that afternoon Rob finally finished marking the test and came over to talk to me. The conversation went like this...
"Sehail, do you know how many marks you needed from the writtwen test to pass the course?"
"About 170. I dont think I got that in the written test though"
"You needed 125"
"What did I get?"
"125" Cue me laughing my head head off.
I had got exactly 500 out of 1000 to pass the course! One mark either way and
it wouldnt have been any where near as funny :-)
And Now That All The Test Are Over Once the evaluations were done we started to go on some game drives and even ended up nearly walking into a rhino!
We were charged by elephants, stopped in the middle of nowhere only to find two lions walking down the road we were driving down, saw lots more giraffe, zebra, impala, kudu, water buck.
One night I was lying in my bed about to drift off too sleep when I heard a snorting sound coming from out side my tent. It was a Hyena! It tried to break into one of the other tents!
Too be honest this entry is a bit helter skelter, it was almost 2 weeks ago that I finished and alot has happened since then. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to updateyou all soon.
And then? It was time to say good bye and on to Nelspruit for the next part of my travels...
Hope it hasn't been too boring. And sorry it took soo long.
Bye
Sehail
PS I'm currently in Windhoek, the capital of
Namibia,(20th Feb) and leave for Livingstone later today, on a 19 hour bus ride and have been to Durban and Cape Town in between. But those are other entries for another time.
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Big Dave
non-member comment
Isn't she a beaut ! ! !
Wow! ! What an adventure!!! I cannot beleive you have done all of this!!! I think the general abstract would be Nearly died, had a laugh, nearly died laughing, Nearly died dying and ummmmmm . . . Nearly died again!! It sounds absolutely amazing and an unforgetable experience, cannot wait to see the pictures and hear more!!! It;s just like a good book or excellent film!!! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT ! ! ! Take care mister! Love Big dave