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Published: June 17th 2017
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01 Red Hartebeest
A Red Hartebeest in the middle of the track. Geo: -24.6463, 28.687
This morning we met Neil and Claudine at Stuart's house. They happened to be in Johannesburg for leave the same time as us. The four of us went to the supermarket and bought food for our short trip away. Just after midday we finally left Johannesburg for Nylsvely Nature Reserve. It was a nice drive north and it gave us the chance to catch up.
Paul and I were here about 18 months ago and really enjoyed our stay. This nature reserve consists mainly of a floodplain, but it is not flooded very often. This reserve attracts a large variety of birds, especially water birds and is a bird lover's paradise with over 380 varieties! There are also mammals here, but nothing dangerous. Due to this there were many walking paths in the reserve.
At about mid afternoon we arrived. The reception desk then told us the sad news – two of the hides had been burnt down a few months ago. They had still not been rebuilt. This would seriously affect our bird viewing. There were no options for our short trip at this time of the day, so we checked in and received our bird list. We
02 Windmill
The scenery of the nature reserve. quickly set up our tents and had a little snack. The camp site is very small, there are only six camp sites. A male ablution block and a female ablution block, each one with 1 toilet and 1 shower. I am glad that this time we are here in summer, as there is no hot water. These days, being the middle of summer, a cold shower will be perfect!
We were feeling pretty lazy and decided to go for a game drive. At the beginning we saw just a red hartebeest. The birding did make up for the lack of animals. Paul, Neil and Claudine were much more into birding than I am. Once again, it was just nice to be away, relaxing with friends.
We parked at the car park of the Jacana Hide, which was at the edge of the floodplain. The road did continue beyond the car park, but only for official vehicles, for us it was one of the many walking tracks.
Claudine led the way to the hide, I was behind her and the guys at the back. She and I then screamed. A snake slithered across the path in front of us. I was
03 Floodplain
Some of the water. not happy to see the snake. I understand that we are in the wild and it is summer, so I shouldn't be surprised.
We walked along the metal walkway to the hide. The hide was totally burnt down; just three charred wooden poles remained. Such a sad sight. We stood where the hide should have been. There wasn't much to see, as we were surrounded by long reeds. We remember this hide from our last visit, it was such a great view from up in the hide. I stood on my toes and could see an African Jacana at the water's edge - so appropriate, as this was the Jacana Hide.
It was a very short visit to this hide. We walked back towards the car and then along the walking path that leads into the Wilderness Area. We only walked along here for about 5 minutes. In the reeds there were many weaver nests and varieties of weavers flying about. Paul and Neil wanted to walk off the path in the long grass to see what birds they could find. After seeing the snake earlier on, there was no way that I was going to walk in long grass.
04 Flying Away
A large flock of birds flying away as we approached. Claudine and I decided to wait for them on the path.
They came back after about ten minutes and had not seen much. We walked back in the direction we came from. At the car we decided to go for a walk along the Nyl Trail. We spent about half an hour on this trail. The only animals we saw were a few warthogs.
We got back to camp at around half past 6. The temperature had cooled down and I put some warmer clothes on. There were two other sites occupied this evening, one by an elderly couple and one by a man who was here on his own. The fire was started and we enjoyed a masterpiece of a meal, along with a few drinks under the stars.
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