Advertisement
Published: November 22nd 2010
Edit Blog Post
Sweni Trial campfire.
In the daytime, we could watch animals at the waterhole, in the evening we could enjoy the stars and sounds of the bush. 'Ask in Paris, Berlin, or New York what the number one trail in Kruger is, and they'll all tell you - Sweni. We are the best. We are the A-Team'. Lourens and Nthambelenin ('call me Ndou - it's easier') our rangers, introduced themselves to us thus around the campfire. 'You Europeans are lost. We are going to bring you back to nature'.
Explaining the morning routine, Lourens said 'there are no alarm clocks here - don't worry you'll be woken up - early'. Indeed, around 04.30 Ndou wisphered a soft good morning outside our A-frame hut, and I heard the sound of warm water being poured into the enamel basin on the porch. By flashlight I washed my face and tried to wake myself up. After a quick cup of tea (a huge kettle of water simmers on a pile of hot cinders continuously for tea at any time of the day) and a rusk we were ready for the off. Our first bush walk of the trail. Excited, and more than a little nervous I climbed into the jeep. We drove to a point in the bush to start the walk - 'I don't want you walking back to
the sight of the camp - this is all about experiencing the wilderness' - Lourens told us.
We walked through the bush for four hours. Flat scrubland, yellow grass rustling under our feet. Acres and acres of a vast emptiness, teaming with life, a fusion of serenity and intensity. To walk through the bush is to feel alive in every pore, every cell. All the senses are alert, tuned sharp, active. The sense of anticipation is almost overwhelming. In an environment where everything is faster, stronger, more ferocious it pays to have your wits about you. Like zebra walking to the waterhole, we walked single file, so as not to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. We walked wihtout speaking. We experience so little silence in the other world - too much distraction, too much to do, not enough time. Walking, birdsong, the buzz of insects, the fall of our feet in the dry powdery earth became our soundtrack. Sounds which encouraged me to connect with myself, and to place myself within the huge cosmos - so much life exists beyond our own small experience of it.
It was overcast. Grey, flat light. 'Good weather for walking - not
James and his food trolley.
The guinea fowl stew James cooked on our first night was the best meal I ate during my three weeks in Kruger! good for seeing animals' quipped Lourens. Game remained elusive, but on foot there's always time for the small stuff. The tips of hyacinth plants just peaking out of the ground, bright lime green against the orange brown dust. In the distance, perched high in the bare branches of a tree, a white backed vulture.Six inch long millipedes wriggling under our feet, most just plain shiny black, gleaming like they'd been buffed up by a shoe polisher - but one rare species sported zebra like stripes - 'good food for servals' - explained Ndou. Walking gives a sense of how it all fits together - of the connectedness of things.
In terms of animal sightings we saw nothing, but we experienced so much on this walk. Reminders of the harsh reality of the wilderness were never far away. We walked past the skeleton of a buffalo calf - it's jaw and vertebrae some distance away from the rib cage and skull - the remainder of a lion kill from the previous week. While walking there is a constant surge of adrenalin - the feeling that anything can happen at any moment. Huge animals like rhino and buffalo play peek-a-boo in
Our home for three nights...
Much more luxurious than I imagined. We returned from morning walks to find our beds made, hot water boiling and breakfast only a few minutes away.... the thorn thickets and long grass - now you see them, now you don't. To walk in the wilderness is to be a part of it, to feel it, to hear it, to smell it, to touch it; totally different to looking at it from the comfort of an air-conditioned car.
'At the end of this trail you will be different from other Kruger tourists' promised Lourens and Ndou. I have to say they were right.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.046s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0264s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb