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Published: October 4th 2008
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Dry Land
This should be a HUGE lake. like may others this has dried up due to lack of rain. Bush Telegraph day 4
I think the word I have been trying to find to describe this feeling of awe and wonder is RESPECT.
When you are faced with an Elephant so huge that if I was to stand I would only reach its knee, or you come within 4 feet of a leopard knowing full well that if you went only another centimetre closer, it would finish you off in a matter of seconds, you start to realise……who really does run this planet????
If you were to ask me that right now I would tell you it was in no uncertain terms THE MONKEYS!!! Yesterday not an hour after I had written my blog, the SAME monkey stole my muffin!!!!! I even managed to get a picture of the little bugger hanging onto it for dear life……i will add them to this blog entry.
So on last night's game drive we tracked another leopard, and my fave moment yet, we met the Elephants! Now, we have all seen Elephants in the zoo, throwing water around and generally looking very un-threatening. These big buggers were a little different. The first thing that hit me was their height.
Night tracking
Leopard under our night light Standing, I would reach their knee, so when you look at the pictures remember the trees behind them are also very tall, so imagine the size of these babies! Also, they can run up to 40 mph, so although we parked up about 15 feet away, my heart raced everytime it looked like they may take a step towards us! They were hanging around in the bush entertaining themselves by pushing trees over. No reason for it other than for fun. starting to get an idea of their size now?
Now i am a thrill seaker at the best of times but that challenged me somewhat! As you know they havent had rain here since February, so its very hot and dry however yesterday there was a strong wind and everyone hoped for rain. The rain is yet to appear however, and when the sun set last night it became immediately freezing. i timed the sun at 3 minutes to go from touching the landscape to disappearing all together, thats 3 minutes to go from hot to cold.....amazing!
Another 4 people joined our lodge last night, a businessmen from England who now lives in France, his pal from Johannesburg
Leopard
we tarcked her for a while and got so close...she is just so beautiful names Wolf, and a mother and son also from England. The mother is about 75 and look quite frail, and it turns out, she has been coming here for 8 years and has a passion for wildlife photography. NEVER judge a book by its cover!
Last night we were served srpingbock for starters. Most people couldnt face it but i LOVED it! it tasted just like parma ham..mmmmm :0)
Last night i hardley slep at all. i dont know why, but it got to 3am and i heard a number of strange noises out in the bush. Now you are not supposed to step outside your room at night as your deck goes straight out into the bush, but i did poke my head out the door and try and figure out what was happening. i think it was some hyenas feasting on a kill of some sort, the noise was terrible.
Today was an eye opener in a very different way. We visited the local villages. The people were truely wonderful, so friendly and so happy to have us there. These people have little to show in means of possesions but boy do they have ife in their
Dudes
cant remember tha name of these but we saw them running accross the landing strip for Kruger souls! You can see from some of the pictures the children s faces, they are so confident and full of enegry. We drove through the village and gave out sweets, colouring pens and other gifts for the children. We felt like Father Christmas and his elves and not at all in a condisending or charitable way. We learned how the hiarachy of the village works, how they nominate a council and how each village is run by the big Chief. The Chiefs job is to keep the village in good order, away from trouble and to ensure all live happily together. if a dispute occurs both parties have to spend time with the Chief to talk things through with the aim of resloving the issue before it has to go to the police. 90% of the time this works. It makes you wonder Who should be learning from who.
As we drove back we encountered an interesting situation. At the gates to the reserve were press, helicopters anf huge lorries. Apparently they were transporting Elephants (reason unknown) and we got to watch them being tranqualised and loaded into the big vans. Amazing.
This afternoon down at the Waterhole (sounds like
a song!) we had Elephants, Zebra and a Buffalo. we sat on the deck after lunch and watched the circle of life operate to its fullest right in front of our eyes. Imagine the Lion King.......you are about there!
Its been very very hot again today and that called for a dip in the plunge pool......a welcome relief from the African sun.
tonight we have our evening drive, then tomorrow i have one last morning drive before shipping out of here to Cape Town. i may not get to write tomorrow but i will load all the pics up from Dans in Cape town.
There are two things int he front of my mid as i write to you all now. 1 - i think i have found one my oasis. 2 - i know i want to spend more time in Africa and will look at taking a month in West Africa teaching the Villge children. i hope you enjoy the pictures, there ar emany many more so i have uploaded only a selection. i am off to have tea and cakes and lay a muffin trap for that Damn Monkey!!!!!
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Bong & Sims
non-member comment
wow!
Hi babe, looks like you are having a fantastic time. The Photos are great. Seems like it was well worth getting that camera - reading your blogs and enjoying every minute. Wish we were there. Looking forward to your next chapter. Lots of love, Bong and Sims xxx