Disappearing Act

Yes, I know I have abandoned my blog for a few months and I am currently back in the UK! But, I haven't finished the story of my Great African Adventure, so without further delay, here is the rest of the tale....




Last Saturday Night in Camp


So after a lovely yet busy day spent at the Ghost Mountain Inn near Thanda it was back to Intibane for our last Saturday night in camp. Since the majority of us were leaving the next day there was a bittersweet feeling around, some quite happy to move on, others sad that our time in Thanda was nearly over. Most of the photography & community girls opted for a night of luxury and decided to stay over at GMI, while all the research team and staff headed back to Intibane for a night at the Baobab, the local pub. We left GMI around 5pm  and while everyone else was dashing about trying to get a quick shower and complete our assessment forms (to review our time at Thanda) I was quietly smug that I had already managed to cadge a shower at GMI and could just relax once I'd completed my review form.


We headed off in the Quantam to the pub where we had a lovely dinner (calamari again for me!) followed by some very strong shots and an introduction to the game of 'crud' by Tom. We weren't convinced at first but it ended up being great fun! All you need for a game of crud is a pool table and some willing participants and away you go. This is how is works - write a list of everyone's names, this indicates who goes when. You have the white ball and one coloured ball on the table and the aim of the game is to use the white ball to hit the coloured ball (not into the pockets though, that's a strike! 3 strikes and you're out!) and then the next person has to get the white ball and hit the coloured ball again before it stops moving! You can only do this from the top ends of the table and there are various other rules that I have since forgotten. Needless to say everyone was very excitable and got very competitive (Amanda, need I say more?!) and after a couples of rounds we decided we were worn out and it was time to head back to Intibane. 
It was about 11pm by now and the bar was closing and since we had already finished all the drinks at Thanda we bought a couple of six-packs to take back so we could carry on the party. I think at this point we had either forgotten or just didn't care that we were leaving at 7am the next morning for the 3 hour drive to Durbs!!

Last night at the pub with Sarah, Kari, Tom & Ciska

The AI staff went off to bed once we got back but the research team decided we were going to have a lekker party with the help of the few remaining beer's and Kari's ipod! I think I straggled off around 2.30am since I still had to pack my case (!) which I made a half-hearted attempt at and then fell into bed around 3am. The alarm went of at 5.30am so I could drag myself out of bed and carry on packing, what a chore that was! Don't quite know how I ended up leaving with more bags than I arrived with, but that is often the way with me!! Made my way over for a bit of breakfast and to see how everyone else had fared. Worse than me it turns out as some of them didn't go to bed until 4.30am!

Last night party on the balcony at Intibane with UK Sarah, Maren, me, Ciska, Kari & Tom

Once the vehicles were loaded up we set off for the drive to Durban airport, stopping along the way to drop UK Sarah off at a service station (she was going to join the St Lucia Medical Project for a month). It was all quite sad once we got to the airport, I was one of the first to leave as my flight was quite soon, so it was hugs & kisses all round and promises to keep in touch, before I headed off for my flight. Once I was through security it was really strange to be on my own after being surrounded by others for so long! But I was really glad that my flight was to Cape Town to continue the adventure, rather than to Jo'berg and the flight back to the UK!! 


My time at Thanda has been 2 of the best weeks of my life and I am so glad I decided to 'make lemonade' and go for it! Lets hope Cape Town will be as much fun!!

Ghost Mountain Inn




Not as scary as it sounds!! Weekends at camp are time off for everyone and on our last Saturday we decided on a trip to Ghost Mountain Inn for some quality internet time!! GMI is a lovely fancy hotel about an hours drive from Thanda, near Lake Jozini (the south end of the lake we camped at when we went to Pongola, we camped at the North end). Some of us decided on one last boat cruise to start the day, and what a great trip it was! We saw the herd of ellies at the waters edge, lots of swimming & splashing about, and some very very cute babies!!

After the cruise it was back to the hotel for a bit of luxury in the form of a spa treatment, lunch and unlimited wifi!! And making the most of the facilities by sneaking in a quick shower in the spa, as I wasn't convinced my cabin would have any water by the time we got back to camp (I was right as it turned out!)
All week I had been thinking that I wasn't quite ready for my Great African Adventure to come to an end just yet, and after considering staying on at Thanda for 2 more weeks, but eventually deciding against that, I made the decision to go to Cape Town for a week or 2 before returning to the UK!! So I made best use of the wifi and changed my ticket for the following day so that I would be flying to CT instead of Jo'berg, with no great future plans after that!! I'd gotten in touch with an old CT friend to say I might be popping in to CT the next week if he was around for a drink and he very kindly (if not wisely) offered me the use of his spare room, since I had no actual plans of any kind!! woohoo, the adventure continues!! And I was sure it was the right decision, as about 20 minutes after I changed my internal flight, one of the other vols said had I heard about the Air France strike? Turns out that AF were planning a strike from the next Monday for 5 days, and that was the day I should be on my plane back to England! Seems like a trip to CT was meant to be!

Last Friday in camp




So after leaving the kids we had the luxury of going to the local pub for some lunch. This wasn't normal procedure but we were going to a local craft market in nearby Hluhluwe in the afternoon so it was quicker than going back to camp for some lunch. I was admiring my tan in the bathroom in the pub when I rolled my sock down a bit further and realised most of it was actually just muck. Hope the showers are working back in camp!!


We went off the the local market, which wasn't actually a market at all (though we did drive through a real market to get there!). It was really just a fancy curio shop, but they did have some nice stuff and it was made my the local people, so we all bought a few gifts for people back home. 


Back to camp for our last afternoon drive :(  but it was going to be a sundowner drive so that is always a good thing! Off we went in high spirits, beers hidden in backpacks, hoping they wouldn't get shook up too much on the drive. We spent about 15 minutes cheering on a dung beetle in his efforts to roll his dung house complete with wife sat in top, up a hill, and he finally made it despite several falls back down to the start! Dung beetles have the right of way in the reserves in Africa, so you have to stop if you see one in the road and wait for them to cross!


We then went on to look at the Thanda tented camp that was being rebuilt, really luxurious all with their own patios with jacuzzi's and days beds and fantastic views.

Maren and I were both admiring our tans in the back row of the vehicle, until I rubbed at mine and realised it was just more muck, we were both filthy from our mornings gardening at the creche and then the game drive, but after 2 weeks, we were quite used to this now and now even too bothered about getting a shower! Must be turning into a real bush girl!!


Then it was back to camp for the Friday night braai (bbq) in the boma. 

Boma

Good time had by all, lots of drinking and dancing to strange 80s Norwegion pop music, thanks to Kari's ipod!

The researchers and Anton

Martijn, Tasch, Cyndi, Me, Amanda & Kari. Can't remeber why Cyndi & I are hiding behind her scarf!

Sarah, Kari & Maren

A Zulu legend is born...




So, I haven't explained Mbob yet. When we were camping in Pongola, with the lovely John and Leticia, we were sat around camp listening to one of John's stories when he turned to Tom and said 'So, Bob, what line of work are you in?' (or some such question). Tom being the polite young man he is, said 'well, its Tom actually....', but after John stuck with Bob, there seemed little point in correcting him each time, so Tom became Bob. We all sniggered like little children from the back of Blue every time John said 'So, Bob..', and Tom soon got used to answering to calls of Bob from all of us. 


When we returned back to Thanda on Thursday and were out on our afternoon drive we were talking about the new male lion who would be arriving in Thanda shortly and wondering what name he would be given. Most of the animals are given a Zulu name, like Mpatha or Majimbos, and a lot of foreigners, like Tom, struggled with knowing how to pronounce the M, especially in names like Mpatha. 
Tom said we should give the new lion a good solid name like Bob, and then someone else piped up that we should make it a Zulu name and call him Mbob instead! And so that is how Tom became Mbob. Well, we found it funny, even if no one else did, guess you had to be there :)

The Kids are too cute!

Visit to the local creche 




Its our last proper days work at Thanda as we leave on Sunday and Saturday is a day off. Tom, Maren and I decide to spend some time with the community project and visit the local creche, Mama Grace. We head off at 8am (what a lie in!) driving through the bush for 45 mins to get there. The school is just one small room with a tin roof and no toilet or running water. Well, there is a toilet, but it was just a tin shack in the garden that hadn't been positioned properly over the hole, and so the kids just used the patch of grass outside the classroom instead!
When one of the community volunteers first arrived and asked why they didn't have a proper toilet at the school, she was told that the kids don't have one at home, so why would they have one at school? which makes sense, even if it is hard to comprehend!

The Mama Grace creche

The kids started the day learning the alphabet, with Clara, one of the volunteers leading the way. This involved lots of shouts of 'A is for apple' and pretending to chomp an apple to make it clear what an apple was! The kids range from 2-6 years and were all Zulu kids who don't speak English. The vols rely on the community liaison man, Sibu, who is from the local community and works at Thanda as a go-between, translating for the kids and the vols. 
After alphabet it was time for a snack. Most of the kids turn up for school with no food as their parents don't have any to give them, so Thanda have managed to arrange for some basic meals to be provided. The government should be doing that anyway, but TIA as we say - This Is Africa. You soon learn that very few things actually happen the way they are supposed to and there is usually a huge amount of red tape to get through too.


So we fed the kids some kind of weird porridgey/maizey kind of meal, doling out the little coloured plastic bowls to them. Some kids took it hungrily, some were more interested in pulling off their shoes or smacking the kid next to them, so the food didn't always go where it was supposed to!


It was then toilet and hand-washing time! So the kids all have to form a line, one for girls and one for boys, though that didn't always go to plan either, and then they were led outside to take care of business. There were a few kids straggling at the back of the class so I went over to collect them and get them to go outside and as I bent down to try and communicate to them what they needed to do, they all just grinned at me and flung themselves at me for a hug! Well, that was the first time I nearly cried, and not to be the last! They were just so damn cute!!


After 'business' was taken care of they all lined up again to wash their hands in one big bucket of soapy water that they all share. I had the job of handing out old bits of towel for them to dry their hands on, but again, this was a bit lost on them as some just stared at me, a few got the idea and dried their hands until I had to take the towels away, and a few just chewed on them! 

Lining up for handwashing

Handwashing

Tom in charge of hand drying while US Sarah looks on

The kids went back inside for more lessons and Tom, Maren & I had a tour of the facilities. They have a chicken project onsite so that they can sell the eggs to raise money, rather than just breeding the chickens and selling them for meat as they were before, as they had to wait for the chickens to reach a certain size before they could sell them, whereas there will be a constant supply of eggs so that they can keep making money. We had a look at the patch of grass that the community vols had been digging up to turn into a veggie plot, they had already done half the area and there was already some corn and cabbages planted. 

Some local goats

The school 'toilet'

The bit of land being cultivated

We then went back to the classroom where the kids were learning the months of the year. This was one of the things we had wanted to see as US Sarah who had been on the community project for a month, often regaled us with stories of how whenever they were teaching months of the year, for some reason the kids could only recite them while swinging one arm wildly in the air! And if they didn't, the kids just looked at them blankly. So we were looking forward to seeing Sarah standing in front singing 'January, February etc' while swinging her arms about like a mad woman!

Doing the months of the year. As you can see, not everyone was paying attention!

We then moved on to face painting, which was great fun. The kids are so polite and quiet and serious looking, they all formed little lines in front of each of us, watching intently to see what we were doing to the kid in front. Since we didn't have any mirrors, we took photos of the kids to show them what they looked like. You will see that the kids never smile in a posed photo, no idea why, they are normally smiley kids but put a camera in front of them and the smile goes away, until they see their photo that is!

2 of my attempts

My favourite kid

Colouring-in session

Tom doing some face painting

This little girl made me nearly cry for the 2nd time. She was fascinated by the camera and the pictures of her, and at one point pointed to the picture of her and then at her chest and said something to me in Zulu. Sibu was there and told me that she said that the picture would live in her heart forever! 

Sarah has to be painted too

Sarah, Sibu and the kids

After face painting it was time for some conservation work on the veggie plot. We turned the soil in the other half of the field, ready for planting to begin. We only worked for about 30 mins but it was nearing midday and very hot and dusty so we were soon all filthy.Nothing new there then.


It was then time to leave and all the kids were leaving too. Even though they are so young, they all walk themselves to school, and it won't just be from 5 mins around the corner! As they saw us all getting back into the vehicle, they all shouted 'byeeee' and waved madly, which made us all want to cry again!
Just too damn cute!!

Last day in Pongola

Off for our last morning drive in Pongola, a few sore heads along for the ride. Tom & I still hadn't seen a black rhino, the only 2 of the researchers so far not to have been lucky enough to spot one. They are much shyer and more nervous that the white rhino and so much harder to find.

Unfortunately I chose the wrong vehicle to go out in this morning, as Tom in Blue was lucky enough to see a black rhino, so that just leaves me yet to see one! Oh well, can't be too miffed about it as we did see 2 baby white rhino that were so gorgeous!

Then it was a quick stop at the main house to dump all our photos for John & Letitia to use for ID kits and then heading back home to Thanda.

Home sweet home

Had a great time in Pongola but really happy to be back at Thanda, knowing we only have a few more days left here as we leave on Sunday. I am now wishing I had booked for 4 weeks rather than 2!

Off for our 2nd last drive at 4pm, we didn't see much but it was a lot of fun. I think Anton really enjoys taking us 'off-roading' aka demolishing any kind of vegetation that stands in our way as we plow through the bush, and this drive in particular was very 'off-road', we had to get out at one point as Anton attempted to drive up a near vertical ditch! At least we didn't have to push!

 And even though it was still early, it was one of the worst spider sweeps yet! Sat on the back row with Bruce and Maren, there was always one of us that had to duck and dive to avoid a faceful of Golden Orb. We then played rollercoaster over some strange speedbumps that had appeared on one bit of road, all hands in the air as Anton flew over the bumps (and very nearly went flying out the vehicle myself!) 

The only real sighting we had was of Majimbos one of the bull ellies. He was quietly feeding in the bushes next to us, and then at one point, ever so slowly, he crossed the road right in front of us, giving us the eye the whole time, but not unhappy to see us. For some reason it seemed quite special, as if he was saying goodbye to us, though I'm sure thats just my human sentimentality that imagined that!  




I don't think I've explained that I'm writing this about 4 weeks after these events actually happened! The days events I described above were Thursday 2nd Feb, and it is now Sunday 4th March, so apologies but at the moment I am using a hotel computer and can't use my usb stick to attach any photos, I will have to do that another time!! 

Camping in Pongola


So today 4 of us researchers (Tom, Kari, Maren & I) and Amanda, one of the co-ordinators, are heading off to Pongola Nature Reserve for 2 nights to help out. Its about 1.5 hours north from Thanda and they specialise in rhino conservation. John is the main man there and he was one of the founding members of Operation Rhino back in the '60s and Letitia is his right-hand woman, formerly a guide at Thanda. 


We set off at 6.30am and made the all-important stop at the in-between town of Mkuze for tennis biscuits and beer. Made it in good time despite a good half hour in Mkuze looking for beer  and arrived at around 8am. We were camping right by Lake Jozini for 2 nights. Now, I am not really a camper, but this was ok, it had actual beds and electricity in the tents including a fan, and a good selection of ablution blocks. Normal I would not be excited by the prospect of an ablution block, but I was told that they actually had water for their showers, and I would rather have an ablution block with running water than my own private shower with none!

Inside the tent

Our campsite, Lake Jozini in the distance

After settling into our campsite it was off for some conservation work! This time it was chopping up some acacia trees to use the incredibly thorny branches to form a roadblock to stop visitors to the reserve going down roads they weren't supposed to. It was quite good fun actually, but very hot work as the temperature was in the mid-high 30's.

We then met our vehicle for the duration of our stay, Blue, the Landrover. Part of the fun of Blue is that 2 people get to ride around on top of her. I wasn't convinced that this would actually be fun, considering how hot it was and that all that was on top of Blue was a bum-bruising roof-rack to sit on.

Blue the Landy

Anyway, I bagged an inside seat as the 2 Norwegian girls can't get enough of sun-worshipping so they were happy to sit on top. Our 2nd job of the day was to chop more acacia along one of the roads in the reserve to make it easier for vehicles to pass along. Did I mention we had 2 pairs of secateurs between us? And our other tools were machetes. Blunt machetes and acacia thorns do not work well together!
So there we were, stop-starting our way along the road with 2 sat on top of blue using the secateurs and the rest of us doing our best to get at the main bit of the branch of the acacia to get to work with the machete without getting torn to shreds by the sometimes 2-3 inch long thorns. So far the acacia was winning this battle!

How many volunteers does it take to trim an acacia?

Tom & Kari on rooftop duty

After an hour or 2 of that it was time for a break and some lunch - toasted cheese sarnies, which were quite a treat! Even though the kitchen tent was so hot I kept checking that the hob wasn't on, even the fridge door was somehow red hot!




Off again at 4.30pm for a research drive to track & monitor some rhino, we had some good sightings including a very young giraffe and lots of rhinos. No predators on this reserve, so to keep the animal numbers under control they allow hunting, which made the animals very skittish whenever we got near. They said they would sometimes have to kill an animal just to leave the body for the vultures to feed on, since they would starve if they had to wait for one of the herbivores to die of natural causes before they could have some dinner!






Toilets and Rhinos


We ended on a good night in camp, chatting and drinking as had become our usual custom. At least it had cooled down so sleeping in the tent wasn't so bad. Tom & I were the last to bed and decided since we had heard that the animals, including rhino, often graze very near to the tents at night, it would be safer to use a 'bush-toilet' than wander up to the ablution block in the dark.  I did have to avail myself of our bush bog (really it just involved squatting around the other side of the Quantum minibus we had driven up in! and hoping that if you felt a tickle on your bum cheek it was just a leaf and not a scorpion or worse!) during the night and as I walked to the spot behind the Quantum, searching my flashlight about, I could make out some zebra up towards where the ablution block was, and hear all kinds of snuffling noises that came from who-knows-what. As it turns out, it was probably this group of rhino that were sleeping not too far from our tents in the night!  

They seemed quite surprised to see us all come out of our tents in the morning!

45 degrees and counting!


2nd day in Pongola started with a game drive at 6.30am to search out more rhino. Since it was nice and cool at this time of day I was happy to sit on Blue's roof for the drive, and even though we didn't see much Tom and I had a great time. How often do you get to drive around in the bush sat on top of a Landrover?? And we even drove like that briefly on the main road as we crossed to the other side of the reserve. It was quite fun playing 'how quick can you lie down flat on a roof-rack to avoid losing an eye to an acacia?!' And I did actually end up with a bruise on my bum after 2 hours of that!!

Just to give you an idea, Amanda & Maren riding on top of Blue.

The day was turning into a real scorcher but we set off at 9am to do more conservation work. We drove along the main road that runs through the reserve and our job was to clear yet more acacia to reveal the sign that said 'Pongola Nature Reserve'. As part of the reserve isn't fenced in and the main road runs right through it, there was always a danger that people wouldn't realise that they were actually in a game reserve and drive too fast and knock over a hapless animal that decided the cross the road.






We set to work with our blunt machetes and had sooned cleared a good patch of acacia to reveal the sign. We packed some of the chopped up acacia into the back of the bakkie (like a truck with a open flatbed type thing on the back)  and Amanda & Letitia took 2 loads away to be used for more road blocks, while we sat on the side of the road waiting for them to come back for us, feeling like a chain gang!

Machete's in hand after clearing the acacia to reveal the sign for the reserve. Maren, Kari, me, Tom, Amanda & Sarah (works with the Elephant project at Thanda)

On the drive back to camp we did some more roof-top acacia trimming and it was a hard slog as by now it was nearly midday and was easily 40 degrees.
Just as we were all wilting badly it was announced we were heading back to camp for a rest in 'the heat of the day' before litter picking along the train tracks at 4pm! Now I really did feel like I was in a chain gang!! 
Back at camp it was getting even hotter as we all made more cheese toasties and attempted to rest. 

Hanging out at camp

While the fans had been useful the day before, in this heat they just swirled the air around the tent and made you feel as though you were sat inside a hairdryer on full whack. Gave up on napping after a stressful 30 mins of feeling like I was suffocating on hot air, so decided to try and find a shady spot outside. Kari had bagged the only 'safe' shady lying-down spot, on the bit of tent floor outside Tom's tent, which was the only one to have a bit of shade. Since there was nowhere else to go, I dragged a camping chair over and squigded next to the snoozing Kari, while Tom snoozed inside his tent. Must have looked like he had a harem, all the girls sat outside his tent!!


Just as I was thinking I would have to plead heatstroke (which wasn't necessarily an over-exaggeration) to get out of litter picking at 4pm, Letitia sent a message to say it was cancelled as there was a heat warning out! Yay :)  45 degrees in the shade it was, no wonder we were all flopped about like soggy lettuce!!






Beer will make you cooler..


In our heat-addled brains we decided that the only way to feel better in the heat was to have a beer, as then we wouldn't care that it was too hot, and since we were having a sundowner drive it seemed a perfectly good idea!! Amanda pretended to debate whether she should have a beer as she was technically in charge and responsible for us, but once we promised 'what happens in Pongola, stays in Pongola', she was more than happy to join in! The first sip of luke-warm beer went down a treat, until 10 minutes later when John & Letitia arrived to take us on the evening drive and we more or less had to surreptitiously down our beers! 


Letitia said the news had the temperature at 45 degrees, but the temperature gauge they had at the house said 52 when taken into the sun! 52!! You can more than cook an egg on the pavement in that temperature! Well, it would be a gritty egg, as we had no pavements, only dirt roads!!


So, off we merrily set for our sundowner drive, Amanda and Maren on top of Blue; Tom, Kari & I in the back of the bakkie. Tom perched on a pillow on top of the spare tyre and Kari & I on camping chairs. Probably not the safest way to travel, but we were over-heated and probably dehyrated from the beer, so we were having a great time!
The light couldn't have been more perfect as we split off in opposite directions to meet up at lakeside in time for sunset.


As we drove over the long waving grass to the waters edge, there were several rhino grazing by the shoreline, as well as some zebbies and lots of birds. 

I know I said no rhino pics, just don't tell the poachers where they are!

Sunset

We met up in a lovely spot, a nice safe distance from the rhino and got out the cool box. We decided the only place to have our sundowners was on top of Blue, so up we all went to watch the sunset, beer in hand, lake and Umbombo mountains (and rhino) in the background. It was one of the most amazing and perfect moments I have ever experienced.

Sundowners on top of Blue

Grass angels

Someone had the idea to make grass angels, rather than snow angels, but Maren & I were the only ones who did, the others were worried about ticks, or couldn't be bothered to get down from Blue (it was quite a long way up, or down, one foot on the back tyre, the other onto the open window, then swing up onto the roof-rack, banging knees and ankles along the way) here is the evidence, mind the unfortunate positioning of my beer, I was trying to avoid spillage and didn't notice how poorly I had positioned my bottle!



Potjie, stars and stealing savannah




Once the sun had gone it was back to camp for one of Letitia's delicious potjies (traditional SA meal cooked in a black, cast-iron, 3-legged pot over a fire) for dinner and an opportunity for some star-gazing under a clear African sky. The only light was from the Swazi border post not too far away but we still managed to do some good spotting. Beers in hand (do you see a theme here?) we crooked our necks up while Letitia and Amanda pointed out constellations who's names I have already forgotten but were very pretty at the time, I can however now spot the Southern Cross. It got a bit serious then as they got out their star-gazing books and entered into serious debate over which one was Aquarius, leaving the rest of us to ponder the meaning of life over yet more beer.  I straggled off to bed at some time around midnight, leaving Tom & Kari the last ones standing. Turns out they stayed up til at least 3am and drank all the beer, plus some red wine and Amanda's stash of Savannah (an SA cider)! This story was soon to become a very well-told one back at Thanda!

Another fantastic drive..




So following on from our brilliant drive with the ellies this morning, we switched over and I was on the predator drive in the afternoon. The others had had great sightings of them in the morning so I was really hopeful that we would see lion, cheetah and the ever elusive leopard.


We heard the North Pride were on a kill so headed straight over there, didn't take Anton long to find them. And a very sad looking Warthog mum and one piglet stood not too far away, who I guess had just lost a family member. The piglet was just a snack though, they had an impala kill too.


 I know a lot of people don't like this part of nature, but its what I love about Africa. Everything has such a clearly defined place and purpose, everything is useful in some way and has an important role to play in keeping life ticking over. Don't get me wrong, its really sad to see a poor little bokkie get taken, but then you look at the beautiful lion cubs and you want them to survive too.




I'll start with a really cute pic of some very full tummies...

We were right by the fence line and she had spotted a guy who had gotten out of his car on the other side of the fence (outside the reserve) who was talking on his phone. She proceeded to stalk him for a bit and then must have decided an impala and a wartie were enough for her lay down. See, golden rule no. 1, don't break the line of the vehicle! She paid no attention to us sat in the vehicle about 5-10m away but was very interested in the guy outside the car!

Look away now if you are a bit squeamish....

Makes you think twice about having ribs for dinner!

And my personal favourite..

*sigh* Its so hard being an adorable lion cub

We left them after a while and came across Thulani, one of the other big bulls at Thanda, he was just chilling out on his own at a waterhole. He did try and show of for us a bit though by pushing down a tree...

Thulani

We then saw the group of 7 white rhino that we had seen hanging out together quite a few times.
I'm not supposed to put any pics of the rhinos up, poaching is a huge problem in Africa, there have already been 52 rhino killed just this year, so they don't like to advertise where & how many rhino are about. You'll have to take my word for it that we saw them!!

And on the way back to camp, we came across the cheetah brothers, yay! They were just lying in the grass, apparently there was talk the cheetah brothers had made the impala kill and the lions had stolen it from them. At least the cheetah's looked quite full so hopefully they got a good feed before they lost their dinner!

One of the cheetah brothers.

Then it was back to camp to pack for our trip to Pongola. 4 of us from the research team were heading to Pongola Nature Reserve for a 2 day camping trip. Really looking forward to it, though we are only the 2nd group of volunteers to go and when the others went 2 weeks previous they got really bad rain, so fingers crossed for better weather for us!

Ready for week two


Can't believe the first week has already gone. I'll be honest and say the first couple of days were a bit tough and I was counting down the sleeps until 5th February (that was mostly due to some issues with some people more than anything else. The research team had been together for 2 weeks before Tom & I joined and it was a bit hard at times to break in to the tight-knit group they had already formed) but now I was loving it and really sad to think I only had 6 more sleeps by this point!


We set off at 6am for another 5 hour game drive. We had 2 vehicles for the research team this morning which was nice as there are usually 7 of us researchers, plus one or two of the co-ordinators, and Anton the guide, so it can be a bit of a squash. We split into 2 groups, one tracking ellies, one on predators. I was with the ellie group this morning.




Best drive ever.


So we set off on an ellie hunt and found them feeding in the bushes. We left them there and decided to hang out at a waterhole that Anton said they would come and drink at. And they did...

Here they come

This one's had too much fun

We sat watching them drink and play for ages until they all got out and started moving on. We had to make swift exit though when Mpatha the dominant bull (the one who charged the photographers last week) decided that we had been there long enough. He suddenly had a little run at us and Anton got us straight out of there. It might only have lasted 10 seconds, but it was a scary 10 seconds with this coming at you like he means business!!

Mpatha giving us a charge