Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hairy Balloons and Other Animals
Dark, mysterious, smelly, damp and with a pervading sense of menace, the back end of the Landrover is not a place for those with a nervous disposition!
Four weeks in to our South African journey with Bill & Lesley, the Landrover was rebelling, swallowing and hiding clothes, equipment and food, only to release it grudgingly. In one such moment as I rummaged for tent pegs, I encountered Lesley's bikini top, still wet and sandy (and fortunately without Lesley in it!) Clearly a by-product of technology used to stop buildings shaking during earthquakes, the bra was fermenting nicely in the heat of the Kwa Zulu sunshine.
We were at Sodwana Bay, Kwa Zulu Natal, doing beach things like snorkelling, swimming and in Bill's case, diving, all despite having to re-schedule some of the holiday to avoid a cyclone off Mozambique. Angela and I went snorkelling from the dive boat and managed to see tons of colourful Nemo like fish and a huge loggerhead turtle, Bill &Lesley had the privilege of swimming with dolphins.
The northern coastline in Kwa Zulu Natal is beautiful and full of nature reserves, all amalgamated under the instantly memorable name iSimangaliso world heritage site. Huge dune forests, home to the endangered Samango monkey, end on the beach and inland hippo, crocs, rhino, antelope and elephant roam in sub tropical forests, lakes and swamps.
Our 6 week trip with Lesley and Bill didn't exactly get off to a flying start. Despite them being our first, and probably only UK visitors, we managed to arrive late at Upington airport to pick them up! This was a bit of a shame as we'd prepared name boards for them (see photo album), but in our defence we did get the arrival time from South African Airways!
Our decision to take Lesley & Bill in to the Kgalagadi for the first week of the trip was a risky one, it is the sort of park where game viewing takes patience and game tracking skills, fortunately I'm loaded with both! It transpired we needn't have worried, Bill & Lesley brought us luck and within no time we were seeing lion prides close up, cheetahs, bat eared foxes with cubs and all the raptors for which this park is rightly famous.
The raptors were of particular interest to Bill, who carves falcons for a living. If you want a superb carving in wood or bronze of any animal just go to this website
Remember to mention me; I'm on 25% commission even if Bill doesn't know it yet.
Whilst we are on the subject Lesley is an artist as well (I can hear her friends saying yep, we know she's a p*** artist), here is her website
From the Kgalagadi we popped in to see Isaac & Liesel on their Free State farm. Here, in the midst of one of the biggest storms we've ever seen, generosity was pushed to the boundaries, Isaac gave us more lamb and beef than the average abattoir produces in a week.
Next stop was a brief meeting with Lesley's friend, Miles at Marakele National park north west of Pretoria. Whilst white rhino walked around our unfenced camp Miles, British but working in Botswana and living in New Zealand (that must be a record commute?) impressed with his knowledge of the bush and particularly the plant life.
We were also joined by the mad Welshman Marc, and long suffering Paula, still fetching his beers in between cleaning their Landrover.
After a couple of weeks of wildlife we had a change of scenery, the mountains of Golden Gate and Royal Natal parks. We made our excuses whilst Lesley & Bill went horse riding (horses are far too fast a mode of transport for Angela and the last time I got on one my nadgers were aching for weeks!) then joined them for a spot of lake fishing followed by copious wine consumption.
Two walks we did in the area were awesome. The Sentinel Mountain trail to the top of the escarpment of the Drakensberg Amphitheatre was stunning for the views and the wild flowers. The double set of 30 metre chain ladders, carefully sited to ensure the maximum feeling of vertigo, were the last and insurmountable hurdle for Lesley, Angela and I, but Bill climbed them in the mist. It would be lovely to have a head for heights but my backside always retreats towards mother earth when the going gets precipitous and I lose the use of my legs.
The second walk was to the bottom of the Amphitheatre, along the gorge of the Tugela River. Rock pools of icy mountain water cooled our sweaty bodies as we reached the turn around point. Those of you that know Lesley will be aware of her legendary capacity to eat tons of food whilst permanently dieting, fortunately we made extra sandwiches. It was on the start of this walk that Lesley started renaming animals, pointing out a Black Kouldered s***e sitting on a phone wire!
After an albeit short evening catching up with Ken & Paula and Pat & Roger in Howick we roughed it for 4 days on the wilderness walking trail in the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park in Kwa Zulu Natal.
Our ranger, Jabu, had escorted us on the last trail we did here two years ago and did an equally good job on this one. The oppressive heat 40C and humidity were soon forgotten when we encountered a hyaena clan eating a Nyala bull antelope in the Imfolozi river bed. Nearby were a pack of 10 wild dogs, understandably upset that what was probably their kill had been stolen from them.
In an incredible piece of luck the dogs decided to overnight in the dry river bed opposite our camp, so next morning we had the privilege of watching them wake up, greet each other then trot off in search of breakfast. Two hours later we saw them again, trotting by and watching us with curiosity (and hopefully not as a meal) as they scoured the area in search of an unlucky antelope.
Imfolozi has park has 5 packs of dogs, as many as it can take, and another 400 or so live in Kruger and a few smaller parks. That is the total South African population, and it is estimated that there are no more than 5000 in the whole of the continent. Susceptible to domestic dog diseases, killed by hyaena and lion, and persecuted for centuries by man, their future is sadly very much in the balance.
Riding on Bill & Lesley's luck, we saw wild dog twice more on our wilderness walking trail, were able to get up close to white rhino and had a brief but heart stopping encounter with a black rhino before it took off in to the bush.
The aforementioned stay at Sodwana Bay followed on from the least enjoyable experience of the trip, sharing the campsite at Cape Vidal with thousands of sports fishermen. The fishing seemed secondary to the drinking, and the sight of beer gutted foul mouthed South African alpha males staggering around drunken morning noon and night was embarrassing. We'd read that South African whites are now leading the world obesity tables, we believe it now!
After some incredible bird watching in Ndumo Park, also in Kwa Zulu Natal, we headed for the finale to the trip, Kruger National Park. In preparing the itinerary last December none of us had realised that the end of March was Easter until we had trouble booking campsites! As a result we had to spend Easter Sunday and Monday out of the park at Blyde River Canyon.
Fortunately Lesley found a superb location, Otters Den, through the Internet and it proved a real gem, a small island in the Blyde River with perfect hosts, a wobbly suspension bridge entrance (not nice at first!) and some luxury accommodation. It was so nice we skipped a night at one of the Kruger camp bookings. Whilst there we met Dutch girls Linda and Nicolien, who asked in total innocence if we'd seen any Honey b*****s yet?
A first for us was an overnight at the Sable Dam hide in Kruger, you actually sleep in the hide on beds that drop down from the wall. Despite elaborate mozzie screen and spray precautions there were less bitey things here than on the Kwa Zulu coast. Apart from a buffalo herd that came down to drink in the night and an elephant spotted by Bill that turned out to be a bush, the wildlife encounters were less than we'd hoped, but to be able to braai and sleep in Kruger under the stars with the next nearest neighbour over15kms away more than made up for the lack of animals.
Whilst in Kruger we managed to finally meet up again with Jim and Sheri, a US couple who travelled down Africa from the UK the hard way, via those political and social "must visits", Nigeria and Congo. When we last met in Etosha Jim could hardly walk, now they are thinking of doing a bike ride from Florida to Alaska.
Bill & Lesley's luck carried on in Kruger, we were incredibly lucky to see 2 separate leopards on the roadside, and got a good view of a mating pair two days in a row. Lesley was also able to identify some "hairy balloons", a first for us! The Big 5 (lion, buffalo, rhino, elephant and leopard) took us 19 days on a previous visit, this time it took 24 hours. The icing on the cake in Kruger was on a night drive from Skukusa camp when we saw a pack of wild dogs lying in the road, an excellent sighting to round off the holiday.
It is fair to say that on our final night at Loskop Dam, 3 hours from Joburg, we were all exhausted from the exacting 6 week schedule we'd set ourselves. Besides the logistical nightmare of sharing one car, the frequent setting up of tents and the distances travelled between destinations, we were getting up at 5am most mornings.
The Landrover clearly also felt the pace, it was beginning to make grinding noises at random when changing gear towards the middle and end of the trip, but that's another story.
Last and not least, thanks are due to Lesley and Bill for making this a wonderful adventure, for putting up with a basic tent and blow up mattress for longer than Angela and I would ever contemplate and for being perfect uncomplaining company.
Next stop, Botswana!
- comments