So today was both amazing and terrifying and a reminder we really are in the wild here!

We awoke to find the temperature had not risen during the night & it was still cold, wet & windy.

After last nights cat excitement this morning we were focusing on finding elephants. Having not real seen them at selati I was quite excited!

To warm us up our guide simon suggested we build another bolster. Despite the rain the ground was still hard so it was a bit of an effort! But we managed it & were stood back admiring our handy work when we suddenly heard a crashing coming through the trees - seemed the elephants had come to find us!! We scrambled back on to the truck just in time to see 5 or 6 of them cross the road ahead of us! Unfortunately they just ran past in a blur so I didn't get a decent picture. Maybe next time I thought.

There wasn't time to hang around though - we'd just heard acacia had caught some breakfast on the other side of the reserve so we were off to check it out!

We arrived just in time to see mfuti finishing off munching on an eland while acacia lazed around nearby showing off her full tummy! The cub was there too and she was a bit more alert, she also tried to climb a tree to hide from us thinking if she couldnt see us, we couldnt see her! Cute! We got to watch them for about an hour - I could have stayed all day but everyone was cold so as the lions settled down to sleep off their breakfeast we headed back
[by the way elands are one of the most valuable specie of game - those lions had just munched several thousand rand's worth of breakfast!! The lions may be happy the landowner won't be!!]

So sInce we didn't really see elephants on the morning drive, the afternoon drive was about locating elephants enroute to finding mbhurri & his crew.

The sun had come out so we stripped off our extra layers as we set off in pursuit. After an hour or so all we'd established was that the kitties were hiding on a coppie as usual & the elephant signals were unclear - possibly 2km behind us. The sun was going down so we decided to turn round & head for phuza (coffee) but within a minute we spotted an elephant! (They actually were 2km behind us!!) He was alone & as with the other sightings I'd seen up til now he just ran past us into the bushes - so disappointing as I really wanted to see elephants and time was running out.

But be careful what you wish for. A little further down the road and we spotted another elephant, followed by another and another & soon we were treated to 18 elephants playing in the road ahead if us - play fighting, eating trees, rolling in the dust - was a real treat to see & we were able to get some great photos. It was a breeding herd so one male, several large females as well as teenage, junior & baby elephants!! After about half an hour they had started to pass us albeit with some hesitation - was great to be so close up with them! It had started going dark & time was getting om so we started the engine & started moving down the hill expecting the remaining elephants to scatter into the bushes.....only they didn't.....in fact more just kept coming out of the bushes & we were soon face to face with 2 large matriachs & they weren't about to back down. For 40 minutes they & 3 other smaller elephants remained in front of our truck just metres from us flapping their ears, lifting their feet & waving their trunks heavy breathing at us. It was pitch black but we could see that every now and then they would mock charge towards us - least we were told after it was a mock charge - at the time it seemed v real!!!

Despite weighing several times our weight & towering above us we stood our ground-apparently if we'd reversed back it would have been a sign of weakness & they would have charged us for real.

After what seemed like forever they Eventually stepped aside out of the road so we moved forward but then we could hear the elephants running through the bushes & trumpeting at us.....and just when we thought we were safe, others made their presence known to the right of us.....'step on it Sam!!!' San was a star though & remained calm throughout. Phew!

Overall there had been 25-30 elephants, any one of them capable of killing us and unlike at Kruger or other safari reserves these are not used to cars or people (& is no armed rangers around), they are completely wild & unpredictable - definitely the single most scary moment of my life!!!!

After that we had a half hearted look for the lions again but we all relieved just to go back to base!