Bush Day 12

Just thinking back to yesterday's walk and what we learnt from the guide... Did you know that you can burn elephant dung - it will keep mozzies away. Also, if you boil it in water and then just drink the water it can help heal a multitude of ailments. 

Today was a busy admin day. I started my day by doing my usual: dishes. Seriously love doing them! (No sarcasm.) Yet at home it's a hated chore. After breakfast and core exercises, I did stock take of all tins and drinks and checked expiry dates. Sadly, by the end of it I smelled like a brewery from all the beer I had to open up and throw down the drain. I found it interesting how the one brand (one I personally don't like) when it expires, it nearly explodes when opening yet the other brand (that I like) doesn't. After that I sorted the Landie and then helped mom with a few things before we headed to camp to fill the Landie and wait for her friends to arrive.

Oh wait! Whilst we were doing house admin, the elephants came down. Was unusual for them to come down so soon but it was so nice to see them. 

Anyway.. So we sorted Landie and the admin mom needed to do at the office and fetched the gals. We spent the rest of the morning / afternoon relaxing on the deck.

At 4:30 we headed out for a short sunset drive. We went along the river road but had to turn around half way because the grumpy lumpy was near the road and we could hear him give the vehicle in front of us a good talking to! We ended up having subset drinks on the causeway and then did a very short drive on north before heading home. Fortunately no lumpy incidents today!

Wind has picked up again tonight and I suspect a change of weather is coming. Best part of the wind: no bats flying around!!

Bush Day 11

Dreamt of elephants - must have been thanks the the one that went off with his trumpeting all night. Woke up at 4 and dozed until just before 5 when I got up to make us coffee. Today was walk day! At 5:50 we maneuvered around and through the tree to our Landie and then drove off to Olifants North. On our way we were treated to Grumpy Lumpy giving us a trumpet but he was far in so no stress this time!

The walk was guided by an unarmed but knowledgable ranger named James. He took us along the ridge above the old airfield, stopping at various trees, dung and spoor to explain things. Although we didn't see much other than antelope in the distance, the walk is scenic so that makes up for the lack of game. Although: I think it would be so awesome to come across lion or something on the trail! The only thing about this walk is that it is an out and back route which could be improved if they made it a loop. Other than that, it was a nice walk which we all enjoyed. 

After the quick 2.6km walk, we went to friends of mom for brunch where we spoilt to a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, toast, pawpaw, onions etc. We then chilled on their patio for a while until the heat started and we decided to head home before it got too hot.

Spent the rest of the afternoon watching the elephant, fending off monkeys, reading and snoozing. The afternoon was ended with 2 games of tile rummy before packing up for a short drive.

Our intention with the drive was to go up to the top dams as we had not been there in a few days but someone called in elephant from there so we opted out of that. Fortunately for us, we came across a huge herd of buffalo at spaghetti junction so we watched them then headed to the airstrip where we had a stunning sighting of them. We then meandered past a few dams before slowly heading home.

Whilst eating dinner, we were treated to a huge civet which came to visit. They really are beautiful!

I called it an early night at 8pm as I wanted to read. Plus, we had a log day today and our next visitors arrive tomorrow.

Bush Day 10

This morning was D-Day for the bank. Mom and I headed to Standard Bank to finally try sort our stuff out. Fortunately for us, they felt like being helpful today and we came right. After the bank, we went for brunch followed by some shopping (coffee, milk etc) before returning to the reserve.

Spent the afternoon relaxing on the deck and watching a herd of elephants on the other side of the river. Was interesting to watch how a bunch of baby elephants were being looked after just 3 adults in an almost nursery school fashion. These 3 herded the babies to the water, and then guarded over them whilst alternatively taking turns at getting water and having mud baths.

As we were about to get ready for a drive, a lone elephant came and munched at the trees around the house. Was great for a few photos but mom was not too impressed by him breaking branches by the house. Eventually he moved off and we went off on our drive. 

The drive was fairly quiet. We saw the usual Impalas etc but with way more steenbok. It was almost like there was a steenbok on every plain. On the way home it got dark so we started shining with the spot lights - I multi tasked with driving and shining - and we were fortunate enough to come across a pride of lion in the road. Within seconds of seeing the lion, an elephant came out of nowhere and started mock charging us with full trumpeting sound effects! Both spotlights had been on the lions so we had not seen him. Mom urged me to drive faster but there was no where to go! I was already quite close to the lions tails and much closer and I would have become a part of the pride!! Fortunately the elephant gave up and kept quiet. We had a great sighting of the lion before they ducked into the bush near the causeway and we lost sight of them. 

As we drove into our driveway we realized that the elephant from earlier had left us a not so nice surprise - a tree pushed down in our driveway! And Murphy's Law, I was wearing slops. (I am normally so paranoid about wearing takkies on drives but for some arb reason, I didn't.) We had to bundu bash our way around and through the tree to get to the house and we had to abandon our Landie where it was. Then: when we got inside and started preparing dinner we realized the gas had run out so I had to switch over to a new bottle and relight everything. Fortunately the excitement for thee evening was over and we were able to enjoy our braai in peace.

When I went to shower, I could hear the elephant in the bush nearby. Poor elephant spent the night being grumpy and trumpeting lots. Definitely not a happy lumpy.

Bush Day 9

Before I start the day... For those following the blog at the moment, I am sure you have noticed the delay in postings. The reason is that I type at night then post the following day when I have signal. Then the blog site sends the email out the following day. So apologies for delays! Visit the blog around lunchtime every day for the latest updates.

Today I woke up with Bertie Bat squeaking with the sunrise so I decided that since it was cold, I would get up. I did the dishes, made my pics smaller (for posting), tried posting but signal was terrible, then I did my next core workout before mom came in to make breakfast. Not long after, the other 2 emerged and we had breakfast and packed them up. 

I drove them to the office and got them off safely before heading home and helping mom get ready before friends from Olifants North arrived for a drive and lunch.

The drive this morning was way better than yesterday!! Plenty general game but the veld really does look bad. There is a shimmer of green but that is superficial. There is so little actual grass and the tall grass you see around is not the edible stuff. We are in for a very long winter. 

Mom had made a really yum chicken pasta salad along with rolls and a pea salad which is one of my favorites. 

After the visitors lefty we settled down to afternoon time - ie reading and sleeping time. I have so enjoyed my 20 to 30 minute naps!! They are so refreshing despite my not sleeping deeply that I wake up feeling great. After snooze time, mom did some sewing whilst I played games on my iPad. We had some impala, nyala and waterbuck visit the front of the house - shows how quiet just 2 people are!

Sunset came and we watched the moon rise and mom said I had to get some photos so I played with shots of the moon and then of the colours on the river bed before we settled down to a sunset drink. The bush just had sounds of bugs and the river with a bit of lion far away followed by the sound of a leopard a bit further down the river. 

Dinner was left overs followed by us laughing at how it was 7:30 and we were both ready for bed. An hour later we were locking up. I came and read and started typing this whilst downloading something to my phone. (I know... I should be on it less but wanted to listen to something.)

Just as I was typing up the last paragraph or 2, I was treated to roaring again. The lions are definitely closer and I am guessing that tonight they may pass in front of the house. I am hoping they roar from in front of the house - the sound of lions roaring close by is one of the most amazing sounds.

Bush Day 8

Got up early again and sorted a few things out in the kitchen (dishes, filtering water etc) whilst having coffee. When mom woke up I made her coffee and then we started making Sunday's lunch as well as breakfast for today. Breakfast has been pretty much the same thing: toast, fruit salad and yoghurt. But it's nice and simple and fairly healthy.

After the other 2 woke up and we had breakfast, I showered and then had some not so friendly words with the bank before we headed out to dump the rubbish and fill the landie before heading out on a short drive. 

The bush was insanely quiet and if it were not for a few Impala and a bit of other general game, we would have seen nothing - we are definitely in for a bad winter. 

At home, mom and I whipped up a quick lunch of tacos before everyone settled into their own after lunch routines and I headed out to the club house to try charge my one spotlight. Whilst waiting for the battery to charge, I seized the opportunity to look at some of my pics I have taken. There are some good ones!

Later in the arvie mom and I prepped a quick dinner of cheeses and biscuits and the 4 of us headed out on the last drive for the other 2. Once again, the veld was fairly dead and we eventually headed to a spot with a table where we could enjoy dinner. Half way through our meal, I heard the Impala that were down the hill run and I told the others and by brother said he also heard it. Well, this had my bro on the Landie pretty darn fast! And, dinner was ended quite quick as well. 

Driving down into the plain, we spotted something that looked like it could be a lion. Just as I was going to radio it in, we realized that it was an Impala! (Later on in our drive we found out that a hyaena was in the area we had been so that was what had likely spooked the impala.)

Night ended nice and early since the other 2 have a long day of driving back to Jozi in the morning.

I will post some pics in the next day or 2 to Facebook when I get a gap. 

Bush day 7

Woke up before my alarm so was up and dressed by 4:30am. Went to the kitchen and made some coffee and got the coffee, tea and rusks ready for the drive. After prepping everything and doing the dishes, I sat with my day text and yearbook and relaxed to the sounds of the bush whilst waiting for the other 2 to wake. 

Once they were awake, we headed out toward the airstrip where I knew we could get a good sunrise. We got to the airstrip in time to get the last of the good colour. And from experience I decided to leave it at that - the actual sun rise is not so exciting. Fortunately for me, I spotted "something" on the next plain and decided we needed to go there. On arriving I was surprised to find 2 lion right next to me! The vehicle watching had not called it in or warned me so I drove within meters of these lionesses before I spotted them. We ended up having a fantastic sighting of them as they half heartedly attempted to hunt - either they were pretty useless at hunting or they really were not trying because with the amount of game around them, it should have been very easy hunting. After a few failed attempts at the impala, zebra, wildebeest and giraffe, they gave up, had a quick play time and then headed deep into the thicket where we lost sight of them. After that great sighting, we did a short drive before heading home.

For the majority of the rest of the day we relaxed, did some maintenance for mom, attempted to do banking (stupid app gave issues again) and just in general did as little as possible.

In the afternoon we headed out for a short drive to try find the lions again and were successful at seeing them (another unit called them in). After a quick drink at the bridge, we headed home to braai. I had quite a bit of fun playing with my new ultra wide angle lens and macro lens at the lapa and I ended up getting a few really nice shots. 

Bush day 7

Woke up before my alarm so was up and dressed by 4:30am. Went to the kitchen and made some coffee and got the coffee, tea and rusks ready for the drive. After prepping everything and doing the dishes, I sat with my day text and yearbook and relaxed to the sounds of the bush whilst waiting for the other 2 to wake. 

Once they were awake, we headed out toward the airstrip where I knew we could get a good sunrise. We got to the airstrip in time to get the last of the good colour. And from experience I decided to leave it at that - the actual sun rise is not so exciting. Fortunately for me, I spotted "something" on the next plain and decided we needed to go there. On arriving I was surprised to find 2 lion right next to me! The vehicle watching had not called it in or warned me so I drove within meters of these lionesses before I spotted them. We ended up having a fantastic sighting of them as they half heartedly attempted to hunt - either they were pretty useless at hunting or they really were not trying because with the amount of game around them, it should have been very easy hunting. After a few failed attempts at the impala, zebra, wildebeest and giraffe, they gave up, had a quick play time and then headed deep into the thicket where we lost sight of them. After that great sighting, we did a short drive before heading home.

For the majority of the rest of the day we relaxed, did some maintenance for mom, attempted to do banking (stupid app gave issues again) and just in general did as little as possible.

In the afternoon we headed out for a short drive to try find the lions again and were successful at seeing them (another unit called them in). After a quick drink at the bridge, we headed home to braai. I had quite a bit of fun playing with my new ultra wide angle lens and macro lens at the lapa and I ended up getting a few really nice shots.