"What do they keep in here, King Kong?" (Ian Malcolm; Jurassic Park - Geek alert :P)
Hi all, and warm greetings from sunny South Africa!
As you can probably tell from my cheerful disposition, my trip down here went relatively smoothly - as far as an 11 hour flight can be smooth - and I am now 'back home' at Campfire Safaris near the Kruger Park. This is the same game farm where I spent an unforgettable 4 weeks in 2005, and I will remain here until I start a 2-week training course on the 1st February (inside the Kruger) before heading out to my assigned nature reserve in the northwest.
It's pretty quiet at Campfire, only 3 other students here at the moment, which has its pros and cons. The lively atmosphere I experienced the last time is obviously gone (as we were here with about 10 students then), but on the other hand it's much more likely we'll see some animals on our daily bushwalks. To prove the latter, yesterday, on my first bushwalk, we encountered a group of zebra (very skittish animals, but they hung around for a while) which were later joined by a herd of impala. Walking along the dry riverbed several waterbucks (large brown antilopes) crossed our path, led by a magnificent 'trophy' buck which towered over his group of females (and us) with its huge curved horns. To top it all off, just as we were nearing the gate we spotted a (to me at least) very familiar looking giraffe...his spots are nearly connecting and a very dark brown. I remembered this lone male from last time and I was very pleased to actually see a familiar face!! Apparently he had not been seen for several months and people were afraid he might have been killed by the lions, but he had clearly noticed that I was back and came to say hello. We approached him up until about 20 meters, an amazing animal, and I always get that feeling as if I am looking at something other-worldly or prehistoric when I run into a giraffe.
Today we went for an early walk at 7.30. Saw some impala and the waterbucks again, but the bush was pretty quiet otherwise. At one point we were following reasonably fresh lion tracks (See Picture) but lost them after a while. We also spotted the track of a young/baby elephant, accompanied with the wanton destruction of trees by its elders, but the largest land mammal did not show itself (yet). Did get a good picture of a very exotic looking spider (Included) and to give you an idea of the countryside I added a third picture which I took during our walk this morning.
Weather-wise I couldn't ask for anything better. It's a low 30 degrees celsius during the day, with a cool breeze coming from the northeast, few clouds and very comfortable 15 degrees during the night. ("Thank you Brick, and now sports.")
For those of you who've been to Campfire with me, the place is still much the same. Tinus and Suegnette are not here at the moment unfortunately, but Laetitia is...and you know what that means ;) Shooter time!! The day before I arrived one of the dogs (Bosveld) came home with a huge Egyptian cobra (very dead) which means one less creepy-crawly...although this morning we spotted a 2-meter long Black Mamba crossing the road...
I guess I've kept you busy for long enough, I'm now heading over to the butcher's to get some biltong (beef jerky) and a bottle of mampoer.
Hi all, and warm greetings from sunny South Africa!
As you can probably tell from my cheerful disposition, my trip down here went relatively smoothly - as far as an 11 hour flight can be smooth - and I am now 'back home' at Campfire Safaris near the Kruger Park. This is the same game farm where I spent an unforgettable 4 weeks in 2005, and I will remain here until I start a 2-week training course on the 1st February (inside the Kruger) before heading out to my assigned nature reserve in the northwest.
It's pretty quiet at Campfire, only 3 other students here at the moment, which has its pros and cons. The lively atmosphere I experienced the last time is obviously gone (as we were here with about 10 students then), but on the other hand it's much more likely we'll see some animals on our daily bushwalks. To prove the latter, yesterday, on my first bushwalk, we encountered a group of zebra (very skittish animals, but they hung around for a while) which were later joined by a herd of impala. Walking along the dry riverbed several waterbucks (large brown antilopes) crossed our path, led by a magnificent 'trophy' buck which towered over his group of females (and us) with its huge curved horns. To top it all off, just as we were nearing the gate we spotted a (to me at least) very familiar looking giraffe...his spots are nearly connecting and a very dark brown. I remembered this lone male from last time and I was very pleased to actually see a familiar face!! Apparently he had not been seen for several months and people were afraid he might have been killed by the lions, but he had clearly noticed that I was back and came to say hello. We approached him up until about 20 meters, an amazing animal, and I always get that feeling as if I am looking at something other-worldly or prehistoric when I run into a giraffe.
Today we went for an early walk at 7.30. Saw some impala and the waterbucks again, but the bush was pretty quiet otherwise. At one point we were following reasonably fresh lion tracks (See Picture) but lost them after a while. We also spotted the track of a young/baby elephant, accompanied with the wanton destruction of trees by its elders, but the largest land mammal did not show itself (yet). Did get a good picture of a very exotic looking spider (Included) and to give you an idea of the countryside I added a third picture which I took during our walk this morning.
Weather-wise I couldn't ask for anything better. It's a low 30 degrees celsius during the day, with a cool breeze coming from the northeast, few clouds and very comfortable 15 degrees during the night. ("Thank you Brick, and now sports.")
For those of you who've been to Campfire with me, the place is still much the same. Tinus and Suegnette are not here at the moment unfortunately, but Laetitia is...and you know what that means ;) Shooter time!! The day before I arrived one of the dogs (Bosveld) came home with a huge Egyptian cobra (very dead) which means one less creepy-crawly...although this morning we spotted a 2-meter long Black Mamba crossing the road...
I guess I've kept you busy for long enough, I'm now heading over to the butcher's to get some biltong (beef jerky) and a bottle of mampoer.
Picture: Me waking up on top of the tower at Campfire.
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