Fourth
Africa Page
24 April 1998
Departed Sirheni Camp at sunrise
for the drive to Olifants. We chose all the
tiniest roads we could find on the map and didn't
see another car for hours. Found a narrow track
that led down to what looked like a good overlook
of the Olifants River. When we came to the end of
the road there was a great herd of Cape buffalo
camped out under the mopane trees, chewing their
cud. The ones closest to us huffed and snorted
and let us know we weren't welcome, so we were
forced to back up all the way to the main road.
This baobab is at the southern
reach of their range.  It
is about 10 meters through the trunk and may be
2000 years old. Checked in at Oliphants Camp and
we were shown to our rondavel built on the edge
of a cliff high above the Oliphants River. The
vistas are spectacular; lots of game to be seen
right from the veranda.
After dinner we went for a night game drive. Saw
Lions, Hyenas, Elephant, Giraffe, Kudu, Steenbok,
Bushbuck, Spotted Genet, etc. etc.
25 April 1998
D and T up were up at dawn for a
drive. While traveling a track along the river
they spotted a leopard finishing its breakfast on
the opposite bank. So we've now seen each of the
'Big Five' (Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Rhino, Lion,
Leopard).
While we enjoyed lunch on the
veranda Dan noticed a Flap-necked Chameleon glued
to the branch of a tree just a few feet away from
us. It was so well-camouflaged that we'd never
have seen it but for the flicker of its
impossibly long tongue, each time it grabbed a
buggy morsel. 
Later in the afternoon a parade
of elephant moms and their babies crossed the
river far below.
26 April 1998
 Next
morning on our way from Oliphants to Skukuza we
passed these wonderfully sculpted boulders and
read in our guidebook that these are the oldest
rocks (3.5 billion years) found anywhere on the
earth's surface.
Skukuza is by far the biggest
camp inside Kruger, and seemed like a bustling
town compared to where we'd been traveling for
the past few days.
 joining us on
the Metsi Metsi bushwalk. Our comrades were:
Meryl and Derek Russel from
Capetown, where Derek runs a trucking firm . . .
Jacques Marnewick, a software
engineer from Pretoria . . .
Anton and Luette Smoek, a
recently wed doctor/nurse couple from Gauteng.
At 1530, Wouter Jordaan, the
ranger who would be guiding us for our three-day
trek, met up with us. We loaded our gear aboard
the open-sided truck that would take us 45
kilometers to the basecamp from which we would
make our excursions into the bush. We were
heading into a part of the Kruger wilderness
miles from the roads that are open to regular
visitors.
For the next hour and a half we
bumped over a rutted dirt track, passing herds of
Impala, Cape Buffalo, Kudu, Elephant, etc., etc.
At last we topped a rise and looked down on the
bushcamp. Then, just as we approached the gate,
seemingly out of nowhere a big male lion
sauntered across our path. He glared at us, and
then continued on his way. One-by-one, six more
lions rose up out of the foot-tall grass
alongside the road. They'd been only spitting
distance away from us all along, but their tawny
hides blend into the dry grass so perfectly as to
render them all but invisible. As we drove
through the gate, everybody looked askance at the
puny, chest-tall perimeter fence that served as
the only barrier between where we'd be sleeping
and these totally wild predators.
(Woe is unto us. A roll of
36-exposure film we took while at Metsi Metsi . .
.of course, the roll with our best shots! . .
inexplicably disappeared before we could get it
to a developer. We lost most of our best animal
pictures.)
We unloaded our gear and then
Wouter showed us around the camp. It was rustic,
yet considerably more plush than we'd ever been
led to hope for. There was no electricity, but a
wood-fired boiler supplied hot water for the
shower, and the toilets actually flushed. There
were four thatched A-frames scattered around
several acres of bush, each just large enough for
two beds. Kaaren and Tyler chose one, and Dan
shared another with Jacques. 
Jacques' company has been charged
with the seemingly impossible task of developing
software for keeping track of registered voters
for the upcoming national elections . . .this in
a country where a fair percentage of the voters
live in shantytowns with no address. He's one of
the uppest, funniest people we've ever met and K.
found him delightfully charming.
27 - 29 April
1998 (by Kaaren)
. . . at 5am we were awakened by
a friendly "hello" and a bucket of warm
water for a quick wash in our enamel
dishpans...this is part of the duties of our
tracker, Fernando, who was to accompany us on our
walks. Fernando is a member of the local Sosutu
tribe and has lived his whole life in the bush.
He talks very little, but we think he knows
everything.
We hopped onto our truck and as
the sun came up we saw giraffes, wildebeest, and
zebras. Afer twenty minutes of driving over a
barely discernable dirt track we began our walk
into the bush. This is very strange to us,
because in Kruger you cannot get out of your
vehicle at any time except at specific rest stops
where there are park personnel. Here we were on
foot heading out into the wilderness, with Wouter
and Fernando in front, .458 Weatherby rifles
slung over their shoulders. Of course, there were
some worried glances around the group at first -
who amongst us would bring up the rear??? We took
turns...
Animal trails provide the easiest
paths and we followed them throughout the
morning. The animals hear and smell you much
sooner than they do when you are in a car, so you
tend to see fewer of them. However, when you do
see them and you have no protection other than
the guide's gun, it is an adrenaline rush. 
On this first day of walking we
came upon the sole of a shoe lying in the sand.
We were way out in the bush, where supposedly no
one had been for years...and nearby was the
distinctive scat of a lion. Wouter explained that
sometimes refugees from Mozambique try to cross
the park and some don't make it. Occasionally
lion droppings are found containing fingernails
and hard to digest parts of clothing. Poachers
are also a problem, especially on the northern
border. They still use snares, which can kill and
maim the animals - this may be what happened to
the elephant we saw yesterday with part of his
trunk missing. This is part of the game ranger's
job...to keep poachers out of the park, as well
as tracking down animals that have been injured
and have to be destroyed.
After a long walk with many
sightings of a variety of animals, we headed back
to camp by truck for lunch and a rest. We were
proving to be a most congenial group, and all our
meals back at camp were delightful social
experiences. The Russells are inveterate Africa
adventurers and Derek regaled us with stories of
their travels.
At 3:30 pm, we again headed out
for an evening hike ...this is much more
exciting. Nocturnal creatures start to come alive
after the hot afternoon. We crossed a lioness'
spoor and tracked her along a narrow riverbed.
Eight-foot tall reeds rose on either side of the
shoulder-width track and Wouter and Fernando were
tense, with guns in hand and at the ready. Ty was
the first to spot the lion lying under a bush a
stone's throw away as we rounded a bend in the
river. Usually you see more than one lion at a
time and we were nervous that we couldn't find
any others. Her muzzle was smeared with blood and
it was obvious she'd just finished feeding. The
fat lioness spotted us and slunk off through the
brush. We took a closer look where we'd first
spotted her and Wouter identified the remains of
a young impala. She'd eaten most everything of
it, leaving only one hoof and 2 little horns!
We slept like logs after a
cocktail hour around the campfire and dinner by
lanternlight. Up again at dawn, we trekked
through a part of the park Woulter had not been
in for years...although it was good for birds, it
was very sparse in game. This was just fine,
though, as we all enjoyed the solitude and
exercise.
On the evening walk of the last
day we hiked along a riverbed that ended in a
perennial waterhole.  As
we reached the lily-covered pond we heard the
laughing grunts of hippopotami warning the group
of two-legged intruders to keep their distance!
It was just turning into the
magic hour - the golden tones of the setting sun
highlighted the eyes, nose and waggling ears of
several huge hippos submerged in the primeval
pond. What a sight - bulls, babies and moms all
staring at us, making hippo noises. Then, on the
opposite side of the waterhole, an elephant
quietly appeared from the bush for a drink - just
as two crocodiles decided to settle a territorial
dispute . . . scared the elephant out of his wits
- he jumped back, hesitated, then ambled off to
find another place to satisfy his thirst. We
crept up on one croc that looked like a 12-foot
long log. As soon as he sensed our presence he
was off into the water and kept an eye (actually,
2 eyes and a nose) on us for quite awhile. When
we crossed a narrow dam at the end of the pond, I
kept MY eyes open for him!
We arrived back at the truck just
as night dropped like a black curtain, and we
spotted all sorts of game as we drove back to
camp in the dark. Another night of conversation,
South African wine and good vittles...and sadness
that it would all come to an end in the morning .
. .
29 April 1998
 We packed up
and left Metsi Metsi for the drive back to
Skukuza. Along the way we spotted these rare and
beautiful Sable antelope.
Heartfelt goodbyes to our fellow
bushtrekkers.
Now we head south to our next
camp at Lower Sabie. Stopped to watch lions
feeding on a hippo kill right next to the road.
The way the trees and brush were broken and
smashed all around the site, it had obviously
been a protracted and savage battle. It must have
been a terrible spectacle and we were not sorry
to miss it. Hippo hide is very tough stuff and
the lions were forced to work awfully hard to get
at the tender middle parts.
This is mean country to live and
die in, and no creature at any level of the food
chain gets to avoid its share of suffering. After
a couple weeks of eating warthog, ostrich,
springbok and oryx we realized we were developing
a certain callous acceptance of the
eating-and-being-eaten. The two less-reverent
members of the family came up with this ditty:
'We like mustard on our
Bustard,
and catsup on our Gnu . .
.
Hyeener's make good
wieners,
but they're awful tough
to chew.
A fricassee of Aardvark ,
is ever such a treat . .
.
It's a good that thing
that we're carnivores,
'cuz we love eatin'
meat!'
30 April 1998
 D. and T.
revisited hippo kill. Fat, blood-smeared lions
lazing around. Mostly bones and hide left for the
vultures . . . hyenas slink around in the brush,
waiting their chance to dash in and grab a bite
of leftovers.
 Farther
down the road we stopped at a pretty little lake
teeming with birdlife. Several new species
including: Fisheagle, Saddlebill Stork, Malachite
Kingfisher.
We left Lower Sabie to Berg en
Dahl, where we'd stay for our last night inside
Kruger. A Large Spotted Genet sat in a tree above
the veranda.  This jackal
hung around all evening, probably hoping we'd
leave a few tasty bits around the braai. Ty went
on his final night drive.
01 May 1998
Left Berg en Dahl at dawn, taking
backroads. Saw a mom and baby rhino, Cape
buffalo, African wild dogs. When we crossed the
Crocodile River at Malalene Gate our adventures
inside Kruger National Park came to an end.
A six-hour drive from Kruger to
Jo'berg. At 1900 we boarded a very full Olympic
Airways plane for overnight flight to Athens via
Nairobi.
Next up is . . .
The Greece Page . . .
|
