Everyone’s leaving this morning. I’m so tired. Everyone’s shattered. Vic packs her things in a bit of a daze and I’m just watching, half asleep, from my bed. There’s just time for a coffee and to download the Mduna ellie encounter video and the taxis arrive. It’s all too soon. We’re saying goodbye now at…
Month: April 2020
19. South Africa – 16-Aug 2014 – Saturday
Is it OK to fall a bit in love after one night?? I’m definitely possibly a little bit very guilty of that. Ha! His name is Geoff. He’s beautiful. One of those that you can’t help but notice as soon as you walk into a place and then you’re stuck having to pretend that you…
18. South Africa – 15-Aug 2014 – Friday
Morning drive hunting for rhinos with Veronica, William, Henry, Bastian, Darragh and Benjamin. Didn’t see anything at all. Benjamin had his eyes closed for most of the drive and Darragh had his head in his hands and all we seemed to do was drive up and down the same roads again and again and again….
17. South Africa – 08-Aug 2014 – Friday
It’s 4am and I’m scuttling round the cabin getting packed for Drakensberg, trying not to wake up Vic. She’s staying here at the lodge for the weekend, or maybe going to ghost mountain spa again, I’m not sure. The hyaenas were making a racket again this morning. It’s still cool though. ~~~ Driving at this…
16. South Africa – 07-Aug 2014 – Thursday
It’s a later start this morning – 6am rather than five, but on waking up at 5.30am, I’m lucky enough to hear the moany sounds of hyaenas outside. It’s so cool. Out on drive we spotted a leopard down at the dam, a brown snake eagle, a grey duiker up in the trees at leopard…
15. South Africa – 06-Aug 2014 – Wednesday
This morning is such a rare luxury. It’s 7.30am and I’m still in bed. Everyone is. We’ve been given a midweek weekend because of a wedding going on at Thanda, meaning we can’t take the trucks out until 9am. 9am!! it’s so exciting that I’ve woken up early! I’m heading to the Drakensberg this weekend…
14. South Africa – 05-Aug 2014 – Tuesday
Conservation this morning I got a thorn in my finger while chopping down some of the acacia in the boma. One of our guides used buffalo thorn as a needle to try to get the splinter out, and then used the poisonous (when eaten) latex from the euphorbia on the cut. ‘You sure?’ he said….
13. South Africa – 04-Aug 2014 – Monday
This morning’s drive is slow. We’re out with Sinda in Mduna looking for elephants and rhino so we don’t bother expecting too much. It’s the elusive elephant herd here and the slightly wimpy black rhino as opposed to the slightly braver white rhino in Thanda. We managed to bump into the lionesses who looked like…
12. South Africa – 03-Aug 2014 – Sunday
This morning is my favourite morning so far. The mist is hanging low and thick over the valley that our cabin is nestled in. The sun is up in the sky by the time I wake up so there are only a few moments left before it burns through this grey wall, but, at the…
11. South Africa – 02-Aug 2014 – Saturday
It’s 8am and last night was heavy. I’ve got an impressive hangover and all I know is that I cannot cannot cannot stay in the cabin. I need space. And air. So I crawl out of bed and up to the pool where, still in my pyjamas, I curl up on a sun lounger and…
10. South Africa – 29-Jul 2014 – Tuesday – Why is a wildebeest like a lesbian?
Conservation is hard work. Up at 6am (a lie in) then out in the trucks with the machetes to clear the roadways for three hours. But at least it burns off some of the carbs that we stuff our faces with at every food time. And you get to see some interesting wildlife. Like the…
9. South Africa – 28-Jul 2014 – Monday
The sunrise this morning catches me by surprise. I thought it had already been and gone, but as we climb up to the top of Mduna, out it comes. A huge orange orb rising in the east. It is perfect. It is the sun rise of postcards and stories. It is an African sun. It…
My witterings 