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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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Any rate, we travelled around Phabeni koppie – and saw nothing!
Then on the Voortrekker-link road outside of P.K - again nothing!
From there onto the Napi road – you guessed it, nothing!
I then turned off onto Napi Boulders road – yep, yet again, nothing!
On with the Napi tar to just before Transport dam where we finally had our first glimpse of anything other than the plants - a herd of 6 Square-lipped Rhinos! They were happily feeding away until a GP registration VW Microbus's fan made so much noise as the driver never switched off his engine, when they ran away - disappointment is not the word!
Then we continued up the Napi before eventually seeing our very first Impalas at the intersection just before Skukuza! By now I really felt bad as these poor tourists were getting very despondent. During breakfast I spoke to other guides and all of them had very long faces as all of us were more or less the same boat, nobody had any great sightings. The rest of the day was no better!
We departed the Park to go to a lodge where we would sleep and where I also had to do a night drive with these folks. By now it looked as if they lost all interest in what I had to tell them. The dung beetles, silver cluster leave trees, acacia species etc, etc just didn't do the trick anymore!
We started the drive and I honestly prayed to just get a kudu, a giraffe or something other than grass, insects and stones. Low and behold, we drove straight into a Square-lipped Rhino cow with a calf no higher than my Weimaraner pup here at home. We were able to get so close that we could see the flies walking around on them. We waited, they calmed down and within 5 minutes the bull also made his appearance. The cow wanted nothing to do with him and put a great display for the benefit of all showing him that not even a Disprin is going to change her mood!
With all of us watching this in the tracker's spotlight I grabbed my camera. I just couldn't get in any shots as they were just outside of the reach of my flash - DISAPPOINTED!
Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted a leopard stalking the calf! The cow and bull was so intent on interacting with one another that they were completely unaware of the stalking leopard. Slowly through the long grass in the dark, the gap was closing rapidly at first, but then it hugged the ground and edged forward centimetre by centimetre, slowly moving forward, so slow that we really had to concentrate to keep him in sight.
Closer ... closer ... closer...
By now we were all as quite as mice in church, closer ... closer...
I was frantically trying to get my camera and the flash thing sorted out! It just wouldn't work! Then I remembered my cell phone, so in the heat of the moment and because of shear desperation, I tried getting some shots in with that – no avail and the leopard was still edging forward towards the little Rhino calf.
This little Rhino now became aware of something moving towards him, he checked over his shoulder at his mom for some encouragement to go and investigate, but she was still having her argument with the bull and paid him no attention, which clearly didn’t deter the little guy, he was going to have a look in any case, with or without the cow’s consent, so he slowly started to move forward towards the stalking leopard.
By now we all battled to breath, scared that we would upset this unfolding scene in any way. I had to get up from my seat as by now the leopard was right in front of the vehicle and thus out of my view. I did so just as slowly as I saw the leopard stalking, I was not going to break up this hunt under any circumstances.
As I looked down I suddenly realised; this was no ordinary leopard... it was a cub, a little smaller than the Rhino calf it was stalking! Were we going to see this baby make his first kill I wondered? The little Rhino looked as if he gave a shrug and then he moved forward to investigate this shadow moving towards him.
Time stood still...
The seconds seemed like years, millennia, as the two of them approached one another!
The cub stalking, the rhino slowly ambling forward nose outstretched trying to smell what was in front of him.
By now I was cursing the blasted flash and the camera, I was thinking of the friends who gave their opinions about the Canon and Nikon brands of cameras and cursing at myself for not closing my eyes that day in the photo shop and buying the Canon 350D! Oh well, sit back and enjoy the moment - what bloody else could I do? The calf moved forward till centimetres away from the leopard, which by now started to reverse, not sure what to make of this prey moving towards him! He backed up until his backside was squarely up against a tree.
His inexperience showed as he didn't run off to the sides, instead he lowered himself some more until he nearly became one with the ground under him, his head slightly raised to face off with this Rhino calf.
The Rhino stopped, smelling forward still. Then he slowly reversed not sure what to make of the situation either. The cub, I thought was going to dash off, but uh-hu, not this little guy, he started forward again, stalking the calf again!
I know by now you must be thinking I'm making this up, but there is more....
This almost playing of I-touch-you-and-you-then -chase-me-and-touch-me went on for (and I know you not going to believe this) half and hour! Backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards they went.
It was getting later and later and we had to leave to get back to camp. We ended up giving the PAX (tourists) their sun-downers, which at this stage were moon-uppers, on the way back while still driving!
While the Danes were enjoying their beers I thought to myself; if this leopard was a cub, where was his momma?
See what I mean when I say there was more?
There we were driving back to camp, I just couldn't believe what we've been so incredibly privileged to just have witnessed. Yes I was tired, my day started at 03h00 this morning and it was getting to 20h30, but my mind was still racing like old Michael Schumacher in his time...
Where was the female? Why didn't we hear or see her? Were we at the den site? Was the female out on a hunt or was she injured or dead? Was this cub going to make it on his own? He had the cohunes, but he definitely didn't have the experience or skills to survive, yet!
We saw a couple of fiery cheeked nightjars etc and then we were back at camp. I told the PAX again how lucky and fortunate they were, but like most city dwellers they just said hmmm, ok, ja it was good, but you could see from their demeanour, they had no clue what they just witnessed. Any way, we had our fabulous lapa-dinner under the stars and then we sat listening to the night sounds.
This lodge is situated on a stretch of the Sand River. The PAX went to bed as they too were very tired so the owner's son and I sat around the fire. We were deep in conversation about what we found, when I heard a leopard coughing on the other side of the river bank in the riverine bush. Silence fell immediately between the two of us.
Shortly after, we heard Impala snorting the alarm and then some baboons barking. We sat there in that tense silence for what seemed like hours, but nothing further - just silence.
Then, out of the dark, as if from nowhere, a spotted Hyena strolled passed us, not even stopping to sniff or check us out.
The two of us silently started packing away the furniture as both of us knew what damage old Spottie could do to anything it got between its jaws.
I went to bed thinking; thank you Lord, this day ended better than any day before, it was great! Next morning, I woke up at 04h15 in order for me to wake up the PAX so we could leave on the morning drive at 05h00. As it was so early I thought I'll quickly light a cigarette, decide where I'm going to drive, drink a cup of coffee and then wake the PAX. I had my coffee, made my decision, finished my cigarette and went to lie down for a couple of minutes before getting the Danes up. Herman, the owner's son, woke me up at 5h05, I’ve overslept!
I flew out of bed in a hurry and threw on my clothes before dashing out to wake the Danes who were also all still sleeping and very slow to get up and going. I wanted to return to the spot where we left the sighting the previous night.
Herman, on the other hand, told me uh-hu; nope can do, I should travel another route with the PAX as they will get bored with the same route. I was not going to let this go...
"Herman, that guy was just too small to be by himself, first of all, secondly, I believe it's den must have been close by and lastly, I want to see his mommy and I do believe the PAX won't mind seeing her and her cub, or seeing a leopard in daylight again!"
I think Herman saw in my eyes there was no way I'll settle for anything else.
"I'll tell the tracker to get you there later in the drive, first take them on the scenic route" he said over his shoulder as he left us drinking our coffee.
We left at 06h05, later than what I hoped for and the tracker showed me the way to this scenic route.
Not long in to the drive we came down a gully heading towards a dry riverbed, and as soon as the Land Rover was on the sand of the riverbed my eye caught a movement above us on the bank, metres away from us and to the left of the vehicle.
I stopped and looked.
There in all their glory stood two kudus, a magnificent bull and a cow. They stood watching, towering over us with the sun painting them that deep almost orange golden hue as it was rising! My mind screamed: CAMERA TIME! GET THE CAMERA and as I reached over to get my camera I realised with horror and shock, last night I took it out of the vehicle, scared that the Hyena might make a meal of the camera bag and this meant my camera was back at the lodge!
I'm not going to write here what went through my mind next as I’m trying to keep it as clean as possible, but I think you can imagine what it was.
These Kudus were framed by the riverine bush on both sides of them, the sun as I said, giving their coats that special colour and there I was without my camera!
"OK, Mr. Murphy, you win, but hell, my luck can not get any worse" I thought to myself after the cursing for forgetting the camera ceased.
The Danes were merrily shooting away, they were as happy as pigs in dung.
"Maybe I must quickly turn back to camp and go fetch my camera" I thought. Then: "No, can't do that, it will interfere with the PAX's drive and you’re a guide, so you can't and besides after last night and this great photo opportunity here, how much better can it get? Surely old Murphy has proven his point by now? Surely it can't get any better, can it?" So I sat there in silence swearing at myself.
The Kudus eventually moved away and we continued crossing the sand and up the other bank.
Shortly after getting to the top of the bank, the road makes a sharp elbow to the right. As we were getting to the straight after this turn and into a tunnel formed by the riverine bush, we spotted a bushbuck ram standing in the middle of this tunnel in the middle of the road, right in front of us! Awesome as the sun painted him in that same golden hue as what it did with the Kudus!
"MURPHY!!!! You bastard!" I thought to myself again. "Hell shouldn't I just ask the PAX whether we couldn't quickly turn around so I could fetch my camera?" I thought again. "Hmmm, yes, and with Mr. Murphy playing all his cards against you, be sure that when you return, you will not see anything anymore" I told myself to soothe the disappointment.
The bushbuck looked as if he was posing before he gave a whistle and disappeared like a ghost into the bush.
"What now?" went through my mind as the bushbuck gave this whistle and dashed off. I looked down the pathway and there very calmly a Hyena was strolling down the road towards us. It came up to the tracker, sniffed his feet which he was trying to pull up and away from the Hyena. I had to calmly tell the poor guy to just sit still and I shared his stress as I could just imagine what it must feel like with that nose centimetres away from his feet, knowing that nose is attached to the strongest jaws in Africa on land. Finished with sniffing the trackers feet she calmly strolled to next to the vehicle and it looked as if she was counting the people at the back of the open vehicle which had no doors, before she continued on her way.
"Murphy, I don't think your a bastard any more" I thought to myself "I bloody know it!" as yet again this was prime photo opportunity.
The drive continued and just to check how far old Murph would take my run of bad luck, I told the tracker to point me in the way of where we got the leopard and rhinos the previous evening.
15 minutes later and he nearly jumped off the Landy's nose where he was sitting - there in all her glory, maybe a metre off the road was the rhino cow again!
Her calf was a little further away from us, but both of them were still very close and in a flat area with hardly any scrubs or anything else to obstruct the view (or photos if you had a camera with you!).
I looked around but couldn't see any sign of our little leopard.
"Phew! At least old Murphy is now busy ruining some one else's life, he's left me alone" I thought.
I now explained to the Danes where the name white rhino came from and what they eat etc, etc.
As I was talking to the PAX a little squirrel kept on screaming and eventually I got a bit irritated by it, as I wanted to talk softly to the PAX with the Rhino that moved closer to the vehicle, but this little guy was making it increasingly more and more difficult to do so. I gave up all hope of continuing the explanation and decided to let the Danes shoot their photos and to look why this guy was so upset...
What also bugged me was that I couldn't really tell the direction of his noise as it sounded as if he was in a hollow tin or drum or something and slightly above me so I knew this couldn't be right. Right?
WRONG! I must first describe to you exactly what the vegetation looked like where we were parked before continuing the story. To our left where the Rhinos were feeding was an open clearing and the grass was almost knee high. Further to the left and away from the Rhinos there was some scrub getting thicker further away from us. The vehicle's left rear corner was at a trunk of a dead Leadwood tree with the branches hanging towards the vehicle. On the right side of the vehicle, for let’s say 3 m, was very short grass before the scrub started and then it got to a woody riverine bush part.
Now, in this dead Leadwood tree, on one of the branches stretching towards the vehicle (without a roof) was my little friend from the previous evening - the reason for the squirrel screaming his little lungs out.
The PAX didn't see this, the tracker didn't see this, but for a couple of seconds I must have had pure fear written all over my face! I realised in an instant that if that branch moved more than 10 cm and the cub lost his footing he would tumble into the Landy in between the PAX!
I turned around to get out of there, but as I turned the old lady sitting directly behind me gave a shriek!
I completed my turn, but with that movement, as I was about to face forward my eye caught a huge dark thing!
Papa Rhino smelled at the opening next to me where there should have been a door on the side of the vehicle. I froze.
Had I start the vehicle he would get a fright and attack the vehicle, right there where my PAX were sitting with nothing to cover them and if I sat still, I had to pray that the Leadwood's branch was not flexible to bent over with the leopard's weight on it and that he won’t loose his footing.
"Oh, Lord, I don't ask for too much, but please, Oh please!" went through my mind.
"How fast can a Rheeno run?" asked the old lady in a husky voice.
"He's very calm, don't worry about him." I replied in a huskier voice, looking over my shoulder at her and the leopard cub trying to claw the squirrel out of the hollow branch slightly behind and above us.
I now only realised that a dead Leadwood and it's branches are not all that flexible, we were save and the cub would not fall into the vehicle, but most probably onto the cooler box carrier at the back of the vehicle.
Only now did I tell the Danes and the tracker about the leopard. All of them were in awe, this gave me the opportunity to collect my thoughts, calm down, get my breathing back to normal and make sure that there is no bad smells coming from my pants as I was sure I had filled them. Luckily I haven't, so everything was fine.
The cat eventually got tired of trying to scratch that over grown mouse out of the hollow branch and he sat looking at us. The Danes' cameras and video cameras were zooming in and out and snapping away like crazy! The tracker and I gave one another a look and I could see from his eyes that he now all of a sudden had a new admiration for me; little did he know how I nearly made a stink. He turned and looked around and I relaxed. The Rhino bull was slowly moving away towards the cow and the calf and everything returned to normal again, or so I thought!
"Eish, Albert, I so wanted to find this mpimpan's, mvasi" I told him over his shoulder as he sat looking slightly to the right and forward.
"Aye, you, you're another one, you said last night we'll find the mvasi this morning, now you have, but just like the Ingwe, you are also too much clever, why you didn't tell thees people of da mvasi?" he said as he turned to face me again.
"What do you mean; that one in the tree is the mpimpan." I answered not believing that he could make such a mistake.
"Ahh, you, you can't fool me, you know da mvasi shees right here next to you" He said with a knowing grin. I turned and there as true as the Bible, not 5 metres away from me in the scrub to my right was the female washing herself like a huge pussycat. I honestly didn't see her up until then, but then I thought, why should I spoil old Albert's fun? He believed that I was showing the PAX these animals in instalments. First the Rhino cow and calf that he found, and then the leopard cub in the tree and that I was waiting for the Danes to finish their photo shoot of these four animals before telling them about the female leopard. So why spoil his fun?
As I told the Danes and they turned to start their next photo shoot of her, she stood up and moved away to under a young tree where she hunched down and it looked as if she was going to start rasping. The movements she made were the same movements leopards always make when they start rasping, but she was silent. I watched in anticipation to hear her so close to us.
Silence….
Then she made a sound that sounded like a hic-up and the next moment a little spit and a fur ball jumped out of her mouth. I couldn't believe my eyes, just like a cat coughs up fur balls, she did the same, and this was my first time to see it!
Afterwards I thought to myself: "And why should leopards not cough up fur like cats do, are they not cats, do they not eat furry animals, stupid?"
She then scraped the ground, left her cub with us and silently disappeared into the riverine bush.
The cub in the mean time discovered that he no longer had all the attention focussed on him, that his mother was now the centre of attention, so he decided to liven things up again. He got out of the tree and was stalking the Rhino calf again where he was lying sleeping with his back towards us. Needless to say the Danes cameras were going at full speed again.
The cub was edging forward just like the previous night and again I wondered whether things are not going to get serious now and wouldn't he attempt to attack this little Rhino? The cow was feeding away on the short grass and the bull was looking very unhappy as she was completely ignoring him.
We sat there watching the leopard edging forward meter by meter and holding our breaths.
Then the bull spotted the leopard and moved forward towards him, to intercept him before he could reach the sleeping calf. With this sudden rush of the bull, the cow gave a huge squeal and turned to face the bull. The calf woke with a fright and jumped up! The bull stopped in his tracks as the cow was cutting him off from the calf, and it was clear from her attitude that she meant business.
The leopard stood up and this made him visible to the calf, which leapt forward lifting both his front feet as he hopped towards the leopard.
The cub reversed again, just like the previous night, with the calf coming forward. By now the cow was calm again and the bull came forward to where the two small ones were playing tag. He came with his head low and outstretched, smelling the leopard. The leopard hugged the ground again and then the bull turned away, as if he heard something as I saw him pricking his ears away from the leopard. I thought he heard the cow and didn't pay much attention to him.
The two little ones continued their playing again.
The “Oohs” and the “Ahhs” came thick and fast as these two played in the grass, the one coming forward, the other reversing and then changing it around again. This went on for more or less five minutes when all hell broke loose just to the left rear of the open vehicle, where the bull and cow rhino were busy feeding at the time. When we looked in that direction it soon became clear why the bull pricked up his ears some time before, two other adult rhinos were coming towards these two and us at full tilt, not stopping for anything in their path. The bull here at our vehicle’s side, rushed towards them to intercept and it looked as if he now meant business, big serious and violent business.
I told the PAX that the other two are most probably younger bulls and that's why this guy was so upset, but who knows we'll have to wait and see. His tail was tightly curled over his back and the bellowing sounds he made, made it pretty clear, he wanted these other two to get of his patch. 50 meters or so away from us, the three of them met and where I expected a huge collision with a hell of a thud, they all braked and stared one another down with all three bellowing and squealing in a terrible din.
The leopard cub disappeared, where to I really can't tell! The calf ran to his mother's side and she also started forward bellowing at the bull. He turned himself sideways facing these new two, which left his right flank open to the cow. She lurched forward and I expected her horn to tear away at his side. The old fellow cleverly side stepped her and in a flash the other two passed him and joined the cow. They squealed at one another like pigs in a mud pen, and then smelled one another and all of a sudden the three of them went quite, dropped their heads and started feeding as if nothing ever happened.
The bull snorted, gave a last bellow and started feeding a little way off from the foursome. It turns out that the other two were also a female and a sub-adult calf. He then started marking his territory by defecating, scraping with his hind legs in his dung and squirting the entire area with his urine. Boy I was glad that he rushed off and away from the vehicle when he started spraying everything! He then settled down and all of them fed peacefully.
By now the sun was beating down on us and I thought that everybody had enough of Rhinos, so we left them.
We drove passed another lodge's vehicle, guide, tracker and guests where the guide was looking at tracks outside his vehicle. The two trackers greeted one another and I hoped and prayed Albert wouldn't say anything about our leopard to these guys as we passed their tracks and at mud holes on route, I could clearly see that this guide was speeding like there was no tomorrow.
The other tracker told Albert that they were following a pride of lion's tracks but that they just couldn't get the lions. He also told Albert that it looked as if these lions were heading straight north and well out of anybodies reach. Before Albert could answer or tell them anything further I just greeted the other guys and passed them.
As we drove off I explained to Albert why I did it. I told him about the mud holes, the skid marks and that I don't want a cowboy to bugger up the leopard cub's trusting attitude, and not at this tender young age in any case. Albert said he understood as we left them behind.
We followed a little pathway leading south west, slowly curling in behind where we left this other vehicle as I thought to myself I would really want to see what this guy is doing and maybe I could pick up the lion tracks and work with them at my own pace. I also told Albert about two Ndulamithis (Giraffes) we saw the previous evening, one was lying down and that we were heading in the same direction.
The next moment old Mrs. Shriek behind me did the same thing - she shrieked again!
At that stage Albert was lying over the bonnet talking to me and I had to look to my right to follow the shoulder of this two track path to keep the vehicle in the road. I couldn't see over him, but as this lady shrieked I stopped. Albert sat up and his palm facing me which told me I did the right thing.
Right there in front of the vehicle, not 5 metres away from us in the middle of the road laid a male lion with three heads. That's what it looked like at first glimpse.
It was 3 lions all facing the same direction, so we could see one in full, then the one behind it laid slightly forward so we could only see the head and the third was slightly forward from the first two, hence one lion with 3 heads!
I wanted to get even closer so I put two wheels on the shoulder of the track and the other two off the track, in order for us to give them enough space to our right to settle down and not startle them.
Albert suddenly turned a pale grey as he shoved his palm into my face again, starring to the left.
Just centimetres away from him in some low quarry bushes were 3 lionesses starring him down and hating us for disturbing their peace. We parked and sat at these lions for 15 minutes before they started moving.
I cursed Murphy like he was never cursed before. I hated myself like I never hated myself before - MY CAMERA!
They were calm and relaxed and it took quite a while before one of the females broke away from her two sisters where the three of them were busy licking and cleaning one another. She moved out of Albert and my sight to the back of the vehicle. One of the others also moved in that direction. This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, as a lion you can't see at these close quarters can be a problem.
I moved the vehicle to where we could see all of them again. The first female urinated and her sister smelled the puddle. As she pulled her head up again she phlemened! Then the first female moved off again under a Marula tree that was pushed over by Elephants but that still had a lush growth of leaves after the last rains we had. We could hear her scratching around in there, but she was completely out of sight.
One of the males now also got up and smelled the puddle and he also phlemened. The Danes at first got a fright as with him being so close and showing his teeth, they must have thought that he was going to attack.
She appeared again from under the tree and moved off, following the two track pathway. The others followed her reluctantly.
As I was about to start the vehicle Albert again shoved his palm in my face.
"What now, I don't want to loose them, boet!" I was quick to reprimand him.
"Eish, we never saw the other mvasi!" was all he could get out!
Now at this stage I had lions all around the vehicle! Had we not been in the open safari vehicle, we could have been part of this pride of 7! The last female slowly got up from where she was like a carpet in the quarries. As she started to move, Albert and I both saw at once that she was hurt and highly irritable. Her right hind leg was kept in the air every now and again and on the hip itself, seeing her from the rear as she moved to follow the rest that was quickly disappearing from view down the path, we could see that the left hip was round and the right one looked dented. I'm not even going to try and speculate what the cause was all I know is that she was clearly not able to move as fast as the rest of the pride.
I also didn't want to get us in between her and the rest of the pride, as with her being so irritable, she may have just fancied a Dane for breakfast!
We waited a while and then slowly progressed down the path to pursue them.
Just another 100m or so and we saw her again, but the others disappeared as if they were never there.
We stuck to her tail to see what she was going to do and if she would manage to catch up to the rest of the pride.
While I was driving I told the Danes that lions usually don't look after their sick and injured, so the rest will most probably want to ditch her. These words of wisdom shared were just out when we spotted the other 6. They were 50m in front of the injured female. One of the large males turned around and waited for the injured one to get closer. I found this a bit peculiar but wrote it off to him hearing the vehicle and actually just turning around to see how far we were from them.
WRONG!
As she reached him, with us now closing the gap as we were still moving and they weren't, he passed her and came towards us, tail half way up and showing his teeth, ears drawn back.
Reality check for us! I stopped dead in the track.
She hopped passed him and he then slowly turned to follow her. He then played with her by tapping her sides with his paws as if to say: "Hurry up, babe; we don't want you to stay behind."
The others also stopped under an acacia tree and all of them eventually flopped down to rest.
Again one of the sisters disappeared to investigate some thick scrubs away from the group.
"Albert, that one is looking for a place to have her mpimpans" I dropped another pearl of wisdom.
"I also think so" he agreed.
The sun was pelting down on us and the pride looked as if they were going to stay put for the rest of the day, I could also hear the Danes' tummies rumbling behind me so I turned the vehicle around to take us back to camp. Back at camp we gobbled down a scrumptious breakfast that Herman prepared while everybody was watching him and they couldn't tell him fast and in detail enough about our morning drive. Herman just shook his head, he couldn't believe it all. Eventually one of the Danes flipped out his digital video camera and showed Herman the whole drive from the very first Kudu sighting to the lion pride! I had to stand close and give my input as the Dane said he forgotten half of what I told them as he was so intent on getting the shots that he didn't really listen.
"A-hole!" I thought to myself, "You know how badly I wanted my own camera!" but I just patiently stood there and looked at his video clips.
After breakfast we left for the K.N.P and we entered at Kruger gate. As always old Patience in the office was as friendly as they come and her welcoming smile made me think that today we may have better luck in the Park.
I decided on doing river road (the first gravel road turning off to the right as soon as you are through the gate), then the river link road, which turns off to the left 5 km down river road, and then turn right on Diospane (S1 tar road) towards Phabeni gate. I would then turn on to the Albasinni (gravel road more or less 3-5 km away from the gate) to head down to Numbi gate. The first Impalas we saw were just before the turn off onto the Diospane. Then we were lucky enough to get a small herd of Burchell's (or is it Savannah now) Zebras on the Diospane. These were the first Zebras these people ever saw so we spent some time with them. I explained the stripes, the camouflage, the bacteria they have in their guts etc, etc. I then gave them time to just take photos without me sharing information. It was during this quite time that I sat thinking at their arrogance back at the camp when we left this morning. As a tip they gave Albert a box of Melrose cheese wedges from the previous day's breakfast that they didn't want and have forgotten on the vehicle! I thought this was a bloody insult to both Albert and I but "nou ja" we don't work for the tips, I just feel that if you don't want to tip - then don't! Don't insult us after we worked our backsides off with something pathetic like that. The Zebras moved off and we moved on along the planned route. From there onwards we only saw Impalas here and there and the Danes had no interest in these creatures anymore - they were spoiled rotten by the previous sightings we had. We left the Park and I took them back to the lodge where I dropped them off. They got out of the vehicle and told the owner of this lodge that they thought I was the best thing since Danish cheese. They greeted me by the hand and then they turned and left, with all their photos and video clips. When they were gone the owner came to me and asked me whether I knew who I was travelling with? I didn't. I'm not going to splash it here, but let me just tell you guys, these people had money coming out of their ears, plus then some. But no, I didn't receive a single cent as a tip either!
But let me tell you guys this - this was one of my best tours yet, it also taught me a valuable lesson; never go without your CAMERA and when and if I get a couple of Rand together again, I'll definitely buy myself that Canon 400D!
So, if you know of anyone wanting to go on a trip with a guide, who is able to pay for his (the guide's) services, I'll arrange that we'll stay at the camp and I'll pray we find my little friend again. Only this time I'll pack my camera too!
previous travel blog entry
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