Winding up the Kruger Park, Days 3 and 4

this is the continuation of this story.

Day three started early with the face-wash and the shuffle to the campfire for coffee and rusks. We discussed the morning’s walk with Steve and soon we were all bundled into the vehicle about to set out to the starting point for our walk. The air at 5:50am is quite chilly and we were all bundled up against the open air-conditioning that we so enjoyed the previous day. Arriving at the spot saw us wasting no time in donning our packs and heading off into the bush.The days walking was far more pleasant than Day 2 with us mostly following game trails and no ankle breaking rocks and not too many shin-snagging thorn bushes. The first big game we happened upon was a lone giraffe who had heard this troop of city slickers from a mile off and regarded us with a bemused long lashed expression that only a giraffe can give. Whenever we got too close for his liking he simply loped off a short distance turned around and fixed us with his interested look.

It was while playing bush tag with the giraffe that great excitement ensued, the ranger and Chris had seen lion a short way off but they were alert to our presence and disappeared into the bush. So perfectly camouflaged is the king of the animals that in all reality he could have been hiding a few meters away and we’d have missed him. We hot-footed in the general direction of the sighting but could only find a few tracks, confirmation of his fleeting presence.Retracing our steps we carried on along the game path and came across two rhino males fast asleep and oblivious to us. We were downwind of them so they were unable to smell us and even at 80 meters the decidedly myopic rhino would probably not see us. Of little comfort however was the bush, little more than a shrub actually, which provided us some shelter from being seen by a few tons of armored animal. Steve had reassuringly told us that morning that should we be told to climb a tree we should forthwith and without haste reconnect with the simian aspects of our heredity and scoot up as fast as we were able; great advise in a landscape with few trees able to support the weight of nine terrified men. So it was with much heart thumping when Steve whistled out loud and Mr. Rhino leapt to his feet and whirled to look at us; actually I got the impression he was squinting and couldn’t really see us but still.

Adrenaline levels upped a little when the rhino started pawing the ground and giving every indication of a morning charge in our general direction – they really are very very big up close and personal and I was left with no doubt that being run over by an angry rhino would be the comparison equivalent of me standing on a mulberry – very squishy, red and with lots of leaking juices. Eventually Able made some nasal-guttural noises which the rhino took offence to and the two of them thundered off in the opposite direction.

We then made for the riverine area and passed a few lone bull elephants. I quickly stepped off the path and was able to take this picture of a dry tree stump before the group realised I had wandered off with my camera again and the march was called to a halt while I fiddled with my exposure – I was really feeling self conscious about this by now. I love the textures and colours of this shot.

As we approached the river, Steve and Able would stop from time to time to survey the bush ahead for signs of game and danger.

The walk along the river was very interesting from a plant biodiversity point of view and it is incredible how much life packs in next to the little pockets of water. We came across a bleached skull which really highlighted for me how the bush, however beautiful and wonderful to visit, is actually a harsh environment where animals are fighting a constant battle for their survival. The protrusions from the horns are made by a boring [not as in yawn] moth that makes tiny holes in the horn and lays it’s eggs. The larvae are one of the two animals able to digest the chitin in the horn and the structures are formed from their chitinous excrement as they fight their way out. The other animal able to digest chitin is the crocodile; able to process hooves and horns and all manner of sharp poky bits that would otherwise interrupt the digestion of a fine meal.

The last photo in this morning set is that of the majestic and very funny coloured Fever Tree. Early settlers in South Africa would make camp in the refreshing coolness of riverine areas such as the one we found ourselves in; these areas are home to the Fever Trees. The other critter that really likes pools of river water in these parts is the Anopheles mosquito which carries the dreaded blood parasite which causes malaria. The settlers fell foul to the mozzies but never made the connection to the malaria and their heinous malady was blamed instead on the sick looking trees. The Fever Trees are covered in a fine greenish-yellow powder which brushes off like pollen; Steve told us that it was this powder that was blamed for the ‘fevers’. One more bit of tree trivia is that the fever tree has a very interesting way of excreting toxins. It will pick a low lying limb and somehow funnel all toxins to that limb. The branch then turns black, withers and dies and the rest of the tree flourishes. If you look at a larger version of the picture below by clicking on it you will easily be able to see the black limbs.

We returned to the vehicle and made our way back to camp for a sumptuous brunch of egg, bacon, sausage, toast, oven corn bread and cold beer.

After lunch the horns were out as the Marketos brothers battled it out for supremacy of the chess board. They and they alone have somehow managed to turn chess into a spectator sport.

At 3pm the drum called us out of our post-prandial lethargy and we were off again, this time to another riverine area where we were to have the most invigorating and terrifying experience of our trip.The walk was progressing beautifully, the air off the water was cool however I was a little concerned that due to the density of the bush growing near the river you could quite literally walk slap bang into an elephant. However these little niggles did not diminish the scenic beauty of the surrounds and I was able to take some lovely tree pictures – the picture below is a rock fig, perfectly adapted with flattened roots to cling to its rocky perch.

Now before I describe the incident that followed let me tell you about Steve. Steve was a very knowledgeable ranger who’s unflappable demeanor was a source of great calm to seven skittish city boys. He had been in a lot of interesting and dangerous situations which he described with humour to us around the camp fire. Steve had seen action, Steve knew what to do in any situation.Hence when the bush to our left literally erupted and I looked up to see unflappable Steve sprinting towards us, cocking the monster rifle and yelling for us to run I could have quite happily wet myself. I am pleased to say that this undignified event did not occur and the nine of us took to some pretty nifty high-speed sprinting. I dare say you would be hard pressed to find a trained athlete able to outpace our adrenaline soaked sprint for life. As the bull hippo got to the top of the bank where we had been standing moments before it paused and turned intent I’m sure of a little of the afore-mentioned mulberry squishing – thankfully Steve took this time to chamber a round in the rifle and the metallic sound of metal caused him to reconsider and rush off in the opposite direction.

When the rushing of blood in the brain had died down somewhat there was the definite joviality and back-slapping that can only come when manly-men have had a brush with big angry animals and the distinct possibility of grievous mortal harm. We continued on along the river in a somewhat less blase’ manner and the top spot directly behind the rangers, the coveted position for game spotting was now somewhat vacant with a lot of good-mannered ‘Please you go firsts …”.

A short time later we happened upon three even bigger hippo in a pool ahead, our path meandered directly past the pool and the big male made it quite clear that he was low on mulberry-fun and stood his ground, fixing us with a glare that dared us to attempt to come any closer. We took a collaborative decision that we’d had quite enough of near death experiences for one day and cut across the river circling back round to the vehicle.

We then drove to a wonderful sundowner spot where we could soak up the setting sun across a vista as far as the eye could see. Anthon and I took our tripods along and had a great time snapping the wonderful sunsets.

On the drive back to camp we did some night time game spotting and were lucky enough to see a hyena, a civet, a serval and two huge porcupines. We also drove past and then stopped and watched a lone bull elephant peacefully eating not more than 10 meters from the car.The evening after dinner was spent around the camp fire once more with some port and a smattering of pure malt whisky. As the conversation died away once more the sound of the fire became a mesmerizing focus to the blackness beyond and all sorts of night creatures going about their business. We drifted off to bed.

I was up early the next morning to take some pictures of the sunrise and after breakfast we were taken back to Skukuza and said sad farewells to our guides.

We took a slow meandering drive out of the park and I was able to take these last few pictures.

The Kruger Walk provides memories that will last me a lifetime, it is a special time in a special place with special people. I’d recommend it to anyone over the canned-game experiences so often touted as an authentic bush experience.It was incredible!

Technorati Tags: South Africa , Kruger Park , Nature , Bush , Bushveld , Trees , Animals , Wildlife , Photography , Elephant , Hippopotamus , Hippo , Sunset , Water , Campfire

Unwinding in the Kruger Park, Days 1 and 2

The last two years running I have been fortunate enough to do a 3 day walking trail in the Kruger National Park and find the time to step away from cell phones, meetings, traffic and the rat-race in general. These walks provide me much opportunity for friendship, enjoyment, introspection and re-connecting with nature and my place within it. The Kruger Park is an immense wildlife sanctuary in South Africa where game roams free and wild and the natural order prevails; it is roughly the size of Wales and covers nearly 19,000 square kilometers. We drove up to Kruger on Wednesday and entered through the Malelane gate near the bottom of the park. From there we took a slow 2 hour drive up to Skukuza camp where we were to meet the rangers who were to take us the final leg of our journey into the private wilderness areas to Metsie Metsie and our bush camp for the next few days.

The rangers, Steve and Abel, arrived with a big open top Nissan and loaded all our belongings into a trailer and we set out for a scenic one and a half hour drive to Metsie Metsie. A short distance into the wilderness area, where the general public is not allowed, we happened upon this herd of buffalo next to the road. On the whole they were pretty chilled and watched us cautiously, kicking up clouds of dust as they jostled around. There were two buffalo that amused me no end as seen in the picture below, the one on the left just looked old and grumpy and fixed us with a drop-dead Walter Mathau stare while the one on the right was more content with chewing his cud and seemed content to watch the car full of excited pink primates.

We also saw giraffe, elephant and the ever pervasive Impala.

We arrived at our bush-camp which consisted of 4 A-frame sleeping huts raised off the floor away from night-prowlers, snakes and scorpions; a thatched boma where we would eat our main meals, a camp fire area, a kitchen unit with fridge to keep the beers cool, ablution facilities and a bird/game hide overlooking a river and game trail.

As we were driving in through the gates we all noticed one lone hut nearest the gate and quite isolated from the rest of the camp and for some reason this was nicknamed broke-back hut to much hilarity. As the car stopped there was a mad dash by all to not end up being the two sleeping in broke-back hut and thus Chris and I found ourselves carrying out stuff out to ‘broke-back’; this ended up being a theme of much ragging and good humour for the remainder of the stay. After unpacking we settled in around the fire and watched the sun float gently down to the horizon; dinner was served and we retired back to the campfire. I am always over-awed by how loud almost total silence can be; The only sounds after the banter had died down was the pop and crackle of the wood as it was consumed in a quiet roar of heat, the occasional call of nearby hyena and the splintering of trees as the great lone bull elephants foraged in the darkness. The orange flicker of the flames becomes your entire universe, the stresses and importance of modern life suddenly seem a million miles away. Bruce Bryden said it best in his wonderful book A Game Ranger Remembers:

“Imagine you’re sitting somewhere in the Kruger National Park a little after nightfall, and enjoy the stories. Everybody knows that the best ones are told around a campfire, when the world is bounded by the flickering edges of the fire’s light and you sit on a rickety folding chair, wriggling toes that are sore from a day’s walking, your well-worn jersey keeping the cold away from your sweated-out body, a can of ice-cold beer sending frissons down your face as you roll it against your forehead. That’s when the good tales come creeping out, while the night creatures sing their unforgettable accompaniment from somewhere out in the great darkness that falls so swiftly over Africa when each day’s sun has set.”

The next morning we were woken at 5:30 by the banging of an African drum and Abel bringing a wash basin with hot water to the front of each hut. After a quick face wash we all met round the camp-fire as the first light of day painted the sky in beautiful gradients of colour; A cup of coffee and a rusk and then we set offon our first mornings walk.

The walk took us up alongside a mostly dry river, small pools of water had collected in little pools where wither the clay soil permitted excellent water retention or where natural springs fed the pools. Bounded on both sides by rock walls we followed the river’s contour up to the big pools where hippo had taken sanctuary from the dryness of winter. The river bed itself was fascinating in it’s rock formations and plant life; the wonderful diversity of rocks made me wish that I’d taken Geology as a subject in university.

In due course our guides brought us to a halt and said that we were getting to the hippos and we should proceed quietly and in single file. We saw the pool from a distance and had circumvent the pool to a viewing point above and the the back of a pool, where a sheer rock wall provided us a safe vantage point to view these magnificent animals. The pool itself was muddy and covered in a frothy scum, the hippos seemed perfectly happy and would break the surface of the scum to look at us, wave their tiny ears and then plunge with much exaggeration and puffing back beneath the water.

After about half an hour of watching the hippo we set out again and we were immediately greeted by a beautiful green pool so out of character with the rest of the surroundings as to be startling; the green colour was due to an algae growing in the water. The water between the algae looked clean, more so than the muddy grime of the hippo pool and it was this that that our guide said lured many animals to drink at pools like this and then ultimately perish. The algae apparently causes the water to become toxic, a death-sentence to any person or animal drinking from it.

A steep and intense climb out of the river and up the side of the mountain brought us breathless and pouring perspiration to our morning breakfast spot. Breakfast was at about 9am and consisted of provita, cheese, dried fruit, cold boerewors (spiced sausage) and fruit juice. It was a nice little spot in the shade with a view.

The rest of the walk was in the fierce heat of the day, the sun was relentless and the terrain quite difficult ranging in extremes from ankle-breaking rocks to soft river sand. Walking along the river we came to an enormous boulder sitting like a giant in the middle of nowhere; Paul didn’t pass up an opportunity for a little climbing practice.

An interesting bit of bug-lore belonged to the communal web spiders that bind leaves together to make their dwellings. Hundreds to thousands of these little spiders then live inside these structures safe from the fierce heat of day and emerge to hunt in the evening. Steve told us that small birds sometimes get caught in the webs and fall foul to a thousand tiny bites.

By 11:30 we were all thankful to be back at the vehicle for a short drive back to camp; Steve put the windscreen of the vehicle down which provided wonderful cooling air for our ride home. On our return to camp we were fortunate in having two elephant coming to drink near the hide. We sat and watched them, sipping cold beer and cool drinks, until lunch was served. The one elephant seemed in a jolly mood and let loose with all 40kg’s of erect elephant penis. We watched in awed silence as he proceeded to waggle it around and scratch his belly with it.

After a feast of a brunch we all retired to a sleepy siesta out of the sweltering heat. The drum went at 3:30pm and it was time to head out again. After another short drive we came to a watering hole with a large reservoir about 100m to the left of it. Elephants started emerging silently from the bush to drink. Elephants are apparently quite fussy about the quality of their water and the larger ones would poke their trunks over the top of the reservoir, fill them with nice clean water and squirt it into their mouths. We were quite unprepared for the size of the elephant herd coming to drink and they numbered anywhere from 50 – 80 elephants. There were a number of babies in the herd and the females accompanied them down to the water where they drank and then wallowed in the mud.

One of the babies was very curious about a lone crocodile at the far side of the watering hole and crept round for a better look. He tried on a number of times to get close to the croc but each time his ear-flapping nerve failed him and he was forced to retreat. It all came to a head when on the final attempt he got too close and the croc opened his cavernous maw; this proved too much for the baby ellie who made a hasty retreat back to the safety of the herd.

I was fortunate enough to have my tripod with me and was able to take a number of really nice sunset pictures and capture the slow unhurried return of the now-satiated elephants back to the sanctuary of the bush.

We returned to camp after the sun had fully set and given sway to the silent blackness of night. We had a wonderful dinner and retired to the warmth and comfort of the campfire where we sat initially sipping port,talking and joking and then slowly conversation ebbed away and a peaceful stillness settled over us as we watched the flames and the majestic stars in their full splendor turned slowly overhead. Dennis had brought his telescope with him and earlier we were lucky enough to see the binary stars of Alpha Centauri and Jupiter and 4 of its moons. We all soon drifted off to bed, foot sore and weary but looking forward to another day of adventure. (days 3 and 4 to follow ..\)

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