We woke up to the baboons arguing about something, not the most peacefull way to start the day and I definitely prefer the Pearl Spotted Owls but I think Caron prefers the baboons for some unfathomable reason. We are starting to really get into the swing of things and everyone was ready to roll well before 07:00 so we left spot on 07:00. I was very sorry to leave Shilowa campsite, I could really see myself spending a few days here under the shady trees in the bend of the dry river with nice hills nearby to climb.
Today was the day we started to see Baobabs which are a truly
iconic Southern African tree and the first one we stopped at was about
300 years old and it turns out that the elephants really like to eat the
tree and in the photograph below the big hole into which Tony and
Cheryl have climbed is the result of the elephants. Some of the Baobabs
that we saw had been gnawed all the way around which for most trees
would have been a death sentence but the Baobab is special in that kind
of way.
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| Elephant damage. Photo courtesy of Caron. |
There had been a family living at this particular trees location up until about 1960 even though the park was proclaimed in 1926 before they were evicted during the Apartheid era so I am sure that this forms part of a land claim by either themselves or their descendants.
After yesterdays tyre and the previous days caravan sage I was wondering what was in store for us today but, thankfully, today there were no untoward incidents and the driving was really easy. Mostly sandy tracks with the occasional steep rocky ascent or descent.
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| Photo courtesy of Caron |
The next Baobab that we stopped at was
absolutely huge, it is estimated at about 1000years old but it was on
the Mozambican side of the fence with a very enticing hole in the fence
just where it needs to be. Nobody dared to actually go over because,
apparently according to Edward, the Mozambican authorities have got wind
of tourists crossing the border illegally and have been known to lie in
wait for the unwary tourst and arresting them for illegal entry. It
doesn't sound like anyone actually went to jail for this but it does
sound like it was an expensive exercise to avoid any jail time. It all
looked perfectly peaceful and quiet on the other side but one never
knows; anyway we were happy to just take our photo's from the South
African side of the fence.
Shortly after the Baobab we bumped
into an armed anti-poaching patrol looking for tracks of people entering
from mozambique to poach Rhino, Elephant or Lions for profit or
anything else just to eat. One has to feel some kind of sympathy for
those poaching to survive but for those engaging in it for profit, not
so much. A couple of days ago we had come across what looks like a
heavy rubber blanket just left in the middle of the road and apparently
what the rangers do is to hook that up to the back of a bakkie and drive
the border road effectively sweeping it which makes any tracks of
poachers really stand out and once they have the tracks they can find
the poachers. Caron takes quite a hard line against poachers which is
apparently shared by the anti-poaching patrol. We thanked them for
their service and shared some droe-wors with them which I am sure they
enjoyed later on.
After that, it was miles and miles of Mopane
which is apparently not Tony's favourite environment. I do have to
agree as it does get a little monotonous but driving from south to north
we can see the vegetation and the animals changing along with the
vegetation. For instance, grazers most stick to the soet (sweet) veld
whereas the browsers or those that both graze and browse wander over the
suur (sour) veld as well so the areas of suur veld appear to have fewer
animals around. Of course proximity to water is also a significant
determining factor as to how many animals one sees so there are long
stretches when one really doesn't see much wildlife due to the grazing
being poor and far away from water sources.
We had a break at
Shingwedzi Rest camp which is fine if looking a little tired and had a
great sighting of a Bateleur on the ground which, it turns out, isn't an
eagle. Seeing her on the ground is quite unusual and it is surprising
how powerfully built she is. We also say some yellow-billed storks
which was a first for us and with the water pools still in the
Shingwedzi river there was loads of game in the area. In quite a short
space of time we say Elephants, buffalo, crocodiles, nyalas, kudu and of
course, the ubiquitous impala.
Arrived at our final camp at
around 15:30 which was great as it meant that we had some time to relax
in the shade of the trees which weren't quite as nice as the one's we
left behind at Shilowa but shady enough. It was a really hot afternoon
and my temperature gauge in the car briefly touched 47 deg. centigrade
but I have a feeling that it is over-reading by at least a few degrees
as nobody else saw 47 deg; they were all down in the low 40's.
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| Photo courtesy of Caron. |
For
supper we had pasta while everyone else braai'd and this sharing a fire
and just grabbing a shovel full of coals when one needs them really
works well. With it being the last night everyone brought out the
delicacies that they had been saving like the "Salmon Roulade" shared by
Therese and Pieter which went down extraordinarily well. We ended up
in the middle of the group around the camp fire and had a very pleasant
conversation with Amanda and Jonathan who is now really starting to come
out of his shell. While we were busy snacking on all the delicacies we
were invaded by the fancolins who are VERY habituated wanting their
fair share of the food.
The campsite was unusual in that it had
what Edward referred to as stingless bees which no anti-mozzie/fly
ointment or prevention has any effect on. The only known method is to
take a branch with some leaves and fan one's self which feels a bit 19th
century so there we were with most people fanning away furiously but
for some reason they just didn't bother me.
After a nice warm
shower we were off to bed a little worried that after the very hot day,
the night may be uncomfortably warm as well.
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| Nyala. Photo courtesy of Amanda |
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