Elephants, petrol and beer

Stumbled out of bed at 5.30 for much needed coffee and out on the trail at 6.  Pretty cold in the mornings and nights this time of year in South Africa, even when not at altitude – then again, it is winter … and given it was 4 degrees when I flew out of Christchurch, I’m really not complaining.  It’s still mid-20′s during the day after all!  The wind blowing through me plus the sheer variety of game certainly woke me up pretty quickly – the highlight definitely being a very large herd of elephant gathered around a waterhole, including one old bull with huge tusks.  Even Vic said she’d never seen an elephant with tusks that size, and she’s been working on game parks in Africa for a few years now.

We were hopeful of seeing a leopard after Elvis (our tracker) spotted some tracks and headed away into the undergrowth, but due to problems with the walkie talkie he had to give up the search.  Not being able to get hold of him did make us wonder if Elvis had left the building … permanently.  Thankfully not!  Wasn’t an issue though – we had still seen so much in such a short time, plus there’s a decent chance we’ll see leopard in Phinda.  Back to the lodge for a spectacular breakfast, equally spectacular shower and checkout.  Had some moments of fun on the way to Orpen Gate to go back into the Kruger – nothing better than the ‘range’ option on your speedo telling you that there’s 0km of petrol left in the tank when you’re driving through leopard country with spotty cellphone coverage!   Made it safely to the gate and petrol pump however, so I’m still here to tell the story.  The rest of the afternoon consisted of driving back through the park to get back to Flippie’s parent’s place before the gates closed at nightfall – didn’t have too much time to stop but we did pause at a massive baobab tree (known as the upside-down tree for obvious reasons…) and were very lucky to find a white rhino grazing by the side of the road not long before we left the park.  Had a few beers while driving through the park and a few more once we got back to the house – plus braai of course.  Also had the chance to meet Flippie’s uncle who is a well known conservationist and artist, and who had been in the park signing copies of his new book (Lebombo Journals – his memoirs) which I ended up buying a copy of.  Loving this lifestyle … I never want to work again!  Luckily I can keep pretending for another few months – hard to believe that I’ve only been on the road for just over a week, when already it feels like forever!  Comes from doing so much with each day I guess – exhausting but just so incredibly rewarding.  And I guess that sums up the reason why I keep doing this …