| The month started off with just two of us
and Adriana arrived a week later. It has been interesting here with lots
of different things to see. We were lucky in the first week to be able to
watch Waterbuck, Gemsbok and Zebra being released on the neighbours game
reserve. We have been on a few nature walks since we have been here and
they are very educational and interesting. We have learnt different tracks
of different animals and studied carnivore and herbivore pooh.
The warthog seems to be Wayne’s favourite animal as he
knows and tells us so much about them. They have poor eyesight, and when
they run they stick their tails straight up in the air. Warthogs are very
funny animals to watch and as there are loads of them here, we can see
them regularly.
In the second week we went to Addo Elephant Park where
the elephants and their babies walked right up to our car. We also saw
Buffalo and Ostrich for the first time there. We went on another nature
walk and this was mainly for vegetation and tracks. We have learnt about
odd- and even-toed ungulates, ruminants (cows and almost all antelopes)
and non-ruminants. We went to Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival
but didn’t really get to see much as we were too busy eating a delicious
pizza from Debonnaires.
For the third week we were joined by Charlotte, Emma and
Mathew. They were here for the 1-week Bush Survival course. It was good to
have some more fresh young faces here as there is only so much three
people can talk about! The bush survival course was fun as it was mainly
practical field exercises and we made fire with sticks, which we have only
ever seen happen on TV. Although Adriana and Charlotte (the only two
non-English) failed, the rest made fire. We also built our own shelter,
which Wayne said was the best one he has ever seen yet.
At the end of the week we learnt how to collect water
from plants and make a snare to catch our food. One of the days we went to
Shamwari Game Reserve where we saw 2 deformed lion and a couple of
leopards, these were at the Big Cat Born Free Sanctuary. In Shamwari we
saw wild lions, hippo, fish eagles, a secretary bird, black and white
rhino and a black-backed jackal. We followed a family of lions for a short
while in the jeep and saw the importance of their hierarchy in the pride.
On the 31st of July we have another 2 people arriving so
we have much needed company to look forward to, which means the peace will
only last another week!
|
.
+44 01903 502595
