BootsnAll Travel Blogs

so, once Charlie had left – in good health!- I was left in command (!) of Koro camp – fools!

beginningwith 10 students, the numbers dropped as the ‘season’ drew to a close, though there was still ots of time for a lot of funa dn some close encounters with ellies!:

one day whilst walking around Stickinyau (sp?) we wandered down towards a spring and found a leopard which had just come up FROM the spring! ..the leopard ran from us so we followed as quick as we could, sadly although we KNOW we were close, we never saw it again

We also found a Kudu Bull carcass, which we tied to the back of teh Landie and drageed up to the Rockies, hoping to lure a predator onto it…sadly there wasno sign over the next few days as the carcass got flattened by maggots.

We also tried to have a sleepout on Halloween: the idea was o stay near the Baobabs nr. Boundary koppie. W set camp and built a fire, started cooking and were generally in great spirits as we watched an electric storm in the distance. Then a Parabutha scorpion appeared and then just as I was about to sit on my rol mat and eat, another 2 appeared! … after all thehubbub and a nice meal we realised that the storm was almost on us! …we packed camp quick as a flash and started to rive off as the first pitterpatter of rain hit us. I volunteered to sit on the tracker seat and as we returned to camp the rain hit us BIG style!!!….. we got lashed by wind and rain as the trees lost branches and leaves and dust and debris flew EVERYWHERE!!!… it was mayhem, but a lorra fun!!

over the next few days we had regular bouts of storms, which drencehed some of the tents and drenched us! ……quite a change and the first time Ive seen the rains here!

Eventually, Toby, Frenchie and Maria left and the camp was quiet.

Stuart and I set to the maintenance of the Landie (new driveshafts, oil,  etc.) and the Hilux (new driveshafts and seals) then we did some general maintenance -pretty busy time for us, whilst Christoph and Katy were busy sorting the camp too.

Annelein left for the familys farm in the middle of the works and eventually me and Stuart followed her down

a couple of days later and I was back at the airport saying goodbyes again 8(

…hopefuly it wont be long till I see them all again  8)

update 26th June Well, as I now get the keys to the Landie, I can drive folks around (well kind of: I get to drive the students up to meeting points with Stuart) its kind of entertaining as theres quite a few ellies around again now…we got charged the other day: firstly we got ambushed – an ellie had pushed a tree down over the road, we got out to try and move the tree but then the ellie appeared so we had to jump back in the landie and wait for it to disappear again. Then after driving another couple of hundred metres, I spotted a small ellie at the side of the road, eating a tree…it was too young to be on its own, so we hung about and waited. soon the Matriarch came thru the bush and was cutting off my escape route along the road, so as it approached I quickly drove off along the road, past it – at which point it trumpetted (so loudly that Stuart who was a good 1/4 mile away heard it) and gave chase. As we escaped we drove past teh rest of the herd which was hiding in the bushes where the young ‘un had been!!

lots of fun eh?

Ive been asked to help out at Tuli, so I’m back in Botswana again!!!

basically Charlie the co-ordinator has visa problems so in the short term, I’m working as student co-ordiantor in the camp

its nice to be back and see Stuart and Anna-lein again – nice group of students here too it seems (apart from the fact that theyre mostly giggly girls) Its interesting to see how much its changed here: much drier and less leaves etc on the bushes, but same old Tuli non the less. The ellies are just returning and theres loads of leopard prints (again) though nowts been seen (again!)

more info laterz

well, we're travelling again flew from Ncl to Heathrow to Joburg, SA (loooong flight) and then car up to 'Alldays) a small town in Northern South Africa, then another car to Botswana. we're just inside the Botswana border in a conservation project ... [Continue reading this entry]