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)

So, then end of my stay at Kwa Tuli is almost here: I leave for South Africa on Monday.
Its been a great 6 weeks – lots of animals and some great people (including Trigger, I guess ;^))
the weather has dried but also got colder as winter arrives – the good news is we see herds of ellies daily now – and we get charged on a pretty regular basis too! We’re also getting the ellies in the camp at night now…which is OK so far (its unlikely they squash ourt tents…I’m told)

saw my first snake (a puff adder) yesterday …not sure how the guide knew the sexuality preference, but heyho! quite a few Wildebeest lately and more raptors too.

on the way to town today to get spare for the Landie which is broken at the mo, we saw a donkey carcass at the side of the road getting demolished by about 50 vultures…nice. then the engine on the Hi-lux just about failed too (a main bearing has picked up so its DAMNED noisy now!)…maybe the vehicles dont want me to leave???

well, this is my 2nd visit to town (3 hr drive today) so heres a bit of an update:
we are located at 22.39857 degrees South, 28.95346 degrees East. About 1km inside the Botswana/South Africa border
the camp is a permanent fixture on the banks of the Limpopo river – there are 6 ex-army tents all on 2ft thick concrete bases, then theres a concrete kitchen, concrete scullery and a thatched boma bbq (braai) area for chilling
every day except Sunday we drive around the conservation area either doing game counts or monitoring specific animals. We also spend a lot of time trying to spot leopards!
…basically, the conservation area is unfenced (unlike most game reserves) so the animals wander thru as the like and are ‘proper wild’ we see Impala, elephants (ellies) Kudu, warthogs, jackals, ostrich etc. on a daily basis as we drive around on a ‘safari LWB Landrover’
Ive had mixed pickings with photos but things are improving, pertickly as the rains have stopped now so othere are many more hers here (we have permanent water spings on the project)
Yesterday we saw a leopard (named George)..my FIRST!!! he was sitting on a koppie (rocky hill) watching us. Weve followed him and AJ and a female leopard LOADS of times, but they outsmart us each time…even when we did a night drive/sleepout to a carcass of a Kudu that AJ had just killed (nice maggots!)
its 30 degrees during the day, but down to 20 at night (its autumn/winter here) and very sunny all the time (one day I might show you my white bits). there were 10 sudents for my firt 2 weeks (mainly gap year 18 yr olds) but most have moved on now, so theres only 5 now with an average age of about 30 (from 18 to 39….Ive told everyone I’m 32)
I passed my tracker test, so I can sit in the hot seat on the bonnet of the Landie during drives, spotting the various animals (you wouldnt believe how hard it is to spot ellies at times…and a xouple of weeks ago we LOST a herd of about 30!!!! (no, it wasnt my fault!)
we get animals walking around our tents at night…whic is ….interesting – last night we had a single ellie just along from out tents – it wont be long before they are walking thru (which they have done in the past!)
We also drive to a nearby place called Lekkerpoet which has Cheetahs and Lions in it…again, LOADS of tracks but not spotted any yet
I cant begin to tell you how good Tuli is…if you have kids – send them (make sure THEY pay) or if you can afford the time, then come here!
photos at http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o36/chuggys/botswana/