BootsnAll Travel Blogs

Israel! The Holy Land Crusade….
Well, I was bored in the UK, and Shir had wetted my appetite for a trip to the Holy Land, so on 28th March I flew from Manchester airport to Tel Aviv!
After getting the 3rd degree from the immigration police, I was met in the airport by Shir and Eli (her partner) a quick ride into Tel Aviv proper in Eli’s works Hilux (its the same the whole world over!) and we arrived at their apartment in Givatayim.
For the first 4 days I spent my time wandering the streets of Tel Aviv and nearby Jaffa, chillin and checking the coffee shops. Of course there was also time for Falafel, Shawarma, Lafa, Shabish, Schnitzel, beer and playing pool
Tel Aviv is a typical Mediterranean city with plenty of high rise and a bit of history – and great beaches. Jaffa is the city joining it which has much more history in the buildings and coastline. It also has a great flea market – the way flea markets SHOULD be!
The only issue is the cost of everything! ….very expensive for food and drink (including coffee)
On the Shabbat before I left TA, we had Jachnoon (jachnun?) rolled bread with green and red chilli dip and brown eggs (eggs, still in the shell cooked for a loooong time, till they go brown inside) VERY nice! (so good I had them again on 2 more Shabbats)
then I rented a car from Hagar …was supposed to be a little Getz, but it wasn’t ready …so they asked me if I wanted a Lancer instead! …errrrrr…. difficult one, that 😉
Off I went: I went East past the top of Jerusalem and then down the side of the Dead Sea, stopping at Qumran to see a little of the caves (theres not much to see there, truth be known) then down to En Gedi, where I slept in a sleeping bag at the beach. A good nights sleep ended at 6:30 when I jumped out of ‘bed’ and into the dead sea ..how odd! ..you float so high, its really difficult to swim or even move properly! …and dont go in if you have any cuts…or BLISTERS! …they HURT!
Once dried, I was of in the car heading South ….stopping at Massada -the ancient temple and fort where you can see the Roman seige machine (camps and an enormous ramp up against the side of the ‘mountain’) I climbed the mountain (OK, I walked up) and was completely knackered by the time I got to the top. But it was worth it – fabulous place with history oozing at you.
I got the cable car back down again, when I was finished 🙂
to finish the day I headed further south to Neve Zohar, where I arranged a room for the night.
Next day and up early again, heading north this time past the sea to Jericho. Jericho is Arab controlled and feels very different to the places Ive seen tat are Israeli controlled: its very run down and doesnt have a good fell to it at all. I stopped at Hishams palace. A nice place but again very obviously in need of money – there was pottery literally underfoot as I walked around. Some lovely parts though with the circular stone window and the Tree of Life mosaic floor.
On leaving Jericho, I drove straight into Jerusalem and miraculously (as I didnt have a map) drove right up to the old city at Jaffa Gate and got parked there! …I must only have been about 400m from the Citadel hostel I was booked into, and only 100m from the pedestrianised area!
The hostel is build in almost a cave like fashion, with little nooks and crannys -I was supposed to be staying on the roof, but it was raining so I had to make do with a dorm bed.
The old city of Jerusalem is incredible: very narrow streets filled with street sellers selling ..well, anything! And of course fast food outlets and coffee shops. But of course what I’d really come to see was the history and religion…I got that in spades when I happened upon the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – the church built on the site where Jesus was crucified and buried. Without any qetion this is the most atmospheric place Ive ever been to. I stood for ages inside wandering around and just trying to take in the fact that this was the most holy place in the Christian Religion.
Afterthat walking around is a whirlwind of history and religion: the Western Wall (foundation of the mount or even the actual Solomons temple) the most holy place for the Jewish religion and of course the Dome of the Mount and the mosque which are 3rd most holy place in the Moslem religion! For me, all that AND the fact that these were te walls that 1000 years ago our armies came to ‘protect’ in the Crusades was VERY ……I dunno …….humbling, I guess.
After 4 days in Jerusalem I had eaten and spent my fill, seen all the sights and spent a long time in and in the courtyard of the CothS. It was time to leave and head North.
Unfortunately I had decided to take the Road 60 north – thru the West Bank (arab controlled) this went well, until I reached one of the many checkpoints in Israel – the soldier suggested I couldnt go thru and must head to Tel Aviv! ….I turned around and ten headed back on a little side road, effectively bypassing the checkpoint. However when I got to a town, no-one seemed to know where Road 60 was! I took a road that seemed right and headed on. Before long I wasnt really sure where Iwas and no-one else seemd to know either ! ..bizarre! ..eventually an old fella told me I wa son the road to Afula – which was fine …..and could he have alift….so I gave him the lift ad he immediately started asking for money for his 7 children…..he didnt get any 🙂 I dropped him off at his destination and carried on thru arab villages until I got to a MAJOR checkpoint. They seemed bewildered that I had got there and proceeded to turn my bags inside out and give my car a full checkout too …all with Uzzis and M16’s pointed in my general direction! Nice!
Despite the fact I had 3 torches which they weren’t happy with, they eventually let me thru and I instantly saw a roadsign showing I HAD been on Road 60 all the time!
Before long I arrived at Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee…..but as its very touristy, I carried on to a place called Magdal (home of Mary MAGDALene?) where I had the most enormous lunch which just kept on coming! …I only managed to eat about half of it before giving up! Then I headed around the sea/lake passing the mount of Beatitudes, until I found a disused camp site on the shore side. I sat for a while taking it all in, and then had a little swim before settling down for the night …on a concrete picnic table …and a good nights sleep it was too!
I left early in the morning and headed further around the lake passing Ein Gev and back to Tiberius again, where I breakfasted on coffee and croissants. Although the lake/sea is a nice place, its very green and I much prefer desert environments nowadays, so I headed off to Akko/Acre on the shore of the Med.
Again a fantastic place with so much history (it was the Crusader capital in the 12 century) and still has a remarkably well kept Crusader hall (which I managed to get in to for free 🙂 ) there are fab sea wall defences and the ruins of the Crusader fort too. I had to stay in a nice hotel here which was a bit expensive, but I’d slept rough for a while so I figured I deserved it.

Back in the car again and South on the Coast road to Caesarea: An ancient city designed and built by Herod to find favour with Emperor Caesar (hence the name, tha knows) there are still remnants of the original port, the Hippodrome, theatre and palace. The archaeology is amazing – pertickly for me seeing a section thru the ground absolutely filled with pottery showing the styles thru the ages (Roman, Christian, Muslim and Crusader). Everywhere you walk, you’re treading on pottery sherds. Just outside the port city, I met an Israeli guy (Elad) who was starting the Israeli trail (a walk which covers the length of the country) we sat on the beach at one end of the roman aquaduct and sewer system. He made a coffee for us and we shared an apple ‘tart’ thingee. Then Elad continued on his way, whilst I built a small wall of roman blocks and various pottery pieces, laid my sleeping bag behind it and after watching eh sun sink, I fell asleep on the roman beach.
Next day I walked along a length of the full height aquaduct which stretches along the beach – but didnt get any photos as my camera failed on me! 🙁
Back on the road and heading slightly north to an ancient harbour – according to the map. There wasnt much to see (very little archaeology digging done so far) and there’s nowhere to stay as the builders and decorators seem to be patching all the lodges, hotels and campsites. I passed a turtle carcass on teh beach and then headed south and back into Tel Aviv, for a surprise visit with Shir.
After a chat and coffee (as usual) I headed south into the Negev.
I stopped at a small lake nr the town of Yeruham for the afternoon. Feasted on dry crackers and apples – with a bit of hummus too. then walked around the area to see what it offered: some rolling rocky ridges, gave way to a dammed lake. I walked off track and found a porcupine den in a shallow cave, which was nice. back to the car and after taking a few photos inbetween the masses of plastic bottles, plates, bags and other trash, I snuggled up in the car to sleep -not a great sleep either as I was obviously close to an air force base judging by the low level planes and helicopters buzzing around all night.
Early start, before the sun rose and I reached the rim of the Large crater – not actually a meteorite crater, but the result of a form of erosion. This is actually the mid sized crater of 3 in this area of the Negev desert. I got some nice sunrise photos and saw my first wild camel walking along the side of the road here.

From here I drove to Mitzpe Ramon, which is the town overlooking the largest crater. Theres a viewpoint here called Camel viewpoint with amazing views over the crater from a point on the very edge. I also got to see various Air Force fighters buzzing thru and around.I continued down into the crater and across the other side, before stopping to walk to a geological point of interest…..which I never found! ..I walked for 2 hours and decided that I should turn back before the sun got too high and I dehydrated (I hadn’t taken any water with me, thinking it was just a short walk!) As my camera still wasnt playing (it was locking the memory cards) I drove all the way down to Eilat to find a camera shop.
Eilat was terrible! …an Israel Blackpool basically with masses of people around. The first camera shop I tried had very surly staff, who were pertickly unhelpful, so I left and popped into an ‘electronics’ shop, where I found the owner was a glaswegian!!! …really nice guy and his chum, who sorted my cards out on their laptop. They also gave me some pointers on where to stay in Eilat – but really, I’d seen enough…even the beaches are in an industrial area with cranes and dockyards etc. I stopped at a small beach almost on the Jordainian border, where I sat for a while, had a swim in the Red sea, then jumped back in the car and headed north, up to the Timna park.
The nice lady at the gate told me I could stay overnight in a large shared tent in the visitors area. So I headed in, walked around the Spiral rock and across to the egyptian carvings and rock paintings before taking more photos at Solomons Pillars. I managed to get basically a full tent to myself that night to which was a bonus! Next morning and I went ofr a long walk thru the rocks and valleys in the park, before heading out and north again to Mitzpe Ramon. Passing a gazillion MkIV Merkava tanks ‘playing war games’ in the sand at the side of the road. In Mitzpe Ramon, I stopped at a coffee shop where the fella gave me some pointers on where to stay. I picked the Ramon hotel and got a lush room with brekkie etc. …it was quite expensive but again I’d slept semi-rough for a couple of nights so thought I’d treat myself.
the rest of the day was pretty chilled: Dropped my laundry off at an industrial unit – no reflection on the state of my laundry! 😉 – then just walking along the edge of the Great Crater and watching IDF F16’s flying thru. The evening was spent at a local bar/restaurant drinking beer and eating most – but not all- of a huge plate of chips.
Lovely brekkie the next morning (at the second attempt: it didnt open till 8 and I got there at 7!) and then I drove North to the Avdat city ruins: this place was a major trading place eons ago and consists of cave dwellings, temple, palace and roman fortifications. very interesting, though again, this place was being ‘repaired’ so as it seems with lots of Israel, its not as original as you might expect.As I walked around, F16’s flew over and a number of Apache AH64 choppers flew across. I left in the car following 3 IDF Hummers (theres a whole lot of military stuff going on in this area!)
Next stop was a little further north at the En Avdat waterfall and ‘canyon’. Lots of Ibex around…and lots of children again too (must be school holidays or summat) Its only a short walk from teh carpark to the waterfall, but very scenic. I met an Israeli fella and his missus …and chatted about dog food, politics and life in general under the searing midday sun.
Back to Mitzpe and pay 35NIS for my laundry (which was done really nicely, thanks ladies) I had a bit of a nap, and then drove down into the Crater, left the car and walked into the landscape. I walked to a little basalt tower on a small mound. parked my butt and sat there for a couple of hours, watching the desert…..well….not do a lot really! As the sun sank, I returned to the car, and drove to the ‘sculpture park’ to take some photos.
I checked out of the hotel the next day and rove north again to Yeruham to get a WIFI signal and check my emails. The continued on thru the Large crater to the Small crater. I walked to the edge of this and sat for a while, then ran down to a prominent formation of rocks and took some more photos and built a little cairn. Very hot today, so I returned to the car as the time hit midday. I drove down the Scorpion Descent to leave the area: a great road used during the Israeli Anglo war (troubles?)
Next I stopped, parked up and walked a few k’s to the Zin water holes …..was a canny walk thru wadi’s and into tall grass and reed ‘oasis’ areas …but there were gazillions of mozzies, so after a brief rest, I got out of there chop chop! I decided to head back to Ein Gedi on the Dead sea, so drove East to the Tamar ruins, where I had a 5 minute stopover for a snack, then drove past Mount Sodom and continued into Ein Zohar, where I tried to get lodging for the night – but failed -despite the help of a lovely old woman who sat me down in her house while she rang everyone she knew who had tourist accommodation ..they were all full though, so after a drink of water, I continued up to Ein Gedi, bought a mud coffee at the ‘stand’ and then bivvied down on the edge of the sea again.
An early morning cappuccino and then a walk into the Ein Gedi oasis itself. got a nice shot of an Ibex on a rock and then some dassies, before walking to the David Waterfall, which was very nice. Then up to the source of the oasis spring, which was a great walk with fabulous views of the oasis and the dead sea. I returned to the visitor centre and ate a Magnum (mmmmmm Magnum) before returning to the sea and chilling for a while. Then a walk along the sea edge to find the ‘hot tubs’ that a few people told me about. I thought Id found them – but they were only smelly hot tubs full of sulfurous water….got some nice photos and was gonna bivvie here until 2 local Rangers passed by (cute chicks actually!) and advised tha bivvying was illegal there. So I upped sticks and walked with them back to the hostel as the sun set. I walked back to my little spot at the side of the Dead sea and slept soundly…again.
After an early morning cappuccino, I drove to Wadi Keld and after turning down a ride on a donkey (do I look like Jesus) and borrowing a pair of over-trousers to cover my shorts, I entered the Greek monastery built into the hillside. Very atmospheric place, so I hung around for a while, just chillin, before getting back to the car and driving into Jerusalem again…bit unnerving on the way into the city as it was the Sabbath and also Passover, so there were absolutely NO cars on the roads! ..very odd feeling! I drove intot he centre, and parked up on a street, before walking quite a way to reach the Israel Museum …I approached it from the back and almost turned around thinking it would be closed as there were no signs of life around, however as I passed near the front a couple of coaches headed into it …so I did too! …fortunately I just followed the peeps getting off the bus and walked with them in to the ‘free’ museum – only realising as I left the museum that I walked thru the ‘prepaid’ tour entrance and bypassed paying the entrance fee!! YIPPEE!!
The museum was incredible. First thing I saw was a scale model of Jerusalem from biblical days, which was very interesting. Then I went into the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit – which I’d wanted to see for a long time. Shame was most of the scrolls on display are copies 🙁 still, great to se so much history there. The rest of the museum is organised into large halls of artifacts – from EVERY possible religion and civilisation stage. Excellent musem, well worth a visit! I grabbed a cappuccino outside then headed back to the car and searching for a cheap hotel …CHEAP hotel …..like maybe the YMCA, you might think? ..well, the Jerusalem ‘3 Arches’ YMCA is a fabulous building on King Davids Road ..but it costs £98 per night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so I didnt stay there.
Instead I found a little hotel called “A little house in Rechavia” which was a bit cheaper and was a nice enough room. I had a long walk around the area that evening – trying to find somewhere to eat, but again, it was the Sabbath, so nothing was open …until eventually I found a Macdonalds (no way!) and then a little mini market across the road, where I bought crisps, apples and crispbread.
At breakfast next morning I met an american family that were touring around a little – they were from New Jersey and very nice too (Jackie (the mum) had a great ‘New York’ accent)
I left Jerusalem and headed West reaching Modine, where I chilled by walking around the olive groves for a few hours…taking a few pics and checking out the local flora. By the end of the walk I felt quite knackered …not sure why but not a lot of energy today. I continued on driving to the Ben Guiron airport just outside Tel Aviv where I bought some pistachios and milk, then sat on a nice green area to gorge on them…very pleasant!
Then it was back to Eli and Shir’s apartment. After dropping my gear off, I walked to the mall, drank cappuccino and bought some beers. Headed back toe the apartment and watched tv, ate a Sabikh (pitta with eggplant, veg, mayo and humus) before dozing off.
Next morning I had to get the car washed (queued for almost 2 hours!!!) and then said goodbye to my Lancer. When I paid the bill, I got the car even cheaper! ….costing the equivalent of £19.70 per day!! LUSH! I then walked to the Elite Tower (highest in Israel) and had cappuccino and chocolate croissants. Then I had a long walk thru the Yarkon Park, which is a really nice, large park in central(ish)) tel Aviv.

February 2010
with only 18 more miles on the clock of the bike (crappy weather for months now) Ive finally got a permit to reside in Boswana
…so 9th Feb, I’m offski
arrive Joburg and transported up to Tuli YAY!!!
Stuart left on a much needed holiday the next day, so all alone in the wonderworld that is Tuli Wilderness! …apart from the students that is,….
One day later and we see the first leopard of the year – just a fleeting glimpse, but hey! …thats kewl
A week later and I need to take the students that are leaving down to Polokwane (Pietersburg) for a transfer and to pick up Stuart on the way back. All was good till we got back into the Tuli area and were driving thu VERY heavy rain…..we’d had to stop a couple of times for the water running across the road to subside a little, but then as crossed another ‘river’ Stuart drove too far to the left and the whole front of the 80 series Cruiser dipped under water in a huge hole!!!! …luckily it powered thru and came out the other side!!!….the water had ran over the bonnet it was so deep!

March saw us find two carcasses on the same day: one was a zebra that appeared to have been killed by a leopard (very strange)

the other was an actual LEOPARD carcass!! ..quite rotten so not able to tell what had happened to it, but it was also collared and therefore one of the Mashatu known animals (the collar had failed some time previously, so we still were no closer to finding out the story)
4 days later and we have BUFFALO in the area! …this shouldn’t happen as the area is protected against bovine diseases which many buffs carry, but these two we came across on a night drive, had escaped from somewhere in Zim. We kept quiet about it, but Chris saw tracks, reported it and the animals were both sadly shot a few days later (not on our property)
Later in March we were on a night drive, just myself and two students, when we picked up the lions. Followed them for a while, then sat in the dark with engine and lights off as Sebatana appeared to be stalking a group of Wildebeest we knew were just to one side of us. Minutes later and the Gnu’s started grunting and then stampeded right in front of us! ..we put the spotlight on them and lo and behold, there was Sebby RIGHT in the middle of the herd!… she pulled down a Gnu right in front of us and then struggled to hold on as the two spun round and round in a death battle, then just as the Gnu broke free, ANOTHER one ran in and collided with the first, they both then scattered, whilst Sebby stood apparently stunned by the goings on! As we flashed the spotlight around, we could see the rest of the herd had returned and were formed up in a semi-circle as if they were going to attack the lion too! …crazy goings on and ALL video’d!!! http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1329112100970

April saw the Wild Dogs make an appearance on Mohave highway, right next to the road. WE left them until that afternon and then caught up with them again (more or less the same place) and waited until they started moving…we followed them along the road until they stopped at their morning kill – a Kudu – which they all tucked into again. All within 3m of the vehicle …and a slightly scarey moment for Paddy on the tracker seat as one of the dogs appeared to be able to se e him and got ‘interested’ I talked to it and dissuaded it from getting any more interested!

I managed to get 7 days leave in April, so drove down to the Lowveld area, staying at Hoedspruit, Graskop (spending some time in the Bikers Rest bar) and Sabie. All good except the weather was terrible with heavy rain. Though there are some fab sights in that area (Gods Window, Wonder View and the many waterfalls of the area

Back in Tuli and the news is: Mabella, our HUGE lioness has had cubs!! ..there appears to be tracks of at least 2 and possibly 3 cubs, but the bad news is that she is now INCREDIBLY aggressive! Attacking the car at every opportunity.

May was a quiet month for students….so quiet that we actually shut up shop for the month and concentrated on much needed car maintenance…. and I started demolishing walls inside my new house, just around the corner from mohave camp – its an old house from the cattle post days, with a thatched roof – story goes that the last inhabitant was killed by an ellie!
I also got away to Joburg for a couple of days to watch the WSB round at Kyalami -free ticket courtesy of KFB of the mcnninjas (ta, everso) great racing and a nice track …man, I love the sound of an in-line 4 bike engine…..wish my bike was here…..

June saw the arrival of our new co-ordinator Massi. Italian South African guy, with great experience and a nice guy to boot! It also saw the arrival fo a hippo to our coffee spot below the Sycamore Figs, on the banks of the Limpopo: we were having coffee and idling about, when a ripple appeared on the water and then a hippo surfaced a few metres from the bank – and us – snorted then trotted off down river! …LUSH! The month also gave us views of the lions (not the cub tho) and one Eland carcass was heavily populated with lions, leopards and both spotty and brown hyaena! – tho not all at the same time.
Ju e was also the start of my summer break: I used the trusty (sic) 2.4lHilux to drive up to Nata and stay at the Nata Lodge where I stayed a night before driving up to Hunters Road – an historic road used for centuries by hunters: it winds its way up north along the Bots/Zim border. I drove thick sand for 40km to get to it, but was rewarded by seeing a leopard jump out of a tree within 5 minutes of getting on the road! After that I saw plenty of ellies and giraffe, zebra and Kudu etc. before winding my way back to the Elephant Sands campsite, where after towing a couple of people int the camp, I was given free tent, beer and food for the night! ..CHEERS!
The next day I realised that the local ellie population use the camp swimming pool for drinking water, with incredibly close meetings with family groups of ellies all day! …got some great photos there…so I stayed an extra night! <img src="” alt=”ellie” />
Next night was full moon and just by chance I had intended to drive down the Makgadikgadi pans to Lekhubu island…so I did. Paid to stay on the island surrounded by Baobab trees and star chestnuts, set up the tent and then went for a walk down onto the pan. Was a beautiful place spoilt by a number of peeps and their Cruisers/Prado’s/Fortuners doughnutting in the salt. But finally, the sun set and the beautiful full moon slowly rose above the salt desert. Incredible sight.
Next morning I was up early and set off walking across the pans! ….though I had plenty of water and a GPS, I walked without drinking and trying to use the sun (and he occasional pelican egg!) to keep a direction. It worked pretty well, but after I’d walked 11km, and passed a couple of skeletons (one deffo a zebra, the other I think was a pelican) and then coming across fresh hyaena tracks, I decided that was enough and headed back…deciding that it would be kinda nice to run, I upped pace until I was doing a canny jog along the . Arrived perfectly safely some time later and sat under a Baobab tree to drink and recover from the intense heat. Fabulous day!
Next day I drove North to Gweta and Planet Baobab where I stayed for the night and watched England lose in the World Cup… Off to the Nxai pans the next day which were canny, but accessed by a nightmare of a rutted, corrugated sand road. Nice to see Baines Baobabs there though. I then carried on to Maun and a flight over the Okavango Delta in a little Cessna thingee with some overlanders…expensive but apparently the Delta as more water in it now than its EVER had! Incredible views and quite a lot of animals down there too! I stayed at Audi Camp for the night, where I had a couple of beers with the manageress. Next day, I sorted accommodation at 3rd Bridge camp site in Moremi (Okavango Delta) and then arranged my park entrance accordingly – the camp site only had space for 2 nights but they assured me there would probably be space for a third and I could amend my park entrance there with them. Off I trotted (in the car) and diverted north to Xakanaxa, to avoid the washed out road thru 2nd bridge, from there you head down over 4th bridge to get to 3rd bridge ..HOWEVER, I arrived at 4th Bridge just in time to see another hilux submerge down to its windows as it crossed the ‘bridge’. The guy offered to wait this side and make sure I got across, which I did, but again, the water was flowing across the bonnet as I went thru!. A fairly uneventful but nice stay at 3rd bridge without any predators but with lots of ellies and various antelope and my first sight of a hippo out of the water – it trotted across the grass in front of me on its way to the water early the 2nd morning. I also spent one of the most pleasant 4 hours of my life, sitting surrounded by a group of giraffe, whilst completing Evening Telegraph cryptic crosswords.
The day I left, I drove down thru 2nd bridge as the water had subsided: turned into a good decision as I came across an old male lion that had obviously just eaten. It sat watching me for a few minutes and then stood up walked a little towards me and then turned sideways and ROARED! …delicious!
On my return to Tuli, the thatchers Magazine and Sox arrived and started the rethatch of my new house . At about the same time, the cylinder head gasket failed in the Hilux (that I’d just been on leave in) so I had to remove that, Stuart got the head welded up and machined flat again the water galleries had corroded) and refitted it OK ….just more mechanical woes to add to the usual long list! (and a bit of an argument with Stuart over blame…)
The next month or so was a whirlwind of lion spotting, wild dogs, Eagle Rock walks and fab game drives as we carried on with the conservation work and got MAssi up to speed with the area, sights and roads and how we actually undertake the conservation work.
August came and with it was 2 weeks of leave: I flew back to the UK to meet an old friend…..Shaun who emigrated out to Oz when we were 20 (I think) and who I havent seen since. Was fab to meet up with him and his lovely wife Maria. We had a few drinks in the County hotel for old times sake on the first night, along with Stu and David Meikle and Lesley (from the old party days) and her fella Brian. After that we had days at the Metro Centre, Durham and Holy Island and at least one night at Lesleys. Was sad to see them go home, but I’ll meet them again, soon – hopefully IN Oz !
September onwards: and back in Tuli – with FAMILY!! …Big and little Michael Gilmore (my brother in law and his son – my nephew) arrived for 2 weeks. Great to have family over to see the place – and despite not seeing any lions while they were here, we had great views of a Brown Hyaena (Hyaena brunnea) eating an impala carcass one night (with little Michael on the tracker seat) lots of ellies, a few Solifugids….. and managed a few walks to Eagle rock etc.
We also played with ellie poo in the Mohave river and watched little guy skin his knees on the rope swing 😉 free time was mostly spent playing Uno with our Spanish/Belgian student and her german friend.
The camp boma was also being rethatched by Sox and Magazine, prior to the rainy season, so the kitchen and table were repositioned under a canopy in the ‘car park’. It made the place very rustic (even more than usual) but also kinda nice and ‘colonial expedition’ stylee.
Despite not getting much time with the Michaels, they both managed to get a shot at driving he Landie – and both did very well too.
We didnt have many students during the rethatch (which was prolly a good thing) but those we had were a pleasure! …Michael (the gadget man) and his lovely wife Emily were here for 2 weeks and though there were no predators around, we were elated to find a very young giraffe one morning in a drainage line, with is mum watching us from above. Sadly, we found its carcass the next morning in the same drainage line 🙁 We thought it had died from leopard attack (there were puncture marks on its neck and a trail of blood from its mouth) however when Michael checked his photos from the previous day, there was blood from its mouth then too. We camped out to see if any scavengers would come to it overnight, but despite checking early in the night and again much later, nothing was seen…..and the next day the carcass had completely disappeared! …annoyingly.
We also had out first Isreali student: a girl called Shir. Despite being a veggie 😉 she turned out to be a really nice girl – very interested in the whole conservation experience and pretty knowledgable about the animals/ecology too – summat to do with her uni studies, no doubt. Anyhoo, THE most remarkable thing about Shir was…….. her cake making skills! ….YAY! Fantastic cakes in the bush! Together with Claudia (a swiss lady) we walked a whole lot of the area and had a lot of laughs doing it – well done Claudia!
Yet another girl arrived late in the year: ‘Stig’ ….an Ozzie girl. At this stage there were only the 3 of us: Shir, Stig and myself so we had a lot of work to do to keep the data records going! …we also had a lorra laughs as we drove and walked around the place. INCLUDING one drive thru the central area with the girls singing as I drove the Cruiser….just as I manouvered thru a narrow and deep drainage line and with the girls singing loudly, I realised that Sebatana was standing looking at us just 20m or so in front! …..obviously amazed at the singing, she eventually waltzed off into the bush.
Even more incredibly was the next realisation: STIG MAKES CAKES TOO!!!!!! can my life get any better than this??
Now it was time for my next leave – so I left at the same time as Shir and hired a car to drive down to SA. I spent time a night in Polokwane and a day eating lemon meringue and drinking cappuccino (how else am I gonna spend my hols???) then drove down to Hoedspruit and a night in ‘Trackers’ accommodation up on the mountains there. Next day was into Kruger via Orpen gate, where I saw plenty of Buffalo, giraffe and hippos and got fined R500 for speeding!!! (embarrassingly) Next was down to Hazyview via the ‘Panoramic’ route and a night at Perrys Bridge Hollow …a very nice hotel place with a lush room and great eggs benedict for brekky – they even have staff that knock at your door at 7pm with a ‘goodnight’ card, a biscuit for your bedtime drink and a copy of the next days weather forecast! …now THATS service!
Swaziland!
`I drove thru the Reef border post and stayed the first night at Phophonyane Waterfall Ecolodge, followed by a drive down to Maguga Dam where I stayed for another night and walked to some San rock paintings with the local guide, who I shared melon with when we got back to the car.
Next day and back into SA with a drive thru Carolina and Dullstroom before arriving at Graskop and staying at the Blue Swallow – nice place and quite cheap. Of course I had to have beers at the Bikers Rest bar that night 😉 photo opportunity at Berlin falls, then on to Sabie before returning to Graskop for the night. My next day was a drive north stopping at Bourkes Luck potholes before returning to Hoedspruit for the night. I had a day at the Blyderiverspoort dam which was very nice and relaxing and nice salad and coffee at the Eden garden, which was a lovely place to sit – next to a banana plantation and gorgeous gardens. That night I drank at the Sportsmans bar where I got chatted up by the OLD `barmaid (she was nice though)
After that it was back to the wonderworld that is Tuli.
….and only 2 students! …Stig was still there, and she had been joined by an american south african guy called Rodney (hereinafter renamed Rodders) Well, we had a lorra fun for a few days on the conservation project proper, but then we joined in as Mentors on the Limpopo Valley Children in the Wilderness charity event on the property.it meant early starts (5am) and late finishes, but we had a great time playing games with the local kids from Lentswe le Moriti and Motlhabaneng villages. Was great to see them warm to us and the event and eventually have a great time. Lots of fun!
Once the CitW event ended, it was back to packing up for Christmas and a Christmas party with much dancing and drinking
And then ……. it was time for me to leave Tuli. Very sad, but it seems to be my only real choice at the moment. Hopefully I’ll be back 🙁