Mbangwane

We hadn’t had a great nights sleep again.
At 9pm when we were indoors watching the tv and melting we discovered a spider running around the lounge like a mad thing. At one point he got on the sofa and I promptly jumped off. Then as he started climbing the wall Ellie took a quick picture and started searching on google.
The answer came back “Huntsman Spider”. And then load shedding kicked in and we lost all power and the internet.
We weren’t going to argue with google and decided to let the spider have the play of the house while we went to bed. Securing our door tightly and wedging 2 spare pillows and my camera bag on top against the door incase he did get bored out there.
Load shedding only lasted for 2 hours this time and just as the room reached boiling point the air con kicked in and we were off to sleep.
The alarm went off at 5am and I was first up and the power was back off.
I grabbed the torch and headed out to the kitchen and lounge and there was no sign of our eight legged fiend and we were still alive so that was a bonus.
We had coffee and then started loading the camper with the food stuff and the fridge stuff then we went in the bedroom to finish packing our personal belongings and Ellie picked her rucksack up and put it on the bed and just as she went to grab the zip I shouted “Stop”.
There was the spider, sitting on Ellie bag right at the zipper.
I’d just had a shower and the power was out and it was dark so Ellie grabbed the bag while I kept a torch on the spider and backed down the hallway, through the kitchen and lounge naked and then into the garden where we got a piece of card and flicked the spider off and then ran back in. All this before we’d even left.
By 7:30am we were ready to go and after Ellie had found the keys which she had left in the toilet we said goodbye to the animals and the house and dropped the keys back to security.
We were now heading out on our first serious game drive and our longest drive yet. We had 100 miles to cover to get to our next stop for the night.
We entered the Kruger National Park just before 9am and to start with it was busy but as we got past the point of day visitors we were on our own. It’s just a 30mph speed limit in the Kruger but we stuck to 20mph hunting for animals on the 80 mile stretch between the gate and our camp for the night.
Our first sighting was a cheetah walking through the bush, then we saw the biggest herd of Zebra we had ever seen. There was easily over a hundred. We saw Wilderbeast, Impala, hundreds of giraffe and elephants, and I got a great shot of a banded snake eagle just sitting on a branch.
The temperature outside was well over 40°c and it was magnified by the black tar road we were on. It was just too hot to drive with the windows open in the end. Every time we opened the window it was like opening an oven door.
At 2pm we arrived at Satara campsite. This is where we would be spending the next 2 nights and after checking in we found a shady spot and put our tent up. Then I had a cold beer as I was melting from hammering the stakes in and then we left the camp for an afternoon game drive.
We left camp at 3:30pm and our map said that this particular drive would take 3hrs10mins. At 4:50pn we realised it was actually going to take much longer and as it was still warm we turned around and started to head back. We hadn’t seen anything we hadn’t already seen.
Just as we left the dirt road and turned onto tarmac we encountered some elephants standing in the road. The was a huge female with a young elephant and underneath her was a tiny baby elephant. We stopped and turned the car off so as not to annoy them.
Then I checked my side mirror only to see a huge bull elephant emerging from the trees.
Then another group appeared from the other side of the road behind us.
We were in the middle of the herd.
I wanted to start the car and make a run for it but my gut told me just to sit it out. Elephants are very readable and the bull wasn’t showing any signs of aggression. Yet.
He left the tree area and came on to the road right behind us, then he walked down the side of us and turned onto the grass on the other side of the road.
I took that as my que to leave and I started the car and slowly edged passed the mum and babies. That was our first close encounter.
We had to back at camp by 6pm because that’s when the gates close and fines are issued and we got back at 5:30pm. Then we headed to the restaurant for dinner and sat outside to eat as it was still above 30°c.
After dinner we headed back to our tent taking the 500 meter walk through camp in the dark to the very loud sounds of hyena at the camp fence situated just behind us., it was as scary as scary gets. Then after a lovely well needed cold shower we got into the tent while the hyenas whooped at the fence behind us. It’s going to be a scary night.Read more