Well we just got back from our camping trip in Makalali and we survived, barely ( ha ha ) OK it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but I must say I have never done something like that in my life. On our way to our destination we were amazed to spot 3 cheetah right near the fence withan impala kill. This is the first close up encounter I have had with cheetah and I did not want to leave but we had to push on. When we got to the other campus my group spent the day shooting rifles with Mark Montgomery the head of Bushwise. The gun we used which was a .375 was pretty intimidating, it didn’t matter how many times I heard it go off it made me jump every time! not to mention it was really heavy! After about 20 rounds each we left the camp with a sore shoulder and cheek and headed to Makalali reserve to camp. When I got there I couldn’t believe how green, thick, scenic and full of wildlife it was, which made me a little nervous since we were sleeping without tents in the middle of a river bed( which we were taught to stay away from) as we trampled through the bush with our massive Land Rovers full of sleeping bags, water and about 100 bags of bread and cans of beans.
our home made escape from the sun!
I was a little shocked to see our sleeping ground which consisted of a dried up river bed full of hot sand and rocks and thick bush surrounding us.I knew we were roughing it out in the bush for a few days but it didn’t really hit me until we actually got there, but there was no backing out now! I spent about an hour strategically thinking about where to place my sleeping bag, everyone had placed there bags against one side of the river bed which was a cliff full of massive boulders, but I figured a lot of things hide out in these rocks, which I was not ready to share a sleeping bag with, so I put my bag about 10 feet from the fire which I knew would be the safest option since the people on night-watch stayed right next to the fire and lions and hyenas were somewhat afraid of it.
I was nervous to sleep out in the open in a big 5 reserve!
We had a little bite to eat and headed off to bed, the first night I had my watch at 11:30 to 12:30 which wasn’t that bad, but sitting by the fire when everyone was asleep in the pitch dark was so surreal. If anything was to enter our camp we would hopefully see it with the 4 dim lit lanterns around the perimeter of our sleeping area. We were told if anything walks past one of those lanterns or into the area like lion, elephant, leopard or hyena we have to bang two pots together until everyone wakes up. As I sat there by a dying fire staring aimlessly into the night with eyes that decided to trick me a few times. I heard some interesting noises which included a leopard off in the distance headed our way, he ended up taking a route around , not through our camping area which I greatly appreciated.Nevertheless, I managed to double check to make sure I was in reaching distance of the pot and pan. One of the main things that kept running through my head for that short but o so long hour was don’t run, don’t run, don’t run. But then again the thought of standing upright while banging a pot and pan together at a lion or two seemed petrifying.
As my shift finished I woke up the next person for night watch and hit my sleeping bag which I wrapped myself up in like a cocoon and went back to sleep. The next morning I was very delighted to find that I had all 10 fingers and toes, since hyena are well known to come in at night and snip off a finger or an ear. The next two days were spent driving around and taking walks in the reserve. As we walked through the riverbed with Sean our instructor up in front with a rifle and me trailing right behind him acting as his second pair of eyes, we stumbled upon 6 carcasses which on foot wasn’t very comforting! especially the semi fresh ones.The 7th carcass we came upon ( a female kudu) was pulled under a shady bush and happened to be so fresh that there weren’t any flies on her yet! Sean quickly told us to turn around and get out of there , before whatever killed it ( most probably a leopard) comes back to start feasting or to protect its kill. Sean was pretty brave on our walk in an area he wasn’t too familiar with and I felt quite safe right behind him, until he walked around a large Marula tree and yelled at the top of his lungs. As I slowly looked around the tree thinking it was a lion startled from a nap, I was surprised to see a large warthog lying helplessly on his side preparing for a final sleep. By the third day I was pretty tired and looking forward to taking a hot or even cold shower again and a using a proper bathroom instead of a thick bush far enough away from the camp site.
We set up camp in this dried up river bed
Just as we thought we were leaving the next day Sean and Nellie asked us how we felt about staying for a few more days, I think my mouth almost hit the ground in shock, I had just made it through 3 nights and they want to push 3 more! (NO WAY) not to mention I had just ran out of water. Luckily we didn’t stay which I now regret and on the day as we headed out of Makalali, we saw a honey badger on the side of the dirt road! my very first! It was hilarious the whole car yelled out HONEY BADGER and almost gave Mark a heart attack as he slammed on the breaks scarring the poor little guy away. Well that’s all for now , its crazy to think we only have about a month left before we go on to our work placements! I am not sure yet where I will be placed, but its looking like Mark is stationing me at Untamed Africa to help with the research there. This will be my new home for the next 3 months.
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