Ufudu stood in our driveway at home for the week after we returned from Dullstroom. This gave us the opportunity to clean and pack at leisure before leaving again. On the 31st May, the day before Roger’s leave started, he went to work on the Gautrain and I collected him at 8pm with Ufudu in order to save time. We decided to drive until we got tired, which brought us to the Petroport at Alzu. That was where we spent the night; in the car park!
After an early start the next day we stopped at various places of interest throughout the day until we got to our first overnight stop at Blydepoort Resort. It was a beautiful winter’s day with aloes blooming all over the countryside.
There is a pilot based in Hoedspruit that Roger wanted to chat to. He flies Bathawk patrols for the Parks Board and we are considering spending some of Roger’s November leave helping out if needed. After an interesting conversation with Bruce MacDonald at the airfield we had lunch at the Hat and Creek before continuing to our next night stop; this time at Letaba in the Kruger National Park.
Our next two nights in Kruger was at our favourite camp Tsendze which was as far north as we were going on this trip.
Making our way down South after Tsendze we suddenly noticed many vultures; normally a sign of a kill. This one was different though, and shocking to the core! A dead, dehorned Rhino! What a sad sight. Then an even bigger shock; there was not only one but three dead Rhino. It was full moon and that is when the poachers strike; it was just too much for me…
We had wonderful bird and other sightings the following day while travelling along the Sabie river…
Until the shock of another dead Rhino near Lower Sabie which brings it to four, and that just on the tourist route. Who knows what goes on deeper in the veld where we cannot see?! I was deeply shocked and saddened. To see it up close is certainly different from hearing it spoken about!
Then we witnessed the most amazing event. It was around midday and there was a herd of elephant on the banks of the Vurhami river. Initially we thought that they were in trouble. Nobody moved. Some were standing and some were lying down. After watching them for a long time we realised that the adults were just patiently waiting, standing very still, for the youngsters to take a nap.
By the evening of the 5th we were at our place in Marloth Park. It is always a pleasure to be there, totally cut off from the rest of the world. Sadly we had only two nights before we had to head back home. How quickly a week goes by!
