September 2nd

The day started early at 7 with the sun already fully out, a nearby camper warned us about raids by baboons and told us that another group had had a lot of stuff taken from them. Eventually only two large males appeared and hovered around waiting for opportunities to visit the trash cans and occasionally went into the shower block. If they came too close it was easy to scare them off by picking up a rock, but two little kids were shouting helplessly as their trash can was toppled over and I ran over with a rock to scare the looters off before the parents arrived. Shortly after they ran off they would return however and wait for another opportunity.

After a leisurely morning we walked around the forests at the foot of the plateau. The ecology is really interesting and streams formed in the cliffs allow the bush to be much denser than elsewhere and supports a great diversity of plants. We found a large boulder to sit upon and gazed at the surrounding land for an hour or so through our binoculars. It was interesting to finally just sit and listen to all the sounds –a few quite alarming as Baboons in the distance screamed. On the way back we had an encounter with a scorpion and a small family of DikDik. Oh and I was bitten by a horsefly.

Lunch, then we took a car with a guide up to the top of the plateau. It was just endless bush with the occasional rocky outcrop. Immediately on the ascending slope we saw a small family of Klipspringers, and as soon as we reached the top we saw for the first time a small herd of Roan antelope, followed by Sable, but these were obscured by the bushes. We visited a waterhole, which was down a long covered walkway and we could observe it through a hide. Unfortunately nothing appeared so after a while we left to the next one, which was an hour away. On the way we were lucky enough to find 5 white rhino sleeping on the road. Too lazy to move we had to drive past them widely, but they decided to run off as we got nearer. At the 2nd waterhole we waited for buffalo as it was nearly dusk, and, as the huge piles of poop evidenced it was a favorite spot for them. Unfortunately nothing appeared so we drove him in the dark. 
Some interesting things we learned:

Giraffes prefer tough leaves as they take longer to chew. This means they salivate more which is essential to pass the food through their long necks. There are 50 white and 60 black rhino on the plateau There are 300 buffalo on the plateau. The area to the south is prime grazing land for cattle, which are easy prey for leopards. This is why leopards prefer to live here than hunt for wild meat on the plateau. As a rhinos horn grows its eyes move further to the side.

Finally it is so dry that my nose bleeds occasionally and my lips are cracking, I haven’t seen a wisp of cloud in three days, the night is pitch black and the stars are completely visible, we haven’t had any mosquitoes but I have to start taking malaria pills.