Bush camp

Sorry - this was meant to be posted yesterday, but as you'll see all the clouds have given us power shortages. Without sunlight we run out of electricity very quickly and therefore also lose our cell phone reception and internet connection. There is back up generator, but it broke down when we started it and Graham took it to Otavi today - he has to pick up a completely new generator engine on friday.

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24.10

Ive spent the last four days at the bush camp, sleeping on my own in a large tent overlooking the waterhole with an outdoor bathroom. There were three other guests staying with Bruno there, and I enjoyed talking to them over dinner and tea – although my self-made food was much different and simpler than the food they had prepared by Tommy and Bruno. It is actually quite difficult cooking over a fire.

Paul went everyday to climb a different hill and check for signals –finding none. I went everyday to various Pangolin feeding sites where I had placed ant traps to collect them and replace them. Occasionally our schedules combined and we walked together. We also experimented with placing a lot of ant bait, and using a camera to watch for any ant eating predators, with no success. My legs are tired now from the many hours of walking through the bush each day.

One morning I walked to Hyena dam (about an hours walk), to sample a termite species living in the hide there for Bruno. As I was hammering their structures to get at them, a group of Hartebeest with two very young calves came to drink. Then from behind me, Bruno arrived with his guests. For some reason, encountering these people so many kilometers away in the middle of the bush gave me a great sense of freedom, especially as I then headed off in my separate way – on my own, disappearing behind the acacias. That morning, they had spotted a leopard, but I didn’t mind that I missed it.

Yesterday after two of the guests had left, Bruno, Paul and I drove down to Elandpost at the southern boundary. Twice on the roads we had to stop for a large tortoise to move. Once there we placed a camera. On the way back the 40 degree heat subsided and the clouds became black and it rained. That night the thunder followed the lightning closely and was deafening. I lay in my tent, in the dark, listening to Debussy’s sacred dance for harp and orchestra, and felt small.

This morning we arrived back at the house. It is nice to have electricity again, though all the rain clouds have caused us to run out – and we’ve spent the night with candles. We took an ancient car without doors up the northern road and climbed a few hills to check for signal, without luck. We then left the reserve and went along the public road. Paul let me drive so that he could get out and scan before hopping back in. As we turned back, the rain poured down and deafened us. The windscreen became opaque with water, and I was forced to drive through the mud with my head leaning out of the side. Luckily when we returned Graham had brought in my laundry.

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This morning we quickly popped down to wildebeest plains and retrieved the camera card. Lots and lots of animals and rhino as usual, even a vulture, but unfortunately not the cheetahs that we were hoping for. The camera has been there for 6 days, and on the 3rd day an Eland pushed it with its backside and so our view was sub-optimal.

We then helped Graham lift the heavy engine onto the back of the landrover, before taking our own doorless motor out. We climbed the highest point on the reserve looking for signals from pangolins but unfortunately nothing. The view was incredible though, and on the way back we spotted 10 of the rather rare Hartmann's mountain zebra with a young foal.

Paul went out to the public road again, and there was enough sunlight in the afternoon to give us some power!


(edit: oh, and this morning we saw 3 Pale chanting goshawks on the road with a captured rodent being fed on.)