Day 2 – Morning – Drifters South Africa 18-day Tour

Andy’s Camp

31 August 2011  

Matisse, the name given to our gecko by Kirsty, was still there when we woke up and got ready for our hike. Coffee, tea, fruit, and rusks awaited us before we set off on a 3-hour hike with our guides. 

Kirsty watched her first African sunrise from the viewing platform, built to the height of an average male giraffe (4.8 meters). The sun bathed the horizon in orange, each tree glowing in the morning until it climbed above the green and into the open blue sky.

Kirsty about to go on the hike  

Me... with the new hat for those who remember! 

The view during tea and rusks 

We headed away from camp, our guides leading the way in the early morning warmth. We stopped briefly to examine elephant dung, long since dropped. Dried elephant dung works as perfect firewood and burns slowly. And since it is basically just dried leaves and grass, when lit, it smells like a campfire. 

We stopped again when we came across more droppings, this time they were roughly the size of golf balls and predominantly white. These ones belonged to a hyena (which I knew before he told us). A hyena, and the lion, really eat carcasses – bones and all. When the droppings dry, the calcium deposits color the droppings accordingly. For the record, the hyena has a more powerful bite than any of the big cats in terms of pounds per square inch. 

We stopped to learn about some of the local flora and fauna, and learned of their importance to the animals and the humans who rely on them as well. We were told how tribesmen would smother themselves in elephant dung when hunting. Using primitive bows and arrows required a near point-blank shot. Smelling like elephant dung instead of tribesman helped get them closer. When an animal was shot the tribesmen would follow it until the gentle poison worked its magic and the animal collapsed. The tribe would then go the animal rather than one man dragging the animal back to the tribe. Back with the tribe, the poor hunter who now smells of elephant dung and sweat, which is basically urine by the way, as he’s been chasing an animal for 3 days, needs a quick refresher. He grabs the leaves of a bush, mixes it with water, and he’s got a scented wash that will help him impress any of the half-naked ladies in attendance.

Our camp way in the distance  

We saw giraffe droppings, which are similar to the droppings of the antelope species except they fall farther and thus spread out their pellets like buckshot. We stopped to identify kudu, warthog, impala, elephant, and eventually leopard tracks. We saw a couple of spurfowl, although they blend in so well with the bushes getting a photo of them is hard. Joostie found a scorpion and explained the mating habits, how they attack, and why it is better to find a big one rather than a small one. The general rule is the bigger the scorpion the less harmful it is.

Joostie with our scorpion!  

We must have walked around 7 kilometers and our last finding was leopard droppings, easy to recognize as they look like fur balls. The leopard licks the fur off its kill before it eats it so the abundance of fur in the droppings isn’t a surprise.

Leopard poop - giant fur balls  

Back at the camp we had an hour before lunch which we used to shower and catch up on our journals.

The back of our safari "tent"

The front of our tent

Our tent's bedroom 

The smell of bacon, beans, eggs, fried tomatoes, and toast welcomed us as we entered the main lodge. There were no leftovers. We had 3 hours for ourselves before we had to have some snacks before going out for a 4 hour game drive at 3. The tiny waterhole beneath our camp was popular with a herd of impala and kudu, and I saw both the red and yellow beak hornbills and numerous finches.

A Vervet Monkey

Kudus at the waterhole 

Impalas at the waterhole

A pair of Grey Hoopoes

The Yellow Beaked Hornbill - perhaps my favorite photo from the entire trip