7 October 2024
We have now done four trips into the bush. We are now focussed on finding the final couple of animals that make up the Big Five.
Last night was one of the highlights of the trip. During our dinner we were joined by our coach driver. He had an amazing story to tell. He was raised in SOWETO in the 1970’s during the times of the strikes and the bus boycotts. This was the history we had lived through but from afar. Isaac speaks 11 languages and is now learning Chinese so that he might communicate with Chinese tourists. He spoke to us in a wide range of African languages some with tongue clicks and pops. Try as we might we were unable to duplicate his skills.
It sounds a little cliched but it’s these brief interludes that make travel to places like South Africa so worthwhile.
Yesterday evening we saw Cape Buffalo and a female cheetah lying in the shade. It looks like we will hit the five.
This morning we were out again at 5:00am and we completed the big five challenge. We saw a small herd of elephants destroying trees to get to the roots and later 3 cheetahs who are brothers. They were calmly walking along the road beside the perimetre fence. Again our tracker out did himself. He exclaimed cheetah when they were a mere three dots at least a kilometre distant.
Tomorrow we have one more safari and then back to J’burg for a flight south.
A Traveller's Tale 