Newsletter
June 2004 - Dear Friends
We
are back from the bush!!! Greetings to all of you
who haven't heard from us for so long. We have successfully
completed all our scheduled safaris for the 1st
half of the year and now take a short, but well
deserved break.! Lloyd is off on the 1st June to
the USA for a couple of weeks and then heads to
Oslo until the end of the month. I have returned
to Johannesburg to catch up with my home and husband.!!
He luckily, is also home, after long periods away.
There is a feeling of peace and tranquility and
a great measure of happiness. |
| We
had a magical rainy season this year which transformed
the area from scant grass plains and bare forests,
to beautiful rain water pans of life (wetted crane,
huge variety of ducks, egrets, herons etc), water
filled flood plains of the brightest green and islands
of fruit laden trees full of bird life. Game was
in abundance after the rains stopped and we were
lucky to have had at least 4 sightings of a pair
of rhino that were released near the top end of
Chief's Island. We followed lion after tracking
them for many hours, behind a huge herd of buffalo.
The sighting alone of so many buffalo was awesome
to watch, with big bulls wallowing in mud holes
and calves running in between the seemingly tolerant
mothers. I could sit for hours watching with my
binoculars.
We
took full advantage of the moon phases, staying
out in a thick palm belt to watch a full moon rise
like a great ball of gold against waving fronds.
Giant eagle owls often perch on the stem of the
fronds, creating a mystic silhouette of black. These
evenings just tingled with magic and one could but
sit quietly and listen.
"Cry
of the Kalahari" was the title of the book
by Mark and Delia Owens. It told the story of their
time in the desert studying brown hyenas. Somehow
that title sounds haunting and double meaning. It
could be the cry for preservation and/or a calling
to all who have not been there before. Not a lot
is said about the Kalahari desert, but I find it
to be the most fascinating area in so many aspects.
It is a different terrain to what I am used to,
with vast open spaces filled with Oryx, springbok,
red hartebeest, eland and so many other species
like the brown hyena, suricate, ground squirrel,
jackal, etc. Having camped there in the middle of
the very heavy rainy season, we experienced scenes
of Oryx in the mist, over six kilometers of wild
flowers in full bloom, rain water pans full of bull
frogs and a myriad of smaller insects (scorpions,
butterflies, beetles of beautiful colours etc.)
A
seasonal flood of mammoth proportions is said to
be on its way from Angola and Lloyd and the staff
have already put many hours of hard work into building
a bridge over our main water crossing. The top end
of the whole Okavango delta is flooded and a sight
to behold. Flying low over date palm islands and
seeing not the slightest sign of man in any which
way, is heart warming to say the least. I dream
of sitting in a mokoro and being poled through the
quiet waterways, where only animals and birds live.
Such are our privileges now and who knows for how
long.?? Quietly, one can pole past sleeping hippo,
with only the sound of water drops as they fall
off the end of the pole. The locals who have lived
on these islands have become wise in their ways
of survival and read the channels as we read traffic.
The slightest movement of water current or tell
tales signs of murky water, tell them that they
are not alone and they cautiously steer their dugout
to the shallows. They bide their time and then move
on again. |
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