Imake a Difference's Supporter Trip to South Africa 2014 - Day 3

DAY THREE:

The first night within the Somhkanda Reserve was an interesting experience. I was a newbie camper and drank too much and desperately needed to get up in the night. Being an open campsite with no fence line, it became a bit of an issue when I needed to get up, didn’t want to run into a rhino or leopard on the way to the bathroom. Ingrid kindly came with me though, being my first experience my heart started pumping as we scanned the area with our head torches. We did it though! Not many people could say they went to the bathroom in the middle of a reserve with rhino, giraffes, leopards and zebras roaming around can they? And open air toilets and showers looking out into the bush, what an experience!

So that morning we got up at 5:30am and got the fire started and had a rusk with a cup of coffee then went straight out for another drive on the game reserve. We arrived at what they call the air strip (as they used to land planes on it, now it's just used for helicopters) and saw the most magnificent site, a journey of giraffe. We stopped and took advantage of the brilliant photo opportunities. With the sun rising in the background and with giraffe in the foreground, it was perfect.

After that we saw many animals on the way but our main aim was to track the rhino so we can see our adopted rhino Tane. We had with us the most experienced rhino trackers. So we're driving along the track and Voosa calls out and says stop, the rhino are down there! None of us would have ever spotted them without Voosa. The rhino were situated well into the distance behind a lot of shrubbery. We got out of the 4x4 and moved closer to the rhino very quietly through the long grass, and then they became visible enough to take a photo from a distance, what a fantastic animal, so prehistoric. We could see their ears moving listening (they can rotate their ears all the way around and each air in different directions, they have great hearing) but they can’t see well so they didn’t know where we were.

Then we returned to the camp to have brunch, delicious bacon and scrambled eggs before having a food comer and relaxing in the sun.

Peter then joined us after the wedding he was attending, for another drive on the game reserve. This time to do a rhino walk; this involves walking into the bush to track down the rhino. We got a signal of where they roughly were, and then we had to walk in with Zama (a very experience rhino tracker) to find them. What an exhilarating experience, my heart was pounding! We walked along the rhino track, it was very nerve racking wondering if other animals were going to approach us on the way. But we were fine, just a wildebeest growling at the top of the hill above us, which freaked me out a bit thinking it was the rhino in front of us! I also caught my hair in a tree along the way when we were supposed to be quiet and moving quickly, ouch. Zama and Ingrid kindly helped me get it out. Then a few steps further the experience was breathtaking, we could see Tane 10 metres in front of us, without him knowing we were there. It was amazing! I felt very high on life after that.

To end a most magnificent day we drive up on top of a hill to have a sundowner. The sun set was beautiful, a bright red sun which we saw for 10 minutes before it went down behind the hill. What an awesome day!