It's been a while...

Well, it has really been a while considering we are already in the last month of the year. How did we get here so quickly? It does feel as though the older I get, the quicker the years go by.

This year started out with a fair amount of uncertainty about my employment situation, thankfully that was resolved fairly quickly when I started my new job in March. This is one of the reasons I have not been particularly active on this platform. New industry with a relatively steep learning curve.

We were fortunate to manage a few bush trips in between. A maiden trip to Marakele which was a wonderful bush escape. A very underrated national park in my opinion. The campsites were well marked and a decent size. One thing I have realised, I do not do well when campsites are not properly marked...likely my OCD tendencies but I find it extremely frustrating.

We had a number of visitors to our campsite during our stay, from the usual Vervet Monkey's who are always looking for an opportunity to ransack some unsuspecting and inexperienced campers campsite, to the Yellow Billed hornbills who were always on standby to clean the skottel of any breakfast scraps.

The park itself is not huge and split into 2 sections. To get to the big 5 section you drive through a small tunnel and gate which keeps them away from Bontle Camp Site - where we stayed.

The vegetation is very different to the reserves we have visited previously, very thick which made for difficult game viewing and hid the very rowdy elephants quite well. I'd like to think my relationship with elephants has improved, however coming across the large pachyderms in Marakele, one would say my relationship with them has most definitely not improved.

I suspect because it's not a particularly busy park, they are not as habituated to people as in other reserves. We came around a corner, which had very limited visibility due to the thick, overgrown vegetation and came across an entire herd of elephants in the middle of the road. They were rambunctious, pulling trees down in their wake and they were definitely not happy. We kept our distance and watched as they continued down the road towards a watering hole, but decided against following them. I was far too nervous to take any photos.

We were astounded to spot a leopard, who much like the elephants was also very unsure of car and wasn't too interested in venturing any closer, about 70m into the bush. We turned off the vehicle and quietly watched it as it watched us - this is likely the highlight of the trip for me.

We found tracks for a pride of lion but they eluded us and we sadly did not see any during our trip, but did hear them (or the lions at the "sanctuary" next door) at night.

We were treated to some beautiful rhino sightings as well as some spectacular birding (well for me anyway).

One of Marakele's attractions is the drive up the mountain. The views are incredible, however the sharp drops down the side are not for the faint hearted. I had visions of coming face to face with an ellie or buffalo on the narrow road and having to reverse...thankfully, this did not happen.

There were many klipspringers on the rocks and some were so obliging.

Overall, Marakele was a fabulous experience and if you ever get the chance to visit, I would highly recommend it - rowdy elephants and all.

Male Kudu

Yellow Billed Hornbill

Spot the Leopard

Lunching

Violet eared waxbill

Gurney's Sugarbird

We sadly did not manage as many trips to the Pilanesberg as I was not too keen on camping in the winter.

In May I attended the opening of the Wildlife forensic academy at Buffelsfontein nature reserve in the Western Cape. My parents joined and spent some time in Yzerfontein with my aunt. It has been quite some time since I last visited Yzerfontein - it was delightfully quiet, although a little bit chilly. I also did some birding while there and was thrilled to photograph the Cape Sugarbird in the late afternoon.

It was an absolute privilege for me to attend the opening of the Wildlife Forensic academy, despite feeling very much out of my depth. There were many foreign delegates and benefactors from various European Universities. The topics covered by the speakers were so interesting and almost made me feel as though I was in an episode of CSI.

I took the opportunity to spend the weekend volunteering at Ashia. Being back there was so good for my soul. I really wish I could do it more often. The team continue to work tirelessly to ensure all cats are in tip top shape. I got to meet some of the new intake which are being prepped for rewilding and release and it was good to catch up with the team. Hope to be back in the new year at some point. Until then, please remember with any purchase from my shop a percentage of each sale is donated to Ashia to assist in the incredible work they are doing. If you are able to support in any way, please do.

Keep en eye out for my next blog post on our annual trip to Kruger...

Bye for now...