I often get asked what I do as a guide so to answer this I have written about one transect that we did with Roehampton University this July:
It’s cold, no – very cold as we climb onto the open game vehicle in the Kruger Park. July in the Park still has very cold nights and early mornings despite being situated in the lowveld. The mist hangs low with the settling dew adorning the plants. A transect is on the cards so cold or not out we go.
Six buffalo bulls display their frustration at being disturbed by snorting great clouds of mist from their nostrils as they lumber to their feet and trot off below a shower of falling dew. The students, wrapped like Eskimos in Kruger Park blankets, grudgingly record the bulls and distance from the road with shaking, blue fingers.
The sun and mist are hostile towards one another with the mist still holding the upper hand. All sightings are recorded and an estimate of distance from the road given.
A T junction reluctantly reveals itself through the thick mist. “Which way I ask?” A unanimous ‘right’ so right we go. Around the corner two moving specks can be discerned ambling slowly along the road in our direction. Hyena! The cold was immediately forgotten with cameras being grabbed in a flurry of blankets, jackets and beanies. Politely one hyena paused next to the vehicle, sniffed once then continued only to fade away like a ghost in the mist.
A stop for a cigarette and to observe the final tussle between the sun and the mist was taken as the sun finally burned the mist into submission. Back to Pretoriuskop we ambled to a hot breakfast and copious cups of hot coffee before setting out on the next drive: a dedicated birding drive.
Nigel Anderson – Guide at African Insight
HYPERLINK “mailto:nigel@africaninsight.co.za” nigel@africaninsight.co.za
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