Today started at 0445 and at 0530 off we went for a Game Drive. Our first stop was the wildebeest carcass, still lots of vultures and a couple of jackals running around too. We found some ridiculously clear lion tracks which we followed for a while. We followed them up until the point where they crossed the river and then had to leave them as we couldn’t cross the river. We also saw a tortoise track which was cool. We carried on driving and found a leopard track – so interesting learning about all the different tracks. We also saw a jackal track, looked at some elephant dung and examined a scorpion hole. We headed to a river crossing but Gerhard decided that it was too deep and too sandy to cross, so we turned back.
We saw a water buck and then drove to a beautiful phuza stop (moving a tree out of the road on the way) on the top of a rocky outcrop – such stunning views, with greenery all around. It will be very interesting to go back in the winter and see how different it looks.
Our first sighting after our phuza stop was a beautiful giraffe. I found this even more exciting because I was sitting on the tracker seat, meaning I was pretty much sitting on the bonnet of the vehicle and was that bit closer to the animals without the ‘safety’ of the car. They’re so gorgeous. I thought it would be a really bumpy ride, but actually, because you’re sitting in front of the wheel, it’s such smooth ride, you just glide over everything – such fun!
Next we had an SOS call (on the radio) from a previous Bushwise student now on her placement, she had got the car stuck in the river crossing we decided against. We drove back to see if we could help. Our other car was already there, so we had some fun getting them out.
We then drove back to the exit, with three separate tortoise crossings on the way and went back to camp.
Brunch today was chicken nuggets, potato salad and fruit, after which we had Q & A for our test tomorrow and then we spent all afternoon studying. Dinner was macaroni cheese and salad and then it was back for a final bit of studying before bed.