South African Expedition 2000
Friday 21 January
Another early start (4am) and away we go.
And almost as soon as we pass out of the camp site, a couple of male lions run straight in front of the lorry. We knew that there were lions close by. They could be heard all night long, doing what lions do (if you see what I mean!!!), and a few people had seen them outside of the camp the previous evening. Also spotted that morning were wild boar, jackal, zebra, impala, etc.
The drive that day would take us to the southern most point of the park at Crocodile Bridge. It was a very long drive, but we were rewarded with more sightings of elephants, some hippo and some more lions We had been promised by Roland a walk along a river bed at Crocodile Bridge by one of the park rangers, where it was hoped we could get a close up look at some hippos. Unfortunately, the guide never turned up. We weren’t that surprise, as by this time we were getting used to the general poor organisational skills of Roland. Let me explain. |
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Roland was a large, rotund sort of a chap. Well built, he looked like he could’ve played a bit of rugby in his youth. And yes, he confirmed that he did play rugby a few years ago. In fact, he had won 9 caps for South Africa. Amazing !!! Not bad considering that he claimed he was born in Sweden. On top of this, he was a licensed park keeper, and so could legally kill poachers, though we never did see hid Kalishnikov. Or the pictures he said he always carried with him of some of the people he had killed. .
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elephant, who had picked him up by his trunk and had tossed him in the air. Apparently,
most people are then crushed under the elephants feet, if they haven’t been killed by
being thrown in the air first. But Roland had survived of course Most realised that he was either deluded or was telling us these tales to keep us amused. Either way, he certainly was a bit of a character. And a bloody good cook. The journey back was as long ad the journey out, but the wild life around us made the journey well worth it. |
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