Imfolozi - Browns March 2014*

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Bushcraft
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Imfolozi - Browns March 2014*

Post by Bushcraft »

Hey Guys 0/*

I have a small gap at work, so will slap this together.

This is just a quickie from 2 weekends ago, but first some history.

My mate from Toti is learning with regards to game parks, so conned me in January to duck up to Imfolozi with him and his family for the 29th and 30th of March to show them the ropes. Besides it was Bushpig’s birthday on the 31st and she wanted to visit Imfolozi as part of her present, so I agreed.

My old man, Bullet died on the 20th of March and we only had the funeral on the 26th of March, so our heart wasn’t really in the trip.

My boet kindly agreed to stay and look after our mom, so we could still go, however I hardly picked my camera up and we spent a large amount of time in camp braaing and just relaxing, which is very unusual for us.

Therefore on Saturday morning we hit the road and arrived at Nyalazi gate at around 8:30am.

Bushpig got her birthday present early at the entrance gate, which was a new little point and shoot, so immediately started taking pics of the gate and whatever else she could find. I decided then to leave most of the photography to the rats and just relax.

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First up were a few boons just inside the park and then some Imfolozi locals and a Burchell’s for the Cow

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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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We stopped for a tour of Mpila camp and as we could only book in at 1pm, decided to head up towards Bhejane hide and relax until around 12 and then head back to Mpila camp.

On the way to Bhejane, via 17 we found all the general locals including a zebra roadblock and a giraffe who liked to pose.

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I was pleased to see that the “waterhole” in front of the hide now had water in it and the pump had been repaired as promised.

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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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A few warties were cooling off and soon some impala joined them

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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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The 1 wartie had an itchy bum which caused a small commotion in the hide as the rats of both families were battling to contain their laughter. A few wildebeest also arrived in this time for a drink

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Albert managed to capture a camouflaged wartie having a snooze in the middle of the mud pond which none of us had spotted, so she was extremely proud of her pic later in the day.

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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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The hide was starting to fill up and we were having a mission keeping all the rats quiet, so decided to rather head down towards Mpafa hide, but didn’t find much on the way down except for a few more general locals.

The hide was empty when we arrived, so it was cool, but there wasn’t anything happening except for a local that kept hassling in and out the hide.

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A few hundred meters from Mpafa we found our first ellie in the road and as per the norm he refused to move.

I have learnt from past experiences that Imfolozi ellies can lose it big time, so we gave this guy space until he was ready to duck off the road

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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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About 3km down from Mpafa hide I happened to look in thick bush right next to the road and quietly said “lion”, which got all excited, but none could see them “Where!!” “Just relax; I’m going to slowly reverse into position”

I think that this is the first lion sighting ever where I haven’t bothered to take a pic, however the rats seemed to be doing ok.

It was 2 males and the one was about 2m from us however the other chap was having a snooze in the thick bush behind the first chap, so the rats decided to only bother with the close guy.

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He seemed to have an issue with his eye and his paw as he kept biting it.

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My mate’s rats had never seen a lion ever, so I was mainly enjoying watching the commotion in their car when I suddenly noticed another car next to us. It was 4 young guys and I could see by their hair styles and dress code that these were real “green horns”

All the windows came down and the spiky pips shot out “Howzit, what have you seen today?”

I couldn’t resist playing the game “All the normal locals, but nothing exceptional”

“We are looking for lions!!”

“Ok, then you might be interested in the fact that there’s 1 about 2m from you”

Well, if they were birds the spiky hair would have shot flat and the one guy wound his window up so fast that he nearly closed his mates head in it.

I could no long keep a straight face, even with the Cow chirping “You are nasty”, so we decided to head on to camp and leave the lions for the “green horns”

To be continued when I get a gap.


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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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We booked in and found out that the staff had listened to the requests and I had my normal unit 16 and my mate had the 3 x 2 sleeper units close to 16.

The 3rd 2 sleeper was for my mates “brother in-law and girlfriend” who I hadn’t met yet, but that’s another story for later.

The mate had a better view, so we cruised across to their spot for a late lunch braai. The cow took control of the camera and I took control of the beer.

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Some camp locals pulled in while we were waiting for the fire and 1 seemed to take a liking to Bushpig, so she had a long conversation with it.

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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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The afternoon drive started rather late and we decided to cruise up to view point 17 for a check around and then return to camp for another braai and more beer.

The mates “in-laws” had arrived during the afternoon, but I still hadn’t met them, so when I pulled out of our unit and spotted my mate in front of me and then another car in front of them, I didn’t put 2 and 2 together.

The front car was driving a 10km/h and kept stopping in the middle of the road for every impala, so my patience was getting a serious test.

After about the tenth time my cylinder head went “Pull off and let others pass” “Don’t stop in the middle of the road!!”

I was ignored, so when it happened again, I pushed past both cars and “may” have issued a hand signal.

Around 2km later I spotted a male lion snoozing in the grass, so stopped, but my mate was still stuck behind the slowed up driver, therefore I switched off and waited so that they didn’t miss the lion.

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As they arrived I moved to give them a clear view.

I was still wild about the faulty driver from 2km back, so forgot about the lion and chirped across to my mate “Howz that slowed up idiot who kept blocking the entire road”

His response was “Yes, my brother in-law”

Now I checked the pelicans and I had seriously put my foot in it.

The Cow frantically started twitching uncomfortably and then started laughing quietly, so I thought that there was no point in trying to cover up and shouted back “Well he drives like a chop”

We sat in silence, which was only interrupted by the occasional giggle from the Cow.

Now we were all meant to braai together that evening, so I wondered how long the beaks would be hanging and it eventually became too much for me, so I started the car and continued on.

To be continued


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Re: Imfolozi - Browns March 2014

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The rest of the drive to 17 didn’t produce much and others in the car seemed more interested in discussing how badly I had put in foot in it.

17 produced a gang of boons and one chap in particular caught our attention as he seemed to be meditating

RP, explain what this faulty boon is doing

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The drive back to camp produced the normal gang and a rhino cruising in the middle of the road.

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