The Straw that broke the Mountain Zebra's Back

[Mel]

Excellent shots of the fighting zebra Mel and the elans is a belter.

Nice scenery shots as well.

Thanks, Dewi

The eland could have been a bit better, IMO, but it was getting darker and therefore the background isn't as brilliant as it would have been throughout the day

[Mel]

Thursday, 31 March 2016

So, we had given staff a bit of stick the night before...

But don't be fooled and think that a bit of a stick would help to get the job better done the next morning. We had originally planned to go out on a short drive before joining the Cheetah Tracking. Since we only got electricity at 5.50 am after another text, there was no chance of a drive anymore.

Still not the end of it!

Therefore we arrived at reception a tad too early, but another couple got there soon after, so we made friends with them and exchanged bush stories. Turned out the guy, a real Saffie, wasn't too impressed with the Umgeni Loop either and we didn't feel that inzafficient anymore

Our cheetah tracker would be Charl. He really knows what he does, but it took a bit of time to warm up to him. At the end of the day however, it was easy going after Charl figured that I was really into cheetahs

The drive was totally interesting. You get to roam parts of the park that you otherwise don't see and it was amanzing to see the mountains from different angles and to explore different looking landscapes. The highlight definitely was a Verreaux eagle that was soaring above us.

The Cheetah Tracking itself was tedious. Although Charl managed to zone in on the signal, we had to walk quite a distance downhill. Well, this was the result:

[Mel]

But the scenery was awesome!







In the distance you could see clouds trapped between the mountains



Right... now we had to climb the hill again to get back to the truck Charl told us to just ask for a look at the view if we ran out of breathe... well, we did take advantage of that offer

[Mel]

Once we got back to reception, we ran into visitors who were busy putting up a magnet for a lion sighting on the upper Kranskop Loop. Say what?
They kindly gave us exactly directions even though they were obviously not necessary, since there were about 5 cars parked already when we arrived.
And sure enough - one of the two males had chose one of the smalles shrubs to spend his day. Traffic was building up quickly, so the SO and I
agreed that we would only sit as long as it took for the lion to lift its head for a couple of shots. It didn't take long

[Flutterby]

That looks like quite a walk , but lovely views!

[Mel]

Seeing it was still before noon, we decided to check out the lower part of Kransbrak Loop for some kays too. Also, we wanted to see if we could find the area from down there in which we had done the cheetah tracking. The other way around was easy, but when you're on the main roads, it all looks the same

On our way back, some boons had congregated, but most of them too shy for pictures.



However, there was one among them that was kinda sexually precocious



He can't even reach the floor with his feet

[Mel]

Anyway, we lost it and sent another text telling the duty manage we expected someone to explain the situation very soon. The guy that came and had to put up with our rants still has my sincerest sympathies but someone had to take the stick for all that incompetence. By then we couldn't be sure if we would get electricity back again or not, so we requested to get a box full of ice for our drinks to be cooled, a gas cooker for being able to make coffee the next morning and a key to a unit in the main camp so we could have a hot shower. We got it all and we also got the electricity back at around 5 pm.

As the generator was up and running again, they guys came to collect the key and the gas cooker again but we told them no way for the cooker because you never know if you get your electricity back on when you want to and the next day was leaving day, so wanted to make sure we weren't delayed again by human insufficiency.

On a funny note here: the SO created a new word... inzafficiency

Also, we told them with no room for misunderstandings that we wanted the generator switched off at 8 pm sharp and on again the next morning at 5 am – equally sharp. I’m proud to say that we managed to get them do what they were supposed to do at least that night. The next morning we had to send a text again...

With all of that hiccup, we never managed to get out on another drive that afternoon. But at the end of the day, it turned out to be more relaxing that way as we weren't antsy about getting away but never knowing when everything would be settled. So we made sure not to leave any left overs of our luckily still / again cold drinks and I tried my luck with the swallows. Or are they swifts? Well, they were swift in any case





I don't think they are barn swallows... but after having spent hours trying to figured out what they are, I gave up. Any idea anyone? Please?

[Mel]

That looks like quite a walk , but lovely views!

It was... but in contrast to my fears, there was no muscle ache the next day... luckily, since we had to haul our luggage around for the trip home.

[nan]

Lions instead of Cheetahs

but magnificent pictures of that cat

you are courageous to climb all these hills

[Lisbeth]

The cheetah pic is special, but I do understand that you'd rather have had a less interesting pic and a more interesting cheetah

The lions needs urgently a hairdresser But apart from looking very sleepy, he also looks very wild

The scenery is not at all bad

Mosque swallow ( I cannot see any white though )