Bad Connectivity!

Hi everyone, just a quick post to let everyone know I am alive.  I am back in Kruger NP camping and actually have very limited internet connectivity (which is more than I expected).  However the connection is not strong enough to upload photos, so I can’t do a ‘proper’ post.  I will be travelling into Musina Sat and I am booked into a hotel for Sat and Sun night (so I can watch the Australia/New Zealand semi final on Sun morning), so I will catch up on my posts then.  I am actually preparing them offline each day, so I will date them when I post.  Does that make sense, I have had a few glasses of red wine?

Everybody stay safe and lots of love (yes even to those I don’t know, because I appreciate you following my blog).

Back in Kruger (Punda Maria)

I drove up from Tzaneen to Punda Maria in the northern end of Kruger NP today, which is ecologically quite different from the central section.  It is what they call Tree Mopane Savannah (pronounced mo-par-nee), and as you can see from the photos below it has a lot more grass cover on the ground, as well as taller trees.  It is the highest rainfall area in the Kruger NP, although it is very dry at the moment.  All of the waterholes I saw today (three!) were all dry or virtually dry, which doesn’t make for good game viewing.  Punda Maria is the Swahili word for ‘striped donkey’ or zebra.  Interestingly, alsothe Afrikaans word for zebra literally translated into English is also striped donkey.  The name however comes from a nickname that the locals gave the first Ranger’s wife in 1934 because she wore striped blouses.

The drive up was a bit frustrating at the Tzaneen end, as it took me 2 hours to go 26 km because of roadworks.  The last part of the drive was through tribal homelands, and once again I realised there are two very separate countries in one in South Africa.  You have the cities and major towns which are like any cities anywhere in the advanced world with all of the amenities that us Australians would expect.  Then you get to the tribal areas and it is what you imagine the stereotype of third world Africa to be.  It is a bit like venturing outside Darwin in the NT and going to a remote Aboriginal community, but with a much greater population density.  Houses however vary from wood and plastic sheet shanties (relatively rare), through traditional round huts with thatched rooves, smaller government built brick houses (probably the most common) which are reminiscent of the Apartheid era, and finally quite ‘flash’ houses obviously built by locals who have made a bit of money.

Home away from home!

The landform is very diferent in the northern end of the park, with a lot more grass cover and larger open spaces.

This tree is known as a sausage tree.

And here is one of the sausages.

Lots of sausages on the ground waiting to be collected and cooked!

Nice Elephants

One of the biggest things I noticed about the animals in Kruger NP was how used to humans and cars they were and this included the elephants, which after my earlier experiences with elephants was refreshing.  Not long after entering the park I drove over a hill and there on the road in front of me was an elephant.  After my experiences at SanWild I immediately shoved the car in reverse and was about to back off when I noticed that the elephant wasn’t even bothering to look at me, let alone give me any warnings.  As this road was the only one for many km, I slowly drove forward and the elephant totally ignored me.  I passed within about 5 m of it!  By the end of the day after seeing about 200 elephants, I was bit more blasé about them.  There are currently about 12 000 elephants in the park which they think may be too high to be sustainable but they are in the process of re-assessing this.

I am heading back into Kruger NP Thursday, and this time I will be camping in the northern end of the park and spending a couple of days exploring around there.

This was the first elephant that I saw in Kruger NP as I came over the rise.  At the time I thought it was special because I didn't realise how common they were in the Park.

The same elephant as above.  This is how close I stopped before driving past.

Another close elephant.

This herd was interesting, as they were all standing in a circle facing out.  Behaviour like this means that something is happening in tyhe middle of the herd (birth, deah etc) and the herd is protecting the individual.  Unfortunately I couldn't see what was going on but I like to imagine it was a birth!

I got very close to this old bull.  Take a look at his tusks, the left one is broken off about a foot from the tip, with the right one boken near the base.  They would be uge if they were whole.  I haven't seen any other elephants wuith two broken tusks like this, if only he could talk.

Part of a her crossing a road.  They were all covered n fresh mud.

Part of the same herd, but in this case he was covering his 'mud. with dust, then wiping himself down with clumps of grass.

Part of the same herd.  This was the only time I was warned away by a Kruger elephant (see the shaking head).

Just had to include this one as it is an elephant in the Oliphants River (Afrikaans for Elephant River).

Masorini

I am back in Tzaneen and already caught up with some friends.  I am sitting in Wimpy, drinking coffee and waiting for a phone call from the guy making my canopy.  Once I have the canopy on, my stuff will be secure in the back and I will be able to start travelling properly.  Initially I will go up into the Mapungobwe NP in the very north of Limpopo, which is a cultural site and associated with the Great Zimbabwe civilisation.  While I am in the cultural mindset I will also duck into Zimbabwe (to see Great Zimbabwe) and associated sites in Botswana.

When I was in Kruger NP the other day I visited an African Iron Age (200 CE to about 1800 CE) site which had been excavated and partially reconstructed for visitors to the Park.  It was an interesting place as it was an iron ore smelting site and not agricultural/pastoral.  However, I find it hard to fathom as it was located approximately 15 km from the nearest iron ore and 8 km from the nearest water?  When I pointed this out to the guide, he said that nobody knows why.  Anyway here are some photos:

Some of the stone artefacts found in this iron age site, including microliths and 'hand axes'.  I actually found a 'hand axe' almost the same as these on the SanWild Reserve once.

Some of the iron artefacts found at Masorini.  I initially thought they were spear points but according to the captions they are hoes and digging tools

A reconstructed iron ore smelting furnace.

An un-reconstructed iron ore smelting furnace.

One of the cooking pots recovered.

Clay air flues used in the furnaces.

One of the reconstructed huts.  Given the size of them I would say they were just used for sleeping and all other domestic activity was conducted outdoors.

Another reconstructed hut and cooking hearth.

T Shirt for Ms Dig

I saw this really cool T Shirt the other day and had to buy it for Ms Dig!  If you are not an archaeologist or paleoanthropologist it probably won’t mean much to you, but for all those in the above named professions, you will understand it.  I am going to spoil the surprise for Ms Dig and post a photo of it below so you can see what I am talking about:

The T Shirt (ignore my toes in the picture).

A close up of the print.

Kruger Animals Part 2

Well done Wallabies! 

Australians are not the flavour of the month in South Africa at the moment.  I got up early as the match was on at 0600 hr local time and basically spent the day watching the Rugby quarter finals and celebrating.  The last three Rugby World Cups I have been either overseas or in Arnhemland (2007), so each one has been a fairly unique experience for me trying to follow the games.

I am leaving Phalaborwa today after doing the central section of Kruger NP and heading back to Tzaneen for a few days.  I am getting someone to make up a security cage for the back of the bakkie, so I don’t have to worry about my stuff when I am away from the car.  Once I get a cover, it will also double as my bedroom.   Anyway, I will do the northern and southern parts of Kruger NP separately over the next few weeks.  Here are a few more photos from the other day:

A Chacma Baboon, part of a troop which crossed the road in front of me.

A Kudu 'buck'.  For those that have been following my blog for a while you will remember that I have been trying to get a good shot of these flighty animals for a while.  They are fairly large, about cow sized in height.

I was crossing a concrete causeway with a few inches of water on it when I stopped to look at a couple of turtles swimming.  Once I had stopped about 20 of them started making a beeline straight towards me.

A zebra's bum.

One of the ever present Vervet Monkeys.

The 'head' of a herd of about 300 Cape Buffalo heading towards me (it's alright Mu, they stopped when they saw the car).  Purely by chance as I took this photo a beautiful blue bird flew right in front of the camera (look closely just to the right of the tree).

Kruger Animals Part 1

Below is a selection of photos of various animals (and birds) that I have taken over the last few days in Kruger NP with my little instamatic camera.  Basically I have only included one of each type of animal.  The animals are much more placid than I am used to.  I guess it is because of the high visitor numbers they get used to cars.  I will continue to post Kruger animal photos over the next week or so.

A Hornbill.

African Fish Eagle.

A couple of Giraffes (I really need to stop taking photos of Giraffes and Elephants, but they are so cool).

Another two Giraffes.

Hippos.

Impala.