South Africa: Tydon Tented Camp (Saturday 24Nov12)

Today I moved to Tydon Safari’s tented camp so I had to set my alarm for a bit earlier this morning so that I had enough time to pack. I was already waiting in the car park when Gavin arrived to collect me. I think he was quite shocked!

The only people left in camp were Michael, Caroline and myself from the original group. Another German guy joined us. He had driven up from Johannesburg late last night as he is currently working over here. He is in the open mining machinery equipment business and has travelled all over the world. He was really interesting to listen to at lunch and a really nice person. It was just the four of us on the morning drive and we were lucky enough to see a troop of forty three elephants go past us. This time Debbie made sure we were all safe. Some of the elephant bulls have come into musth and you can see the stress in some of the female elephants. Musth happens once a year the glands situated between the eyes and the ears of the bull elephants exude an oily secretion which smells of musk.

The highlight of the drive this morning though was seeing a female leopard. She was beautiful. Debbie left the road followed her through the bush. It was a real rush for everyone and Debbie contacted the other rangers on the radio. The atmosphere was amazing, it was electric with all the activity. At one point there was a fallen down tree in the way of us so Debbie and Tyron got out to move it only to end up on the floor with there legs in the air. The part of the tree they had been holding on to just snapped and it was a real "You've Been Framed" moment. It took them a minute or two to get up as they were laughing so much. We caught up with the leopard who had started to stalk some impala and used the vehicles around her as cover. She didn't make a kill but it was fascinating to watch her stalk and she ran at quite a speed. After the leopard chase we saw rhino, buffalo, zebra and giraffe.

We had four or five hours to ourselves today before the afternoon/evening drive which was lovely as it was a nice hot day. The tents are really lovely with proper beds, a shower and toilet, a dressing table and electric so it's glamping rather than camping but I like my tent a lot. I decided to get into my bikini and go and lay by the pool and read. Caroline and Micheal sat in the shade but the German guy came and joined me. After a lovely lunch salad I sunbathed again and dipped my toes in the small pool to keep me cool. It was so relaxing.

For the afternoon drive we were joined by a Brazilian couple, Aline and Fernando, who are on their honeymoon. They are another nice couple, very warm and friendly. We saw more elephant, giraffe and impala as well as a Hamerkop bird. The sunset was absolutely beautiful, especially as there was also a storm brewing as we made our way back to camp. I couldn't get a picture of the folk lightning but that would have been one hell of a photo if I had with the red sunset and lightning at the same time. Near camp Tydon found a gecko which we all took turns to hold.

Again the dinner was amazing. We had a traditional braai with beef steak followed by a milk tart. I stayed up with Gavin, Vangie, Caroline, Michael and the German guy and had a few Amarula's after dinner. Gavin has had an interesting life work wise and has done everything from engineering to financial advising to a farmer and I love his and Vangie's take on life as they are very positive people. They are just about to open a second camp inside Sabie Sands itself and they have managed all of this in three years. just shows you what you can achieve if you have a bit of faith in yourself and you are prepared to work hard.

The thunderstorm is currently above the campsite as I write and I'm actually enjoying hearing the rain on the tent.