Sunset/night-drive, March 14th

When we arrived in Lower Sabie Lodge in Kruger, it was just in time for the night-drive that we had ordered. All the other people were waiting in the game-drive vehicle, so we had no choice about seats. As the driver was giving his briefing I quickly scanned the other people. The left side was balanced with six couples, men and women. On the other side – our side, were two girls… and their boyfriends/husbands. The rest were men. Men with men! … and then me and Oyvind. Suddenly I missed my wife and children, almost like a statement. We were obviously on the gay side. I felt really bad. It was almost as if I saw the whole thing with homophobic (Nevans) eyes, something that I think I’m not. In my life I’ve worked with quite a few gay people, and been totally relaxed about it. No problem with it today either – just an urge to tell people around that I’m actually not, even though I’m sitting on the skew side… with Oyvind. Still, with a skew and a straight side, the car showed no signs of lopsidedness. The car went straight.

As we started the drive, we were watching the animals like all the other couples… both on the skew and the straight side. At least for a short while as long as the sun was up. As it was getting darker and harder to see, we had to use powerful torches to scan the bush for animals. In addition to the front lights and torch that the driver was controlling, there was one more in the back on either side. On my seat… and it was stuck in the side so that only the person in that particular seat could use it. I thought how bloody lucky can you be when you’re the last one to arrive and choose seat? It was a big deal, a good thing! My eyes are trained for hunting in the deep woods in Vang in Norway, and who else could be better qualified for this thing than me. I experienced some proud moments as I started to swing the torch around. It was an important job… and a prestigious one too… coz now I could actually make a difference for the outcome of this trip… be a good torchbearer and see tons of animals, or not! Proudly I could see all the heads in front of me turn to whatever I pointed the torch at. They could actually not see a single thing other than what I was showing them. I could feel a sense of power and responsibility, like a ranger light… or light ranger.

But then we saw bush, bush and more bush… and no cool animals. I was starting to feel the pressure. We saw some small animals… a couple of snakes… and an owl. All the time I was in charge of directing the light on the creatures so that the other ones could get some good shots with their cameras. Steady and focused… and all the time searching! No relaxing and enjoying. For each time a small animal was localized and lit up, it was like a unison cry from all of them: “… is that the best you can do? Show us the lions, the cheetahs and the leopards”! There was no actual sound, but it was still there… loud and clear and sending to my receiving frequency to make me sharpen up. It was like a fax that is repeating the same fax over and over again – and I was tiptoeing in the receiving end…

As time was running out and the predators were still absent I could feel all the angry looks piercing. I was clearly to blame for this, and I was feeling really unpopular! Maybe we should change camp tomorrow… and make a silent escape. Instead we stayed strong… and stayed.

Now of course I understand why that specific seat was left empty for the last people to arrive. Nobody wanted that ungrateful job. Not only that, but it’s a hard job as well. To do a good job you’ll rather stand than sit, and you’re concentrated like hell. In fact I should actually be paid as well for taking on such a hard job!

Bushwalk, tale of the dung! March 16th

Bushwalk is a really cool thing where you go with a ranger with a big gun. They take you on a tour to see some animals, and hopefully track down something interesting… and if you’re really lucky you’ll see a lion, cheetah or a leopard.

The first thing we learnt was the difference between the dung of a white rhino and the black rhino. Animalwise it’s got nothing to do with colour. White rhino can get up to 3 tons and the mule is wide, whilst a grown black rhino is somewhere between 800kg to 1,2 tons and the mule is more pointed. Big difference in size and weight in other words. Dungwise… the white rhinos dung looks pretty much like horse dung… with lots of fibre… just bigger loads. The black rhinos kak (Afrikaans for shit) is more reddish in colour with small wooden pieces cut in a 45 degree angle. Very useful to know. The black rhino is a lot more aggressive than the white one. They are both territorial and can coexist in the same territory. They don’t fight with each other, only with other rhinos of the same sort. Apparently they don’t interbreed either, so you won’t get a grey rhino!

Then we saw the hyena’s faeces… which is white with loads of calcium after all the bones it consumes. The cape buffalo makes dung like the cows at home in Norway. It’s black on the outside… and green and mushy on the inside if it’s fresh. On and on we went… all sorts of small and bigger pellets from antelopes, Kudu, Giraffe and more…

It was pretty much a big tale of the dung! Oh… we did actually see an animal as well. It was actually quite cool, I’ll give them that. We saw an elephant, and it came quite close… maybe 15metres away from us before it turned. So we did see something. The dung by the way also resembles that of the white rhino, just bigger heaps.

Another funny thing that you learn from own experience when you enter Kruger is that the speed limit is 40 or 50km an hour. Hardly anybody exceeds that limit. Not because they are afraid of knocking something, but because it’s uncomfortable. There are speed bumps all over the place… not tarred ones that you are used to, but loads of elephant and rhino dung.

All in all we had a great bushwalk. Although we saw more dung than animals, it was not a kak trip. It’s exciting, and I can recommend it! Just, if safari in a vehicle is hot, then this is beyond purgatory!!

Kruger Game Reserve, March 14th

On our last leg from Joburg to Kruger, we heard on the radio that a ranger had been attacked by a herd of elephants. The car was thrown around and the ranger was in hospital, but not killed at least. Driving inside the park we saw plenty of elephants ourselves. They were really close too… but no worries. Late in the day however, as we were driving back to camp for the day, we saw a lone bull elephant on the main road. Like normal we stopped in safe distance to watch it for a while. From the other side came another car, and it stopped a bit closer than we did. Suddenly the elephant went running in full speed towards that car and flapping the ears and swinging the trunk around. The car stood still, and the elephant stopped a couple of metres away from the car. I guess it was a bit grumpy and wanted to pass across the message to “leave me alone” or something like that. The elephant then went into the bush and disappeared, so the car left… and we also started driving to pass the scene.

About 50-100 metres ahead as we had just passed the place where the elephant was standing… there it was again, right on the side of our car. Now it was walking along the road just in front of us. We gave it a few metres and followed slowly in what we thought was a safe distant. Then suddenly it turned… swung the head and the trunk in our direction and came running full speed towards us and flapping the ears to make it look even bigger. I was filming with the video camera whilst Øyvind were taking pictures… but now Øyvind was shouting: “back up, back up…”! It was an endless process of fumbling and getting the car into reverse… and finally back up. The videocamera was filming in all directions now. We could both feel the pulse in the temple of the head and the adrenalin was literally pumping out of the pores in our skin. The elephant stopped, just like with the other car and went into the bush again. We left the place quickly now, quite happy to avoid physical contact. I think Øyvind also got a lasting memory from the experience.