My last blog was just before christmas, I had passed my level 1 guiding exams and just missed my advanced rifle handling by one exercise! Wow that seems a long time ago now and so much has happened since! I spent a lovely christmas with Pattrick in Namibia and then a great 10 day trip with my Dad where we visited Etosha National Park, the Waterberg Plateau and Damaraland to see the Desert Elephants. Great to explore more of that amazing country which feels like home now! We spent New Years at a waterhole in Etosha National Park and at the strike of 12 there were 4 Rhinos only 40 meters from me, no doubt having their own little new years eve drink!!
January brought new challenges, more studying and some of the most incredible animal encounters of all time. I started my Trails guide course at Makuleke which is the northern most part of the Kruger National Park in SA. The aim of the course is to get qualified to walk in the bush with guests as a back up trails guide, behind the lead guide. This requires you to be able to identify dangerous situations with big 5 animals (Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Elephant and Rhino) and learn how to react whilst being confident enough to fire your rifle should the situation arise where you need to protect your guests. It is a lot of responsibility and quite a daunting prospect not knowing what is around the next corner or if you might have to fire!
We spent 28 days walking 8 hours a day on average in 35 - 38 degree heat, with a few days off to rest the weary legs. Over the 28 days we clocked up over 230 Kilometers, 130 hours and over 60 encounters with big 5 animals all on foot! It was one of the best months of my life with particular encounters that will stay with me forever. One of my favourite encounters was with 4 white rhino, we had walked to a waterhole and sat down to have a rest whilst studying the animal tracks in the area to see if we could find said animals. Whilst we were wondering around chilling, making jokes and not paying attention what so ever to our surroundings i suddenly spotted what i thought was a rhino walking towards the waterhole, I quickly alerted the group and we all hushed up and gathered together, crouched down behind a log no bigger than your average bench and watched as 2 male, 1 female and 1 calf white rhino appeared not more than 30 meters from us. Luckily the wind direction was in our favour and the Rhinos eyesight is pretty poor. They came to the waterhole and drank for about 20 minutes all within about 20 meters from us. It was incredible to be that close on foot hiding behind a log. Then the 2 males started fighting and moved towards us still unaware that 6 people sat staring at them! Bruce (our instructor) became a little uncomfortable with the situation as we were too close to the rhino to move, if we had got up and moved back they would have for sure charged us as we were in their critical alert zone. The rhinos came within 8 meters of us at which point Bruce stood up and made himself known to the boys in an attempt to force them in the other direction, he simply stood up, shouted "hey" and took his hat off so cool, calm and collected! I would have had to change my shorts for sure if it had been me! But thats what over 8000 hours (yes bruce has walked that many hours in the bush!) gives you - invaluable experience!
Luckily the Rhino moved back to the waterhole and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We carried on watching them for another 15 minutes or so before they moved off. Quite incredible!!
And this is an animal that in South Africa is being poached at a rate of more than one a day! Disgusting behaviour that we just cannot seem to get control of at the moment. It has been calculated that if the Rhino poaching continues at todays rate then they will be extinct by 2015 just 3 years away! We have to stop this now!!
We had plenty of other amazing encounters with elephant, Lion and buffalo with only the leopard escaping us! Our Assessments and exams came around quickly, and I passed both my theory exam and my practical assessment, phew! I am now a qualified Back up Trails guide!!
My Lodge placement was due to start in the middle of february and by the end of Jan it was still unconfirmed, Eco Training were confident I would get a place at Erindi Game Reserve in Namibia which I had requested in November. Although they had not had confirmation from Erindi that they would take me they still seemed sure I would get in there and therefore limited the amount of other lodges that would receive my CV. By the end of Jan Erindi confirmed they would not be taking any Eco Training students this year and I was left high and dry with no where to go as all the other lodges had taken students from my year group whose CVs they had received! This became incredibly stressful as our trails guide course ended and all my pals were off to far distant amazing lodges whilst I only had the option of working at Save the Elephants doing research work which might sound amazing to you but when you have moved to south africa to guide and work in a lodge thats really what you want to do!
Now knowing I was no longer going to be living and working in Namibia, my long distance relationship with Pattrick just became too difficult and the future just too uncertain. I very sadly ended things at the end of January but we remain close friends.
After a week of phone calls, emails and stressing about where my future lay, Wilderness Safari's asked to interview me. This is the biggest safari operator in the whole of Southern Africa and they have lodges in every country! So a fantastic opportunity and one I jumped at! I had my interview at Pafuri camp which is also in the Makuleke concession and they offered me a place but only from April as they had no accommodation free. Frustrating that I couldn't start straight away but fantastic that I will get to learn from the best and guide for a wilderness safaris lodge!!
Now I just needed to find somewhere to take me for the next 2.5 months! Finally an offer came through from Billy's Lodge in the Balule game reserve which adjoins Kruger National park. It wasn't a guiding job but a hosting role. Still working in the lodge and with the option of going on as many game drives as I could! It was disappointing that I couldn't guide straight off but in hindsight its a blessing getting hosting experience will only strengthen my CV and give me a much better understanding of the lodge environment.
More to come on the adventures at Billys lodge in the next blog!
Hope all is well in England and around the world! And although a little late...Happy New Year!!!
x
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