Winter has definitely set in, with temperatures reaching about 4 degrees at night, making the early morning starts a little tricky! But it is nothing in comparison to winters in the UK knowing you were getting out of bed at 7am to look at a computer screen for 9 hours and negotiate with nasty ASDA buyers. Now i get out of bed at 5am knowing i am going to spend the day driving and walking in the bush looking for animals, what is tough about that!
After my 4 days off I had another group of americans for 3 days, once again lovely people. I feel very lucky that in my 6 weeks of guiding i have had nothing but lovely guests. unfortunately we didn't manage to find leopard or lion which was disappointing but sometimes it just doesn't go your way. Plenty of the small stuff though and the guests seemed to be happy. The tips have been fantastic and no complaints in that department, i actually have heaps more money now than i ever did working for J&J in london. With no rent, food, taxes or other expenses to pay, the cash in my pocket at the end of the month is by far and away a lot more than i ever expected.
I had a few more days off from guiding although not holiday i must stress. There is plenty of "other" work that has to be done when there is no guests to guide. Megan and I found ourselves pulling out hundreds of Detura plants, which is an invasive green plant species with quite a pretty flower that grows along the river bed and around the lodge and has to be painfully pulled out. In true gardeners style we worked our way along the river pulling at every plant we could. After a mornings gardening we thought it only right that we have the afternoon off. Lucikly Dan and Brian were also off so the 4 of us packed a cooler box, heaps of blankets and headed to Lanner Gorge, one of the most beautiful spots on the reserve. From here we watched the sunset and the full moonrise with a savanna (a famous brand of cider) and a great bunch of friends. Another tough day in Africa I hear you say!
we headed back down in the direction of the lodge with a little (newly named) canopy surfing along the way. The boys thought it would be a great idea to climb on the roof (a big piece of canvas attached the the metal frame of the land cruiser by a few pieces of string!) and canopy surf as we drove down the steepest bumpiest road in the whole of the 26000 hectare reserve. A little dangerous maybe but after 6 beers anything seems like a good idea!! A very fun night and megs and i were just glad we didn't bump into a breeding herd of elllies along the way!
I was almost at my 6 weeks and my leave was looming, until Enos the head guide tells me i need to go on leave tomorrow as he needs me back in 10 days when we are busier. Mad panic to book a flight out of camp to joburg, make plans to see friends and book a hotel. Flew out of camp on wednesday 6th June and flew to joburg. Awesome taking off from our airstrip in a 10 seater little propeller plane and flying over the reserve to johannesburg. It looks so different from the sky!
Arrived in joburg and had 3 days of shopping, getting my much needed hair cut, going to the cinema, eating whatever i felt like and generally vegging out! Met up with Hillary and Sam, both Eco training friends which was nice. Picked up a hire car and drove to the Sabi Sands in Kruger to Singita Ebony Lodge, where Ricardo is working.
I haven't really mentioned Ricardo in my previous blogs for a number of reasons but I have been in a relationship with him for the past 5 months and had some of the best times of my life with him. Sadly it has all come to an unexpected abrupt end and by the time i got round to updating my blog with the past 3 months of news it just didn't really seem right to mention him when it was all over. But hey ho i have done so there we go. He was also on the 1 year eco training course (but started 3 months before me) and is from Mexico. (yes i know what you are all thinking what the hell is an english girl moving to south africa to train to be a safari guide doing with a mexican guy) haha it all seems a little strange until you meet him and then everything just seems right. Sadly things are not meant to be so I just came to visit him to say our goodbyes and move on with our lives. The lucky devil has only gone and got what is considered the best guiding job in the industry working for Singita. The world renown best safari lodge in the world!! But if you meet him it is really not a surprise at all, he deserves everything he has worked so hard for and I wish him all the success in the world.
Now I am heading to a new conservation project near Phalaborwa called Marakapula which is being run by Marnus Roodbol. Marnus used to run the volunteer project at Harnas in Namibia and is actually the reason I am sitting in South Africa today as he was the one that introduced me to Eco Training and the one year guiding course about 4 years ago! It will be good to get a completely different perspective on conservation and see how other projects run.
I am drawing near the end of my course now with only 3 weeks left of work and then 2 weeks with Eco Training. It is incredible how quickly this year has gone and now it is off out into the big bad world to find my own job! Who knows where I will end up. I don't think my future has ever been so uncertain! Exciting and terrifying! But first I get to head home to the UK for a couple of weeks to catch up with family and friends and i really can't wait to see everyone. Living in a largely male working environment makes you realise how much you need your friends even if they are in a different hemisphere!
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