Somewhere in Hoedspruit, in the the middle of the bush, there's a little piece of heaven. A place too beautiful not to share... and share it we will! Shoestring Photography are super excited to announce that we will be doing photographic safaris in the very near future, with a few trial runs still to go.
We went down to Hoedspruit to go check things out, and what an exciting weekend it turned out to be! We went to sleep listening to the soft growl of a leopard, and were woken up by the loud roar of a lion roaming our camp!
Our first afternoon was dedicated to tracking a particularly shy elephant, who, as it turned out, was on his way to meet a friend - another very shy elephant. We managed to get a few snaps while he trekked through some very thick bush, and he didn't seem to bothered while we followed him around. But just like the ellies, we too needed to find a 'waterhole' for some much needed refreshments, and found the perfect spot, not just to enjoy a glass of wine in the quiet stillness of the bush, but to watch a beautiful sunset too!
The following morning's sunrise came with the promise of an exciting day in the bush - a walk with our ranger Andrews and the hope that we would find the two rhino - mother and baby - who's spoor had been spotted nearby.
So we walked... and walked... and walked... but the direction of the wind wasn't in our favour and the rhino must have smelled us from a mile away... Time for a plan B. Plan B was to walk along the river... but word came that a lioness and her cubs had made themselves comfortable in the spot we had planned to walk to... Plan C?
Andrews, determined to walk that morning, started driving towards a reported sighting of some lions (only because I begged and pleaded). On our way we were lucky enough to bump into some cheetah. The wind had made it the perfect day to hunt, and these boys were far too busy sniffing out their prey to pay even an ounce of attention to the happy snapping group of people following them up the road.
We
eventually moved on as they disappeared into the long thick grass, and
followed some lion tracks to a small clearing further up the road. Andrews, leaving his gun in the Landy, hopped out and started walking into the veld, determined to figure out where these lions had gone. Feeling a little peckish, we took the opportunity to have some coffee, indulge in a biscuit or two... and have a look at our photos.
I looked up briefly to see Andrews slowly walking back to the car before looking back down at my camera, a delicious crunchie stuffed in my mouth.
All of a sudden, there was a load roar followed quickly by Andrews screaming... "Bridgeeeet, bring the car NOW"!
The terror in his voice was unmistakable, and Bridge, who was sitting behind Penny and I, reacted quickly - throwing her biscuit onto me as she hopped out the car to get to the drivers' seat.
We started driving towards Andrews at a steady pace, and the closer we came the more I could see his legs shaking. Finally we pulled up beside him - only to realise that our car was now the only thing blocking two very hungry lionesses from having Andrews for breakfast.
They didn't hang around for too much longer once they realised their luck had run out, and we all sat for a few minutes - our nervous laughter cutting through the tension of what could have been.
According to Andrews, he was following their tracks back to towards the car when one, rather unexpectedly, jumped out of a bush!
As if this wasn't enough excitement for the day, Andrews spotted some Rhino tracks and we went on to investigate. This particular rhino was finally discovered, hiding in some very thick bush. The only way to get closer to him would be to go on foot...
This time Andrews, armed with his rifle, lead us through the bush, until we had a clear sighting of him. We had come across this Rhino before and he was well known for his aggression. And he looked anything but pleased to see us. Hunched down on the ground, we got a few quick snaps of him before making our way back to the car... another memorable experience with a beautiful, but very angry, animal.
We went on a couple more drives that weekend, and saw our fair share of animals... Hippos, birds, zebra, giraffe, tons of buck, ... we even spotted a few jackal from very far away. The first rains for the season had yet to arrive but the lack of greenery seemed to only make the bush look more beautiful!
There had also been some controlled burning through the reserve, giving some parts of the reserve an eerie, but beautiful feel.
In the end we had a fantastic weekend, taking hundreds of photos, eating, drinking, and in general, a very merry time was had by all.
We will keep you posted on when we have our next one, and how you can be a part of this amazing experience.
