My last morning and i had opted to drive down to Matjulu and sit for a couple of hours before packing up camp, showering and hitting the road home.

I was up very early before 4.00am and surprised to hear some birds chirping in the darkness, not sure what species they were though. Then as the grey light of dawn approached all the others started waking up and singing their early morning dawn chorus….beautiful.

Much better than the noise last night it has to be said. Being so close to the southern borders of the park Berg N Dal is a favourite for locals who pull in for the weekend with their families. Lovely people i am sure, but far too noisy for me and it reminded me of why i prefer going up to the north.

I had to laugh though, they were all braaing and most were drinking i guess, so when i was woken at 1.30 this morning it sounded a bit like i was camped in the middle of a pod of hippos!!….snoring , indigestion noises, someone was barfing and endless traipses to the loo. As i say, i did see the funny side and in a way it was quite interesting!!…not that i want to repeat the experience too often.

So, after a fairly disturbed night i was up and about and up at the gate way too early.As much as i was enjoying the birds waking up in the valley where the campsite is there were still quite a few snorers around and as the gate is on top of the hill it was more pleasant sitting up on ‘my’ rock, fewer birds but plenty of song nonetheless.

I drove straight round to Matjulu where i parked up for a couple of hours after watching the sun rise from a high point further back on the track with a couple of Kudu feeding off the bushes to my immediate right. I was hoping to get some shots of the sun while it was still ‘pink’ in the sky but the horizon did not allow it, unfortunately the hills and koppies were not ideally placed, or should i say that i was not ideally placed amongst them. All the same it is still a very sensuous experience to be high on a dirt track surrounded by bush and granite koppies, the stillness is palpable.

Not too much going on at the water hole apart from various birds in the bushes, but it was lovely to enjoy the glory of my surrounds in the early morning dawning, the sun did not get onto the waterhole until past 6.30 am due to a large koppie in the way so it was an extended dawn for me. I could see various spoor from the night though including those of a smallish herd of elephant…maybe about 7 or 8.

There was one highlight, seeing two lilac breasted rollers ‘procreating’. The noises!!….it made me think of humans…and they went at it for a good minute!! Afterwards the male just flew away and the female sat on the branch motionless for a full five minutes. I am sure there must of been some kind of relationship though that preceded the ‘proceedings’….

Back to camp soon after 8.00am, my last breakfast…which funnily enough was not so lekker…and i knew it was time to go home.

An hours sleep, packed the tent up, showered and drove down to the bridge over the crocodile river where i sat for a half hour or so before getting underway at 11.44am. It was great viewing however, there must of been a shoal of fish around as there was about ten crocs, a goliath heron, blue crane, Hammerkop and a few others fishing for breakfast and catching plenty.

It is strange to leave the park at first, for the first few kilometres it seems ridiculously fast to be travelling over 50kph and it takes a while to get used to it…80 kph for a while before eventually creeping up to 100 and then 120kph after about 20 klicks.
Driving through Nelspruit after about 55 klicks it seemed absurdly slow to be driving at 60 kph!!

There is stunning flora in the lowveld around Nelspruit just bursting out into colour at this time of year, bright cerise, oranges, reds, yellows and of course the beautiful deep lilac of the Jacarandas. Sixty Klicks or so through the Elands valley with all its historic sites from the last hundred years and more, rising up and through the tunnel to Machadodorp, onto Belfast, and into the cooler air of the Highveld. Four hundred klicks and i was home just before 4.00pm in just over 4 hours.

Strange though it may seem i am looking forward to getting back to work on Monday, a couple of good months and back up to the park for at least a month if not six weeks.

Ngiyabonga Sibongile Mashaba ngokungisiza ekushitsheni indawo yami yokuhlala ungise kwenconywana ungumuntu olungile ngempela.

Sala Kahle