Travel in africa

The month of October in Zululand often reminds me of my boyhood days in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). It was called the suicide month. The tropical mild winter had passed and the spring had turned rapidly into summer, but there was no rain. Days were hot and windless. People became depressed by the relentless heat and oppressive nights with no respite in the temperatures.

It was on one such day that my trail in October started. A group of old family friends and their children joined me at Mdindini and we set off for Mphafa camp. I used the route over the higher ground on the northern bank of the White iMfolozi river in the hope that the cover of the forest areas would shade us from the scorching sun. But it was airless in some areas and the heat was oppressive. We stopped often on the steep areas to allow some respite from the hard walking conditions. Finally we reached the cliffs at Momfu and took a well earned rest at the viewsite. Rhinos grazed beneath us and the birds were actively feeding. After a while we made our way down the hill and approached the Mphafa stream. We had hoped to catch a glimpse of the crocodile in the pool at the mouth of the stream. No such luck! The pool was empty, not only of the croc but water as well. In all my years of leading trails in the Wilderness, I have never seen the stream that dry. A mightily relieved team entered the camp and refreshed themselves after a hard walk.

The next day some of the group wished to stay behind and so we decided to walk very early and to head back to camp for lunch. We had a pleasant walk up the hill to Siwasmfeni but the day was already hot and the animal sightings were not all that good. The top of Nqabaneni allowed some better viewing but it was getting hot and we used the old donkey path as a way back to the camp. We spooked a pair of white rhinos in the big wallow along the way and the group had a fine sight of these seemingly gangly animals making a fast and deceptively quiet getaway. The camp was a welcome refuge by the time we returned and everyone was glad to shed their boots and relax in the shady areas. An afternoon swim preceded our walk to the area of the Mphafa stream and we saw good birds and many nyalas in the riverine bush. On the Sunday we made our way to Magobosheni and saw some good birds and game from the viewsite. Then we headed for Thunaleinja where we hoped to see some rhinos but it was not to be and so after a rest we headed for Mdindini, spending a good deal of time birding our way to the base camp.

November brought the Trails season to a close and for me it was a very good trail on which to end the year. There were four French people on the trail making it a good mix of nationalities. We walked the usual route to Mphafa camp, again in very hot weather and through very dry terrain. As the next day was set to be hot, we left early and enjoyed good birding on the way to Siwasmfene. The viewsite was busy down below us. A black rhino female and her calf were rolling happily in a pan near the river’s edge and were soon joined by a large male. “ Hau!” said the new field ranger from the Masinda section of iMfolozi, “ I know that animal. He lives in the vicinity of the Masinda outpost. You can identify him easily by his straight upright horns and the three ragged tears in his one ear!” To me it seemed that our man had found himself a new lady-friend. Through the binoculars one could identify another black rhino lying on the cool sand of the river’s edge below the Shaka’s rock viewsite. We moved off in that direction and walking along the path bumped into a white rhino cow and calf. As they blundered away a large white rhino bull joined them in flight. Always good to get the guests’ hearts beating a little faster. We moved on to Nqabaneni and spent a good time there with sightings of good plains game and very good birds.

From the top we descended into the area of the red pans that were not home to very much interesting except for a beautiful sighting of a male giraffe. He was not too agitated by our presence and the visitors were able to photograph him easily before he moved off. We lunched near the end of the red pans , but before we had chosen a good shady spot we put up another black rhino bull that was lying in a sandy spot in the shade nearby. Five black rhinos in a morning was not bad going. The guests were obviously not used to long walks in the Zululand sun as they made short work of the lunch and rested out of the scorching sun. From there we proceeded back to the camp for a well earned rest after a day in the Zululand sun. The river was fairly full on both the Friday and Saturday but on Sunday morning it had dropped significantly and so was easy to cross. We had some squalls of rain and the walk was fairly quiet as far as game was concerned. The viewsite at Magobosheni produced a few rhino but nothing spectacular and so we headed off to Soncunda Hill and had a wonderful view down the river towards Dadwethu pan. A few old buffalo lay on the sand downstream in the vicinity of the Tekweni stream, but the overcast conditions kept most of the animals hidden. And so ends another year of trails and the team have closed down all the satellite camps and left the areas to recover until next March.
It leaves me and my Zulu colleagues to wish you all a wonderful Christmas tide with your friends and families and good trailing in 2007.

Hlale kahle,