Blyde River Canyon

Andy our guide for our walk woke us from the back of the tent at 4.40. A quick cup of tea before leaving for the walk. He had his gun ready. The six of us had to walk in single fille. He picked up elephant poo, safe to touch as it is a browser/grazer. They get 7 sets of teeth which get ground down as the leaves and bark had to get ground up, so when they lose the last teeth they can’t eat anything except stuff like grass which only has 35% of what they need. We got told about Termite mounds, - the nest goes as far down as the height of the mound. Soldiers, workers, king and queen. If mound disturbed the the soldiers come out first to protect the queen, and if i5 can be mended the workers are sent out to do that. We saw a Vitamin B shrub,, butterfly bush. Another one if bitten by snake will help till medics see you. Saw fresh water buck footprints, very new so we must have disturbed it. Also the place where hippos come out of water and its prints. The hippo goes away from the pod to give birth as if it has a male pup the dominant male would kill it. While we were on the walk Warren saw one in the river and pup got washed downstream, but she got it back.

With Impala, one dominant males spends its time rushing round protecting the herd, so younger males mate as he’s too tired with doing the protecting. We came across a kudu, dead some months and we’ll eaten. We saw a pretty black and white spider and som fungi as well as a snail shell as big as a hand. We came across some porcupine quills which Andy said had been lost in a fight. He said I could take a few for the grandchildren to see. It was very educational.

Back 7.30 for lovely breakfast, beautifully presented. Fruit, yogurt and granola nicely in glass dishes, scrambled eggs, sandwiches, potato wedges. Only instant coffee so I had tea.

Then we set off out of the camp in jeeps again with Andy driving as as the track was too rough for the bus. Then another bumpy track till we got to the main road and stopped for a quick proper coffee. We had a pretty drive past fruit farms and jaggy hills to Blyde River Canyon, the third deepest canyon in world, where we got quick pix at a viewpoint. Then it not too far to Bourke’s Luck potholes where Blyde River and another met under a bridge.

After Lunch of feta and spinach pancakes in the tourist town Graskop we arrived at Mogadishu lodge by the canyon. It had a short Zip wire and bungee jump with a bridge across the canyon from where we could view it allWe had our farewell meal with presentations to Warren and Taurai as tomorrow is our drive to Joburg for the plane.

We have driven approx 4700 km on the trip.