5th October – stay at Tamboti Rest Camp

5^th October – stay at Tamboti Rest Camp

At the end of our last trip we made a new wish list of what we would like to see on this trip. I’ve copied it down below. I’m not sure how many we’ll see but it’ll be fun trying!

-          Leopard in a tree

-          Cheetahs running/hunting

-          A successful predator hunt

-        The outstanding Secret Seven which include the Pangolin, Aardvark, Porcupine (seen), Genet (seen), Civit (seen), African Wild Cat (seen), Serval

-          A serious Giraffe fight, not just a practise one

-          Leopard and/or Cheetah cubs

-          Bird of prey making a kill

-          Lion and Hyena interaction

-          Large animal giving birth, eg Giraffe, Elephant etc

The drive to Orpen Gate was uneventful but long, totalling 5 ½ hours. We swapped every couple of hours and made good time, arriving at the gate by 2.30pm. We checked in and got told we were staying in Tent 40. We were so pleased and thought finally our luck was changing!  This is supposed to be the best tent as it’s on the edge of the camps perimeter, so not only do you have the chance of animals walking in front of your tent but also along the side. I advised reception that my luggage should be arriving and they then informed the gate.

We headed to our tent and were very pleased. Once we were settled, we headed out for our afternoon game drive.

We headed out on the H7 towards Satara before turning right along the S106 and doing the loop back towards Orpen. On the drive we saw some elephants – they had obviously migrated this way as there was evidence of lots of elephants (evidence being destroyed trees) but when we were here 4 months ago there was no sign of elephants in this area. We also saw some wildebeest, impala, giraffe and warthogs. Other than that the drive was fairly quiet.

When we got back we went back to Orpen to check if my bag had arrived – it hadn’t. I was very annoyed as I was desperate for some clean clothes! Luckily, my flip flops and toiletries were in Wayne’s suitcase so I could at least wash and brush my teeth as well as not have to wear my walking boots in the heat of around 35 degrees! Things could have been worse.

So, after a quiet game drive, finding out my luggage still hadn’t arrived we headed to the shop to buy some food for a Braai and some well-deserved Savannah ciders. After Wayne dropped and smashed 2 of them – clearly our run of bad luck hadn’t ended just yet – we headed back to camp to make food.

We started our Braai and it wasn’t long before a clan of at least 4 spotted hyenas came and sat about 1m from the fence. At first it was quite scary, but we slowly got used to them. 

We could hear that our neighbouring camp had a young child, so I went over and asked them if they’d like to come and see the hyenas, which they did. We thought it was very unusual that they would come and sit so close to us and suspected that people fed them, as the braai was right next to the fence where they were lying. When the family from next door left, we threw over a stone and our suspicions were confirmed – the 2 closest both dived for the stone thinking it was food, before realising we’d just teased them. It wasn’t long after all the food had been eaten that they left to probably go and hunt or scavenge elsewhere.

The only other wildlife we saw that night was a frog which was jumping around the tree next to our hut.

After eating, we walked along the perimeter fence, but it wasn’t long before I felt too apprehensive walking in the dark so close to where predators could be so we turned back. We were only armed with our torch and the electric fence for safety – the idea that a lion may be walking beside us but on the other side of the fence got my heart rate going a little too fast!!

Around 9pm we headed to bed, ready for a 5am start.