African Wildlife and Environment Issue 67

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

turned to the wallow while looking at the Bateleur, when something made me turn back and take in the scene again. Everything looked fine, but I had an uneasy feeling which I could not quite put my finger on. As I scanned the area I lifted my binoculars and checked the wallows for any possible waders that could be walking around the edge of the mud and water. As I checked through the binoculars I thought I saw something move, and then nothing. I focused again on the same spot and then saw the faintest of movements, which I homed in on, and realised that I was looking at the bloodshot eye of a buffalo bull. Lying shoulder deep in the black mud were three very old buffalo bulls cooling down and escaping the biting flies. They were covered in mud from the tip of their horns to their dinner plate size split hoofs. They had the perfect camouflage and none of us had seen them. The words were still trying to escape my lips to warn the trail group of the close threat, but the three buffalo beat me to it. They extracted themselves in a jiffy and the sucking wet sound caused everyone to jump out of their skins. The buffalo ran briefly in our direction and then broke left with the mud flying as they thundered off into the bush. Everyone in the group had their mouths open and eyes like bush babies staring at me as they had their fourth big fright of the day. Needless to say another loo break was called for! One of the ladies voiced the sentiment of everyone else in the group: how soon will we be back at the camp? I tried to sound upbeat and said that we were not that far, it was just round the next corner, but knowing that it was at least another hour-and-a-half of hard walking. The sun was now beating relentlessly down, and I said that everything would be alright they must not worry. Talk about ‘famous last words’! We continued on, now all a bit ‘gatvol’, and just wanting to get back to the trail camp for a nice brunch and a siesta. The danger when getting close to the camp is that you do get a bit complacent, and we had crossed through the Mbyamiti River for the umpteenth time that morning and I knew that the Napi confluence was not too far from us now, and this was where the camp was. I had even stopped pointing out any birds as there was a lethargy setting in, and we all just wanted to get back. We had been incredibly lucky with what we had seen and everyone thought it was enough for one morning. We were on a well-worn game path and as I strode out on the path, climbing up the river bank, I heard a branch breaking to my left, and at the same moment I saw a young elephant staring at us with ears held open and the trunk extended. Suddenly there was a very loud trumpeting and the bush erupted around us. In my haste to get everyone back I had walked us into a breeding herd of elephants! I shouted for the trail group to retreat back the way we had come, and after running through the thick sand we climbed

past our position, and kept on running with the sun reflecting off its wet dew-laden body will forever be etched in our memories. The urgent request for a loo break was testament to the level of fright. Hippo and Black rhino marking had stimulated some territorial marking of our own! After we had gathered our wits, we continued on the walk looking for a suitable spot to stop and have a bush breakfast of Provita, cheese and other energy giving snacks. I noted a large Weeping Boer Bean tree with a large termite mound next to it near the drainage line at the confluence of the DabiDabi and Mbyamiti Rivers. As we approached the well-shaded spot, I noticed a long section of thick root that the elephants had pulled up and discarded on the open saline area. As I was passing I saw a suddenmovement in my peripheral vision, and with a start realised that the thick root was standing up and moving towards me at terrifying speed. In a split second I realised that we were seeing a black mamba well in excess of 3.5 meters! He was hell bent on getting to the deserted termite mound next to the tree we had singled out as our breakfast spot! The black mamba had been enjoying the sun’s rays and we had disturbed his sunbathing. We had inadvertently walked between the mamba and its hiding place. The mamba whipped past us with its head held high, and the body moving like a slinky toy on steroids. We watched open-mouthed as it careered past and disappeared down the aardvark hole at the base of the termite mound. Everyone was rooted to the spot not by choice, but out of sheer terror. Another urgent loo break was called for. We also unanimously decided to move to another shady tree much further up river. All this happened before our breakfast! While enjoying our breakfast and resting up next to the river we saw a crash of four white rhino walk into the Mbyamiti River bed from slightly down river and from the opposite bank. After walking round in circles almost contemplating that one good turn deserves another, they lay down in the sand next to one another totally oblivious of our presence. They lay there like large boulders with only the occasional twitching of an ear to prove they were not a geological feature. After breakfast we moved up river, heading back to the trails camp. There were some keen birders on the trail and we stopped often to tick off another new bird species on the bird list. At one spot we had admired the flight of a male Bateleur eagle flying low overhead with its short tail and characteristic rocking motion of its wings, as it was scouting for some unsuspecting prey. A short way off there were some wallows with water in, where large pachyderms had been wallowing the night before. The mud which was a very dark grey due to the high clay content had dried, but was scattered everywhere. I had my back

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