Oct 21st.
Today we had arranged to meet LVB for brunch at Mooiplaas, so we drove up the H1-4.
We stopped at our causeway for a coffee, and witnessed homo stupidus tour guideus privateus!!!
He stopped the vehicle on the causeway, for them to film the 3 hippos to their right, and we heard him say to his clients, only 2 minutes here, we have a lot of kms to cover!!!
They didn't have time to look to the left and see the 2 beautiful saddle bills wading in the water, the fish eagle in a tree, or the group of waterbuck!!
Off they drove at a great speed, and were gone!!!
As we had by then finished our coffee, we also set off over the causeway, and as we climbed up the hill the other side, there was stupideus and his clients parked right across the road. We soon realised why, as a huge elephant was only a few feet away in the road, and he had parked like that, so that they could take some photos.
Now WE could see that this ellie was seriously hacked off.............the ears were flapping, and he was almost doing a dance!!!
Still the guide did not reverse his vehicle, and still ellie..fant, got more worked up.
By this time I had made dungie do a 3 point turn, and we were ready to drive back over the causeway if necessary, as it was obvious that this oke was making his way to the river for a morning drink.
Well of course the inevitable happened and the ellie charged the vehicle.........actually made contact with it, and then it dawned on the guide to actually move!!
We heard terrified screams coming from the clients, and they were hanging on to the sides of the vehicle for dear life, while the guide reversed at about 100kph!!!
Having won his battle, the ellie then trundled off into the bush, and made his way down to the river further up.
The guide then drove off at great speed, and luckily we didn't see them again!!
The rest of the journey was uneventful, and we saw most of our friends along the way.
Near to Mooiplaas, we were thrilled to see our first summer visitor..........a European Bee Eater, so now we will be looking for all the other visitors.
We spent a very pleasant few hours with LVB, and he cooked us a delicious breakfast braai...............Yum.
It was lovely to catch up, and all too soon, it was time for us to go our separate ways.
We drove home via Letaba, and saw Tssesebe and a huge, huge herd of buffs at one of the waterholes.
I also saw 2 bird lifers............a wattled starling (only the female, but still nice to see!!) and a yellow-billed egret.
We arrived home late in the afternoon, and as we sat on the stoep sipping our sundowners and watching 2 blue waxbills on the bird table, we thought what a lovely day it had been, and wondered what the next day might bring.
More Monday..............
