Day 58: Olifants River Game Reserve

We woke at 6 am to a windy day. Yesterday was beautiful, even the evening was mild and we were comfortable in our shorts and T-shirts. Today, however, while it was not cold, we had definitely brought the wind with us.

We started the day with our favourite bush drink, condensed milk coffee and our favourite activity, birding on the deck.

Animals are generally scarce in windy weather as they lie down in the thicket, so we didn't rush off on an early game drive. We decided to leave around 9 am, not expecting to see much. We drove along Pels Loop, which took us through a forested area along the banks of the Olifants River, one of the most scenic drives on the farm, we then headed across the railway line to the dams and planes. We were fortunate to see 6 lioness, as they have cubs, we will hopefully see more of them over the next few weeks. We also saw kudu, a beautiful big waterbuck, some general game and a good variety of birds – so much for not seeing anything…

We returned home for brunch and down time or chill time. The routine here is to have coffee and rusks, go on a morning game drive, return for brunch and then chill time. This is usually to avoid the heat of the day, especially in summer, when temperatures can head into the high 40’s.  It is a time to read, play board games, do jigsaw puzzles, crosswords and soduko, sleep, chat and so on.  We then go for an afternoon game drive and sun downers before returning home to braai for dinner. The afternoon drives often continue into the night, especially if we are seeing lots of game.

Today, due to the continuous wind, we decided to forego the afternoon drive. Instead I sat on the deck, crocheting, sipping on a G&T and watching out for animals coming down to the river to drink.  There was a pod of hippos frolicking (probably the wrong word to use for hippos) in the water, a crocodile sunning himself on the rocks and a white backed vulture roosting on a nest, high in a tree next to the house. As the sun was setting a beautiful male nyala came to drink at the little water hole at the house, he was followed by the female and a young one. The best sighting though was that of a fish eagle flying along the river with the sun glinting on its wings. 

The hippos are a fixed feature at the house and every visit we see them sunning themselves on the sand bank, swimming in the river and making that delightful grunting sound that makes one assume that they must be permanently constipated. The nyala family are also regular visitors, along with a pair of genets. The other nocturnal visitor is a civet. One night we had elephant on one side of the deck, the civet on the other side and the genets in front – where does one look ???

We had great big T-bone steaks for dinner, complimented with a glass of red vino, Gray was in heaven.