A Walk on the Wild Side

 It seems I should start at the beginning of this trip as I jumped into the middle. At Phinda we stayed in an old farmhouse.  There were six of us - 5 women ranging in age and locati from 20 to me and from Colorado, Australia, Tasmania and South of London. There was one young (18) man from the Netherlands doing his gap year volunteering at various parks in Africa.  We shared a kitchen and two bathrooms and got along wonderfully and laughed a lot!  We also arose and were on the road by 4 to 5 a.m. depending on the day.  We left at 3:30 a.m.on my last day there and spent 7 hours looking for a bull elephant name Pica who evaded us.  This was because he was the right size and age to move to a different park along with a younger, smaller male.  A substitute was found for Pica and the process went on with the same amount of work and incredible expertise by the team at Phinda that I had witnessed with the rhinos.  "We" succeeded in darting two elephants - no easy thing and lifting them by crane in a 3 step process to a transport vehicle to be driven to another park.  The elephants alone weighed over 16 tons!  This has happened only rarely in the park with many guides saying they had never witnessed it.  I was fortunate enough to be there that week!  So lucky!! I, of course, have miles of video but cannot share due to people's privacy.  The smaller elephant that I'm standing by did not fall in the open and lucky for him he was asleep and didn't hear the din of several chainsaws sawing as we moved brush so the truck could get in to pick him up.

My face by a giant elephant foot!

Me and the small elephant

Loading onto the truck - Step 2

 

The truck transporting two elephants

 Here are some other animals we were lucky enough to see while at Phinda.

Endangered Black Rhino

Pregnant Cheetah

 

Cheetah cub

Tortoise in the road

My "pet" warthog just outside my window

The animals that would be in our yard after being out all morning was so very cool!  We had a warthog family, some wildebeests, sometimes a herd of impala or nyala and the above rhino and her young were across from the entrance to our house on many evenings.  

So I am now in the Central Drankensberg mountain range after spending one night in Pietermaritzburg. The owner, Gail, and I got along famously and once again I wished that I was staying longer but I will get to spend one more night there before I turn my car in at the Durban King Shaka International Airport!  This is some really beautiful country with hikes that are many, varied, well-marked and just breathtaking.  I was fortunate to arrive on the day of an afternoon concert by the Drakensberg Boy's Choir - a world renowned school right across from my little rondavel and so I went.  No photos or phones are allowed to record but it was moving.  The first half with classical mixed with Bridge Over Troubled Water as well as Cyndi Lauper so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.  The second half was typical African songs from the area - mostly Zulu and just incredible.  I was also fortunate that the Falcon Ridge Bird of Prey center was open as they are closed on Fridays and Mondays.  I debated going but am so happy I did.  Here are just a few photos.

Verreaux's Eagle

 

Owl

Cape Vulture

Finally for a bit on this amazing place.  I hiked yesterday and it was very hot and sunny and ended up putting my feet in a lovely little pool by a stream.  Today I hiked in a rain poncho and got rained on several times but still had a great hike.  Since I've returned to my cute little rondavel, it has rained consistently and forced some flying insects out of the ground which made some ducks show up and they would jump in the air to catch the insects.  Hysterical to watch.  There is also a bright orange sunset while it's raining.  What a place.  Tomorrow I leave to head South to the Southern Drakensberg where there is a detour through a village with the road consisting or rocks the size of baseballs.  Fun trip!  Worth it though.  Beautiful!

Yesterday in the sun

Today between rains

My temporary hom

 

The Most Amazing Day - Phinda and Beyond

 Wow! How to explain this day? I'm at a loss; something that rarely occurs with me. For those of you who don't know or forgot, I am spending a week volunteering with African Conservation Experience and it has been amazing. Volunteers help with research: tracking and logging animals in the reserve and we have been setting traps in super high grass with lots of ticks (and who knows what else) to find suitable sights to release pangolins. However today was a different story....and how!

We helped move 5 white rhinos (1 male and 2 females with babies) to different parks and reserves in Africa! They were darted with tranquilizers, injected with a sedative that would kill a human so no touching near the injection spot of course, then blindfolded, horns chainsawed,any wound treated and injected with antibiotics if necessary.  I sprayed antibiotic spray onto wounds on the male, then we got them back on their feet and we pulled with ropes and others pushed on their sides to keep them upright until they were loaded for transport. This is up there with one of the most memorable experiences of my life!!

But then we de-collared a 50 year old bull elephant named Steve.  This involved drones, a helicopter a person hanging out of the helicopter to dart him, the warden and many of the guides as well as us. It was quite an operation and again the experience of a lifetime! It has only been done six times at this reserve and I feel so fortunate to have participated. The day ended after our ant gathering with seeing a pride of lions - 7 in all! What a day! 

Please know that all of this was done humanely. You can watch Steve wake up and the rhinos are sedated until they reach their destination. Mothers are kept with their babies. 

Spraying antibiotics 

Pulling into transport - hard work!

Steve

More Southwest Magic - Nevada and California

 I left my friends in Colorado feeling fulfilled, rested and contented but also looking forward to the next part of my journey - Gold Butte National Monument!  I had seen videos about this place and wrote to the Friends of Gold Butte almost two years ago to get more information.  What I knew is that the area if very large and filled with rutted and sandy roads that made a four wheel drive vehicle and absolute necessity.  Problem was, I don't have one!  I phoned Friends of Gold Butte who kindly arranged for Mike to take me there for a day.  Boy was it worth it!  It is very extensive and the roads are very bad and there is NO cell reception.  We actually encountered four people in a large newish truck with giant tires but their battery had died for some reason and they were stuck!  Good thing we came along as Mike had a battery charger in his Jeep!  They will/should be eternally grateful or they might still be there!  It's pretty remote but very beautiful.  The first 40 miles of road were done by the CCC in the 1940's and that part of the road is decent.  There is still other evidence of them being there.  They built a dam with a trough for local cattle - or donkeys? The dam developed a crack and it doesn't rain much in that area so it's no longer working but there is evidence in the form of stonework that's pretty cool!

Most likely used for tool storage

Our first stop was Little Finland, named because the rocks resemble fins - nothing to do with the country. The red rocks have their unusual and delicate shapes because they have been sandblasted by the desert sands over the years making them very unique and, in my opinion, just lovely!  Here are some examples:

 In addition to Little Finland, I wanted to see the only petroglyph of a falling man - at least as far as anyone knows.  There were many petroglyphs and one pictograph and, of course, the photos don't do them justice. Here are a few photos including the famous falling man.

Look closely for a tiny pictograph

 

 Okay, below is definitely worth checking out despite the not very good photo of the pyramid.  Still, an interesting story . . . any funny.

While we say donkey poo everywhere, we never did see a donkey.  However, the next day I found this trio in the town of Beatty, Nevada???  Why??

 After an amazing day at Gold Butte I spent the night camping near Valley of Fire and the next day through Death Valley (where I saw the donkeys above) to the Alabama Hills and Inyo National Forest under Mount Whitney before heading home.

The moon lighting up the mountains

Mount Whitney and the moon on a morning hike

Along 395 on my way home

 

 

Hope you enjoy until next time.  And hello Zoe!