My most meaningful safari
Regular readers of my newsletter have been asking why I have been so quiet - and they are correct, I have not posted a newsletter for almost 3 months. The truth of the matter is that I have been extremely busy and so I apologise for letting this slip. This year has been incredible in terms of the safaris that I have guided, but one safari stands-out for me. Many cultures have a coming-of-age ritual for adolescents and I wanted to offer such an experience to my boys. They were raised...
Dark Safaris
I conducted two special safaris in July. One was to Uganda and the other was a "rite of passage" hiking trip through big-game country with my twin boys. I promise to post more about these wonderful safaris soon, but you may already know that I contracted malaria. The doctors in Cape Town refused to believe me that I had malaria and insisted on proof from a blood test. The blood test for malaria is notoriously inaccurate and my results came back negative, so the doctors would not treat me for...
The Zen Elephant
Elephants are remarkably peaceful and tolerant animals - particularly the large bulls. In spite of this I am always alert when I am on foot around elephants, simply because of their immense size, speed and potential to do damage. So I was a little apprehensive on a recent walking safari when this huge bull elephant walked right up to our group while we were watching him. However he clearly knew that we were present and yet he showed no aggression. He came to within a few metres of us and then...
A spider on the world wide web
My travels and guiding have prevented me from writing a newsletter for quite a few weeks so I feel that I owe it to you to write a special piece this week. On my most recent safari we spent a few days at Umlani Bush Camp and after the massive March rains the bush was still very lush. Most noticeable was the enormous numbers of Banded-Legged Golden Orb-Web Spiders (Nephila senegalensis) on their giant webs. They were present in such large numbers that it was impossible to avoid damaging some...