Life at Thanda - Week 2 cont.

Elephant interaction

I guess you could say we had two elephant interactions last week; one planned and one unplanned.

The unplanned interaction can be referred to as ‘Tusk Incident No.2’. The researchers tracked the elephant herd which we were dying to see. As we arrived, they were crossing the road into dense bush. A baby was having trouble getting up the steep ravine so its mother helped by giving it a gentle nudge. Nearly all of the elephants crossed the road peacefully. Except one. A male elephant with odd tusks was crossing the road when it decided to turn towards our open top Landrover. He began walking closer and closer to us and we were all wondering what he was going to do – the researchers included, who were curiously looking on. He came up right in front of the vehicle and started to push our vehicle down as he locked his tusks into the bumper bar! Marianna our guide told him ‘Don’t! You shouldn’t be doing that!’ and funnily enough he listened and lost interest and just calmly walked off to join the rest of the herd.

The planned interaction was incredible but not nearly as freaky. At Bayete Zulu elephant interaction, there are currently three elephants: Rambo, Rachel and Jabulani (baby). Rambo weighs about 4 ½ tonne and still has about another tonne to grow. Even Jabulani weighs 350kg! We started off by feeding Rachel directly into the tip of her trunk. If you didn’t feed her quickly enough, she would cheekily gather dirt with her trunk and throw it all over you. We then moved onto Rambo where an elephant handler showed us his second nose under his trunk. We were allowed to touch Rambo’s legs, the backs of his ears, the fold above his tusk (really smooth), and his tusks. We also fed him directly into his mouth and were told we could have a good feel of his wet muscly tongue! When else are you ever going to get the chance to put your hand inside an elephant’s mouth?!

Game drives

We’ve been to a few watering holes over the past week watching all different types of animals drink. The most exciting thing we saw started with three impala wandering around the really high side of the bank, trying to stretch their necks as far out as possible to get a drink. A warthog even showed them how it should be done as it went to the shallowest side, had a long cool drink, and then sunk into the mud and rolled around in it contentedly before taking off. After many failed attempts, the smallest impala in a random act jumped into the waterhole and freaked out, kicking up water and mud. It jumped out as quickly as possible and you could tell it was embarrassed it had gotten so dirty and still hadn’t had a drop to drink. The largest impala managed to get a drink by stretching its neck as far as it could go and burying its hooves in the mud. The impalas were very skittish and we thought it may be due to our presence but soon realised it wasn’t when the impalas suddenly bolted and a lion half-heartedly chased after them. Another lion joined it and they both sat down under a fever tree, seemingly exhausted by their effort.

Weekend in Ponta D’Ouro, Mozambique

Dolphins swims and the promise of a sunny beach holiday lured five of us volunteers to Mozambique for the weekend. It did not disappoint. Driving through Phinda Game reserve on the way to the border we saw black and white rhino. And crossing the border was surprisingly easy. We swapped vehicles to save time there and drove up the ‘main highway’ which was just pure sand. Only 4WDs can make it to Ponta which has no doubt helped it to retain its charm. We arrived and fell in love with our spacious, airy beach house with three bedrooms and a large lounge/dining room, all beautifully decorated in a beachy and nautical theme.

Our first dolphin swim was ‘Grade A’ as the instructors described it. We found four dolphins almost immediately and quickly put on our snorkelling gear and entered the water as quietly as possible. The dolphins were playing with each other and swimming all around us. One had gotten hold of a small puffer fish which kept it amused for the whole time we were with it. You could hear their sonars under the water. After a good half hour with them, we came back to the rubber dinghy and motored out to the coral reef where there was a good snorkelling spot. The reef sounded electric with all the crackling. We found all kinds of colourful fish, a turtle and a large sting ray.

Our second dolphin swim the next day was also ‘Grade A’. At first, we had to go quite far from the take off point as there were no dolphins nearby. But after a while one of the staff found a pod of up to 100 dolphins! They were split into a few groups – some mating, some sleeping, and some playing. Interesting fact which I didn’t know about dolphins – they rest one half of their brain at a time while the other half is active and on alert as they swim in a V-like formation. The half of the brain that is resting is on the inside of the formation, protected by dolphins on the other side, and the other half that is active is on the outside of it, watching out for potential threats. We found the group that was playing and jumped in the water with them. There were over 10 which swam all around us and caught waves every now and then. Again we were lucky enough to spend a long time with them before having a snorkel at the reef and spotting many fish and another turtle. Keira the dog came with us as well and you could tell she loved it. The dolphins loved it too and were having fun going in circles around her.

The rest of our time in Mozambique was spent wandering around the beachy town eating well (lots of fresh seafood), accessing internet, and looking at the many curio shops – I had to restrain myself from buying any souvenirs as I’m just at the start of my trip and have no luggage space already. Dune buggies were the main mode of transport about town, and signs stated it was prohibited to do wheelies and other tricks in the village.

Also prohibited is buying chameleons, baby birds, baby monkeys and baby buck from the side of the road.

Sadly we saw a large sign to buy an HIV test at the local pharmacy which reminded me that back in Kwa-Zulu Natal, they have the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the whole continent. It’s at a staggering 80% or eight in ten people. I wonder what the rate is up here.

Our drive back was a little eventful as the engine stalled a few times on the sandy roads, and when we swapped cars after the border, a tyre that was not securely tied to our roof fell onto the bonnet and cracked the windscreen! It didn’t shatter but the crack spread across about half of the windscreen and we had to lower our tyres so we didn’t bump the car too much and risk shattering the whole thing. We also nearly ran into an elephant as we drove back through Phinda game reserve. It was pitch black and an elephant came out of nowhere onto the middle of the road right in front of us. We soon realised we were in the middle of an entire elephant herd of over 20. We kept dodging them and just when we thought we’d passed them another one would run across the road. Despite all the action, all of us volunteers came back extremely relaxed and ready for the busy week ahead.