The Bull of Africa
Game Sightings on the Course
Hano Otto / 08.08.2008
Walking to one of the waterfalls, I came across a porcupine that had just been eaten by either a leopard or a otter. It was a fresh kill as the intestines were still wet, and I looked around nervously for a sighting of spots ...
On trekking to the top of another waterfall, we came across a Bushbuck ewe that darted off into the bush ... a very rare sighting.
We saw numerous birds of prey, including a beautiful Black Eagle that kept us company for a while on one of the trails.
While going down one of the other MTB trails, a pair of Duiker (antelope) darted off and kept on running infront of us.
We saw Springbuck at one of the Transitions.
We ran into a whole herd of Eland (antelope) drinking at the river on the Trail run.
Last night we came into one of the Game Reserves (where a CP will be) ... except for the Hartebees (antelope), Blue Wildebeest and Lynx that we saw, we were harassed by 2 Buffalo, that didn't want to allow us to climb back in our Bakkie (truck). The fact that there was a brave Jack Russell barking at them, also seemed to upset them ...
We are in the Bundu's (translate: remote bush) at the moment - the Route will be tough from here ... very desolate and harsh. Africa is not for "sissies" (translate: soft people). There are numerous Game Reserves here - Teams will be Trekking through them, and try to navigate their way to the various check points. If you get lost here, you will be lost for many hours ... key is to always know where you are on the Map; not follow other Teams and make wise decisions regarding route choice ... you know all of this, but will experience this first hand in these remote river valleys.
Enough small talk ... hope your Training has been going well. AFRICA is a tough country, so you will have to be TOUGH to conquer the BULL of Africa.
SleepMonsters
