Tembe dag 7: A day at the beach

Zondag 11-11-2018

Tembe dag 7:          A day at the beach           

Dieren vandaag gezien / Animals spotted:

·         Wild dogs

·         Red eyed dove

·         Grey heron

·         Giraffe

·         Impala

·         Nyala

·         Bushbuck

·         Slender mongoose

·         Zebra

·         Long-crested eagle

·         Yellow-throated longclaw

·         Buffalo

·         Pied crow

·         Elephants

·         Martial eagle

·         African jacana

·         Lion fish

·         Zebra fish

·         Eel

·         Puffer fish

·         White-breasted cormorant

This morning we got to have a bit of a sleep in. We left at 5 am to go on session. We tried to find F13. During our search for her we found different animals, like red eyed doves, grey heron, jacana, giraffe, slender mongoose, a bushbuck and some more. When we couldn’t find her we drove to the swamp to see if the other lions were there. But the were not. We did see a huge heard of buffalo’s, some zebras and a just born impala. We had morning tea near the bridge. The weather was lovely and Ben was thinking of going to the beach today at Cosy Bay. We got to the camp around 9.20 am and we were going to leave for the beach at 10. Quickly I had to pack my bag and get ready. Before we left we said goodbye to Francois. He was going on his time of. So from now on Ben was our only monitor.

We left a bit later and had to pick up Thoko and Ernest (her 4 year old boy). They were in our car (Sini, Ben and me), the others were with Thandiwe (Linda and Lynda) A very quiet boy. He had never been to the beach and normally doesn’t travel by a normal car. He looked around as much as he could. After about 45 minutes we arrived at a truck stop to buy some snacks. It took us quite a while to get everything and we were off again. When we arrived at a lodge near the beach we had to get our entrance ticked and then walk to the beach. It was a lovely walk and I stayed with Thoko and Ernest. They walked a bit slower than the others. We came across a lagoon with some fish traps and had to walk further down. It took about half an hour to reach the beach. It was beautiful. You know one of the tropical beaches you see on a photo. This was it. Some of us walked to the spot where you could snorkel. I used Francois goggles, there were some great tropical fish in this part. But the current was so strong. I couldn’t swim fast enough to stay in the same place. Then we walked to the other side of the beach. From here we could walk in the ocean. There were some nice waves but not big enough to surf. Back to the snorkelling. This time I also used the mouth piece which made it much easier to breath. Is saw some more fish I had never seen in the wild before, like lion fish, zebra fish, eel, puffer fish and many more I don’t know the name of. We walked back, dropped our bags of with Linda and walked back to the beach again. What a few!!! Everybody was here except for Linda. Ernest had been in the sea and he wasn’t scarred at all. We walked back to the first beach and just laid down and dried whilst getting a nice tan. At about 3.30 pm we had to go back. Thoko, Ernest and Linda hitch a ride with some people from Joburg and they took my back pack with them. This was nice because the walk back was a bit harder. Most of it was doable but some parts were hard. Walking up hill in the soft sand. We made it and did it in a steady pace. We arrived back at the lodge and my bag and the others were there.

On our way home we stopped to get some ice cream. Ernest fell a sleep for a while.

Back at camp we (Sini, Kari and I ) went with Ben to check on the dogs. We ran in tree giraffes. Standing on the road, from little to big to bigger. Such a lovely sight.

It has been a wonderful day.