My son, Ross, and I took a one-week trip to the Kruger National Park (The Kruger) in mid-October. The main purpose was for me to ink some deals with a local safari company that I want to partner with for my ‘retirement career’ – a photographic safari business. The secondary purpose was, of course, to do a bit of photography in this amazing national park that is world famous for its wildlife and conservation efforts.
On the first Sunday we took a trip north to a rest camp called Tamboti Tented Camp in preparation for our first meeting the following Monday with my business partner. I had booked a tent in this camp on the banks of the Timbavati river.
You have to bring in your own food and supplies into this rustic camp and there are very well maintained communal bathroom facilities. We stocked up with some beer, cider, ‘boerewors’ (a traditional South African sausage), bread rolls and a tomato and onion gravy mix for our ‘braai’ - (South African for BBQ). As night fell and it became dark we lit the charcoal and were enjoying the sounds of the night in the bush and the sausage sizzling over the coals. We had our backs to the fence and slowly became aware of breathing and shuffling noises behind us. As we turned around we were not prepared for the sight of several hyenas just behind the very flimsy looking electrified fence looking intently at us from only a few feet away.
We nervously waited for the sausage to cook and wished the process to hurry up but you can’t hurry up a good BBQ, now can you? The hyenas are rather cute looking and inquisitive animals when observed close up but their breathing and snarling amongst themselves in the darkness and so close to us was a little off-putting to say the least.
Just as the sausage was about ready we saw a dark shape shuffle toward us from under our tent and my son got one hell of a fright! We thought one of the hyena’s had found a hole in the fence! It turned out to be a Honey Badger and this little fellow sniffed in our charcoal box and then came around to investigate our pot of onion and tomato gravy mix which was on the ground. I did not want to yank the pot away from him as he had his paws on the pot and a Honey Badger is one animal you don’t mess with! I clicked my BBQ tongs at him which sent Ross into a fit of hysterics: “Hey Dad! Are you going to flip it onto the coals?”, and he then shouted at it and it scuffled away. Fortunately no food was lost!
After our meal we watched the hyenas for a bit and then we turned in for the night. We did not sleep well as we heard all sorts of animal noises snorting under and around our tent at various times during the night. At one point I realized the thin canvas walls were no match for a leopard’s sharp claws. We learned later it wasn’t a leopard but a porcupine but that was no comfort either. We also were treated to a lion roaring in the distance. We also decided that we were not going to take a walk to the washrooms which were about 50 metres away, no matter how bad the need!
The next morning on my way to the bathrooms I saw a pair of Bushbuck right in front of me and then a vulture landed in a tree right above my head and looked down at me. As I looked up at him I told him I was old, but not that old and he has a long wait!
Our Tent in Tamboti
Hyenas at the fence
The Honey Badger visits