Yesterday, our first day of tiling, was a bit of a disaster. Not only do we hurt, we also pretty much suck at tiling. So we’ve left for Atherstone Game Reserve in Limpopo 250 kilometers from DeWiltd to work with Deon and Kelly. As soon as we arrived Deon took me up in the micro light, an exhilarating experience. In addition to three cheetahs fitted with radio collars, I saw white rhinos, antelope, giraffe, and a herd of elephants which must be buzzed from the runway before we could land.
Dinner with Kelly, who talks so fast I miss most of it and slow talking Deon, was fun. We discussed the carrying capacity of Atherstone which, like so much of Africa, is over-populated with elephants. They consume so much biomass that other species can't coexist. Attempts to relocate elephants have failed. Elephants go where they want and they soon cover hundreds of miles to return home. Likewise contraception measures have been unsuccessful. No one wants to contemplate the extreme measure of culling the herds but it looks like a necessary process.
Today was another great African day. Kelly and Deon took us out to introduce us to cheetah spore, conservationist speak for tracks, scratches and poop. It’s tough to distinguish between cheetah and brown hyena tracks and poop, and everything is covered with baboon prints.
Connie spent the afternoon in a hide near camp while Kelly and I went to Dwalbroom to get groceries for a braai with Conrad. Then, while I was flying with Deon, Connie had a face-to-face run in with a black rhino. She said she felt safer when she safely reached the truck even though it weighs half what the rhino weighed. She was quite shook up when she reached camp and it took several drinks to calm her down. And I got to do a gliding, power-off landing with Deon. The braai was good, too, around the fire outside, a fitting end to a spectacular day.