After only two hours of sleep, I was a zombie at 5:30 a.m. We
checked out but I still wasn’t sure where we were heading. We stopped on our
way for snacks and I grabbed 2 cans of Red Bull when I remembered our talk
about a ride in the South African Defense Force Oryx helicopter, which Guts had
arranged with a colonel he knew! Fantastic!
A 5-hour ride to Hoedspruit in Limpopo got us to a hospital
helipad. The helicopter arrived and we met with the rescue team and a rescued
couple whose house had been completely destroyed. South Africa hadn’t witnessed
anything like that in the past 30 years but the team reassured us that there
had been no fatalities since everyone had been rescued from the area.
We then boarded the huge Oryx helicopter with its side doors
removed. It was my first time in a helicopter and that was not a normal one
either. We were about 12 people inside and there was still room for more. I
parked myself in the back with Guts, Jason buckled up in the middle and Dan was
filming from the front. Soon we were up in the air. I wasn’t fastened to
anything, but the sheer force of the air coming in from the side doors helped
me balance myself. Feeling safe and confident, I started enjoying the scenery and
moving from one side to the other. It was hard to focus, compose and shoot
photos while standing steadily; the easiest way was to crawl towards the doors
and kneel. Very little communication is possible in this noisy setting so it’s
good thing I remembered Jason’s advice to increase the ISO to benefit from
faster shutter speeds.
We arrived above the flooded area and I could see the aftermath of
the floods; areas soaked in water, washed-out trees and shattered houses. It
was a mess. Then the rescuers demonstrated a rescue drill for our benefit. The
pilot hovered towards the Three Rondawels peaks, the Blyde River Canyon – the 3rd
largest canyon in the world – and the Lowveld view point.
On the way back, the
pilot went crazy and performed exciting maneuvers in the sky that made my day!
Imagine a full wide view of the land on one side of the door, and a view of the
vast open sky on the other side. That is one heck of an adrenaline boost!
We finally made it back and landed after almost a 2-hour helicopter
ride. We collected some more information about the rescue operation and headed
to Manyeleti Game Reserve.
We arrived there and made it straight into the park, as we had only
2 hours before the park closed and it was getting dark. When we stopped, Jason
started filming eagles eating fire ants in the middle of the road but I gave my
attention to a wildebeest behind us and walked towards it with camera in hand
after Guts reassured me that it wouldn’t charge. I framed my shot, chose a
shutter speed of 1/13 (ISO 1000) to motion blur the wildebeest as it ran into
the bushes.
On the way back, we stopped to listen to the sounds of insects and
various animals at a swamp, then made it back to the lodge for dinner by a
campfire.
