Another game counting day, and as before, we’re getting airborne at 6.30am. It’s a new day and I’ve a new headset; the Daleks have been vanquished.
There’s not a lot more to say about the game counts. It’s a fantastic experience that would take me a long,long time to tire of. That’s not to say it doesn’t tire me, though.
I also thought that seeing Tswalu from the air like this would ‘shrink’ the place. However I was mistaken, it still appears vast. We have a good morning and manage to pick up on a few of the less seen species here- Aardwolf , African Wildcat and Klipspringer.

Anyway, this was the day we travelled by helicopter back to Tswalu and MOST enjoyable it was too, though I have to say I’ve rather got a taste for having the doors open. Perhaps not with Jack present, however.

The preparations take very little time and we’re in the air at 6.30am. Whilst I’m feeling a little bit more confident than yesterday, I’m only too aware of being as green as the grass waving far below me. I concentrate harder.

We’re up at 6am and busy with final preparations and when Ants arrives for us at 7am we find ourselves in uncharted waters; we’re actually ready. Ants, on the other hand, informs us that we have to stop off at her house on the way past as she’s forgotten her purse. Somehow during the night we must have slipped into a parallel universe…....

In no time at all we’re on the road and making for Kuruman where we have a leisurely stop for breakfast. Very civilized. (The breakfast, that is!) However, my parallel universe theory is confirmed when Jack refuses ice cream on his waffles.

Dylan and I leave the house at 7am. First on the agenda is to get something for the cheetah so we pick up the rifle and start cruising. I’m just beginning to think I’m a total jinx when it comes to this caper when an opportunity presents

It’s 7am and I’m sitting on the steep side of a koppie with the game scouts. Stretched out before me is a small, secluded valley thick with vegetation. The day hasn’t long dawned and it’s still quite cool even though there isn’t a breath of wind . You could hear a pin drop- if it wasn’t for all the noise coming from the lions over the back of the koppie somewhere and all the birds down in the valley. There’s another rather eerie sound, barely audible (and only when the rest put a sock in it) that I can only describe as a very soft, low hoot.

The scouts and I have a special mission today; we have to locate one particular White Rhino bull and we have to find him by 10am. The reason for this is that he’s gone lame, his leg isn’t getting any better and we have a helicopter and vet booked for then to dart and treat him. The scouts pick me up and we head out as daylight is coming in.

I really enjoyed yesterday so wasn’t at all disappointed to be told that I was going with the trackers again today. (Although yesterdays chance near-encounter with a Black Rhino bull has played on my mind once or twice in the interim.) So I was up, dressed and up for it in good time for our 6.30am start.

As I’ve already said, we’re becoming aware of the fact that the red sands of our Kalahari time are fast running out. And not just out of our shoes.
Louise tells me that she really wants to see a wild rhino before we go home. “Your wish is my command!” I say genially. (Har har)

I’m up at 6am, ready for 7am, nail-biting by 7.30 then the scouts arrive. We head off for the far horizon and after half an hour of driving arrive in this mornings search area. The story goes that the scouts have to account for each and every rhino on Tswalu, each and every month. To the uninitiated like me, it seems like a tall order. We’ve come to this area to find a particular Black Rhino bull that they haven’t yet seen this month.

I’m full of anticipation. Dylan left early in the cruiser but has organised that Louise and I go out with the Scouts, tracking rhino. Scary. Louise has organised a babysitter for the afternoon and is hoping to be picked up later by us after he’s gone to school. It’s all been planned like a military campaign.

A visit to the kraal and a very pleasant forenoon swimming, sleeping and catching up on the world. (Either there is not a lot happening out there or it’s happening between our visits to the kraal!)

For the first time in a while, I go up to the kraal without knowing what I’m going to be doing today. The lads are all sitting in on a presentation by the Bug People ( I show great restraint in not calling them ‘buggers’) and I’ve heard nothing from Gus or Wouter for a day or two…

We awake to a different sort of morning today. It has rained during the night and the morning is heavily overcast and cool. It’s very refreshing.

I’m not up long before the phone rings. It’s Pat calling to tell me that they’ll be delayed. By a puncture, no less. I put the kettle on again…..

I’m to meet the lads at the kraal so I get there early to catch up with the outside world first. But it’s outside my power to connect up. “So be it” I say philosophically. Then we pack up and head for the bakkie. It’s got a flat. (My second this week.) “Darn it.” I say. Or words to that effect.

There’s a saying that goes ‘you can only play the cards you’re dealt’. Today I was dealt the King of Spades…

The lads come for me at 7am and we go to the kraal and pick up the rifle, then we go to the workshop. We drop off yet another puncture, get a selection of tools from the store and leave Pat and Ross to sort out a gate in the welders workshop. Barry and I load up the bakkie with stone chips and head off to Gosa where there is a prefab wall to put up. On the way we stop at the kraal to pick up some string and happen to come across an operation in operation. Gus has found a Kori Bustard that was stuck in a fence and is busy trying to stitch up the damage.

We leave Danielskuil feeling a little ragged. The B&B has been absolutely fine but Jack has not. At 3am he’d woken up crying and didn’t sleep again until he was sharing our bed. Then it was us who didn’t sleep again.

We have decided to go exploring this weekend. Gus has very kindly provided us with a suitable vehicle and we,re going to go where the mood takes us. Like the Voortrekkers. And, like the voortrekkers, we’ve packed everything we own: spare clothes,toiletries, towel,snacks and drinks,toys, cameras,binoculars, maps and guides, books, sunscreen….....I’m sure you get the picture.