Camp 1: Ezemvelo

 Day 1

The camp at Ezemvelo was really nice, with 6 person tent, actual beds and a swimming pool which we tested right away and realised it was absolutely freezing – no wonder the workers were looking at us like we’re crazy. We were again divided into two groups which we would stay in for activities during the entire 2 weeks, with Zama us our groups guide and teacher – what a result!! Our first walk took us to a recently devoured ostrich carcass, where we decided to set up a camera trap to record any animal activity during our 3 night stay in Ezemvelo. We got our first sightings of zebra, impala, eland and ostrich.

 

Day 2

The first night was an early one. As it was winter in South Africa during this time, we had been warned about the cold nights, especially at our first camp. However, we all underestimated just how cold it may get. Temperatures went below freezing, waking up to frost on the morning grass and mist on the water of the reservoir. We began the day with breakfast and another walk, but within 20 minutes I had began stripping off layers due to the quick rise in temperature. Ezemvelo is mostly grasslands, so we again got great sightings of zebra and antelope species like springbok and impala. We also saw some anteater holes which we inspected for inhabitants but did not find any.

We had jacket potatoes for lunch, made by African Insight’s very own, Noctula, who was one of the most valuable people in the team. We then went for another swim, the previous day had not deterred us!  

In the afternoon, we went on our first game drive in the open sided trucks, which I was very excited about. After a great drive seeing more antelope species, zebra, ostrich and wildebeest – both black and blue, we headed back. With about 5 minutes to go we suddenly stopped all looked to our right and saw a leopard sitting about 50 metres away. It had just hunted and killed an impala that it was protecting from a pack of jackals that we could see circling and howling. We stayed watching for a good 30 minutes, all in awe of what we were witnessing. No one, including Mike and Zama, could believe how lucky we had just got on our second day – I repeat second day!! This was also a day of bonding for our group, sitting on a bench after dinner debriefing about our first 2 days.

 

Day 3

Today we decided to head straight back out to the spot where we saw the leopard, to find half an impala hanging in a tree and many other bones scattered. We had just walked into the leopard’s den - luckily the leopard was not around to catch us intruding! We then looped back around and spotted baboons on the highrise of rocks not too far away from camp, another amazing sighting.

On return to camp, we had a cooked breakfast and were then treated to a talk about rhino conservation, led by Zama, an expert with over 20 years of experience in the field. After lunch, we completed a mini SASS, which is the method in which the quality of water in measured and scored. We did this by sieving the river water and identifying the different bugs and insects, certain species indicate different levels of water quality.

In the afternoon, we went out for another game drive. Unfortunately, we did not get another leopard sighting but we didn’t care as we were still living of the previous day. In the evening, we had a lovely dinner and had zebras in the camp, which was pretty cool.

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