Daily Archive for January 30th, 2007

I think I was being tested today.

It rained in the south last night and conditions down there caught me off guard.
The elephants were still hanging out in the grasslands and so of course I followed. Tall grass looked like a safe enough spot but then I went down. Right into that deep black clay. I had luckily stopped myself digging in too deep. Then it was a matter of jacking up the vehicle, not so easy when the jack keeps disappearing into the soft clay, and piling logs under the wheels. I eventually had to place a couple of logs on the clay, put my spade across them and then put the jack on top of that to prevent it sinking deeper.

In the end it wasn’t too bad, the elephant had moved off and ¾’s hour later I was on the road again. Although be it a very wet road.

Leaving the elephant in their ‘no go’ area I went to work around the hills. Things were pretty bleak in there too and I haven’t had any sign of the lions for a few days.
I was down at the bottom of a deep donga/ravine when my 4 wheel drive lever decided to malfunction. Actually no function at all. So with a bit of speed and lots of courage I charged out of there at high speed with wheels spinning and luckily not losing any camera boxes.
Back at camp at sunset I at least managed to sort out the gear lever and hope to be fully functional tomorrow.

Jogging again today I came to a skidding as a 8 or 9ft Black Mamba (Africa’s most deadly snake) reared up in front of me only 3m away. He was alarmed as much as I was and quickly disappeared off the side of the track while I stood motionless and watched him pass. These snakes can apparently out run a man and I wasn’t about to put that to the test. They are also known to be highly aggressive and to chase people, but this is only when they are cornered and do this in self defence. Thank goodness!