Here I am on the first day of the new year, tearing it up the gravel without a wink of sleep last night. We had an awesome New Years Eve dinner slash party, which ended with the “die hards” down at Banyini Pan having a cooked breakfast on gas burners. It was quite a site with most people in white bathrobes and eventually wallowing in the mud like Elephants - definitely not begging to be wildcasted though.
So from the breakfast, Kylie (my wife) and I headed towards Nduna with pretty ominous looking clouds overhead. On route I took note of the Tamboti trees that have been total stripped of their leaves by the Achaea catella or banded achaea caterpillars. There was some concern raised in the past about whether the tree recovers, but we have since learned that the Tamboti tree makes a full recovery after the surviving caterpillars turn into moths. It is amazing though, how these caterpillars totally infest the tree and strip it of its foliage.
Onward and upward we headed when I had the sneaking suspicion to check for signal on the wild dogs; what do you know, there they were not far North of Nduna Dam on an impala kill! We spent about 5 minutes following them when I saw a stretch of mud and I was still wondering whether we’d make it over – wonder we should have.
A half an hour spent digging us out of the mud and back onto the dogs only to leave them tucked away in the hills when the rain came pouring down. What a start to the year anyway, I’m always glad to catch up with the wild dogs, just to know they are still strong and healthy. I hope that all our viewers will have a strong and healthy year - give it horns!
Mark
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