Amatikulu Nature Reserve

13th Jan 4:30am sunday morning had us getting ready for a trip up to Amatikulu Nature Reserve 100km outside of Durban,which the parentals had planned so we tagged along & a very lovely day it ended up being.

Upon arrival, the staff seem very helpful, they give us a map of all the routes & walking trails. As we enter we take the 4x4 route first with us planning to be at the picnic area by lunch, cruising not too far & Yellow-Throated Longclaws are spotted which seem to be the common bird around here. Further along we stumble across a section of the road which the rain had damaged so it was time to test out the 4x4. It was hair raising at first but with some guidance & a shovel in hand, we bulit up our road & made it through with ease. The bigger problem was getting up this on the way back, we had to rebuild a section of it & level out some parts but this sand was really soft & makes everything just that much more difficult. After a few hair raising attempts & near rolls, the ballie guides the bakkie through with a sign of relief.

Back at the reception, we tell them about the road but they already knew all this, its really disgusting that the staff don't inform visitors of events that have happened at this reserve, nor do they inform visitors that the whale watching tower access is by foot but on the map it shows a 4x4 road, they even told us where to go by car, so we drove around looking for a road that does not exist!

At the pan we stopped for some coffee, had a walk around, found some porcupine quills, got fooled by a stupid stick which looked like a snake hidden in the grass just waiting to attack. In the pan were loads of African Jacanas flying around chasing eachother, calling & I also spotted one building a nest next to the waters edge which I have never seen before. Also around were White faced Whistlers, Spur-Winged Geese, Egyptian Geese, Little Grebes, Grey Heron, Common Moorhen, Black Crake, the enchanting White-Fronted Bee-Eaters & a few more.

Zebra & Giraffe were on the playlist literally with the birds being the backround beat, they looked so goofy with one ear up & one ear down & their faces just being so comical looking. The animals didnt seem too bothered by our presence & slowly moved off as we approached them, giving us some photo opportunities. For a small Reserve, they sure have alot of giraffe, zebra & few buck of which we managed to catch a glimpse of before it disappeared into the bushes.

We reach our picnic area,started a braai, setup the lunch table & relaxed by the siff river, yip it was siff, from all the rain during the week. There are 2 young guys who do canoe hire & the one young man is "Junior", he's a bird guide for reserves around this area & knows his stuff. We were fortunate for him to voluntarily join us on our trail walk & lucky for us that he did, he called in a Green Malkoha (Green Coucal) which was a first spot for us & guided us through some overgrown bushes that made the path disappear,clearing some spider webs & I had the unfortunate grace of walking into a Golden Orb Spider but luckily managed to let it loose onto a tree (these spiders are harmless but do give a nasty bite).

Throughout the day we saw 45 species of birds & heard 3 of which we never saw including the very elusive Narina Trogon, even after trying to call it in.
Thanks to the parentals for the lovely trip & many more to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highmoor - Day 3

Day 3 - With a very cold restless night in our leaking tent, the morning took forever to arrive. The clouds still remained very thick amongst us campers so it took us sometime to come around & begin our day. After a very lovely warm shower & all cosy in layers of warm clothing, we set off for a small walk around the campsite collecting Agats.

Once boredom crept it, we got all kitted out & went for a hike to caracal cave, which started off cold along a very unclear path. This was our first hike to this cave & it delivered very good results.

The clouds started moving off as the day moved on & plenty of buck were on display for us!! I have never seen so many buck in the Berg as we did today. I counted over 25 at one spot & 20 or so in other areas who never seemed bother about our presence. Found a Berg Adder along the way & a burnt baby buck skull. A little mouse was spotted & luckily got a pic of it. Also plenty of birdlife was around but the Bald Ibis was a really good treat to see, The hike to Aasvoelkrans cave, one might be lucky to see the Secretary Bird near the river crossing where its nest sits ontop of the tree at the bottom by the river.

After a long hike, we get to the last section & boy it was a steep walk down & a really kak walk back up. Nevertheless we got to the cave & the waterfall was not as expected but it cooled us down & enjoyed mother nature.

After much pooping around the cave, I had a little secret hidden in my bag which I snuggled out while my lady was distracted, got semi down on my knee on a rock & gave her some lovely sweet talk, as she turned around, the stunned look of surprise, shock, happiness & beauty appeared right in front of my eyes.

 I  POPPED THE QUESTION TO MY AWESOME LOVE OF MY LIFE & SHE SAID YES.

We celebrated once back at our camp, popping champagne & enjoying the beautiful starry night sky that graced us. It was all just so like "perfect" but the signal was not, so trying to get hold of family & friends was mostly a miss.

 All in all, after a bad start to our trip, we defeated all obsticles, even each other at some times & no matter what happened, at the end of the day we had each other.

Highmoor - Day 2

With Ann & Tom leaving really early for Kruger Park, we sat waiting patiently pondering when we would start this next stage of our journey & how long to reach our destination. Soon Arthur arrives & we set out to beat time & get our base camp set up.

The weather is definately not on our side this weekend & on arrival, we get busy but alas the damn rain & here we were setting up camp in the pouring rain. Once we finished setting up, it all cleared up!!!!!!!!!! I wonder if this is karma getting me back, I don't know.
Even the tent we used (very old one) was leaking & proved to be quite useless throughout the weekend.

Once we were comfortable & out of my irritable state, the fire got started & chillaxing began.
As night crept in, so did the clouds & the cold. You could see them rising between the valley straight for us & eventually we were in a cloud. You could not see further than 10m , its like fog I guess. It was quite something being here & as usual there is always something that happens to us.

For some reason amongst the 4 layers of socks, my feet just would not keep warm & eventually they went numb resulting in uncomfortable sleep...

HighMoor - Day 1

Around about 11am on friday our journey began to the highest campsite in Kzn,we were so eager & really happy that we were finally on our way. We decided That we would stop at spar in Notties for some supplies because we just wanted to get on the road & avoid all the delays which became inevitable as the roads were filled with idiotic speeding drivers (who nearly caused me 2 accidents) all rushing as this was the long weekend for many to get away from city life.

We approached the Cedara off ramp where cars & trucks are starting to jam up & everyone trying to get on the R103 to avoid all of this! We did the same & not even 500m on this road, my car decided it was time for a break, so we broke down with a huge 18 wheeler truck & many many cars behind us!!! We were fortunate that I managed to get off the road which started my "mechanic skills". You would think that people would stop & try see if we needed any assistance but alas we only had 1 taker! I'm not really that shocked about this though, with all the trouble that could happen & does happen. Without any supplies from spar & little food we had, we just sat waiting until we got help .

We were very lucky that our awesome friends parents had not left for Kruger Park yet & after being stuck for 2.5 hrs, eventually got a helping hand & got to their place in Howick where we ended up staying the night while my car was left at their mechanics house, Arthur the 84yr old mechanic.

The weather for this long weekend had been really against us weeks before this journey had began,with miserable rain predictions & we were hoping that the weather would hold up for us. As my fiance always says "maybe it was a blessing & that this was not meant to be". Well maybe this was the case & we ended up 1 more night in comfort but 1 day lost of a holiday.