It is never boring in the bush

We now live seven years here in the Balule Private Nature Reserve and we have seen many animals around our camp in that time. We also had our share of adventures with some of the animals. I still find it very special to have these animals just in our backyard. Sometimes it is quiet for a few days and then all of a sudden a waterbuck or a kudu stares at you when you walk out the door. The past year we have seen four of the Big Five around our camp. In winter we always see elephants

and this year we had a lot of buffalo as well, a few times we even had a big herd of over 100 buffalo’s. Once a leopard just walked by our watering hole while our guests were having dinner. We saw lions close by our lodge a few times this year and once they even killed a buffalo, right in front of our terrace! Just the rhino is missing to complete this big five and it seems just a matter of time since we found tracks of a mother with her calf in our riverbed last week.

When I drive out of our gate at seven in the morning to bring our oldest son Niels to school, we see a giraffe standing in the middle of the road. We watch him for a while and enjoy this special moment. Slowly the giraffe walks into the bush and watches us while we drive past. Just a few minutes down the road we see a small herd of impala and two jackals cross the road. Later that morning, when I return home, I see zebra’s and wildebeests and I realise how privileged I am to live here.

Regards from the bush, 

Miriam