You might notice the spelling of Mkuze changes in my blog. That is because you can spell it multiple ways and they all acceptable. Mhkuze, Mkuze or uMhkuze. It is a isiZulu word meaning “chorus master of singing and dancing”. I am not sure if Z knows that but there certainly has been a lot of singing coming from her over the last few days. She will just be sitting in the car while we are driving and she will break out into a song. For a 2-year old her repertoire is quite extensive.

We were up and out just after sunrise at around 6:40am. It was a very chilly morning of 10 degrees C. The bush was pretty quiet – too cold for everything it seems. We went to our favourite bird hide in Mkuze – the Kwamasinga hide – and even it was very quiet. S & K were underwhelmed after we had hyped it up. It was in the shade and pretty cold (around 7.5 degrees C there) so probably not the best time to go. We did some bumbling around and added trip list birds on the landing strip (always a good place for some ground birds) and then headed to the other hide nearby which we learnt isn’t great but went anyway. Nothing at the hide itself but in the parking lot we saw ink-throated twinspots which is a lifer for both H & I. Twinspots have been somewhat of a bogey bird for us and so this was a pleasing sighting for us. S was a little bleak because he had seen them before and it meant I pulled a little further away from him. He is regretting ever saying he would soon pass me.

We had some excellent sightings of giraffe next to and on the road today. Z definitely also excited about them and immediately said “WOW” when she saw the first one. She still asked for ‘more-tog’ and we actually were able to oblige today (there was one on the landing strip). On the way back into camp, H & S added another life – Eastern Nicator – S happy because that early lifer for me of pink-throated twinspot was cancelled out as I already had the nicator on my list.

When SK put Z down to sleep, H and I headed back to the Kwamasinga hide and just after we got there we saw the green twinspots. Both twinspots in one day. One would almost think it was my birthday with 2 lifers both being twinspots in one day but actually my birthday is only next week. As an FYI for those of you that have read the blog previously from last years August road trip, we saw them today in exactly the same spot that A (the guy who photographed them from our party but never bothered to tell us about them) saw them. It is definitely a spot for them it seems. The bird life was very active midday at the hide – it is definitely a good time to go.

SKZ were all napping still when we got back but once they all woke up I offered to take them to hide to see if we could add the green twinspots for them as well. The only issue was that we had a slow leak on the back tyre. The car had said low tyre pressure when we left Hilltop yesterday and we pumped it up. No further messages during the day but when we got into the car this am, the tyre pressure was down even more than yesterday morning so it was clear we had a slow leak. There is no tyre pump here and so that meant we had to change the tyre. My left hand and wrist have been incredibly painful over the last few days and so we were reliant on S doing the change of tyre with some cheering on from the sidelines from the rest of us. Fortunately he managed to get it done and so we could do a a quick late afternoon trip to the hide but alas no twinspots to be seen. It was a bit more active with a giant egret in the middle of the water which at least we could add to the trip list.

The highlight of the day though came after I had already lit the fire for the braai tonight. We could hear crunching and trumpeting in the trees to our left. It was elephant and they were close. That continued for awhile and we couldn’t see them and then K peered around the side of house and almost got a fright of her life when she saw an elephant about 20 meters from her. We all very quickly migrated toward the house. There is a small water fountain for birds to bath in and drink from right in front of our house. The elephants came and drank from that. I say elephants because it was a herd. We counted at least 11 at one stage but some only came out of the bush later. Probably closer to 20 in total. The one was not happy with me peering around the corner of the house (the rest of them had gone inside). H came outside briefly and talked to me and the elephant moved forward toward us and I sent H back inside again. I told her I can’t deal with having to get us both safely inside so she should rather just stay inside.

They formed a circle around the little ones when they came to drink and then they all turned and walked off through the camp. Snapping a few branches and trumpeting as they went. It was pretty impressive and the fast heart pumping must be good for your overall well-being. Mkuze is not fenced and so this not an unheard of occurrence. Last night we could hear a hyena whooping and we think it was around the braai last night after we finished.

I continued the braai and by this point it was ready for ostrich steak and chicken wings to be cooked. Some of the butternut and sweet potato that was in the coals never got turned around (thanks to the elephant herd) but plenty that was very edible. A glass of wine or two with the meal topped off everything nicely.

Another full day in the bush …

S (for the tyre changing he fully deserves this plus he spotted the pink-throated twinspots), P, H (for green twinspots), K & Z