I realised as I pushed send last night that I forgot to mention the snake encounter in the blog post. Of course, almost as fast as I remember, it was pointed out to me as well. I said I would fix that problem. S & I were still up and at the dining room table catching up on things when I get a whatsapp from H with a photo and question underneath of “Worm or baby snake? Please come now” I go and H points out a half a shell on at the foot of our bed and when I push the worm/snake with my foot it starts wriggling just like a snake. Clearly snake then! By this time K, Z & S have also all joined to see. H says “Kill it now. Stamp on it.” Can’t really argue with H at this point so I follow instructions and then take the leftovers and flush them down the loo.

Now when you think snake, you have to think the smallest snake in ever have seen (pic below). But now the question is, whether is the mother as this was clearly a newly minted snake fresh out of its shell. Fortunately we have ChatGPT these days and it informs us (a) totally harmless (no kidding it wasn’t going to be able to bite me if it tried) and (b) the mother lays the eggs and leaves them (zero motherly instinct it seems). Plus thorough search of the room and everyone concludes we are likely safe for the night. So that is what I should have said in yesterdays blog. Of course I have also probably broken a bunch of laws because I killed wildlife in a game park. The things you do for your wife.

This morning it was a planned sleep in. Someone forgot to tell Z though who was up at 4:30am. Only requires one adult to deal with that situation though and it wasn’t going to fall to either H or I! H & S had decided to go for a run at 7:30am and I wanted to go for a forest walk (there is a trail in the camp) to do some birding. Originally S & H were going to come with me so I waited for them to come back but alas when they returned, no desire to go for a bird walk. They said ‘we didn’t hear any birds this am so we won’t come’. I went by myself and added a number of birds to the trip list including one bird I had seen last in 2021 only. As an FYI, good day for trip list which is now up to 86 birds (no lifers though for me but K did get one).

When I got back, packing up went into full swing and as we started to pack the car I had an encounter with a baboon that wanted to climb in and have a look around. Chased him off and then we proceeded to pack much more cautiously ensuring no other cheeky monkeys or baboons got into our car again. We were packed up just before 10am and we headed east to the Memorial gate. Our journey was briefly halted by a large elephant bull blocking the road. Once past him, it didn’t take long to get to the gate and exit the park. We had decided to replicate what we had done on our road trip last August and head to False Bay which is part of iSamangaliso Wetlands and do some birding there before heading to Mkhuze. It would also hopefully give some time for Z to fall asleep (which she did very quickly in her car seat).

We were surprised at the level of the water at the wetlands. In places the picnic spots were totally flooded with the built braais half covered in water. We did follow the road along the water’s edge until we got to a point where the road was underwater. H said if we were in the Landrover she would have no problem with us proceeding, but in the VW Kombi you simply couldn’t take that chance. We all agreed and turned around and back. It was a nice drive and achieved about an hour 20 min nap for Z and allowed us to add to our bird list for the trip.

A quick stop at Hluhluwe town to replenish some supplies and then on to Mkhuze. The road very quickly turns to a dirt road and the first bit is not in very good condition. But the balance of it is relatively good except just before Mkhuze when you approach one of the local villages. There the road is a total mess. It is short-lived at least.

We got to Mkhuze gate just after 2pm. It is only 8 kms from the gate to the camp (Mantuma) but that took us close to an hour to complete as there is a lot of bird life in Mkhuze. Mkhuze is second only to the Kruger Park in bird diversity yet it is only 1/77th of size of the Kruger Park. Pretty much everywhere you look you see a new bird.

We did a late afternoon walk and then SK gave Z an early supper and we then ate the braai together (BBQ chicken, ostrich sausage and sweet potato in the braai accompanied with ratatouille made by H. It was a late dinner by our standards as we only finished around 7:45pm (wood took forever to burn down again). Everyone now in bed and ready for hopefully a good nights rest.

Until tomorrow …

P, Z (she was again very good in the car despite her 4:30am wake up), H, S & K