Kruger 2012: The rustic camps Balule and Tsendze

It's been a quiet few days. I've been laid low by a cold that migrated to my chest and caused asthma-type symptoms. Last night just trying to draw breath and expel it was a mission. I had to concentrate to inhale and concentrate to exhale and if I breathed too deeply then I would have a coughing spasm, all the while feeling like there was something sitting on my chest... Not very pleasant. So today I headed back to Phalaborwa and visited the doc, got significantly poorer in the process and got the required meds. I'm definitely feeling better already...

I went to Tsendze for two nights. It is billed as a rustic camp, and it is. Someone took a fence, wrapped a piece of the veld with it and then cleared spaces under the mopani trees. Some camp sites are isolated while others are in clusters of 4 or 5. Most have shade, but the odd few don't. The veld is "original"- there's thick dry grass between the clusters and there is plenty of space. Provision is made for hot water using gas, so showering, cooking and washing up are not an issue.

From there I went to Balule, and has it changed from when I went there last! It seems like they have done some "greening" by watering the trees and grass. It looks fantastic! Each campsite faces outwards against the fence and most are well shaded.

But there has to be a caveat... During the floods in January one bridge washed out on the main North/South tar road *and* the low level bridge that linked Balule to the opposite side of the Olifants river. It is normally 7km to the camp from Olifants Camp but now is nearly 31km! In time terms it was now 45 minutes to Balule instead of 10. It was almost closer to travel to Satara! Plus because there is only one gravel road that now links North/South it means that that stretch of road is being avoided by the animals. Oh well...

On the first day before I set up camp at Balule I took a road along the Timbervati River. Its pretty much dry this time of year. But can you imagine my surprise when in the same place at the same koppie where I had a klipspringer male pose for me nearly 8 years ago, I again saw klipspringers, but this time it was a family unit. And by and large they all took a little time to pose for me! But man, while they were hiding there heads in the shade of a few branches I was sweltering in the vehicle. Can you believe I drank nearly 6 litres of water that day?! And I still felt dehydrated! But I did get a few nice shots of the klippies in action.

The steenbokkies were an interesting pair. Normally you see them as a pair, loose ly walking through the bush. First I saw the male so I starting taking pictures. But for some reason he decided to headbutt a bush. I mean serious get down on his knees and power his way into the base of the little bush. I have no idea what he was up to... But it gets more interesting...

The female now makes her way out of the bush and decides to cross the road. Because she had moved out of the "good" light I started the truck and she got a fright and started running. And right behind her was the male. So I thought he was following her... Errr, no, he was *chasing* her, then just like that she flops on the ground and puts on this really submissive look with ears back and a simpering look on her face. And he slowly stalks her and then suddenly she's off again and just as suddenly she's back on the ground... I managed to film about 30 seconds of the interplay so I'll upload when I get back home (really bad upload speeds at the moment) I found it very curious and will make it a point to find out more.