My wife, Helen, and I have just spent a few days wandering around Manyaleti Game Reserve with friends, Neville and Sue Kelly, Mervin and Joan Gibb and Pat Donaldson. We were based at Pungwe Camp in the Manyaleti Reserve. Manyaleti means “the place of stars”. It is located adjacent to Kruger Park in South Africa between the Timbavati and Sabi Sands. The entrance to Manyaleti is right next to the Orpen gate in the Kruger Park. There are no fences between Manyaleti and Kruger, Timbavati or Sabi Sands, only on the western boundary with Acornhoek so the wildlife is free to wander through the four reserves unhindered. 

“The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos. Only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say ‘Africa’. In reality, except as a geographical appellation Africa does not exist.” ~ Ryzard Kapuseinski

Pat Donaldson was our guide. He has guided in this area for the past forty years and his knowledge, understanding and love of the bush and its wildlife was inspirational. For “townies” who go it the bush for a few days, a wildlife guide is invaluable as they can read the sounds and signs of the bush far better than you.  This improves your chances of seeing the game/wildlife and your  guide is better able to read the behaviour of wildlife  which is necessary for the wellbeing of the animals and the visitors.

On our first morning we had our traditional cup of coffee and a rusk before setting out on our wanderings. This time of the year is mid-winter in South Africa, so it is cold for us, but I guess for those from the northern hemisphere who are used to colder climes, the temperatures would be considered mild. The saving grace is the clear blue skies with mist wafting through the trees before the sun rises and the knowledge it will be warm around mid-day.

We had not travelled for ten minutes from the camp when we came across a small breeding herd of elephants – with a few youngsters. A female (in the centre of the next image) came around a large anthill and immediately started to walk towards us. Nothing unusual about that….

Then, all of a sudden, with no warning, she charged us. We were sitting quietly in the game vehicle not making a noise, though Pat had the vehicle idling.

“Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.” ~ John Muir

After the first charge she must have been about 30 metres from us but she did not back away. I have never seen it before but she rocked from side to side lifting her left front leg and then her right front leg. Almost as if deciding what to do next.

After lifting her right leg she decided to charge us. I had my telephoto lens on a focal length of 70 mm, not far from normal vision, so when she filled the frame she had really caught my attention.

During the charge she had moved to about 20 metres from us. Then, she stopped, stood for a short while, and backed away. As she walked away she kept an eye on us with a side glance.

After walking away about five or six steps she whirled around and, in full “trumpet mode”, charged again, this time to within 10 metres of the vehicle. I think it needs a practiced wildlife photographer to keep shooting in this scenario. I decided her tusks were about 700mm long and she was swinging her trunk wildly so I moved my butt from the closest seat to her into the middle seat of the vehicle.

Pat then decided it was time to move because something had annoyed her and she was likely to hit the vehicle – which would not have been good for her or the vehicle! She  chased the vehicle for a short while and then gave up. Pat casually said “are you all wake now?”  We were fully awake with hearts racing.

“Trees intrigue me. They give me a sense of the soil and geology below. Some live for thousands of years, some for a decade. They tell me what birds I might find in them. They provide food and fuel for many, Their shape is definitive and has a purpose. Their leaves, branches, trunks and roots have an energy transfer system and fluid dynamics which we are still trying to fully fathom. They are the earth’s lungs and many of us find great soothing when they talk to the wind.” ~ Mike Haworth

On a more sedate note winter is a time when the leaves of the Tamboti trees turn red. Tambotis seem to grow in groves so the browns yellow and greens of the bushveld you will often find a splash of Tamboti red.

The Tamboti has a distinctive dark bark pattern of rectangular blocks in rows. The leaves have a toxic milky latex. This is a type of wood you do not want to use as fire wood as  it will it cause headaches and vomiting. Porcupines seemingly love the bark of Tambotis in winter.

Late the first afternoon, we found a mature bull elephant, approximately 50 years old, just standing – he looked to be in distress. He had an abscess on his right front foot which had infected his whole right leg causing it to be very swollen. Nobody knows exactly what caused the foot wound but it was thought to be from natural causes so the wildlife managers who initially looked at the leg, decided to not intervene further. He was really struggling to walk and was hopping on his left front leg, which as you can imagine with six tonnes was no easy task. He has had this problem for over a month but seemed to be able to feed himself and get water so hopefully he will recover.

“I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was unexplored.”~ David Attenborough

A typical sunset in the African bushveld with the dusty orange glow silhouetting a knob-thorn tree which had lost its leaves for the winter. The air temperature was considerably warmer at sunset than at sunrise.

“Softly the evening came with the sunset.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sunset is sundowner time. We found a dam close to Buffelshoek camp and got off the vehicle to stretch our legs and get a drink. On the ground at twilight you get a sense of the changeover in the bush when the diurnal wildlife look for shelter and the nocturnal wildlife begin to stir. I wandered with Pat down to the dam to get this image of a lone young bull elephant drinking in the last light with the moon above.

It was a few minutes after I had taken the previous image when we were back at the vehicle that a lone elephant walked passed us down to the dam. He was dead quiet, surprising quiet, as he moved through the bush. After the leader had passed, the rest of the breeding herd followed, accompanied by two large bulls. There was no fuss or commotion and it was very quiet and relaxed. If I had tried to record the sound of the herd passing you would have only heard the Pearl Spotted Owlets in the adjacent trees.

The light was all but gone when another game vehicle drove past the drinking herd. The vehicle lights give you a sense of the fading light.

As quickly and quietly as they arrived, the herd was gone. It is hard to describe the sensual experience of these enormous animals walking past you so quietly. One bull elephant hung back and just watched us. He started to walk towards us but not in a threatening way so Pat just started talking to him so that he knew exactly where we where and shined torch so he would not get a fright as he walked by. With no fuss he then walked past us down to the dam. It is only when you are on foot  that you get a full sense of the size of large a bull elephant.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. there is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” ~ Jawaharlal Nehru

With drinks packed away we climbed back on the vehicle and made our way back to camp with images of the ghosts in the evening light swimming in our senses. On his way back to camp Pat likes to stop the vehicle in the dark, turn the engine off and just listen to the sounds of the bush and stare up at the canopy of stars above. It was a full moon so the bush was quite light at night and the full spender of the night sky dimmed somewhat but the moonlight.

“We sit still in the game vehicle enveloped by the darkness. Above was a canopy of twinkling stars beckoning us to look up. In the distance was the whoop of a patrolling hyaena. Close by was the “chirrrup” of a Scop’s owl. The cloak of our urban life was falling away.” ~ Mike Haworth

I  love the animated chatter around the fire and dinner table after the day’s wanderings in the bush. It is a time for discussing what we saw and stories new and old.

“The warmth of friendship, the imagination stirred by the stories and the wildness of the place all dance in the flickering flames of the campfire.” ~ Mike Haworth

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

To some, the Drakensberg creates images of dragons, to others the jagged basalt pinnacles look like a barrier of spears. The Zulus call it Ukhahlamba, the barrier of spears. For me, casting my eyes upon this majestic range is breathtaking and beyond adequate description.

“There is more to life than increasing its speed” ~ Ghandi

The Drakensberg mountain range stretches about 1,000 kilometres from the Blyde River area in Mpumalanga near Kruger Park to the interior of the Eastern Cape, forming the edge of the interior plateau called the Highveld. The mountains and surrounding wilderness area in the foothills have been declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site. This site constitutes some 240,000 hectares under the control of KwaZulu Natal Wildlife. This mountain range provides great biodiversity and is home to an extensive insitu exhibition of Bushman rock art.

“All the good things are wild and free.”~ Unknown

The next image is of Montusi Mountain Lodge, a very comfortable well-appointed family lodge. We spent four wonderful days at this lodge and used it as a base from which to venture to the surrounding  mountain areas.

After breakfast, this was the vista looking out from our suite. That feeling of wide open space enables you to breath deeply and a feeling which soothes your soul.

While the huge vistas allow you to look far, there is much activity right in front of you in the form of sunbirds on the aloes. Malachite and Greater double-collared sunbirds in particular seem to prefer the higher altitudes.

Although it was mid-May, late autumn in South Africa, it was not cold. This male Malachite sunbird was just ruffling his feathers as a sign of relaxation.

“Travelling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station’.” ~ Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

The huge and dramatic vistas in the Drakensberg are the result of its geology. The geological formation of the Drakensberg has taken place over many hundreds of millions of years. The final stage of which began some 190 million years ago and is still underway. For millions of years, sediment, in the form of layers of clay and sand, were deposited. These layers are known as the Molteno Beds, Red Beds and Cave Sandstone (from bottom to top). These sediment beds were pierced by volcanic Dolerite intrusions. The Dolerite is far harder than the sedimentary layers and so is less prone to erosion. This has resulted in the dramatic sheer cliffs, buttresses and pinnacles which are so characteristic of the Drakensberg.

Gondwanaland began to break up into different continents around 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic period. About 160 million years ago, enormous volcanic activity created major lava flows which covered the sedimentary layers. These lava flows are thought to have originated from the area which is present day Lesotho. Some of these larva flows reached thicknesses of up to 1300 metres and slowly made their way to the present coastline about 200 kilometres to the south-east. These so-called Stormberg Basalts have been eroded over time through wind and weather and form the what is called the High Berg. This process of erosion also accounts for the flat-topped plateaus rather than peaked mountains top of the Drakensberg. 

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street.” ~ William Blake

The Amphitheatre is not only one of the most spectacular landmarks in the Drakensberg, but also in Southern Africa. It is also relatively accessible from both top and bottom. This area has been preserved as part of the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park, which is now known as Royal Natal Nature Reserve. 

The Montusi Mountain Lodge is located opposite the Amphitheatre about 15 kilometres from the sheer rock wall.

The Amphitheatre is characterised by a massive semi-circular wall of basalt with cliff faces over 1,200 metres high in places.  This is a seven kilometre wide semi-circular rugged wall of basalt rock which rises over 1,000 metres from the hilly terrain of the ‘lower berg’. The top of the Amphitheatre is a flat plateau that now forms the watershed of Southern Africa. In 1836, it inspired the French missionaries Arbousset and Dumas to call its highest point the Mont-aux-Sources,  the “Mountain of Sources”. Several rivers originate here, the most famous being the Tugela River. 

“Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.” ~ Ambrose Bierce

Before the first lavas began to flow in the area of the present-day Drakensberg mountain range, the place was part of a shallow depression fed by inland waterways. It was an enormous inland lake. Its waters covered the ancient land mass called Gondwanaland. The sediments carried into the lake were deposited on granite foundations which had formed almost three billion years ago. This super-continent  Gondwanaland included Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America and Antarctica. 

With a sense of its geological history, we drove into the Royal Natal National Park which is at the foot of the Amphitheatre. it was like driving into a natural museum. The next image was taken around mid-morning just before the Tendele camp car park. The rocky river bed of the Tugela river runs down the left hand side of the image. In the foreground are fans of thatching grass laid out to dry by the local people. They use the thatching grass for roofing material.

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” ~Edward Abbey

A short distance from its source on the plateau, the Tugela plunges 850 metres over the edge of the Amphitheatre in five distinct drops, making it the second highest waterfall in the world. Being late autumn there was little water in the Tugela river. It must be impressive when the snow melts on top of the mountains. Over the millennia this river has created a magnificent gorge with numerous waterfalls, caves, shaded forests and rock tunnels. For hundreds of years this wild fertile area was home to the Bushmen and their many rock paintings are testimony to their unobtrusive presence. 

On our last morning, I awoke before sunrise and as the sun rose it cast a magical orange-pink hue over the vast landscape. So many landscape photographers tell you that the light adds that magical touch to wonderful vistas and this was a good example of that truth.

“Life is only a reflection of what we allow ourselves to see.” ~Unknown

Later in the morning the colour of the light had changed completely.

“Keep close to Nature’s heart…and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” ~John Muir

Around the Montusi Mountain Lodge were numerous clusters of candelabra aloes erupting with inflorescences of vivid orange-red flowers. In the mountains where there are flowers, there is nectar, and where there is nectar, there are sunbirds and sugarbirds.

A typical candelabra aloe cluster in the foreground with the Drakensberg in the distance.

On the road out from Montusi you cross numerous mountain streams. This was one, flowing with crystal clear water.

One of our last vistas as we drove out of the northern Drakensberg. Looking at it gives you a sense of peace and permanence.

“When you look at these mountains it is like looking at the stars. When you look at stars you are looking at unfathomable distances, when you look at the mountains you are looking at unfathomable history. These are dimensions and forces beyond our fathom. Both are spellbinding and humbling.” ~ Mike Haworth

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let its be.

Have fun,

Mike