It’s been a little while since I have written an entry in this diary, so I will aim to be consistent and tell, the story of my Kruger Trail experience.
Day 4 of leg 1 was the first day we arrived at camp early enough to explore our surroundings a little bit. This would prove something that happened on only 3or4 days of the entire journey. The camp spot was set among the granite koppies you can see from the main tarred Kruger Road north of Punda Maria.
The walk there was an easy one, and the pictures of that day show a lot of coffee making. Food and drink take on the importance you give it when out there. You can survive and be happy on very little, but you can be quite creative and variable in your meal choices. Meals and coffee stops can easily become highlights. They provide interludes when, on occasion, something with a big animal and a little bird takes place (those stories are still to come). Interesting conversations also start up, and we would sometimes try and solve a few problems, or come up with new ideas. The walks in silence in between them provide time for reflection and introspection. It was an amazing space to reflect on life gone past, and things to come, as well as simply be in the moment out there. I found myself wandering freely between all these spaces.
So, arriving early at the camp spot, we set up our tents in a way we would later regret. It was evidence that we were still learning as new trailists, this way of life and how we saw the space we were traveling through was a bit underdeveloped. Carelessly we removed a few tufts of frass to ensure the space under our tents was flat. I guess we saw it as a small thing, and we didn’t consider that we were camping in a special and sensitive site. I felt our guides frown, but they didn’t stop us. It’s only reflecting now that I realise how “disrespectful” we were being to an undisturbed natural site. We left a mark that was not just our footprints.
We then wandered between the granite domes, flushing a Jamesons Rock Rabbit, a rare sighting indeed. We gazed over the Mopani veld below from the top of the granite domes, and absorbed our surroundings. By day 4 you are starting to sink deeper into the experience, the effect of being out in a wild space is taking hold of your mind and being. We were more connected than we had ever been before. But there was still a long way to go!
