Winter in Conce

Concepcion on the Bio Bio River.

So it's winter time in Chile, and the question is - is it chilly in Chile? The answer is yes! It is also very rainy too. Being a long country, the weather can vary though - from zero rain up north to nothing but down south. A few weeks ago was the worst - a solid week of rain in Conce, and even Santiago had it's fair share. When it rains here, everything floods, houses leak, but the buses continue to drive extremely fast and dangerously. Lose paving stones splash dirty water back up at you, holes in the pavement mean wet feet, and a lack of gutter drainage means wet everything as the cars aquaplane by, leaving a dry spot on the wall with your shape. Rain can be fun and enjoyable, but not if you have to swim to work and nobody has heating in their homes, and you have washing that never dries.

The Saltos de Laja at sunset.

A Cueca girl.

My favourite house in Conce.

This week however, the sun has come out and it looks like Spring is on it's way in Concepcion - welcome to Tropi Conce! The locals call it this because the weather can change so dramatically here - from pissing down on your way to work, to sunny skies while you're at work, to rain again as soon as you leave the building to go home. To give you an idea of exactly how wet is has been here in July - Sydney gets 9 days of rain for 56mm, compared to 173mm here, which directly translated means 30 days of Sydney rain. Nice. Unfortunately the streets aren't built for this kind of rain, even though it happens every year - it's real gumboot weather! It can get you down - I firmly believe weather plays a big part in your happiness, but you need to find ways of beating it, and using it to your advantage, such as going on a big walk when the sun does come out - make hay while the sun is shining! I managed to visit some museums other cultural events while the weather was bad, but tried my best to get out when I could.

Traditional Cueca dancing - with the traditional stray dog sleeping in middle of it.

The glass buildings of Concepcion.

Art in the University of Concepcion.

So getting out of Conce has been a bit of an eye-opener for me. Most people visit Chile and see Santiago - the big capital with it's European architecture, tall glass buildings and bustling Capitilism - you could be in Madrid. They also go and visit the mountains in the south and deserts in the north - the country is amazing in this regard! There is the flip side though - the middle part, the real Chile, the part not many get to see. I have. Catching the micros (local buses) around town is one thing - always exciting/dangerous and I am always in fear of losing my front teeth due to the frequent brake slamming - but getting out of the city is totally different. Concepcion is more or less a decent sized modern city on the surface - tall buildings, shopping malls, trains and buses, starbucks and all the shops and plazas and glass and glam, but it's still South America and Chile, so there are the people that sit on the same corner selling the same junk everyday - from the guy that only sells smelly things you hang in your car, to the guy that comes on to the bus and does his 'chocolate buena' speech and sells small bars of chocolate for 100clp (20c) which taste horrible by the way, and the hotdog lady that stands all day in Plaza Peru, the restaurant and pub part of town, and sells fried rubbish which the students lap up.

Stray dogs waiting for a feed. Strays are fine - the owned dogs bite.

There are also the jugglers and performers on busy streets - they perform while you sit at a red light, juggling fire, knives, walking on stilts (and juggling), playing music (or washing your windows) or whatever trying to get either extra cash to pay for Uni education or just easy money. People like this would be called 'scivers' in the UK, 'bums' in the US and 'bludgers' in OZ, and told to 'get a real job.' In Chile, these are real jobs as many people don't have the opportunity or education (or sometimes motivation) for anything better. Most people live in small, cheaply built houses and apartments in ill-planned, soviet-style housing estates. In some suburbs the old houses dominate - colourful wooden shacks, all build closely together, all the same, but all a little different. There are horses and sometimes cows wandering an empty field, alongside kids kicking a football. Others, the newer ones, are brick and timber, but are real cookie-cutter houses, same colour and exactly the same design, and look very much like pre-fabricated, flat-pack coffee tables straight from IKEA. Both of these are quite depressing in their own way, and the government really needs to learn how to build communities, not just cheap housing for the masses. Some of these neighbourhoods would be called 'fabellas' in Brasil, slums and ghettos in English speaking countries. Chile is so beautiful, people say, and that it true of nature with it's mountains, forests and huge stretch of coast, but sadly where people live it is polluted, dirty and generally not pleasing on the eye.

There was plenty of water due to the rain - a silver lining to the crappy weather!

Saltos de Laja.

Jean-Luc and Peggy.

In light of this, I have done just that and got out of town to see beautiful things. A few small trips around Concepcion, and everything seems fine again. One weekend trip that I did recently was to a place called Saltos de Laja. Only 1.5hrs outside of the city and a 1,500clp ($3) bus trip, it is a great little town to visit. I use the word town quite losely, as there isn't really a town, more a row of touristy shops, a convenience store, a few restaurants and a spattering of rural houses, but loads of cabañas (cabins) for the tourists that come here for the waterfalls - the real attraction. There are 4 actually waterfalls, or cataracts, but the main one is seen as you pull in to town - it's hard not to just stop on the bridge and whip out your camera and start clicking away. Most people do this, pedestrians and motorists alike, but nobody is bothered as they are doing the same.

Couple taking a selfie at Ramuntcho beach, near Lenga.

Selfie!

More selfies!

It's a short walk to the falls through of lane of stalls selling a plethora of cheap touristy goods which has nothing to do with waterfalls, and small food vendors selling completos (Chilean hotdogs) and 'mystery meat' on skewers (which actually taste quite good!). Although I have never been to Niagra Falls, I have seen pictures, and this to me is a smaller version, also minus the boat that takes you round the bottom to get wet. You can, however, get close to the water on foot for a (wet) selfie, and even swim in summer when there is far less water. I spent the day with friends, walking around and just enjoying the view - we also visited the other falls, and we were completely alone as not many people go off the beaten track here, so it was an added bonus to just enjoy it with nobody taking selfies. Overall a great little stop for the day - we stayed the night in a cabin that could fit 5 people as was only 25,000clp ($50) a night. It had a small kitchen and table, but the best part was the log fire, which I must say we kept running through the evening and stocked it up before going to bed. Being Chile, we had two dogs keep us company while back at the cabin, who we named Jean Luc and Peggy. I have a tradition of naming dogs - it's whatever name pops in to you head at the time! Always nice to have a dog or two!

The fishing village of Tumbes.

The boats of Tumbes.

Tumbes, near the port of Talcahuano.

A local bus away and you're in small fishing towns around the city. Tumbes is one such place, and if you're in Conce, you should visit here. A small harbour filled with colourful boats, all with their own unique name painted on their bow (Don Juan I, Don Juan II... etc), it plays host to quite a large number of day-trippers - possibly more people visit it than people actually live here. Known for it's seafoood, you can basically only buy seafood and if you want empanadas, they will have to be seafood too. I bought a bowl of 'Pyura' which still to this day I am not sure what it is, apart from a red, squishy sea thing that closely resembles a mass of organs jammed into a shell. Yes, I ate (nearly) a bowl of it, cold and raw as it should be (apparently)... and got sick the next day. My rule is - just because you're on the coast does not mean the food is fresh, and you don't have to eat seafood. If you walk in the forest, you don't have to eat squirrel just because it's from there.

The beach in Winter.

A Turkey Vulture smelling for food.

A secret cove near Lenga.

Being Winter now, I am missing the sun, and every opportunity that arises I am out trying to get sunburnt. Well, not burnt, but some vitamin D at least. Last weekend was sunny and warm - 14c in the middle of winter! I jumped in a car with some friends and went to the beach. The beach itself, Ramuntcho, was an hour's walk from the parking lot of a small village called Lenga. You have to hike up and around some steep hills on a kind of penninsula (and mind the sheer cliffs), the peaks of this outcropping are also referred to as 'les tetas del Bio Bio' or 'The Tits of the Bio Bio.' The secret beach was a good find, and I only got there thanks to local knowledge. Chilling out on the sand, watching and listening to the waves but not getting in cose the water is always too cold, and having your emapanadas stolen by a stray beach dog - ah Chile! The water is always cold here though, that's a fact - the current that carried Nemo to Sydney is warm from the equator, then it goes down, sweeps along Antarctica, then up to Chile, cold enough to make your bollocks go back up in. Don't get me wrong - it may be cold, and not great for swimming - but it is a wonderful sight, and the wind and waves are very powerful and great to just watch from a distance. As far as wildlife in Chile goes, it's basically stray dogs and birds. The dogs not so exciting, but it is a bird watchers dream here - especially for larger birds. You see condors in the mountains and smaller birds of prey around the city and coast, and this day I saw a Turkey Vulture soaring over the beach smelling for food - yes, smelling, unlike the 'Old World' vultures that use their keen bird eyesight. I did wash my feet in the waves, so I was safe.

Looking out at the Pacific from Ramuntcho beach.

There are a few more adventures to talk about, such as my trip to the Piedra de Aguila (Stone of the Eagle) a couple of hours south of Concepcion. Cold, and snow in parts, it is a great place to do a bit of hiking and you get a great view from the top of the rock - volcanoes and oceans of trees. There are some other cool things to do around here too - like visit a real-working coal mine under the ocean (one of the few in the world), which is on the list. When Conce turns on the weather, it is lovely. When it rains, and gets all foggy, you even wish you were in Ireland for the weather. The rain is mostly over, and the weather will only get better, so more hiking and more trips soon! When the weather is good, Chile is a beautiful country!

A Conce sunset.

The Chilean Snowies

So a long weekend was coming up, and the weather in Conce has been very cold and rainy, so that left me little choice - a trip was in order! Deciding to go on a trip, see a new place, meet new people, is the easy part - where to go is more difficult. With a few options relatively close by - the beautiful (everyone says so!) city of Valdivia a bit further south, south again to Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas, or east to Chillan and the mountains. I decided on the mountains - a chance to get away from noisy, busy cities, do some hiking, see some snow in Chile and just have a bit of a hermit's weekend away from people.

Getting to Chillan should be easy, but as you know, nothing is particularly easy in this country. The bus trip is only 1.5 hours from Concepcion to Chillan, and very cheap (p2,500 = $5), and that went fine. Jumped off at the bus terminal in Chillan and found out that there is another terminal on the other side of town, and that was where my bus was leaving for the mountains. I hiked across town, asking direction often  - you need to ask multiple people, and I find that the more people you ask, the more instructions line up and you finally get to where you're going... it's like a game of 'hot and cold' where you're looking for something, and everyone else is yelling out 'You're getting warm! Warmer!" I managed to find it, and book my bus, but just missing one I had to wait more than an hour for the next. Wandering around Chillan waiting for my bus, I realised how 'normal' Conce is - it's a decent sized city, but this town is far more 'Chilean' and less cosmopolitan. The terminal is across the road from the markets, which I wandered through but had to get out quick - far too crazy for me! I found a supermarket to buy some bus snacks, and afterwards sat on the church steps to try and get some peace and quiet... ah but this is Chile! Busy streets, Micros (the local buses) zooming around in worse condition that the ones in Conce, market criers selling their wares, general hustle and bustle like only South America can do it, and when I thought it couldn't get any worse, a drunk came to my spot at the church, mumbled something, then fell over a meter away from me and went soundly to sleep... or at least I hope he was sleeping. I moved on and decided to wait at the terminal.

I'm sure I have mentioned bus terminals in previous entries, but this one needs to be mentioned. Chile, and the rest of South America, run on buses - they are the beating heart of transport here. Anyone and everyone travels long (and short) distances by bus - locals and tourists. At these terminals, the mind boggles at how it works - sometimes I feel that I am the only one that is stressed and confused. First you need a ticket - and the whole place is filled with ticket booths from many different companies. There are more than one booth for each company, spread out over the place, and I haven't worked out why, but I do know that there are always long queues, the service is slow, and the press of humanity is nearly stifling. Outside is just as bad - people fill seats with bags and food waiting for their ride home, stray dogs are a given, buses coming and going with no regard for people walking near them and the people equally not caring how close they are walking behind a moving 2-storey bus. I got my ticket (p2000 = $4) and waiting, lucky to have found a seat. A television was on, which also showed the time - there aren't normally clocks at these terminals, which you would think be a good thing to have when you have got a bus booked for an exact time (not that they ever arrive or leave in time). The television was playing music videos from the 80s, and I got to see "Born To Be Alive" and "99 Luft Balloons" in it's original German. The television itself was from the 80s too, I was sure. My bus pulled up, late, and I jumped on, only to kick someone out of a seat - the benefits of buying before the bus arrives! Off I went - another 1.5 hours to the mountains and peace and quiet!

Just a little cabin for the weekend...

Wood fire heater and a great kitchen.

The hostel's chill out room.

I arrived in Valle de les Trancas at around 7:30pm, and it was dark already. I got a nice view of the sunset on the mountains from the bus, and was looking forward to a nice cold beer and a warm bed. My hostel, which I didn't book for of course, turned out to be full. Why don't I book you ask? Where would the fun be in always knowing you have a room for the night? And besides, I never know where I'm going to be tomorrow. So anyway, the hunt for accommodation began - me wandering up and down the one street in town, trying not to slip on the ice and snow, and getting told 'no' at every hotel. Things weren't looking good, and I was starting to get angry with my 'happy go lucky' attitude to booking, but at least my building frustration kept me warm. I stopped in a minimarket to ask if they knew of a place, and as luck would have it they knew a guy. The shop was full of overly-noisy Brazilians buying all the beer they could carry, and I was nearly ready to walk out as they were rude and everywhere, keeping the 3 guys in the store busy, but I managed to ask a clerk, and he rang someone for me. I was then given directions to a place where I could stay - all in Spanish. I wasn't given a name for the place either, but headed of with the directions quickly scribbled in my small notebook (not Google Maps but sometimes better!), into the cold and dark night, ice on the road and barking dogs everywhere. My Spanish has improved a lot lately, and I had written everything down correctly, got the guys phone number, rang for help and eventually made it - to the coolest hostel I have ever seen!!

Frozen in time - a leaky hose becomes something beautiful.

So, moral of the story is DONT BOOK! Well, OK, it is a good idea to book sometimes, like the start of the ski season which was this weekend... but it does make your life more exciting, and I have never had to sleep on the street either. Ok, so airports, back seats of cars and hotel lobbies, but never the street! Yet . So I sat down with my beer and my chips for dinner, and enjoyed being warm and having a bed for the night - I was content! I wasn't going to freeze on the street! Up early the next day, and ready for a hike to the refuge at Shangrila - about 6kms away. An easy hike, but the path was completely covered with snow, and as there were no signs, I had to hope that the person in front of me went the right way. I made it ok, and sat down to have lunch on the roof of the abandoned cabin, chilling and enjoying he view. People were camping nearby, but being Chilean they couldn't do it in peace, and a family who had hiked up just before me were pulling out their cameras and phones and striking silly poses for selfies and whatnot. Apart from the people, it was a perfect spot for relaxing - there were 2 stray dogs waiting for me to drop some of my lunch to them, but at least they didn't make any noise, and were much friendlier than the people.

After this short hike, I decided to head to see a waterfall before retiring for the day at the hostel. Along the way, 2 Brazilians stopped in their car and offered me a lift to the ski slopes. Why not? I have hitch-hiked before, and it is (relatively) safe to do it here in Chile. So up to the ski slopes to have a look around, and we even saw the waterfall on the way. This is where all the people were - this weekend was the start of the ski season. Although I wasn't skiing this time, it's always cool have a few beers, watch people fall over on the snow, and think how much money they are spending to fall over, and for all the equipment they have to rent for themselves and their kids. I was very, very happy with my $20 a night hostel, and didn't need to be sleeping right up here in the ski resort. The hot springs are also right near the hotel - the natural Termes of Les Trancas. I did think about jumping in, and it was only p8000 ($16) which is cheap compared to the ones in Pucon which where more around the $60 mark. I decided not to, as they were crowded and loud - music is always playing in Chile (most supermarkets have it blaring out the front, to attract customers... yeah I know), and of course the people were noisy too... there was even a 'pool' bar. Far too touristy for me... the smell of sulphur I can handle though, but surely you go to a hot spring to relax, right?

The following day, after a bit of a lie in, I decided to set off on another hike, a solo one. I came to the mountains for a break from everything, and I would get it. I started off following a path that a guy at the hostel had partially hiked the other day - and hand-sketched in my little journal, I was worried about finding it, but decided to keep going an just enjoy it. On the way, I found a house that had a big leak in it, spraying its water all over some trees and shrubs on the side of road - normally this would just leave a big muddy puddle, but in this cold, it had frozen the whole tree and all the small plants around it - just like the movie Frozen! I found the hidden path in the tree line that lead to the top, so no problem - now it was just up and up. This path was just up - no rest for the weak here. I plugged away, and although the views got better, it just kept getting harder - and it had nothing to do with the amount of wine I had drunk the night before... I sat down for (another) break, and I bumped  into some French hikers. They were stopping here, as further up the snow got really deep. I'm not much of a quitter, so I made the decision to finish what I started - and besides, if they weren't going up, I would have the top to myself! Ha! So up I went, up to where the condors soared and the French dared not to go.

Washing day the the Shangrila Refuge.

Although I came across knee-high and sometimes thigh-high snow, it was worth the trip to the top. There was just me and the radio station, the sun and snow, and nothing but complete silence. The best place for lunch and some down time. The peak offered a great view of the valley - from this vantage point Chile is quiet and relaxing, no noise or traffic. It was hard not to stay up here all day - I had made myself quite comfortable. I'd built a snowman, brought my book to read, had my camera, and was nearly ready to live up here - but as the sun started to go down, the temperature dropped, and I knew I didn't want to face the walk back down at dusk. The walk down wasn't as tough as the way up, but I still fell quite a few times, and had to crawl out of my foot hole. It was well worth it - I came back down with a sense of peace and relaxation that I had come here to find. A party at the hostel was just starting to kick off when I got back, but all I wanted was peace and solitude. I let them have their loud fun, not begrudging them, but still feeling what I got from the mountain. 

Being with nature is something really special - sometimes hard to find a place and really do it - and something everyone should do from time to time. Don't all rush off and do it at the same time though! All you need is a day here, a weekend a month, and it will take away some of the big city stress, frustration and anger with your job, and fill you with hope and good feelings. So, waiting for my early morning bus back on the Monday, I was happy. I met a Scottish girl also catching to the bus back to Chillan, and we had a nice chat on the way back - we did start speaking in Spanish at first though! We chatted and shared experiences, then we got on separate buses and went home - when you are happy you leave yourself open to meeting good people and good experiences. I got easy connections back to Conce, and was happy to be home too - the hallmark of a great break!

The Nevadas de Chillan.

(Really) Into Africa

Thanks everyone for a great day and a fantastic time in South Africa!

I've said before that you can judge a country by it's national carrier (or how they drive on the road), and I will say it again. If you use this method, some countries are doing really well, and others should be avoided. Singapore Airlines have always been my favourite - calm, relaxed flight attendants, who also wear their chic and colourful outfits so well. Singapore is that kind of place too. In Switzerland it's a lovely cup of coffee and delicious chocolate for breakfast, Thai is good noodles (for an airline), and Turkey is service with a smile. The airlines that come into the 'other' category are RyanAir (no surprises there), Air India and sadly Qantas. If RyanAir were a country, you would be tired of it before you even paid too much for your visa - constant advertising, everything costs a fortune, late, noisy, the people always look tried and frustrated, and the tourists always drunk and rowdy (Ireland?). Indians are lovely people, but we've all heard of (and probably at same point had) a bad curry followed by a bad night. Qantas I have mentioned before, and it seems to go in line with Australia's current immigration policy. On this note - South Africa would be the friendliest country I have been to so far - laughing and smiling with you, liberal with the booze, and just all round fantastic people. That IS how I find the country.

Great Danes are extremely friendly dogs, and popular in South Africa. I want one!

So the week leading up to the wedding was action-packed. Come the day of the wedding, everyone was ready for a big day, although I know two people who were more than a little nervous. There was a competition running though - who had come the furthest. This started as I had come all the way from Chile, leaving at 11pm on Wednesday and arriving at the bride and grooms house at 2pm Friday. People had come from far and wide - the UK, the States and even as far as Taiwan - so maybe I didn't have the most K's but I did have the worst travel time! 2 families came together, many friends, and a fantastic day has had by all - we are still talking about it. I won't go into it too much, but I must say something about South African weddings. There is an lovely/evil drink, colloquially called 'The Cane Train.' It's more of a phenomena than a drink, and only contains 2 ingredients - cane alcohol (a strong white liquor made from sugar cane, so basically white rum) and green creme soda. This sounds completely innocent, but it is most definitely not! Sweet on the tongue and rough on the head the day after, it is packed with sugar and alochol - and feels worse than a night on vodka Red Bulls... but the during part is more than worth it! Your glass just evaporates, and when you refill it, your drink just glows green - it's like a lightsaber in a glass that tastes so awesome yet you know it will hurt so bad in the morning. Ah, the Cane Train is a harsh mistress, but one you can't say no to.

The Kop Lookout, giving a good view of Zululand.

So, not having slept a wink all night, I stumbled down for breakfast. The wedding was a complete success - I worked hard behind the camera, drank and ate to my hearts content, danced, and met many, many great people. New friends, old friends reunited, drinking and being merry, more than one happy couple - just what a wedding is all about! I could go into it for some time - but I won't as this is a travel blog... and besides, everyone there knows what an awesome time we all had, photos are on facebook, and what happens at Donovan and Bonnie's weddings stays at Donovan and Bonnie's wedding :) Thanks again to everyone there - both families of course, for being so welcoming, and of course all the friends and bar staff for never questioning my sobriety! Also, it was the day my 5 day safari started - not a great starting point, still shaking from Cane Train withdrawals, and a breakfast that was seriously lacking in sausages and bacon, I headed off with Peter, my tour guide and drinking buddy for the next few days.

Washing day for the locals.

Tribal houses.

The grave of King Cetshwayo.

We drove through Zululand, where the Zulu warriors and King Shaka ruled supreme in the 19th century. Shaka Zulu built the small Zulu tribe into a Kingdom which spread over more than 30,000km2, and reigned until he was assassinated in 1828 by his two half brothers. He united the tribes and made military and social changes that made the Zulu a real force - promotions in the army and civil service became based on merit, not birth. Large shields were used, and warriors taught to hook onto their enemies smaller one and expose ribs for a lethal stab. He also introduced the short stabbing spear ("iklwa") replacing the traditional throwing spear ("assegai"), which gave his soldiers an advantage as normally they would throw their spears and avoid hand-to-hand combat - so his soldiers would throw their large spear, then engage in close combat with spear-less enemies - basically Roman tactics of the Pilum and Scutum and legion formation, which Shaka emulated with 'horns' that swept around to encircle the enemy. The landscape in this area is, to me, the real South Africa - rolling hills, lush grass and small villages of tribal people living how they have for generations, but now with Nikes and Nokias. We stopped for lunch at the remote grave of King Cetshwayo (and signed a guestbook delivered by a local woman who spoke zero English!), and even got to see the President's palace - a large complex with high barbed wired fences, security guards and cameras, and it cost an absolute fortune. He lives with his 7 wives and is currently ruining the country for everyone but his mates in high places.

Zululand - where mobile phone really are a revolution in communication.

My 'tent' for the night.

A colourful monkey... all the better to get the girl monkeys.

The first place on the list was HluHluwue Game Reserve (pronounce 'shushu-e' which I could never remember!), a 960km square park (and the oldest in Africa!) with all the Big Five roaming around there somewhere - my hopes were not exactly high, as seeing a leopard, lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo are pretty rare in one trip to Africa... but I was not disappointed! Arrving late at night, after a whole day's driving on roads with so many pot holes it was like the downhill slalom, we set up camp (aka. cracking open beers) and started cooking our Braai (South African BBQ). Not 10 minutes after starting the meat, 2 hyenas came lurking around the fire... I scared them off, but they were still snooping round, hoping for a steak or an arm. They are dangerous creatures, but free to roam around the campsite, as the electric fence starts at 2m, to stop elephants. Everything else, lions, cheetah, rhino, can get in easier than a person in a 4x4. Great. The tent where I stayed was not exactly what I would call a tent - it was more 'glamping.' Double bed, toilet, electricity and wooden floor boards - yeah, awesome, but still it had canvas sides which probably wouldn't protect me if the lions or hyenas got hungry during the night. The kitchen was also worth mentioning - fully equipped with a fridge, electric cooker, sink and all the utensils, metal meshing on the door, as well as a two lock system to stop monkeys!

A heard of Impala, and one with the Oxpecker bird doing some grooming.

Always being watched...

I have right on way here!

We decided to head out early and have breakfast after, to try and catch the animals before it got too hot. This tactic paid off! Spotting an elephant, my first one in the wild, we watched and followed him as he headed for the road. We stopped in the perfect place on the road to allow us a good view of this truly amazing creature - the biggest elephant I have ever seen, probably weighing in at about 5t and 3 or more metres tall! Another car on the road, weighing it at about 800kg and 1.4m tall, got a little too close and was given an ear flapping and a stern look that said "I could easily roll you over and stamp on you if I want to." Although I only got the bum shot, it's much better than getting rolled by a fully grown bull elephant. On our way back to camp at a gentle 20kph for breakfast, and having seen zebra and loads of impala, we weren't expecting to spot a leopard - but we did. Very shy and very rarely seen, this was extremely lucky - mainly due to our low speed and quietness, and also due to my sharp eyes and quick reflexes with the camera. My safari companion Peter had never seen one in the wild before, and he has been to many parks and reserves, and is from South Africa. The camp ranger didn't believe me until I had shown him the picture, and was so impressed as he'd only seen 1 in 7 years. I managed to snap a few magical shots (if I do say so myself) and a minute or two to just appreciate this big cat before another car approached - I tried to warn them to slow down, but it doesn't take much to scare a leopard, so they missed a once in a lifetime opportunity! The spell was broken, but it will remain with me forever. Breakfast was awesome too - left over Braai.

A leopard - very rarely seen.

White Rhino.

A Samango monkey drinking from the Hilltop camp's carpark.

After breakfast we were able to see even more animals - a whole herd of rhino just standing around on the side of the road, mixed in with zebra and the very numerous impala, which are basically like sand on a beach. Speaking to a few people, car to car, they told us that we just missed seeing a cheetah - the rhinos scared him off. A shame, as I love cheetahs, but this guy also said they were lions up at the next picnic spot. Off we went, still slowly as to not scare anything off, unlike the crazy cowboys that get paid by wealthy foreigners to see everything - one guy went hooning off at least 80kph on bumpy dirt track in his V8 Jeep. Idiot. Slow or fast, we still saw the lions - 4 of the Big Five and it was only midday! Although they were about 200m away across a river, I still got a good look at them, and some photos - the Lion Park was great, but there here are real, wild and very dangerous creatures. I saw a female and also a male walking around, but the cubs were hiding in the reeds on the river bank. The adults were keeping an eye out for other animals - namely Black Rhino. There are two kinds of rhino in Africa - White and Black. It's not for their colours, as neither are white. The name white comes from the Afrikaans/Dutch pronunciation of 'wide,' which is the shape of their mouth - White rhinos have a wide, flat lip for eating grass, whereas the Black has a sharper 'beak' which they use to eat foliage from trees.  Very few rhino remain, and the Black are particularly rare - they are considered critically endangered, and their numbers have fallen from hundreds of thousands in 1900 to fewer than 2500 in the mid-nineties - their biggest threat is of course poachers.

King of the jungle.

Giraffe.

Cape Glossy Starling.

Up to Hilltop camp for the night, with still 1 of the 5 to see - the buffalo. We went off on a night safari, and around sunset time, I was gifted with the sight of a lone male buffalo... then a whole herd of them crossing the road in front of the car! 5 of 5 in 1 day - truly awesome! The night safari was great - nightjars, jakals and loads of other animals, but it was freezing! The next park was Tambo Elephant Park, right up on the border with Mozambique and near Cosi Bay. The park is known for their 'Big Tusker' elephants, and the first stop in the park was the office to buy tickets, and I was greeted by two huge elephant tusks bigger than me - they are castings of the original tusks of an elephant, and the real ones weighed in at 52kg - the price for ivory is about $2000/kg, so I imagine the real tusks are long sold. We sat in a 'hide' to watch the animals at a watering hole, and there were animals everywhere! Elephants bathing and spray water and mud on themselves, impalas, nyala, warthogs and even some waterbucks. Then one elephant strutted up, and although not the biggest elephant there, he had the most impressive tusks I've ever seen, and quite possibly nearly as long as I am tall (although I didn't get close enough to measure) - the biggest ones in the park, and everyone knew it - and his name is 'Siqalo,' the name on all the girl's lips I'm sure. Amazing to just sit quietly and watch the animals doing their thing without them knowing. Magical. I also saw a full herd of buffalo enjoying the mud at the watering hole, and while you are in your car they don't bat an eyelid at you - get out, and that's a different story! Metal animals on 4 legs (wheels) are normal, but little 2-legs are something to fear/trample/eat.

2 elephants having a tussle over a female (of course!).

A nyala saying hi.

Singalo - you know what they say
about elephants with big tusks...

To finish off the safari, it was a trip to St Lucia to see the hippos. We did a river cruise, and saw plenty of animals - Nile Crocodiles, kingfishers and a Goliath Heron which stands at 1.4m (imagine the drumsticks on that!), and of course loads of hippos. Very cute creatures, but very dangerous - they kill the most people in Africa. They have huge mouths and very large teeth, which are basically used as display for females when mating, as hippos only eat grass and reeds, and they love short grass like lawns (a golf course greenkeeper's worst nightmare!) and eat 80kg of it a day! Their ears though remind me of Shrek - and they have cute little eyes, and are slow moving and quite round - how could you not like them! There is so much more to tell, so many more animals that I saw and things that I did - but it would take far too much space here to put it all in! My last night in South Africa was a perfect end to a perfect time - beer and pizza on the beach with Peter in the little beach town of Nkwazi, just north of Durban.

Shrek! A hippo at St Lucia Lake.

To be honest, this would have to be one of the best experiences of my life! I had so much fun, met so many amazing people, saw so much... truly lost for words. If you haven't been to South Africa and gone on a safari, it is a definite must. If you have, you know what I'm talking about, and should probably go again. Some people may not like game reserves, and see them like big zoos and overly touristic, but you have to remember this may be the only way to preserve these animals, and protect them from poachers. Unfortunately, people will only do these things is there is money involved, so support the parks and don't buy any animal products, and hopefully we will still have magnificent animals like the Black Rhino and leopards in out world for many, many years to come.

The night sky in Cosi Bay.