It's our day off today! The sun is shining, and we have driven to St Lucia and the Wetlands for the day. We had a 10am deadline to join a boat ride up and down the estuary which divides the two sides of the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park, and despite getting caught up in some sort of demonstation on the highway, we made it in time. It was a relaxing 2 hours of spotting hippos, crocodiles, sharks, fish eagles, kingfishers and dozens of other birds. I have a fe...

Yesterday we covered a huge area in the vehicle, driving to field cameras to remove the SD cards, replace batteries and reset the cameras. At 7.30am it was 23 degrees, and it just got hotter and hotter. I was very relieved that it had not been that way on Wednesday when we did 3 bush walks to reach cameras that cannot be accessed by driving to them. I was also relieved that our scout in front of me with the gun came across the green mamba snake on the gr...

I'm currently staying at the Research camp at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi reserve, and experiencing cold turkey without internet connection! But, the great news is that there is a hot shower, which is very much required as it's been torrential rain since I arrived here. Today we have travelled to the nearest shopping area and there is the opportunity to get online there, much to my relief! The reserve is stunning, even when shrouded in the mist and fog as it has been sin...

Today I occupied myself in Jo'burg airport for 4 hours - and I wasn't actually travelling anywhere. I was there to buy a mobile phone as I have somehow left mine at home - I realise that some people will have already decided that I have been eaten having had no response from me to texts, calls or emails. It was strangely relaxing to be in an airport and watch everyone else rushing and stressing around me, whilst I amused myself trying on EVERY hat in the hat sh...

I had the last of my injections today, Typhoid and Hepatitis A - and I have the bruise to show for it! At the weekend I plucked up the courage to venture into an Outdoor shop - an alien world for me. Stepping over the threshold was like travelling back and forth between the real world and Narnia, quite simply another world - there was very little I recognised, and there was definitely a whole new language. As I understood it, the entire/only sales pitch was, "o...