South Africa, 2021

November 21, 2021

November 20, 2021

Shingwedzi Restaurant, 0930

Sitting in a nearly empty restaurant at Shingwedzi. Only other patrons are a young SA couple, giggling and in love. Somehow not annoying. Very sweet actually.

Slept very badly last night. Alarm went off at 0430 and I lay in bed until 0520, thinking about mortality and regrets. And lessons learned from regrets. A melancholy, gray, drizzling morning.

I decided to pack up and head out, north to Shingwedzi. Mopani is ok, but to me it lacks the charm of older camps. Camps in the Park were originally built as bare rondavels - traditional circular huts with conical thatched roofs. Over time of course things like plumbing and outdoor kitchenettes were added but the older camps still retained the concept of the rondavel. I think the vision of Mopani is that it would be a more modern version of a camp. It’s laid out like a suburban neighborhood. Broad, curving streets. Each unit separated from others and plotted to give some illusion of privacy. Each unit with its own driveway. The units are larger, sleeping 4 - 8, with separate compartments so parents would have some privacy from the children. I was in number 39, right across from the fire hydrant. Thirty-nine Maple Street, Anywhere, USA. But to me, it all seems without charm and, coupled with the gloominess of the morning and my inability to find anything with spots, I was happy to pack up and leave.

Every camp meets the challenge of baboons and vervets and honey badgers in its own way. If the refrigerator is outdoors, there is a strategy. In Tamboti and Olifants, refrigerators are housed in a metal cage. In other camps, like Mopani, guests must turn their refrigerator and face it up against a wall so the door cannot be opened by little furry arms. Vervets and baboons are active during the day. Honey badgers take over at night. If you don’t know what a honey badger is, look it up. Biggest badass in the bush. Fearless and intelligent. About the size of a medium house dog and yet it will challenge a lion.

When I checked into Mopani, the receptionist warned that they have a honey badger problem and reminded me to take precautions. Yeah, yeah. It’s the same at every camp. And if you’ve spent any time in the bush, you’ve been the victim of a honey badger (or vervet or baboon) and have had to clean up the mess. So, this morning, as I packed up and stepped outside to pack up food, imagine my surprise when I saw the back of the refrigerator, pulled away from the wall and door wide open. It had pulled the unit away from the wall. I looked inside to see its muddy prints. But the only food it took was a fried chicken schnitzel and the only reason it was in the refrigerator was that I knew the trash can couldn’t keep a honey badger out. I put it in the refrig so I could throw it away in the morning…. She (let’s name her Bella) didn’t touch fruit, vegetables, cheese, or the one Windhoek beer that I’ve been hauling around for more than two weeks. Only the chicken schnitzel.

So, I cleaned up, packed up and hit the road. I stopped to refuel before leaving the camp, and talked to the attendant Thomas, who’s worked there for 26 years. He cleaned all the windows of the vehicle, in the rain. Thomas works a thirty-day schedule with 4 days off. Then he gets 30 days paid leave each year.

Took the paved road north. It’s been 12 years I think since I’ve been up in this part of the Park. There’s another unpaved route that I remember that runs farther east, along the face of the Lebombo Mountains and the border to Mozambique. I was tempted to take that drive but it’s 70 Km of unpaved road. I’ve yet to get a flat tire and it would certainly be a drag to get a flat tire out there on a drizzly Sunday. So, I took the easy drive. Ran into a couple of big bull elephants standing in the road. Mine and four or five other vehicles patiently waited for at least 15 minutes for them to make up their mind to wander off the road. All the drivers were very well behaved and patient. No one tried to push or irritate them. Kudos.

And now here. This is a very beautiful part of the park. Have two days here but I’m already tempted to change things around.

I’m still not editing much. But, here are a few random photos….