Camping, African Style

Almost a fortnight into our honeymoon, we arrived at the Gomo Gomo camp in the Timbavati private reserve (adjoining Kruger National Park, South Africa). The picture below shows the intertior of our tent (the door in the shadows to the right leads into the tent's fully tiled bathroom...).

Roughing it at Gomo Gomo

We reached camp just in time for lunch, eaten beside the river, with a thatched roof to keep the sun off. After we had eaten, we jumped on board an open landrover for the afternoon gamedrive. This began very well, as we soon found lots of buffalo and elephant, despite the fairly thick bush prevalent in the area - and got rapidly better, as the radio crackled with a report of a leopard sighting. Our guide immediately shot off down a series of dirt roads, eventually leaving the road altogether to rumble through the bush itself in low gear, guided in by another jeep already on the scene. Before very long, we glimpsed the beautiful creature - almost perfectly concealed beneath a bush. Suddenly, the wonderful creature uncurled and strode out from its hiding place - straight past our jeep.

Leopard at Timbavati

We followed this handsome devil to a wateringhole and watched him drink. Then, on the other side of the pool, his mother appeared - and we followed her for a while. Very instructive to watch her climb a tree - straight up the trunk as if gravity didn't apply.