Where did that month go?

So the next move is about on me as I leave here on Tuesday bound for Port St Johns.  Yes I did say I was going around but I'll get to that later - this change of mind has me doing an overnight there then on to Kei Mouth the next day.  This will avoid a large part of the dreaded N2 and with the stop will see me doing two hops of just over 200 km which shouldn't be too arduous.

Believe it or not we have had some rather foul weather with the the temp dropping to around 14C - don't mock I'm a South Coaster now.  Also lots of rain which made TV viewing tricky as the din on the van roof drowned the sound.  So as I could not use my "outside" cooking facility - a two plate electric goody on a table - I had to cook in the microwave.  I decided that some bacon/cheese wors was just the thing and dumped in a coil of the stuff and hit play.  When I opened the door I thought a cobra was striking as this thing had swollen and unwound and sprayed fat everywhere - guess I shoulda stuck a few holes in it.  The van still has a vague wors odour about it in spite of copious cleaning of the micro.

I decided about 3 weeks ago to pop up to Lake Eland to try and locate a Swamp Nightjar I had found there on a previous trip as it would look good on an Atlas list so I stayed the one night in Oribi Gorge and planned to go on to Lake Eland the next day.  There I bumped into a couple who I had last seen in Umdoni Forest in Pennington.  They were also doing a bird list and when I asked if they were Atlassers they said they were officially doing a survey of coastal forests as a research project and Atlassing on the side.  I said "Shit job" and they said "Someone's got to do it".  He told me that there some terrible weather on the way and as he said it the rain started and as it was still bucketing down the next day I decided to postpone Lake Eland.

A week later I wanted to check out the campsite that Jo and I once stayed in near Kokstad so decided to do a combined trip.  I booked into a lovely lakeside (more like damside) cottage and went up to an elevated picnic site to watch the sunset.

 When I returned this little fellow (a Bushbuck) was not more than 5 m from the balcony.

The following morning I left early to get down to some serious Atlassing and stopped several times to take pics, it really is a very beautiful place.  Large sections had been burnt and the Fire lilies were out in force.

At another picnic site these guys were eating rocks, I have no idea why but the crunching that was going on sounded like breaking teeth - and yes they were rocks as I saw them bending down and selecting them, must need minerals I guess. Lovely contrast of colour though.

From here I went down to the river to look for the elusive finfoot and when I left the bakkie to walk along the river I did not take the keys.  Big mistake as I must have knocked the locking button getting out as when I returned I couldn't get back in.  I had nothing with me, not even my penknife and was not looking forward to the 12 k hike back to the camp when I decided to check if I could jiggle the lock on the sliding back window.  Looking through the drivers window I noticed that the lock on the other side was open - HUGE relief.

This place also has the longest zip line in Africa which Sally and I tried when she was here last year, if I remember correctly there are 14 sections the longest being 800 m straight across this gorge but a little further along..

 The little concrete blob with a roof on to the left of the dam is the start of the big one.

 Right at the top end of the reserve is the Oribi Sanctuary and though I'd been many times I had yet to spot one but this time most of the area had been burnt and voila......

The N2 to Kokstad was horrendous with long convoys of trucks and an almost continuous ascent that made overtaking impossible and though the campsite was still lovely I decided that this was not the way to go.  I stayed at a place called Stoneybrook and had a pub dinner with a couple of reps and a very chatty barmaid and when I arrived back at the van noticed I had left my clipboard behind and though the crosswords weren't particularly important, the UIF forms were, so had to go all the way back next day.  Thought umemployment was only paid for six months but have now found that it's eight - roll on.