Sue is still adding to our large collection of early morning photos, but as usual, when the view is like this it is hard to resist.

 

Looking towards the sunrise from Sinamatella hill.

A day that starts as beautifully as that has got to be good, even if it rains…….

Rainbow over the flood plain

The Impala are getting fat on all the good food, but we still haven’t got a photo of any of this season’s babies. They just won’t stand still to be photographed.

Near Mandavu

The trees and flowers are also doing well of course.

 

Seed head of Natal Mahogany Trichilia emetica

Aloe flower with dragon fly

And even though the rivers are muddy, they are full of water.

 

But the rainy season isn’t all gentle. We had a terrific storm one night a week or two ago. From inside the house it sounded as if the world was coming to an end and the wind was so loud we didn’t hear this tree come down, right by the house.

There was not too much damage around Sinamatella. A lot of branches had been blown around.

 

And leaves were stripped from some of the trees. The wind was so savage that Sue found leaves that had been impaled on the thorns of other plants by the force of it.

 

   When I went up to the camp site in the morning to check for signal from any of our implanted rhino, I found there were campers staying right on the edge of the hill. They had slept through the storm in a roof-top tent and I asked them how they had managed not to be blown away and they said they had sat inside the tent and held it together with their hands. They seemed to be completely unconcerned!

   I made a trip out to Tshakabika that day. We covered just 58km but it took nearly ten hours, most of them spent with two rangers trying to get the car out of a deep, muddy gully. I didn’t have the camera with me so I have no photos of the situation as it happened but Sue was on hand to get a photo when I came home.

 

Not a pretty sight