Back to where it all began!

Hello everyone!

I am back to SA, sitting on the terrace at the lodge at Knysna Elephant writing you these few lines.

I had a long trip and the flight from Zurich was a little shaky to start with - there was a thunderstorm from Italy to Tunisia - but soon enough I managed to doze on and off. I happened to sit next to a – not famous – French film director who is involved in making movies with foreign film makers. He was on his way to a conference in Jo'burg. I did not get his name but I definitely had an interesting conversation with him.

Important note to anyone going through Jo'burg airport: make sure to plan 2.5-3 hours to catch your connecting flight.
They have changed things around and to get from Terminal A to Terminal B took me much longer than before. I literally rushed from the plane to passport control, then to the luggage reclaim, then to Terminal B to check-in my suitcase and fetch the next plane. I only had 2 hours and it was almost too short.

To get a feel of the incredible difference in the landscape between the region around Jo'burg and the south-west, just check the following pictures.

 30 minutes flight away from JNB

 60 minutes flight away from JNB

 90 minutes flight away from JNB

 90 minutes flight away from JNB

 120 minutes flight away from JNB

At George airport, a nice chap was waiting for me. I told him that I had no time to get a SIM card at the airport so he drove me to a Vodacom shop in town to get that organised. Lucky me!
I finally arrived at KEP just before 3:30 and got to greet my good friend Geoffrey, the head of the elephant handlers.

After having taken a shower and had my dinner booked as take-away at the restaurant I waited for the ellies to be back from the field. They rushed into the boma to enjoy their dinner and lie on the new saw dust in their pens and I got to see Mashudu, my favourite bull, who has not really grown taller but a lot fatter than last year. ;o)

It was good to talk with some of the guides and very sad to hear about Fiela, who passed away last June as she was only 3 months old.

After having had my dinner in the bedroom I headed for the balcony overlooking the boma and sat there next to another guest from Germany watching over the ellies. Keisha was already sleeping and the others were munching their way through the pile of branches. I stayed about 1 hour there until they got the next feed and then went to bed to recover from the lack of sleep of the previous night.

No, Keisha is not playing dead. She is just sleeping.

This morning, Tuesday 17^th, I got up at 6 to go on a early morning walk with the ellies and spent 2.5 hours out on the field talking to my friend Geoffrey, having my picture taken with Mashudu by Wilfried and just feeling happy and relaxed in this beautiful scenery that you get at KEP.

 The ellies enjoying a drink at the dam.

 Mashudu enjoying his mix of fruits and pellets

 Giving Mashudu a rub on his trunk

 Putting the food right into the trunk

Then I went back to the lodge to eat breakfast at the restaurant after 9 a.m.

Later on I went to the orchard to have a chat with Aubrey, another guide there who is watching over Clyde and Shaka, the two big bulls. Unfortunately, Clyde will have to be moved to another place because he is getting more and more aggressive, but he is probably gonna have a better life at a nearby game reserve anyway. 

Tonight I am off with some of my guide friends to Plettenberg Bay. Don't know yet exactly where but Plett has a few good restaurants anyway.

It is good to catch up on the people and the elephants too. It is like being back home.