Hiya guys, Fern again. Today is Tues 28th Sept and…
Been There! Done That – With Extreme Care!
Hi, Fern signing in! My first blog – be impressed, it has only taken me six months to get around to creating it, on this momentous day, 22nd September 2010!
We are enjoying half-term and have arrived back home at Imanga, our Nature Reserve. As it is spring in Africa all of the chalets are occupied, mainly by Australian and American visitors. Isaac, one of our game-rangers, took a group of tourists on a game-drive today and Nao and I went with. The bush is still sparse as we had a harsh winter but we awoke to sunny skies. We went out about 4pm and our first stop was the river.
Photo taken by Janet Dubbelman
The buffalo in the photo to the left, our first sighting, looks angelic but don’t be deceived by his saintly face! Isaac, who has trained eyes, spotted the herd lying peacefully in the grass. They are, however, scary when you are sitting in a tree looking down on them and they keep eye-balling you, willing you to fall, so that they can have the pleasure of trampling you! Our first adventure, if you can call it that, happened over the Easter holidays, (described in the book ‘The Hunted’); Philemon, Sam, Nao and myself slept in two (Photo, taken by Janet Dubbelman) massive trees ALL NIGHT until they decided to leave us alone and ambled to the river to drink water. We scrambled down those trees quickly and walked as fast, and as quietly as possible, in our haste to get away from the two old grumps.
Mr Curious
Isaac started the vehicle as soon as ………..Mr Curious! Decided it might be fun to check us out – I think the tourists were relieved!
Just before our Easter break a herd had killed two lion cubs and injured another. My mother, as you will know if you have read extracts from the website, is a veterinarian. She nursed the tiny female back to health; such a sweet-natured cub, but we are not allowed to play with her now, as at 6 months old, she looks fully grown. Our (Photograph by Janet Dubbelman)
Nature Reserve believes in rescuing injured animals, and then once they are healthy, re-introducing them gradually into the wild with a pride of other rescued lion cubs, from Reserves around us that share our policy of ‘rescue and re-introduction’.
Stunning photo taken by Janet Dubbelman
We started to head back to the camp as the sun set in darkened skies. Clouds had set in and it looked as if a storm was brewing.
We did see other animals on our game-drive but I will tell you more about that tomorrow.
Good-bye for now, Fern signing out…sleep well xx
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Hi guys, once again cannot tell you how much I appreciate all the interest you have shown – keep writing in comments and the book will be sold soon – new youtube video up the end of this week, love Fern
i’m from the states and love fern – please put up more blogs soon, so would love to see a lion kill or crocodile kill for real and not just on youtubexx
came across Fern’s blog and then went to the website. want to know more about Africa as plan to travel there soon – i’m 18 and am very interested in africa and am against poachers and what is happening to our declining animal kingdom – tell us how to get more people interested in conservation?
Im 17 and from Israel – found your website by accident but found myself reading all the extracts -v ery interesting and want to read more – please give us the info on where to buy the books
We recently went on a game-drive and came close to a group of buffalo – they are huge and frightening – the grunts are loud, couldn’t wait to get away from them but we saw the cutest lion cubs playing on their mom and biting her ears. We also saw a cheetah kill. I wanted the cheetah to eat as the gameranger told us she had cubs but felt so sorry for the impala. We also saw a group (can’t think of what the correct term is) but a lot of vultures – yucky creatures. Want to read your book so please let us know when we can buy it in South Africa.
I’m a 15 year old girl and came across your website by chance – wonderful to hear the bush described so overseas people can understand how awesome it is to see an African Elephant walking in the bush etc. We haven’t been to a game-reserve in some time and now I’m going to ask my dad if we can go again soon – can’t believe how Fern has made me want to experience it again – thank you
I am pleased to have reawakened your desire for the African wildlife. Thank you for your lovely comments x
Great to meet Fern and hear more about her day-to-day goings on… thanks for this real taste of Africa! Brings back memories of my own brief safari adventure; times that I enjoy remembering!!