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nth kenya,kruger and madikwe june and July 2012


COSMIC RHINO

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the food is prodominately served on folding wooden table one per guest

 

brunch overlooking the terrace and waterhole extending into the bush

 

dinner in the boma

 

there is a big dinning table available in the lounge if it is likely to rain

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tangala has very good gameviewing and thornybush is a very low visitor reserve

 

the lodge manager will is warm and friendly, others said he looks like will from WILD AT HEART and I go along with that

 

tangala, like africa on foot and nthambo has LPG cylinders for hot water showers

 

tangala has had a recent change of management

 

now with a new partnership which includes a professional hunter who has never gone out with clients as he decided that hunting for trophies was unethical after he finished the training and a building project manager who works only on resorts and resort style homes

 

the project manager freely mixes with the guests and when at the lodge goes out on 2 to 3 gamedrives per week so he knows what is going on

 

since their concession allows them more bdeds they are futting in a tented camp in a sand river on soldid wooden platforms 10 meters above the longterm flood highwater mark, nothing will be made of materials which cannot be removed so they don't have to lodge an envir impact statement , it will be a bit more upmarket and have solar electricity in the rooms

 

 

the open grass areas at thornybush are few and used for the gamedrive snacks, so yellow billed hornbills come around later to pickup crums from rusks etc

 

tangala and thornybush reserve are great

 

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tangala was simply wonderfull

 

back to johannesburg in the morning I observed what appeared to be fog over the airport and subsequently learnt that it was smoke from fires burnt in the surrounding informal settlements to keep warm

 

my transfer to madikwe began and I arrived in good time for the afternoon drive.

 

the last part of the drive was a bit concerning between sun city and the reserve there were at least 5 to 7 funeral directors along the main road, asked about it at the camp that was because of deaths from for hiv and tb

 

I have already mentioned something about madikwe above and under trip planning

 

moseltha bush camp is a simple comfortable ,not luxury place to stay with wood and canvas cabins and two share bathrooms. it does not have ensuite facilities in the rooms.

 

I have described it in reasonable detail under trip planning wild dogs thread

 

If you want to fo there in winter bring proper reasonably warm pj's as the way the cabins are built they cannot be closed to the evening air

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the food is good family style and lots of it

 

the camp is fenced, problems with large elephants wandering through ,the fence was upgraded when I was there saving the managers spending the night awake with pepper spray gun at hand

 

overall madikwe has 700 lodge beds and is not crowded

 

many of the lodgers are for locals who have them them on a time share basis ,these places have 1 vehicle only

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overall madikwe has 700 lodge beds and is not crowded

 

 

700? seriously? that sounds crowded to me... :mellow:

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700 beds and that is it

 

all visitors have to stay in the lodges and no day trips or tent campers are allowed

 

as discussed with the large blocks and lack of water it is not alwys easy to see animal

 

other than the wild dogs it took me 4 days to get a really good siting

 

saw good zebras and elephants

 

the park administration is sealing their tracks to tarmac from money raised at a buffalo auction

 

the buffalo originated from kwa zulu natal nature reserves, plus zoos in usa and the czech republ;ic

 

they are disease free and predator aware, a whole lot have been recently sold for large amounts of money and there will be ongoing parks board auctions.

 

given the size and ecologically semi arid condition of the reserve it is not self substaining , the boarsd will be buying animals in and selling them out longterm

 

madikwe was not my best choice, but it was good to see wild dogs close up for a good period of time

 

if you reaaly like wild dogs mosethla bush camp is all you need ,although some might be concerned about the lack of ensuites in the rooms

 

ask the lodge you are interested in if the den is accessible,sometimes it is on a hillside.

 

and possibly take spare batteries ,they say that they can charge them at the lodge, there is no power in the rooms, the first time they were returned fast, the second time slow.

Edited by COSMIC RHINO
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BACK TO JOHANNESBURG

 

VAT refund office is a bit of a joke they take extra time I walked in after a while started taLking with the other people, the man ahead had been there 30 mins

 

I could see behind the counter the officer was chewing gum , putting receipts through an adding machine multiple times, looking at passports several times etc

 

walked out

 

hiking boots were great extra ankle support , I got a minor foot sprain being in boots tied tight meant that it went awy in a few days without treatment

 

doxy medication for malaria was ok , of use later when I had a pimple appear around the edge of my eye probably from being slapped in the face from a thorny branch in of road driving, never felt more than a dull ache, now it is nothing

 

I have booked next year, saving up hard and can't wait to get back

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COSMIC RHINO

something that really suprised me is that the cargo pants I changed out of with large areas of brown stains down the front from the timber treatment used on the rails at the umkumbe lodge , actually cleaned themselves up I changed out of them in case they made quarantine officers excited at sydney

 

look a few weeks later and nearly all the stains were gone, I dis nothing to them

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So, success with wild dogs, great. Let me ask you about another canine species that Madikwe is known for--brown hyena. Any word on brown hyenas.

 

Boots saved the day for you. They have for me too.

 

Back to your pictures. Do you take photos? How do you personally view them?

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COSMIC RHINO

1 brown hyneas are in madikwe but not seen when I was around

 

at bush camp a B H visits around staff housing and is given chicken bones

 

it is the same B H

 

this did not happen when I was there

 

2 photos Yes I take them and currently view them on a portable dvd player with a 7 inch screen which can use dvd, sd cards or usb drives

 

given the cost of safari 2013 I am not in a rush to buy a home computer

 

 

The more I go to wild areas in africa , the less I like living in a big city although it is practical. I call it functional ugly. The way a whole lot of people talk about cities as being beautifull is totally beyond me. and claims of cities being natural is a total nonsense, very low biodiversity so where is nature? If people were to apply the same standard to art works,they would be calling for the spray painters to cover the sistine chapel in flat white plastic.

 

there used to be talk of pastrol idealic, we now have a whole lot of people thinking in concretre,glass and steel idealic.

 

 

Edited by COSMIC RHINO
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:) Be thankful for the cities... if they were not there all those people would be living in "our" wilderness B)
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Since you have digital photos, you could share them at some point if you want. Thanks for the hyena info at Madikwe.

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Thank you for a real treasure trove of info, CR.

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COSMIC RHINO

something else I havd just thought to mention I am taking a spare hand basin plug as sometimes the one supplied is very loose

 

Yes the wilderness cannot take residents in any great number but cities are essentially ugly

 

slight nature is put up as natural beauty and I will never go along with this

 

I took my small artemis statue and she added meaning to my trip

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I took my small artemis statue and she added meaning to my trip

 

That is so cool. Thanks for sharing that addition to your carryon. The Goddess of wilderness and wild animals came through for you.

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I am multi faith , my first faith is animist , the second faith is progressive christian with a strong emphasis on earth care and social justice, I am particulary impressed by the writing of thomas berry,brian swimme and leonardo boff

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I think we should have a weekly CR blurb somewhere on ST :) Your stream of consciousness style used to confuse me a little bit when I first started to read your posts, but now I find that these posts encapsulate and synthesize a lot of thought.

 

Artemis was a great choice of traveling companion.

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I do my posts quickly and often

 

I think deeply about things

 

My Artemis statue in a pocket of my cargo pants at all times.

 

I have always identified with nature and have little time for the so called wonders of civilization

 

anna merz, the financial founder of lewa conservancy actually went to settle in africa because she found enggland's green and pleasant land boring

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have little time for the so called wonders of civilization

Like computers and photo trip reports :PB)

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Glad to see you make an exception for Safaritalk :)

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computers have their uses online forums,progressive news etc

 

it is practical to live in a big city especially if yiu can't drive and need to use public transport

 

bur calling any place a beautifull city is a complete load of nonsense

 

any collection of the essentail elements of concrte, glass ,steel ,other building materials with token bit of very controlled nature is strictly ugly

 

all cities are nothing more than functiional ugly

 

no cities have a heart and soul

 

given the massive degree of modification around it Sydney harbour is every bit as natural and beautifull as a glass of drinking water on a table

sYDNEY HARBOUR IS EVERY BIT

 

I appreciate some people I know in Sydney but regard Sydney as 0.00% of my wider identity

 

lets use airline codes and internet protocals to identify it Function ugly SYD AU

 

I view things in cosmic time

 

if all know time since the initial flaring forth of the universe is regarded as 1 year on

 

sep 14 earth was formed, life began on september 25

 

homo sapiens emerged on dec 31 at 11 59 PM and 50 seconds, the modern age began at dec 31 dec 11 59 PM and 58 seconds

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Of course COSMIC RHINO uses cosmic time! A good tool for perspective.

 

So to you "beautiful city" is an oxymoron.

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the only feature of a civilization I am actually keen on seeing is inaccessible

 

the temple of artemis, underwater at the coast of ephisis

 

it iwould be generous to call major cities 2% natural

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