Our 12 days on trails was awesome! Sadly I didn't take many photos, and the ones I did take are pretty crap so don't judge! Got there and thought we might have a bit of time to rearrange our bags if needed and sort our stuff out but nope! My group was going to be doing the primitive trail first, meaning 3 nights spent sleeping out under the stars with just a roll mat, sleeping bag and bivvy bag to protect you from the bloody freezing cold night! As soon as we got there we had to grab a roll mat, bivvy bag and camping stove, plus enough food to last for 3 days, and try to cram it all in our already full bags! Was a bit of a mission given that no one had exactly wanted to fork out a load of money for a new rucksack just to use for 12 days, meaning a lot of sleeping bags, roll mats, mugs and jumpers etc tied to the backs and sides of rucksacks, making them so off balance and hard to walk through the thick bush. But we just had to make it work, at least by day 4 everyone had mastered the art of strapping shit on to their bags, helped by the fact that we'd eaten most of the food! Each walk we also took it in turns to act as back-up guide, which meant carrying the .458 rifle for 4 hours and let me tell you, that thing is heeeeavy. And whilst you're the back up, you have to be paying attention to everything all the time- relevant tracks on the ground, animals and sounds around you, oxpecker calls that could signal large game nearby- it's very mentally tiring too.

That first afternoon tromping along with all our wonky, overfilled bags was not the most fun, but actually it was still so amazing to be out walking in the bush that it was still great. We walked to our first night's campsite and set out our sleeping bags and set off to look for firewood. Usually when we've done sleep outs with Bushwise we collect a shit ton of wood from anywhere around and we're not very selective, but here we were told we should only collect 3 pieces each, no longer or thicker than your forearm, and specifically from trees with hard wood, like red bushwillows, so that they burn as coals for a long time without making too much ash. We then had to start a fire using just a hand drill, ya know, the one where you have an upright stick and a base of wood, and have to roll the stick between your hands while pushing down to create friction, then that creates a coal that you can use to light your tinder. We collected dry elephant dung for the bottom of the fire, an old blue waxbill nest as tinder, then some small twigs to catch once you've got a flame. We were all leaning down intently watching Brenden, our lead guide and instructor, showing us how to do it when Matt suddenly goes "uhh I think there's rhino over there". We'd all been so absorbed in the fire making process that we hadn't even been paying attention or remembering the fact that we were in the middle of a big 5 reserve. There were 6 white rhino, including a younger one, heading towards us in the gloom of the evening. We all crept backwards to where the rifles were, and hoped that they would nicely walk past us, but they changed course a bit and seemed to be heading right for our campsite. Rhino have terrible eyesight, especially so because it was dusk, and we couldn't see them that clearly either making it a potentially quite dangerous situation. They also have a habit of letting the youngest lead the group and they can spook easily and just pick a direction to run; if we spooked them and 6 massive rhino ran straight for us we'd be a bit screwed! When they looked like they were all behind a bit of a bush Brenden tried to get us to move back a bit just to give them a bit more space and put us behind a clump of bushes- it worked for a bit but then they either saw or heard us moving and spooked a bit, bunching together in a defensive position with all their bums in the middle and noses (and horns) facing out. We just waited quietly to see what they would decide to do. Eventually they started moving again a bit warily, then spooked again and luckily ran away from us rather than towards. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful... well, except for another rhino turning up, which Caro noticed while brushing her teeth!

I can't remember if we saw anything the next day, I'd have to look at my log book but they've been sent off to FGASA to be signed off. But we walked with all our stuff again because we would be staying in a different camp site, but luckily left our main bags under a tree near the new site and just walked with a day bag, otherwise I think I'd have had an uncomfortable day! After having done reserve work, cutting down bushes and trees encroaching into the road, my back has been pretty fucked, and I'm also apparently getting old because I have a bad hip- yay! The nights were pretty cold, especially the hour you have to spend on watch to keep an eye out for animals straying too close to the site. So cool to hear lions roaring, hyena whooping and leopards calling in the bushes somewhere though. Even when we didn't see anything the walks were awesome. Our morning walk would be a few hours then we'd have lunch and a little sleep in a river bed somewhere, then a few more hours walking back to the campsite. On our second full day we were woken from our riverbed nap by a small herd of elephants coming down to eat in the trees next to the river. We quickly put our shoes and bags back on and climbed up the opposite side of the river and walked down until we were opposite them, protected by the barrier of the river bed and could safely watch them for a few minutes before they got fed up of us. The three nights we spent on primitive trail were incredible, just sleeping out on a mat under the stars, but I think that was my limit of time I'd want to spend out in a primitive style, after that I really need a proper shower rather than just baby wipes, and food other than 2-minute noodle and laughing cow cheese on crackers.

After primitive we were staying in a tented camp in the Timbavati which felt like pure luxury after basic living in the bush - we actually had mattresses in tents! And camp chairs! But it was still such beautiful simplicity; we had all that we needed but nothing more. The only thing I would have liked was an actual shower rather than a bucket of water and a cup, but at least we could get hot water off the fire so it wasn't cold! Most mornings we drove for a little way, looking for tracks or promising areas, before getting out and walking for 4 or so hours. Then back to camp for brunch and a nap, then 2 or 3 more hours of walking in the afternoon. We had some awesome sightings: herds of elephants across the river who were unaware of us, a separate sighting of an elephant herd where a young adult came to investigate us, lions and some cubs who ran away as soon as we bumped into them, some lone buffalo males and also a breeding herd of 30 or so, and quite a few rhino feeding and ambling round in the morning, looking for somewhere to sleep for the day. The encounter with the herd of buffalo was particularly memorable- we got into an excellent position, the herd was aware of us but not very concerned, a few were watching us curiously but the rest just carried on eating, then suddenly our back-up guide, Andrew, started vomiting! The chicken from the night before clearly didn't agree with him. We had to exit that encounter pretty swiftly but luckily the animals didn't react to it, just such hilariously terrible timing. Shame, it can't have been fun for him but at least it's a good story!

Overall I had an incredible time on the trails course. I definitely don't want to be a trails guide- it's hard enough trying to carefully approach dangerous animal encounters with a group of us, who at least sort of know what we're doing. Trying to do it with difficult guests would be a pain in the arse. But I'd happily do walking trails as a holiday, as long as I didn't have to carry a heavy bag too far! We were picked up by Trev and taken back to Bushwise for our last night there, then on the 16th we all dispersed to our various placements, but I'll save our first few weeks at Bundox for another blog!