Holy moly, what a week!

A test is never the favourite way to start a Monday, but it’s one of the ways we’re going to get better at this guiding malarkey! Needless to say, we were all happy to have it out of the way before we had our afternoon lecture on geology. Most people aren’t too interested in rocks, but some of them look pretty cool and are in fact very important in shaping the ecosystems and habitats around us. After a mentally challenging day we were all more than happy to veg out in bed in the evening.

Tuesday morning, we had a 4 hour looooong lecture on birds which surprisingly was more interesting than university lectures that ran for a quarter of that time! We then went out on our ‘honeymoon drive’ in the afternoon where we got to be guests on a game drive with our trainers rather than students. We of course had an amazing time, getting to see many of the birds we’d been talking about earlier and seeing giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, black-backed jackals etc etc. We had a beautiful spot where we stopped for snacks and coffee in front of the Drakensberg mountains and we learned how to set everything up for a drink stop for our future guests – it’s more complicated than it sounds!

Wednesday was probably the day I was most excited for this week as I was one of the first to drive and game viewer and be the ‘guide’. On our vehicle, Becca and Megan went first and absolutely smashed it, leaving no doubt in my mind that they will be fantastic guides soon. After lunch, myself and Jelle packed our coolbox and did our vehicle checks, making sure I had one of my pillows to sit on when it was my turn to drive (short girl problems). Again, Jelle did a brilliant job, guiding us around some tricky roads. Then it was my turn and luckily I think I got a hang of the basics. As the sun was setting, we were looking for some lions we knew were close in the riverbed. Sadly, we didn’t see them, but we did instead see one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. We sat and watched the sun sink beneath the horizon whilst listening to the incredible sounds of the bush all around us. TIA – This Is Africa, and this is what I love.

After sunset we moved off again and this time, I had to use the spotlight. If anyone has tried to pat their head and rub their belly, it was a bit like that at first. I had to move the spotlight from side to side, look for animals, drive and look out for rocks and branches all at once. Only one time did I nearly drive us into a tree (or maybe it was twice…) but we survived! We saw a quiet bull elephant having a munch close to us, our first elephant sighting since we’ve been here. However, the best was yet to come. As I was driving, I spotted some impala ahead of us before seeing a pair of reflective eyes to our right. I stopped and said everyone look – it was a spotted hyena right next to us. It stopped, sniffed us, then headed off towards the impala. Needless to say, we all got very excited as we thought maybe we were about to witness a hunt. Instead, another hyena joined along with two black-backed jackals and started pacing in circles around the area where the impala were stood, sniffing the air. We thought quite possibly a kill was in the area or an impala had died close by in the herd, so we followed the hyena to see if we could work out what was happening. Sadly, the wind kept changing directions so neither the hyena nor us could locate the source of the smell. It was, however, an unbelievable feeling having happened on my first drive behind the wheel! I was absolutely ecstatic for the rest of the evening, barely believing how lucky I was for this to be my life for the next year and hopefully more.

The next day we had an equally exciting day as we saw 4 or 5 male zebras fighting each other between their herds. I’ve seen many horses fight over my years riding, but this was something else, it was brutal! They galloped and reared and bucked, biting and kicking, falling over and getting back up to aim a kick square in the chest of the other male. The sound of hooves striking another is louder than you can imagine and gives you an idea of how hard they can kick! I wish I’d been quicker with my camera or had an amazing film-making camera with me as it felt like a real Attenborough moment watching them! We were so pumped after watching them and continued to hear them fighting late into the drive. Sadly one of the pregnant mares got caught in the crossfire, getting a nasty gash in her side. Luckily it only looked like a superficial wound and should heal fairly quickly – they’re hardy animals.

Friday came and our last game drives of the week were equally brilliant. We heard of a leopard sighting in the morning, so spent hours trying to find her, knowing that she was almost right next to us. Sadly, we couldn’t find her but we returned in the afternoon to see if we could get lucky. That day wasn’t to be our leopard day, but it was awesome to know she was so close to us. Instead, we had so many laughs on our search and ended with an amazing sighting of a brown hyena at a dam carrying a buck it had killed. This hyena species is very rare to see, and even rarer to be able to see with a kill! Sadly we couldn’t get a photo as it was so dark and the hyena moved off very quickly, but what an experience! I honestly feel like the luckiest girl in the world being here, it’s everything I could wish for.

Saturday we spent the morning working and revising before heading into Hoedspruit to do some shopping, have some lunch, and have some drinks at the popular watering holes. We then went to the local bush pub in the evening for dinner and more drinks (a few more drinks than intended, blame Stian!). We ended up meeting more local reserve managers and extending our contacts which is everything we need getting started in the industry. We danced for hours outside, laughing so much and teaching the boys how to do some hilarious moves. After the long week of 4am starts and 11pm bedtime (yes, 18-19 hour days are normal now!!), we were pooped and all flopped into bed relatively early for a night out.

Thankfully this time I didn’t have a sore head on Sunday and a few of us were up early as usual for yoga before our day of revision and swimming. I love these days, even with the stress of Monday exams we can relax just that little bit more. We then had a braai in the evening singing by the fire and eating. Nothing beats being with friends around the braai with some good music and lots of laughs. It was the perfect end to an amazing week.

What a week to start with, let’s hope the next ones continue like this!