Friday 28th March 2014

Over the next four months I’m going to be working on and off as a freelance “back-up rifle” for Wilderness Adventures who have a seasonal trails camp here in Makuleke. I’m not sure when my first trail is but it’s going to be soon. Steve, the trails lead, and I went over to the campsite this morning to see how it was progressing. The kitchen had gone up and a few of the tents too.

The main reason we were in the area was to plan some walks. This was great fun, it brought a creative element to the job as we were planning new things and new experiences that we could show our guests. It was funny to think that as we were planning the walks on the ground here in the Kruger there were guests further a field planning their holiday and making sure they had all they needed for their African adventure.

We did some serious bush bashing with Steve virtually running up cliff faces as he planned the routes, it left me shattered. Once my rifle was cleaned and safely locked away I had a twenty minute power nap.

I’m freelancing tomorrow too, this time at the Outpost which is a four star lodge in Makuleke. They’ve got a big wedding on so they’ve hired a guide and a vehicle from EcoTraining. I’m the guide and I washed the Landy (we’re pushing the boat out and using the one with doors) before lunch so it’s looking good and ready to go. I’m not sure whether I’m just driving wedding guests from “a” to “b” or actually guiding.

I was hoping to go walking again in the afternoon but some one had to stay back and get on with the chores, namely painting. I don’t mind doing it but I’d obviously much rather be out in the bush. Instead I had to settle for listening to the baboons barking and the hyenas crawling. This was better than listening to the game drives over the radio when the different sightings were being called in. It actually made me feel like I’d been dropped from the team and was sat on the bench.