African Nature Walk

Today we took our first game walk at Thula Thula. These are excursions on foot, often on single track trails to see flowers, birds and insects. I am totally amazed at the depth of knowledge possessed by our guides, Winston and Andre. They seem to know every single plant and animal in the bush.

Victor and Andre are both from this local area. They make a good team and they seem to get along very well with everyone. Both speak English and Zulu, and I’m told Andre speaks Afrikaans. Andre is a skinny white man with a college degree from university. He’s a game ranger, so he has all the licenses necessary to drive people through the bush. Victor is a shorter black man with a barrel chest and broad shoulders. Victor is a tracker so he has taken lots of the same wildlife courses, but he doesn’t have the licenses Andre does.

Victor’s Zulu name is actually Mqobi. It is even more confusing to pronounce than it looks. He has a “click” in his name. We all had fun trying to pronounce it just like he does. I was fairly successful, but it might not come out right in these words. You start with the “m” sounds like something tastes good. Right after the “M” you do the click with your tongue inside your mouth. As you’re doing the click you start with an “N” sound and say the word “no-bay”. So it is “m-[click]-no-bay”. Yeah, stick with Victor.

The guys guided us through the bush pointing out as much wild life as they could. They know all the plants. Andre is a very passionate birder so he can identify anything that flies in a flash. He can even hear and repeat some of the calls they make. It’s awesome to have such educated men teaching us.

We learned a lot from the tracks and feces of the animals. Apparently, you only use the term scat for carnivores. You use the term dung for omnivores. Not only can they tell you what animal is headed in which direction, but they can often explain whether they were running or walking at the time.

Since they are both from the local area, they are good at giving us a mix of zoology science and Zulu legend. These tales are always entertaining and often have a great lesson to teach. The trick is sorting out how much fact there really is in the legend.

One of the first things you realize when you walk in the bush is the number and size of the spiders. I’m no fan of the 8-legged creeps, so this is one of the things that makes the hair on my body stand up. The spiders here are the size of tea saucers and they spin these amazing webs between the trees. Sometimes these webs can span a gap across a 2-lane road. I have no idea how they do it and I’m not sure I want to know how. Luckily for us, they seem to spin them up high on the main trails and roads. But, if you venture off the main path, it is highly likely that you will get a web in the face. And there is no comfort in staring down a giant arachnid while you’re trying to extricate yourself from one of these amazing structures. They say the silk some of these spiders use can feel like dental floss. That’s a serious spider house.

I can’t begin to describe all the creatures and plants we saw on this walk. It’s overwhelming to try to recall all the information we collected from Victor and Andre. It is really a thrill to be here and learning about these people, places and things. This really is an amazing trip.