It was October (suicide month) 1973, while living in the former Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) that I took my family to Lake Kariba for a weekend. Amongst other things (Tiger fishing, swimming, hiking etc) we were advised to go for a drive along the debushed area under the power lines which supplied torbo generated electricity to Salisbury (Harare). We were told that in the late afternoons, various wild animals would cross this open stretch on their way to the water. So I loaded the whole family (Tossie, Alitha and Pinnie 3 and 2 years respectively) into my car and off we went. We saw some antelope and continued slowly when I heard sounds coming from the edge of the bush. We stopped just when a herd of elephants emerged from the bush. On seeing us, they hesitated and the started grazing on the side of the bush. Every now and then they would stop and look at us, sitting ever so peacefully in the car. I think that this pattern of eating and looking was a way of getting frustrated enough with this obstacle in their way, because, suddenly and without warning they charged us. Now, I have heard of and experienced several mock charges, but this one had undoubtedly lost its “mock”. The elephants charged us to the point where they touched my vehicle and under such circumstances they appear to grow to double their normal size. They then circled the vehicle before moving off. Only then did we start showing signs of life again. After a few moments Tossie remarked that it was her closest encounter with the wild and expressed her wish never to come closer to that ever again. Agreed! Little did we know……..
During August this year (2009) we decided to celebrate Tossies birthday by inviting six friends for a drive through the really enjoyable Kragga Kamma game park virtually bordering on to Port Elizabeth. This relatively small game park accommodates a large variety o
f game including, apart from smaller game, Blue wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, waterbuck, nyala, springbuck, rhinoceros and warthog. In addition a special camp has a number of cheetah, while there is another small camp at the restaurant where it is possible to interact with “tame” cheetah. Truly remarkable.
On our drive through the park, we saw every possible inhabitant, including three beautiful cheetah. The beauty is that you see all these beautiful animals at very close range. Disappointment was regularly expressed with my poor guiding since we had seen no rhino yet. Then we went to have Tossie’s birthday lunch at the restaurant. Having done that, the day was complete but for the absence of rhino. After the lovely lunch we took the final loop before leaving the park. We first met with an absolutely majestic nyala ram. Impressive! Then I spotted the rhino right next to the road. As we approached, the bull moved to the right side of the road behind a tree while the cow and her calf (almost adult size) continued grazing on the left side. As we got to the tree, the bull rhino suddenly appeared and charged us. It came right up to and touching my door, right at my open window. Not nice! I do not kno
w whether it was something that I might have said, something in my breath, the colour of the Landrover or what ever might have upset him. I was not going to ask either. By now, you could hear a pin drop in the Landrover. No more wine supercharged chirps and comments. The rhino kept on staring at us and on discovering that there were no more empty seats in the Landrover, it slowly moved to the front of the Landrover where it hooked its horn under the bumper and started rocking the Landrover and its contents. By now all breathing in the Landrover had also stopped completely except for my brother in law who kept on, hysterically advising me of the rhino’s presence. Then followed some advice: “Look what the rhino is doing, look what the rhino is doing. Blow your horn, blow your horn”. His hysterics was also rocked to quiescence with a sharp heave by the beast. We were all just about running out of oxygen when the rhino released its grip and slowly moved to approximately three meters from the Landrover. I thought to move off as well .........but with speed. That is as much speed as a Landrover Tdi would allow. The rhino appeared to be upset with us leaving him and had a second charge at us. Fortunately the surprise factor saved us and we, only just won the race with the rhino barely missing the opportunity to leave a trade mark on the back of the Landrover. Breathing resumed and gradually the passengers discovered their voices again trying to pretend that it was an interesting adventure. From the atmosphere in the cabin, I thought that it was a bit more than simply interesting.
During August this year (2009) we decided to celebrate Tossies birthday by inviting six friends for a drive through the really enjoyable Kragga Kamma game park virtually bordering on to Port Elizabeth. This relatively small game park accommodates a large variety o
f game including, apart from smaller game, Blue wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, waterbuck, nyala, springbuck, rhinoceros and warthog. In addition a special camp has a number of cheetah, while there is another small camp at the restaurant where it is possible to interact with “tame” cheetah. Truly remarkable.On our drive through the park, we saw every possible inhabitant, including three beautiful cheetah. The beauty is that you see all these beautiful animals at very close range. Disappointment was regularly expressed with my poor guiding since we had seen no rhino yet. Then we went to have Tossie’s birthday lunch at the restaurant. Having done that, the day was complete but for the absence of rhino. After the lovely lunch we took the final loop before leaving the park. We first met with an absolutely majestic nyala ram. Impressive! Then I spotted the rhino right next to the road. As we approached, the bull moved to the right side of the road behind a tree while the cow and her calf (almost adult size) continued grazing on the left side. As we got to the tree, the bull rhino suddenly appeared and charged us. It came right up to and touching my door, right at my open window. Not nice! I do not kno
w whether it was something that I might have said, something in my breath, the colour of the Landrover or what ever might have upset him. I was not going to ask either. By now, you could hear a pin drop in the Landrover. No more wine supercharged chirps and comments. The rhino kept on staring at us and on discovering that there were no more empty seats in the Landrover, it slowly moved to the front of the Landrover where it hooked its horn under the bumper and started rocking the Landrover and its contents. By now all breathing in the Landrover had also stopped completely except for my brother in law who kept on, hysterically advising me of the rhino’s presence. Then followed some advice: “Look what the rhino is doing, look what the rhino is doing. Blow your horn, blow your horn”. His hysterics was also rocked to quiescence with a sharp heave by the beast. We were all just about running out of oxygen when the rhino released its grip and slowly moved to approximately three meters from the Landrover. I thought to move off as well .........but with speed. That is as much speed as a Landrover Tdi would allow. The rhino appeared to be upset with us leaving him and had a second charge at us. Fortunately the surprise factor saved us and we, only just won the race with the rhino barely missing the opportunity to leave a trade mark on the back of the Landrover. Breathing resumed and gradually the passengers discovered their voices again trying to pretend that it was an interesting adventure. From the atmosphere in the cabin, I thought that it was a bit more than simply interesting.
