Korongwe and Hoedspruit!

This morning we went into Hoedspruit. This is the place where my boy went to on Mondays (though not every Monday), where he then bought his groceries, had lunch, would go on the internet, etc. So it was quite nice to see where he had spend some of his time. We got food at one of the places where they frequently went to have lunch on Mondays and then we went to the place where he spend most of his time: Korongwe Private Game Reserve.

My boy spend the last 12 weeks in Korongwe as a volonteer. Shorlty said (and of course thereby overly simplified), they go on drive twice a day to collect data on the animals and do conservation work. The data is interpreted and voila research is happening.

After we arrived, my boy first showed me the base. Very nice to see where he lived for the past 12 weeks!! He showed me where the cheetah was eating an impala in the garden so he couldn't get his laundry without a man with a gun accompanying him. I saw were he slept, cooked, played pool, had braais, etc. It was very nice to see all of this!!

I was going to be present on a drive myself too, but before we could actually go we had to prepare the drive. Because every four weeks new volonteers arrive, most of the people weren't familiar with the procedures yet. Particularly because of this, I got to see my boy 'work'. (e.g. get the right forms to collect the data, check the vehicle)

The drive itself was amazing and we were incredibly lucky! We saw giraffes and elephants crossing the road. We looked for the lions and as you can see we found them. Here you can see one of the sub-adult males. I also have a photo of him yawning just like my boy got a picture of another lion yawning on his first drive in Korongwe. :)

After the lions, we went to look for the cheetahs which we eventually saw walking on the road. Beautiful! By now it was already quite dark which is why we used the spotlight to spot the animals. On the radio, they announced leopard in tree!!! Wow!! So going there we spotted a male leopard in a tree staring at a female leopard in another tree!! It was great looking at this wonderful sight!! Very special moment.

As we were heading back to the base, my boy suddenly said "Stop! An aardvark!" We went a little back and we saw this animal which is rarely seen. More luck on our path!

Really nice spending these moments with my boyfriend and getting a little more insight in his world than from the stories alone.

(sorry for the long story)