Neighbours

It is now quite obvious that autumn is here, even though I've felt the season approaching since the beginning of March. At that time of the year the last of the marula fruits ripen and fall to the ground. The smell of over ripe fruit always fill me with an overwhelming desire to buy stationary...

But, this was also kind of a sad time; no more stuffing your face with this great treat that has become one of my favourite fruits. The elephants agree with me on that point and since there are many Marula trees around Nkambeni, we got used to having the big grey ones around. But as the seasons change so does the distribution of animals and the elephants moved on. Recently there has been some unexpected activity around the tents. The dwarf mongooses we quite often see on game drives are very inquisitive, so watching them is always fun and they also provide excellent photo opportunities. We haven't seen them in camp before but now they're scurrying along the paths in between the safari tents, making a lot of noise as they go. In groups of 10-15 individuals they search for insects and other goodies. Their tracks are evident all over the place and I just discovered that this is one animal that react the same whether you're driving or walking. They always run and hide when they spot you, but if you're quiet and keep still they generally approach to investigate. This afternoon I sat down on a path and watched them for half an hour, with some of them coming as close as only one meter away!
So although loosing our giant neighbours was a bit sad, they have now been replaced by tiny dwarf ones... I guess that changes are part of nature's charm.

/A