Some Impressions from Tuli

As the last post was more about the structure of the course, I would like to share some impressions from the first month – so less words, more pictures and videos.

As we traveled to Tuli we had to cross the boarder between South Africa and Botswana. We did that with a cable car over the Limpopo river.

Cable car over the Limpopo river

When we arrived at our camp, we were visited on our first night by hyaenas. That was very impressive to see! Later we realized that they are regular visitors to camp and can get a bit naughty. Some people had to learn that the hard way, when they left their binoculars, shoes or other stuff at the lecture hall and were surprised in the next morning that hyaenas like to chew on basically everything. In one night they even managed to get into the kitchen and threw the stoves over. In most camps you hide your stuff from the monkeys or baboons – in Tuli you hide it from the hyaenas.

Lecture hall with a visitor (the spotted hyaena is in the middle of the picture)

Spotted hyaena around camp

Tuli was the first place, where we drove ourselves or went on bush walks. The area is dominated by mopane trees and we often went on koppies (small hills) for a lookout.

Mopane (lots of mopane)

Bush walk at sunset

Overlooking the area from a koppie

On one of our drives, I was sitting in the trackers seat (the one seat on the bonnet of the vehicle) and nearly had a heart attack, when I was about to be driven face first into a HUGE golden orb web spider. I literally screamed – to my own surprise, but also to the surprise of everyone else on the vehicle. This memory will stay for a while, but the memories I prefer to remember are those of the elephants. We experienced them on a walk once, when we were resting on one of the koppies and a herd walked closely past us. Seeing this gentle giants so close gives me goosebumps every time.

Golden orb web spider

A herd of elephants passing right in front of us, while we were sitting on a koppie

On one of our last nights in Tuli, we had a sleepout. So we just took our sleeping bags and slept under the stars. We did that at a nice waterhole and in the morning, while enjoying our coffee or tea at the waterhole, we were surprise by two elephants. This encounter was even more impressing than the first one, as there was no more security of the koppie between us and the elephants.

Sunrise at Mopane Dam after the sleepout

An elephant visiting us at the waterhole after the sleepout