A day or two later we finish a game drive down by the Limpopo, where the river is shallow, flowing over huge boulders. One of the volunteers suggests there aren’t any crocodiles there as the river is too shallow, failing to notice a deeper pool to our left. Suddenly a large rock is pushed violently aside as something very large swims away without ever showing itself. With the constant emphasis on safety, no one is in any danger.
Our walks to the top of Eagle Rock were sufficient to make my stay at Tuli worthwhile. This overhanging cliff by the Motloutse River is reached by way of a hidden valley — a place of magic and mystery, a favoured haunt of graceful kudu, and once occupied by stone-age Bushmen. As we are near the end of the wet season, the river changes rapidly from a sandy ribbon to a raging torrent and then back to a dry bed. The rock is well named — huge black Verreaux’s Eagles nest up there and can be seen circling overhead. Apart from the stunning view up there, the cooling breeze is very welcome. From up there the mopane scrub looks quite open, but at ground level, it seems much denser.
Mopane trees have beautiful leaves like butterfly wings and tend to be cropped by elephants to a convenient height so the scrub looks almost like a manmade plantation. Game is hard to spot in the scrub, so after passing the first few thousand trees, you can start to weary of their charm. Just as you despair of finding any game to record, you suddenly find yourself in the middle of a herd of elephants. Despite Tuli elephants’ reputation for being skittish around people, these animals prove to be very relaxed, as on many occasions. An immature bull sidles up to us, closer and closer, as if he wants to play.
