9 th April – 12th April, 2019
Our bush house, Tsavene, is enhanced by the stunning pink summer-flowering Sabi stars that are indigenous to the Northern Kruger Park, and which grace our rocks. At dusk I capture the glow of this flower, with our verandah in the background…
A Spotted eagle owl calls all night from the small kopjie below our bedroom, a regular roost for it I think…then we rise at 4 am for home brewed coffee accompanied by a scops owl calling…..
Driving to chilo an incredible turquoise and peachy orange sunrise accompanies us..
We meet at Chilo with Gary Yip and Mike from WildAid camera crew who interview Clive on the Chilo Deck, before heading to Chipinda Pools and then Harare for more WildAid camera work. One day we hope to have rhinos back in this wilderness….
Zimbabwean star, Danai Gurira, she of “Black Panther” fame, is an able ambassador for WildAid, #PoachingStealsFromUsAll
The Save river is sinking slowly, but still very impressive, and dawn brings the usual inspiring views down the Save River, here from the aloe gardens below the chilo deck……
From the Chilo deck we watch Nyala bulls, baboons galore, and a lone Dagga boy buffalo who bravely challenges the cow elephants who try to use his path to cross the river…eventually they prevail and we listen to them splashing across in the dusk, tightly knit to protect the babies in their midst.The need for caution in this wide river is emphasized the next day when we watch a bloated Aardvark carcass floating past, being tugged and pushed by numerous crocodiles……rain drizzles out of a clouded sky, cool relief…and we head to the river for the end of the day
Clouds enhance a spectacular sunset as we relax on the banks of the Save, granddaughters fishing, creating installation art and playing in a shallow stretch (where we can easily watch for reptilian lurkers)!
The joys of a wild African childhood…
and an art installation happens in the crocodile infested waters, one girl and her spade craft this moat…the rainbow is an unexpected add-on!
The Chilo boat returns from an excursion into the green grass-filled park, where the team have been setting up the tented Mahove Camp on the banks of the Runde River
The chilo gardens are a joy, crossandra bushes still clothed in spectacular coral flowers –
My inspiration for floral paintings, using my old palette knife..
“living coral” is the pantone colour of 2019, and we have it in abundance in these flowers…!!
and to add even more beauty, all is interspersed by ethereal white Runde Stars, with vicious spines emphasizing the fragile flowers!
the bird-viewing bench that we created from an Aldo Leopold design faces down the Save River, and is nestled in aloes and drifts of “Living Coral!”…..
The exquisite purity of the Runde star glows in the foreground …
Barleria flowers, another indigenous, waterwise special at Chilo, (originally from my Tsavene bush garden and Senuko), are beginning to show their layered white petticoats…
wine and wild dogs 