The first week back at Sabi Sabi has been interesting after leave, there are no dull days when you work in the African bush.

I have just arrived back at Sabi Sabi after a very nice two week leave which I spent with friends and family. Going on leave is a necessary part of the ranger lifestyle. As much as I absolutely love being in the African bush resting on leave is necessary to prep you for your next cycle. As other rangers will tell you continuous 05:30 wake ups and late nights tend to take their toll.

Activities at the lodge are in full swing and my fellow rangers and I have been kept busy. As a ranger you are expected to perform other lodge tasks other than ranging if you are not busy out on safari. An example would be such as bush clearing whereby a team of off duty rangers would drive the roads and clear any foliage that may be blocking them such as fallen over trees or thorny branches that may strike guests while out on safari. We do this using a panga which is basically a big metal blade attached to a handle. These are our trackers “weapon” of choice when dealing with flora out in the bush.

On a particular bush clearing drive which we conducted a few days ago we came across a massive Marula tree which was blocking the road. The tree had been pushed over by a bull elephant. Now normally we would use a chain saw to cut and move such a big tree but on this particular day my fellow rangers and I decided we could sort it out with a our pangas as we always like a challenge. So in the midday heat of 40 degrees Celsius I climbed up on one of the branches and started chopping away. Strike after strike I slowly made progress until I had built up a sweet on my brow at which time a fellow ranger pulled from the bottom and the branch came crashing down. The combination seemed to work well. So we applied this tactic to all the big branches and eventually we cleared the tree out of the road. I can say that team work definitely gets the job done fast.

I have to say even though we were not conducting safaris it is still an absolute pleasure being out and about in the bush. On this particular bush clearing drive we came across a journey of giraffe comprising of five giraffe, a dazzle of 10 zebra, a herd of approximately 15 impala, a bachelor group of 8 male waterbuck as well as a herd of elephant. This is why I do what I do because nowhere else in the world can you be at work and casually bump into such beautiful wildlife!

Another example of such a sighting was a day or two back where my fellow rangers and I had the night off and whilst on the reserve, we came across three female lionesses which were walking at their own pace in the middle of the road just outside the entrance to Bush Lodge roughly one hundred meters from our rooms. It was epic! We watched them walk right past our vehicle after which we drove to the parking bays at the lodge. There is nothing like coming home and bumping into such majestic cats right outside your home. Experiences such as these do not happen in the city and I have to say living the ranger lifestyle is just spectacular!