Unfortunately, Mary was still having occasional digestive issues so Dick & Niel headed out alone to the ‘Elephant Hunt’ site for the morning rock art drive. Elephant Hunt is an interesting site which was used by the San for both habitat and Shamanistic activities.
There is some very unique art here. The depiction of a group of some 37 people is unlike any other known example of a large procession of marching or dancing men in San art. There are also a number of elephant hunt paintings (hence the name of the site) that are quite different from other samples.
Today seems to be ‘Baboon Day’, they are out and about throughout the camp. Groups of them ran back and forth on the lawn during our breakfast. Apparently, they are very adept at breaking and entering and they got into the communal ladies room last night and destroyed a flower arrangement and broke the glass vase it was in. That must be why they told us to not only shut our doors and windows but to also lock them in our ‘villas’. The guy below was wounded during a fight. We heard the battle!
The staff refer to the baboons as ‘terrorists’ and chase them with bullwhips that make a loud ‘snapping’ sound when used. Good idea with questionable results. Later in the day, we watched them tearing through the gardens and could hear them running across our roof.
The resort has a Heritage Center on the grounds that has a nice collection of artifacts and images of the local native cultures. One of the senior guides here (Londi) is a descendant of the Khoi (one of the bush tribes). He gave us a great personal tour and also demonstrated the unique Khoisan language which involves a series of clicking vocalizations used by the Khoisan people to communicate. Here’s an interesting video: https://youtu.be/W6WO5XabD-s
Mary took advantage of the resort’s spa and ‘Pro-Glow Facial’. She looked like a teenager when she got back from the session!
On the afternoon game drive we are joined by Allison and Nigel who are from Cape Town and are celebrating their anniversary. Interesting people. Nigel is a semi-retired Economist with the World Bank and Allison a Cape Town University instructor finishing up her PHD.
We had a beautiful sunset at the end of our drive. Nigel was very enthusiastic about the ‘sundowner’ ritual. We learned later that he especially enjoyed the morning coffee sessions with an Amarula addition.
As this is our last evening at the Kloof, we booked a private dinner at ‘Kadoro’, a cabin located in a quiet corner of the reserve. It was a 30-minute drive by safari vehicle to get to this intimate and exclusive space. There is no electricity here, so candles and lanterns provide both light and atmosphere with hundreds of candles everywhere. A wonderful six course meal was prepared by one of the Chefs entirely over open flame with Niel as our server. Quite an unforgettable experience.
