We all had a sleep-in this morning as we were not leaving Fika Futi until 8:30 for the drive south to the border crossing at Pontdrift.  It was very sad to say goodbye to the wonderful staff at Fika Futi and we all swore we would be back.  In my case that will be later this year in September when I have another tour to this magical place.

Bags packed we were on our way back to Halcyon for two nights.  The drive down took us around two hours and elephants, giraffes and impalas all came out to say goodbye.  Just as we were about to leave the reserve we witnessed something very strange.  Standing just to the side of the road was a jackal staring across to the other side and he did not move as we approached which is unusual as they normal disappear when they hear a vehicle.  Then we saw two steenboks on the opposite side of the road staring back at the jackal.  Steenboks are the smallest of antelopes in South Africa and are also very timid and they too run off when you approach.  Something was definitely going on here.  The male and female steenbok started running at the jackal as if to attack and they kept on driving forward pushing the jackal away.  The behaviour of the steenboks was very unusual, running at the jackal in a manner that was very clear – get out of here.  Eventually the jackal turned and ran off.  Graphite saw that the female was lactating and believed that there must be a new born in the tall grass somewhere close by and that the jackal must have been aware of this and was looking for an easy meal.   The mum and dad were just so protective and we all felt so privileged to have seen such an event.

After crossing the border we arrived back at Halcyon in the early afternoon and the rest of the day we sat around chatting, looking at photos of our trip and just doing nothing,  A few of us went and sat on the hill looking out at the land around Halcyon and we were not finished with the giraffes. We counted eight in total just down the hill from us walking among the tress.  I think we should name this part of the world, Land of Giraffes.