A friend said: "You have to come with us to this game farm I know." I said: "Why not..." and now I can't get enough of the place. Welcome to Tshukudu, about four hours North-West of Joburg (five if you stop for breakfast) and a truly awesome place.
Strolling down a dry riverbed - there are a lot of them at that time of year. This was on our bush walk early Saturday morning.	This is a piece of what our guide - the guy with the gun in the photo alongside - said was the remnants stoneage pot. It was carved from soapstone, a soft rock ideal for the purpose. We all thought it was a 'plant' but it may have been genuine. Ian? ;-)
Also on our Saturday morning walk, we came across this pair of rhinos and I decided to get up close and personal with them - well, OK, as up close and personal as I'm ever going to voluntarily get with a mother rhino and her calf.	Later that afternoon on a game drive we had a rather nerve-racking experience. Slade, the elephant on the right, had come over from the Kruger Park a few months before and taken up with Bheki (on the left). Being unfamiliar with the farm he was a tad aggressive but Bheki got between us and him to stop him charging the truck.
On the drive, we also came across Thabo - the one Bheki dropped to take up with Slade. He decided to get up close an personal - as you'll see in the next picture.	Thabo got very close and dipped into our beer stocks. After [he had] about four cans, he allowed us to move on.
We also came across a pair of rhinos on that trip ... something that was to become a recurring theme.	I'm sure you've heard how graceful and elegant giraffes are ... well, until they have to take a drink.
The heat of the day had passed and this pair of hippo was headed ashore to begin foraging in the undergrowth.	Then we came across Thabo again - only he had gotten himself a tad excited chasing a Landrover full of Japanese tourists.
As the sun was setting we came across this group of buffalo. It was the end of another tough day in Africa ... We got back to the bush camp after dark and climbed into the beer stocks.	This was taken the following morning while we were waiting to be collected for a trip up to the Lodge and our 'walk with lions'. As you can see, we're all rather tender.
After coffee we climbed carefully abopard the truck for the trip up to the Lodge. After disembarking, we strolled back down to the gate to await our companions. Thabo was waiting to greet us and he promptly invited himself to join the walk to the waterhole.	Then another of our companions arrived. I don't remember her name but she walked down to the waterhole with us and Thabo. At this stage I had no idea how up close and personal she would get with me later - that's her you saw on the front page.
There is something quite fascinating about being so close to dangerous wild animals. They may look quite placid in the photos but they can become agressive very suddenly. Fortunately, the incident with Slade the previous day was the closest we came.	Thabo is a completely different proposition to Slade and at the waterhole I got the opportunity to examine his trunk at close quarters. That's Ian, one of the owners of Tshukudu, standing behind me just in case Thabo gets a little too boisterous.
As Thabo wandered off I looked up and was almost floored by this sight: three of the Big 5 in a single frame. All that was missing was leopard and buffalo. OK, so maybe the leopard is a big much to ask for ... it is after all a nocternal animal.	Just before going back to the bush camp for breakfast Ian offered to introduce us to a leopard cub one of the regions farmers had found and brought in.  A friendly little blighter ... isn't he. We met him again two years later, he bigger but just as playful.
After the game walk we repaired back to the bush camp for breakfast. Nobody was in a hurry to do anything ...	Taking a last few moments on the deck before heading back to Joburg and the grindstone ....