I have been watching the ALONE Reality show, Season 5 and now lately also Season 6. How long will you last in the wilderness on your own? This gave me the idea to do a bush trip by myself, only for 24 hours though, because . . . . . (Work, work, work, work, work🙂)
A new farmer friend of mine, granted me permission to do this on his farm. Large parts of the farm are still natural bush vegetation and ideal for what I had in mind. (no people or buildings in close range)
I thank him for this HUGE privilege.
I put together the minimal gear I would need and also some easy food and snack options. Because I don't have a hiking mattress at the moment, I opted on using my hammock for sleeping purposes.
# swopped the axe for a small shovel - proofed to be a good decision.
My farmer friend, after I mentioned to him my hammock' need for trees, pointed me in the direction of some large Milkwood trees that are growing on a mountain slope in the southern part of his farm.
It was a hot day for early Spring and I took a breather every few kilometers in a shady area.
After a steep uphill hike, I got to this windmill and dam, that looked nothing short of an oasis at the time. 😄 The water was very clear and blue. Some Tilapia fish in the dam who probably keep it this clean.
I just had to take a quick dip to cool off. Slowly and carefully submerged myself in the water, not to stir things up. Then the hike continued again.
At around 14H00 the sun was really hot and I opted to take a rest for an hour or so under a bush next to the road.
Later the afternoon, I finally reached the area with the scattered Milkwood trees. I checked each one as I go, looking for suitability to accommodate the hammock. Lots of wild buck spotted in the area, mostly Kudu.
This large Milkwood I found most suited for my purpose, specially because there were also soft sand surrounding the tree that is important for constructing a safe fireplace.
It was very open from the prevailing wind, so I decided to construct a wind shelter for the fireplace. About 200 meters from this spot, I found old wooden droppers left over from a fence that was taken down. This was the perfect material for my plan. Started by digging a small trench, then planted the droppers and secured them with paracord to one another.
Hollowing out the fire pit, also protect it more against the wind and keeping the coles contained.
The hammock was hanged from two strong branches and my gear draped over some other, in easy reach.
Collected and piled some firewood for the night. How much would be enough?
Just before sunset I took a walk to scout my surroundings one more time. Saw this nice Kudu bull. Had to stalk him to get the photo. Luckily I was downwind from him and could get relatively close.
As darkness settles in, I made a cup of coffee and enjoyed it while sitting in the hammock.
I only lit the fire a bit later, to save on the firewood.
As I was sitting in total darkness, just listening to all the sounds surrounding me, a sparkle of fireflies appeared out of nowhere with their bright green little lights flickering on and off. Very special and surreal moment!
In front of the fireplace I piled a huge heap of sand as a seat to sit on, but also doubling as a way to quickly smother any spark that goes outside the fireplace. I kept the fire very small for safety purposes, just feeding it small sticks, one at a time.
Before I went to sleep, I made sure the fire was out and everything covered with sand.
The night was without incident and I had a good rest in the hammock.
When I woke up, I already had visitors checking me out from a distance.
Instant Oats on the menu for breakfast
I spent most of the morning being quiet, listening to all the different sounds and observing all the movements of the living things. As the flowers opened from the sunlight, you could here the buzzing of the bee's starting and then getting louder as the morning progressed. Every animal was busy with everyday normal nature life. We are definitely out of pace with nature, was one of the thoughts I had.
Another thought I had was that in nature, everything seems so uncomplicated, so simple and straight forward, while in our own everyday life, quite the opposite sometimes.
It was awesome to spent some ALONE time in nature.
Made my last cup of coffee, packed my stuff and headed back. . . . at a slower pace
Cheers . . . until next time
