On Sunday morning I was supposed to go deep-sea fishing, but by the time I arrived at the skippers house the SE wind was already blowing and that meant there would be no fish... Well I was up and desperate to ‘throw-a-line’ so I decided to take a walk along the river and see if I could catch something. At least freshwater fish aren’t bothered by tides and the wind... lol.





I came across this ‘old man’ of the bush... This tree was at least 30m’s tall... Great place to build a tree house...







It’s been raining a lot lately and being the middle of summer it was tough going... The bush was dense and very unforgiving...









What made it all worthwhile is that the bush was full of edible bounty... A massive marula tree full of fruit...



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The marulas were very, very sweet and juicy...

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Guavadillas anyone...

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And this massive wild fig tree...

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The fruit is not very palatable but nevertheless edible...

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I came across these berries which I vaguely remembered from my childhood... I did the whole survival test, broke a piece off and rubbed it on the inside of my forearm... No rash, irritation or swelling after 20 minutes... Good sign... So I ate them... lol.

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They were extremely bitter with a serious peppery after taste...

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Eventually...

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A great natural feature to build an excellent weather shield...

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And over enough material to make shelter...

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This tree has the straightest branches, ideal for a make shift fishing pole, spear or bow/arrows. If you remove the bark and dry over a fire or in the sun the wood becomes extremely hard...

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Not to mention the abundance of fire starting material...

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Besides having to watch out for snakes, crocs and the like there’s also always the possibility of stumbling upon a bush camp. Be it of a criminal or a vagrant... Since the ‘new’ government took control of this country crime is out of control and the borders have become porous. The influx of illegal aliens is overwhelming... Seeing South Africa is the only African country with an economy as such the rest of Africa ‘wants in’. 2 of our closest neighbours are Mozambique and Zimbabwe, need I say more?

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Here I had to keep my wits about me... I smelt the fire first and then slowly approached not knowing how many guys I would find...

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I don’t know what surprised him more, whether it was the fact that I found his hideout or the fact that I was a ‘wit ou’ (white guy) wandering alone through the bush... lol. Nevertheless he was rather friendly and after chatting for awhile I learnt that he’d been living here for the last 3 years eking an existence from selling scrap metal he collects from the rubbish bins left outside residential areas on collection days... He spoke Zulu fluently so I assumed he was a local...

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Of course if you want to find crocs, this would be the spot... lol.

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So it was time to head on home, I hiked back to the bridge, phoned the wife to collect me and took my Rock Salmon I caught home for lunch...

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What a brilliant day...

Wow, great post! I was only able to see about half the pics, darn iPad but will def. Check out the rest when I'm by a land based pc.

Thanks or the post!

Nice little adventure you had there Z. Thanks for the pics and the narration! Oh, and welcome back!

Thanks S-H...

Oh I forgot to say, I HOPE you cooked that fish before you ate it! I don't mind raw fish as in sushi, or PAPER THIN, as in sashimi (which I THINK is just the raw fish).

Definitely cooked it S-H... lol.

Crocs...yeesh...they freak me out. I would never make it in Africa.

Great pics though!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Well at least if you catch one you'll have a great pair of shoes and a very nice wallet... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Not to mention the steaks... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

AND a cool hatband! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Great Pics ! Sounds like a day of fishing can be a little more exciting there than most places lol . That was quite a day for sure . Thanks for sharing it with us .

There's stacks and stacks of places to fish in Richards Bay, I was just keen to get away from everyone and head out on my own... lol. Here's a pic from a restaurant overlooking part of the bay...

It'd be pretty cool to have a whole Croc rig: belt, wallet, watch strap, hat band, knife sheath, gun holster, knife sheath all from one you killed.