Currently the lowveld area of South Africa or better known as the Kruger National Park area, is experiencing one of the worst droughts to hit the area in possibly the last 25 years! 

Of course there has been some rain and currently the bush is alive and green but we are still waiting for the drought to officially break. Nowhere near enough rain has fallen for us to claim this. However much of the damage has been done already. We have found numerous carcasses around the bush, some have been found without any sign of predation but most have been the result of lions. No other species has felt this as badly as the buffalo population in the Timbavati. On one occasion myself and my tracker found a dead buffalo and upon close insepction we found tracks for 2 lioness around it. The strange thing was that hardly any of it had been eaten and the lions were gone. Around 50 meters away we found another buffalo carcass with nothing eaten at all and to round it all off a further 50m away lay another one, however this one still had 2 lioness lying around it. Once again they had hardly had a bite and whats more is they left the area all together later that day. This was just one afternoon. Many other scenes of this nature have been found over the last few months. It would seem as if the lions were just killing on demand. We amounted this to the fact that due to the drought the buffalo were so weak and ill that instead of being their usual deadly selves they were quickly turning into something the lions could dispatch without much effort. This went hand in hand with the fact that they most probably didn't taste very good due to the lack of vegetation to feed on and so the lions where seemingly of the mind set of not bothering to eat very much of one kill as it was very easy to just kill another. It has been a very interesting time to witness the behavior of predators. Even the hyenas have had to much to eat recently and some carcasses have gone completely unattended by mammalian carnivors. It is thus completely true that the only type of animals to truly flurish during a drought are those of carnivorous inclinations. Currently there is enough vegetation in the environment to support those that are still alive and the buffalo are looking for more deadly again however if the bush does not start getting some good rain soon, I fear the cycle will only continue to repeat itself. Very interesting times. 

Many people have told me throughout my life that there is more to life, there is a spiritual side. I have had many close friends tell me I need to do yoga, meditate and eat well. They have told me many times that this is the answer to everything especially happiness. I do not disagree but...

I have always had a sense of wander for the world, for the natural world. Since I was a young boy I have known what is that I want to do. I am still not sure exactly how to do it but I know what it is. I want to change the world. I want to change your idea on nature and the way you view it. I want to change just about everyones idea on how to treat the world and how to feel for animals and nature. Plainly put I want to save nature but in order to do that there needs to be a fundamental change in the way people perceive it. No, I don't want to save nature for your kids to see or my kids or any generation there after. I want to save nature for the sake of saving nature. Everything has a right to life just like every human does. It's a funny thing being a nature lover, for one I feel incredibly blessed to have this drive to do what ever I can but on the other hand it weighs me down as I just do not know where to start or how. Its such a big task and sadly I have to concede to the fact that I can't change everything but how do I choose which avenue to take, how do I decide which area to target. There will always be something left behind. The wilderness and nature is my life, I am attached. When I am in nature I feel whole. I do not need yoga or meditation or any other "spiritual" awakening. My awakening has happend, it happened ages ago. I wish I could make you feel this too. There is nothing more "in the moment" than being in nature and feeling the wind, smelling the fresh air, closing yours eyes and just listening or looking out over an incredible view. It is always so right and it leads me everytime to the thought of "what it the point?" but at the same time I feel like I know the point when I am in these spaces. We need to take a step back as a species and as individuals and realise that the point we are all looking for is here and now and the best way to feel it and understand it is by taking a step out of your door or rather your comfort zone, that saying about comfort zones, the magical one... It is true and there is no better place to find that magic than in the wilderness. Natue is the one "god" we should all be praising but it is also the thing we are all hell bent on destroying the fastest.