Nourlangie Safari Camp, Episode 11

Nourlangie Safari Camp, here is 9SLK is anybody listening? (My radio code) The Diaries of Flemming Jensen, 1968-1969

In the previous episode our author, Flemming did a bit of thinking as he watched the grass grow at Nourlangie.

Monday 27th January 1969

Today was the day for hunting. Not so much for our sake but for the dogs. I was still nervous but know better courage. We took off and after selecting among a few we found a good one. I took aim but in that moment all the dogs turned up and everything was destroyed. They had been running after us when we left the camp. They joined us for the rest of the hunt to the great chagrin of us.

Later I used four bullets on a nice "buff", two of them hit it but it disappeared wounded into a wilderness. Normally a wounded animal is found and killed but here we did an exception. And again the bullets are not designed for those “big fellows" and if you do not hit exactly in the heart but maybe the lungs, the animal continues running and it may take hours, even days before it dies.

Perhaps I can console myself that I was not attacked by the wounded animal. A wounded animal often goes into panic and desperation to attack and then it is highly dangerous. Many have been seriously injured and when you've seen how big the animal is and how huge their horns can be this is easily understandable.

Unfortunately I had now have only three bullets left and although it was sufficient last time we gave up and returned home to the camp.

On the way home we drove over an approximately two-metre-long snake that disappeared into the bush and no one wanted to go and look for it.

We thought we could take it easy and calm for the rest of the day which moreover is a national holiday. But no! In the afternoon flying guests turned up and everything turned upside down. One of the guests was a young girl in a sexy low-cut dress and she looked wonderful. I really got homesick.

When the visit was over and they had to leave a terrible storm came up and that the pilot was able to get the plane in the air was fantastic and he fulfilled the reputation of the Australian pilots.

Just before dark we discovered that "Socks" the best of the puppies were gone. They had all been with us in the morning and we had not really thought more about them before we should feed them in the evening. The only thing we could think of was that it must have lost its way on the way home. We therefore went out to look for the poor dog with a high risk of getting bogged down on muddy roads after this afternoon's heavy rain.

Unfortunately we did not find it and now we can only hope that it can find the camp on its own. We do not give many chances of survival.

Tuesday 28th January

Socks got home this morning so everyone was happy, at least Pat was. It would not have been easy for her to tell Allan that his best puppy was gone. We believe that Patra has been out searching for Sock overnight (it is her puppy) because at two am Pat went out to see if Sock had come back but at that time Patra was not there.

There was not much time to make a welcome because we were ready for buffalo hunting again today. This time I had six hard and four soft cartridges. That should be enough.

A half hour later we were ready to cut up a beautiful four year old buffalo. I had had to sneak up on it because it was far from the road but it was also the only one we had seen that we could use. I had to use five of the cartridges before it went down.

Me, who does not like to see blood have certainly seen a lot lately. The ghurka knife that I bought in Kathmandu in Nepal has proven to be excellent for cutting up buffaloes. My uncle (who is a master butcher) should have seen me now. He could probably have given me some good advice.

After a while we got the meat we wanted. When we came home and hung the meat in the locker to dry we were ready for breakfast. It tasted much better today than yesterday! During the day I made a concrete floor where the showers were. The guests do not feel comfortable when they take showers standing in the grass. I thought I have done a good job with the tools I have to my disposal. Unfortunately the water tank went dry again so now we must wait to use the taps until the pressure returns to normal.

In the next episode, Flemming does repair work on the airstrip while Allan is flying high in Darwin.

Reproduced with permission: Kakadu National Park Cultural Heritage & Biodiversity Management Unit.