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The rock without name

I agree with Freda Think it's along the S112 (or perhaps that bit is part of the S22?).

Nearly correct PP
Its at the getout point
Very special place enclosed by these gigantic rocks
You can hear the silence

Let me set the scene.

Many people are spooked by the Hamilton Memorial.
It has an atmosphere, people say.
This is where the ashes of the great James Stevenson Hamilton and his wife have been scattered.
He loved the place in his lifetime and his spirit still wonders through the silence.

I heard a well traveled mite saying that every time she went, she felt eyes watching her.

Wonderful place for Leopards, said one.

Wonderful place for Mambas, said another.

This is not a place for sissies.

MM does not belong to this sissie brigade, maybe other sissie brigades, but not this one.

I often go to sit and think. I often go alone.



There is something about the atmosphere that I find compelling. I feel that the great man's spirit still watches, still guards and touches the earth he once loved.



Something happened on my last trip however that stopped me in my tracks.
I expected that I might one day have an experience that would stand out, but not this.

This was a delinquency way beyond my expectations.

But it's there in the 2nd picture! You can see the eyes!!!

Whilst we wait for her...

My 3 friends and I got out there once.
I warned them to be on the lookout for leopards, so 2 decided to arm themselves with rocks (1 picked up a big rock and the other a small one), just in case.

I heard the one with the big rock saying to the other when they sized up each others rocks: "You are just gonna anger the leopard when you hit him with that pebble..."

The other one chirped back: "Well, you can hardly pick yours up, you as good as dead!"

To which the big rock guy replied: "I have no plan to throw it at the leopard, I am gonna turn around and run. And when I hit top speed, I am gonna drop the rock and then I'll run even faster!"

Right there



Raise your hands if your face was closer than 10cm from your screen

Funny story, WTM

W@H!

MM, this should be interesting.
I have not visited Hamilton's Memorial, but recall I wanted to visit once, and as I am usually alone, for some reason I felt it was not a good idea and left it.
Now I learn that a) There are strange things and b) delinquents.
DO TELL. DO TELL SOON.

For those who have never been to the memorial, it was one of James Stevenson Hamilton's favourite places. It is a place of open vistas, dense bush, rocks and silence.

It is here that nature rules supreme.





Let me set the scene.
There had been a thread on this area and I had stated that I often got out of my car alone.

I need proof, I thought, as this was not common practice.

My aim was to get Trusted Beauty alone in the parking area.
See, I can do it.





As I arrived, I noticed another car parked.
I was not too phased, as I had every intention of spending a long time at the memorial.
I saw that it was a family and there was an air of palpable excitement.

The mother looked at me, an expression of shock and amazement.

"You won't believe what we have just seen", she said, "My husband is still there, but I'm too scared"

"Still there", is through this small intriguing path.



Never one to shirk adventure and the unusual, MM grabbed her camera and ran.

MM's latest mugshot taken on the way there.



oh dear, I must run.

MM I will have a new awareness next time I visit the Stevenson Hamilton memorial.
An awareness for delinquents and so on .
Nice suspenseful thread

Looking at MM's second photo in the first posting, it seems to me the delinquency is the fact that the memorial plaque was stolen (probably for scrap metal) as the one at Dipene.

The Hamilton Memorial in particular is sacred.

I ran to the action site and could not believe my eyes.

Honestly, it is very difficult to give perspective of this strange sight.

A man, both excited and fearful pointed.





The first delinquent was disappearing and I could only get a bum shot.

The man next to me was worried that if the ellie decided to turn nasty he would never be able to outrun the beast.

"Don't worry", I said, "unless he's crossed with a ballet dancer and has special gifts of agility, you should be safe".

The second ellie gave me a much better facial view.
Must be his/her best side.



I have tried to give a perspective of how unusual this possibly is.
The steepness of the terrain, the denseness of the bush.
I have often seen ellie dung in strange places on walks, but I have never been so close to ellies chomping away in a place I would have though inaccessible.
I was probably, at some point, 5 metres away.

They were obviously enjoying their meal and it was certainly very tasty branches that they were eating.
But also, naughty ellies no feeding of animals.

just to remind you

Great animals come to pay their respects to great people.
The Old Man will have been well pleased with their visit - I'm sure.
Instead of the ellies giving him a trunk call, they made a personal visit.
Can just see him grinning.....

Yes it is amazing how ellies get into certain places.

We were on the H9 travelling to Letaba a while back, and just by the Shilawuri Loop turning, we looked up towards the large Koppie (ever hopeful for a leopard sighting) and there, almost at the top, were two huge ellies!!!