Like a Leather Sofa April 7, 2008

Today we started @ 5:00 with a wake up knock from the nigh watchman. After showering and some tea we were off @ 6:00 for our morning drive with Jason. We saw several impala, nyala and wildebeest but what made it worth the trip was the family of baboon in the riverbed. We stopped to watch them climb up the rock and have tea and biscuits as they watched us and called out.
When we returned we changed (as it was hotter) and went off with Rudolf to see the elephants. This was such a wonderful drive as we saw so many creatures! Leaving @ 9:00, we saw zebra and many warthogs, nyala, and impala. When we crossed the fence, we came across about 6 giraffe eating so gently from the trees. (You know they have 7 vertebrae! Like us!?) Then ostriches were off in the distance as were many other critters along the way. When we arrived at "Elephant Experience" Rambo (male) and Rachel (female) were hanging out ready to teach. At this lodge on the reserve they have been habituated, which means used to humans, but not tame. they were orphaned after a culling in Zimbabwe and brought here. They are 26 years old and enjoy quite a free lifestyle. Case and I experienced feeding them both. Rambo has only 1 prehensile, thus curls his trunk like the Asian elephant. Rachel has the normal 2 and grasps her food. Elephants also have a dominate sides. Rambo is left handed like me and uses that tusk mostly. Elephants go through 6 sets of teeth and in the wild when they lose their last set at about 65, they tend to starve to death. Rudolf used to be in the film making industry and captured some wonderful pictures before our camera battery died. (Of course extra battery and charger are in Durban!) Alas, on our way back to the lodge at about 11:30 we spotted a black rhino, several baboon, nyala, impala, and warthogs in the riverbed, as well as vervet monkies in a tree. Following that we went to a waterhole where we saw hippos, terrapin and a crocodile chillin about 30 feet from our vehicle!
We returned to our lodge around 1:15 where we ordered a chicken mayonnaise toasted sandwich and a bacon and egg toasted sandwich to our chalet. After our lunch, we snuggled in our hammock for a short nap. High tea @ 3:30 and off for a night fame drive with Jason. Our time living the celebrity life was over. The lodge is full tonight again and we traveled with folks from Northern Ireland and London. Not 5 minutes down the road was a bull elephant strolling toward us! Of course since our camera was dead we could only memorex in our minds. We followed him for about 20 minutes. He got quite ticked when a lorrey (truck) came up and he started to charge! Out of harm's way in a flash, Jason moved forward. We continued on, stopping at the top of the hill for snacks and beers. What a fantastic view! No it's 6:30 as I write by torch on our deck listening to the shift change of the bush...

Critters that Crossed our Path (or rather we crossed their path)

Elephant
Kudu
Nyala
Terrapin
Hippo
Chacma Baboon
Vervet monkey
Lilac breasted roller
Martial Eagle
Yellow billed hookbill (southern)
Wildebest
Waterbuck
Orb spider
Bark spider
Red duiker
Giraffe
Warthog
Rhino
Crocodile
Ostrich
Cape turtle dove
Zebra
Impala
Crested Francolin
Blue waxbill
Pied Kingfisher

Lions Dancing With Hippos April 6, 2008

After our wonderful and private game drive this morning we headed to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve where we saw a whole host of critters! When we asked Rudolf, our ranger about going, he advised us to drive ourselves. This would not only save money, but allow us to take our time and see what we wanted. So off we went!

I was a bit frightened by some Zulu children...Casey makes fun of me! However, once inside the park, we saw immediately (warthog of course) as well as 2 black rhino, many buffalo and zebra in a, what I would assume, was a very refreshing mud pit! Very cool indeed! We decided that Rudolf and Jason (rangers) sent us to Hluhluwe (pronounced shoo-sloo-ee) without a guide because the guide would most definitely find us some lions dancing with hippos and might make our private drives seem less exciting!

We headed toward Hilltop to have some lunch. (They love their toasted sandwiches!) After meandering back we went for just an hour private game drive. We were the only ones at Leopard Mountain today and into tomorrow! So cool!

Dinner was AMAZING! They set us up on the deck overlooking the savanna with a lantern....beautiful! Our starter was good, our soup, not so much. Mushroom soup. yum. The chef Estelle was just lovely, we had really enjoyed her and felt awful for not liking the soup, so we shared it with the creatures of the night. Casey and I slopped it up with the bread and chucked it way out. (Remember we are on a very high mountain/hilltop for those Everest climbers) The meal itself was delicious. Case had some sort of fish and I bacon wrapped pork, that was just wonderful! Desert was a fried banana type thing and ice cream. Just lovely.

So no lions dancing or hippos even just lounging..but a truly wonderful and amazing day!

Warthog Mountain, Zulu Shields and some s!*# April 5, 2008

Off up the N2 today along with a hundred other pedestrians. They are everywhere! Thumbing a ride, catching a crazy "taxi" bus or just hanging out. Many are selling very small pineapples or "Zulu Shields" (aka trays) and even woven mats. We stopped in Bilito to get groceries and eat. We dined on Wimpy burgers and got some wonderful Doritos (Poppy seed w/roasted garlic and Italian Cheese and Sweet Chili) Then a bit of a detour to buy petrol- 178R for 1/2 tank! a lot.

When we arrived after seeing the beautiful Indian Ocean Casey yelled "WHOA!!" (much like Joey Lawrence) when he spotted an Elephant grazing some 20 feet in front of our car. Very cool way to start this part of the trip!

After seeing many impala and warthogs we rounded a large male elephant on the road, "Not humping" as Casey continues to dictate, but rather strolling down the road. He took his time letting us pass. We also saw a warthog family up close-this Not Leopard Mountain, but Warthog Mountain instead!

We were shown around the camp. Beautiful views all around and very interesting noises. No TV, XBox, Gameboy DS, Wii or computer. Just relaxation! We had dinner around a fire pit (Braai/Boma) salad, butternut squash and sweet potato soup, chicken stuffed with feta and mushrooms, and chocolate pancakes and ice cream for desert. I discovered Savannah cider and Case found a most delicious rum Red_______??? Drinks afterward where we chatted with Jason (ranger) hi brother and a newlywed couple from Durban. She teaches grade 1 and was lovely to chat with.

Off to sleep with our net around us to keep the beetles and moths out.

Oh, and check out Phoenix, their very aloof, but wonderful cat!

Up at 5:00am for our first drive!

No computer!

We've been blogging manually, as in the bush we had no computer and now in Cape Town we only have the hotel's computer! We've had such a lovely time and hate for it to end on Saturday. (If only I could quit my job and live here with Case...although the boys and gal might miss us!) We are at a lovely small hotel called Cape Heritage Hotel, an extremely old building in center square. Just been to Robben Island and the Waterfront where we ate, shopped and toured. Tomorrow we venture to the Cape of Good Hope and to see penguins and seals! Such a wonderful place filled with many types of folks! On the small bus we rode around Robben Island, folks from Ireland, Argentina, England, Canada, Cameroon, South Africa, Uganda, and others were present. (There were perhaps only 40 people on the bus.) amazing.

Pax..and more to come when I can enter all of our adventures! (No doubt, this will be when I am home!)

When the prisoners came back each placed a rock in the pile in the middle of the mine...

(Robben Island)

Our beautiful room!

Over 300 years old! It also has the oldest grapevine in South Africa in the courtyard in the back. On our way to Robben Island
View on the way to Robben Island

Table Mountain and Lion's Head are in the back

Off to Leopard Mountain

We are off to see the animals! (Hopefully) We had a lovely breakfast outside, toast and tea. Enjoyed much conversation with gentlemen from all over; SA, UK, Germany, and Greece/Sweeden. Very interesting bunch! We are also enjoying watching practice from Bahrain. We miss our usual commentators "Kablamo!", but great to see it nonetheless!

Cheers!

Well the toilet doesn't work!

I arrived after flying WAY too many hours, although meeting some interesting folks along the way, to find Casey waiting at the Durban airport for me. We purchased some drinks since we weren't sure what was available at the B&B, paid for parking and were off. When we got through the gate of the 164 Guesthouse http://www.164.co.za/ we went to the Zulu room, which was just lovely. After Joe brought up some cereal and toast for Casey (he hadn't had dinner yet), and I had a shower, we began to settle in. Casey had already moved his stuff in. Then the crap hit the fan. (Almost literally) The toilet started to overflow, Casey became violently ill, and then to top if off a nice family of cockroaches visited our room! The toilet also broke (actually chipped so that the water would come out of the side when you flushed), which made our adventure even better! Poor Casey had quite a night, throwing up every 20 minutes or so. Of course neither of us slept.
Today we finally got some sleep and ventured out at about 4 o'clock to find something to eat. Before our trek, we switched rooms to a much smaller room, but quite nice so that the toilet could be fixed. We went to a Chemist to get some crystals for Casey and then to the mall area. Woolworth's is the major department store...and they had lots of lovely shops. We ate at Mugs and Bean where Case had some soup and I a quesadilla. Afterwards we spotted Juicy Lucy's! There I bought some mango juice.
We headed back and Casey is now trying to sleep so that we can be ready for our adventure tomorrow. 164's owner Mike, has 2 dogs (Georgie and Maggie) that I played with for quite a while.
Tomorrow we go to Leopard Mountain http://www.leopardmountain.co.za/index2.htm . Hopefully we will find the big 5 as well as many other critters! I left my new guide at home though! Such a bummer.