Casa Montanja Nelspruit

Today we drove a little beyond Nelspruit to the Umhloti Lodge, where the Chimpansee Eden (http://www.janegoodall.co.za/) was located as well. Our itinerary included a tour of this Chimpansee Eden. The first thing you should know is that Chimps are not indigenous to South Africa. The second thing is that the refuge only exists for about three years now.

We arrived at the lodge close to lunch time. As the tour at 14:00 o'clock was feeding time for the Chimps and ...

... very
rare, a herd of tsessebe, just off the road. We followed this up with 3
hyena who came onto the road and offered a magnificent photo
opportunity with the rising sun. Next was a honey badger, who tried to
trick us by using a storm drain under the road to hide but eventually
showed himself and crossed the road in front of us. As the sun warmed
up the veld, one by one the usual suspects showed themselves including
a massive bull elephant at ...

... was very nice and in a lovely picturesque setting. There is a nice rhino walking trail along the perimeter of the camp, and a good shop. This camp has won the Kruger Best Restcamp Award for the last 3 years. The camping area is large but much nicer than Skukuza. There were good ablution blocks, and laundry and washing up areas. There is a restaurant, internet café, cafeteria, and an excellent shop. Within the camping grounds there ...

Pour faire le parc Kruger, c est facile je suis passer par un tour. Mais, si c etait a refaire je le ferai moi meme, car le Kruger c est tres facile, on peut faire soit meme un safari avec un voiture ordinaire sur des routes bitumees voir les elephants, buffles, rhinos, lions et des leopards.

On ne peut pas faire plus ...

... a magazine of bullets into the crowd, they all thought innocently. But it does illustrate quite well what sort of mentality always exists in small towns, no matter what country. They are always the hardliners. They always grow up having to compete physically for a living, be it against the elements or their fellow humans. They are always stubborn and opposed to change. But in South Africa's small towns change is being forced upon them, and they seem to be coping just fine.

After a solid breakfast at the hotel, we are picked up and whisked away to our safari! We sleep basically the entire ride out (almost 6 hours) but are kept awake for the last hour or so after picking up a swiss guy named Richard. He's absolutely hilarious (laughs after EVERYTHING he says) and his English is priceless. He's an ice cream maker ("I ...

... us, Francois, had promised to get us bus ticket for 30 December so that we would get to Maputo in time for New Year. However, we found out on the night before, when we phoned him to ask what was happening that he had not got us a ticket for 30 December - but just had not bothered letting us know - but apparently he had booked us a ticket for 31 December so we would have to stay in Nelspruit for one night. Our driver was supposed to give us the ...

... going around and helping the local missionaries with things like mobile clinics where we go into the villages and give basic care to people. We have also been able to go with a team of people into the schools in the Masoyi communities and give teachings on HIV and test over 300 kids for HIV. Ah man, that was a crazy experience...all these 14 and 15 ...

It turns out there is another way to eat corn on the cob other than the way we do it at home. Binki and her grandmother gave me two pieces of corn on the cob during snack time, so obviously I picked it up and started biting chunks out of it. This lead to some laughter from Binki's family, and they showed me the way they eat corn here. They bite just one line of corn out, somehow they pull the whole kernel out, I actually couldn't do it myself. And from there they just snap ...

... t seem to find it. Also, let me note that we are spelling Tumala's name phonetically. One day I asked Derek how he spelled it and he said "Tumala. Tlm..." It was nothing like what I had expected and sort of tuned out, but it is definitely not spelled as it sounds.] As the sun began to set, we stopped. The guides set up a table, offering us a drink (beer, soda, water) and some snacks (peanuts, potato chips, and some other things). As the sun set, you could see all of the stars ...