Aventura Swadini Hoedspruit

... cattle grazing and crop production. We then start to
climb into the mountain region. The mountains do not have any sharp
or jagged peaks or snow on them but you can tell that we are in a
much higher elevation. We find out later from our guide that we are at
over 3,000 m. (9,800 ft.). We reach an old former gold mining town
called Pilgrim’s Rest where we have lunch. The specialty of the
restaurant is pancakes. We have pancakes with chicken curry and nuts ...

... meet me for breakfast. The lodge where we are staying has a computer, yay! I'm hoping to write more about what we did the last ...

We were driving down the main tar road called the H1-6 and found 2 lions resting in the afternoon sun after a night of hunting. A few hours later during our drive some people told us about a hyena den with a female and her babies. We found the den in a back dirt road, could hear the babies but could not see them. Mom & Dad were sleeping.

... the ellies have been elusive most days so this was a bit surprising. I guess I didn't think of the fact that they get rain in summer and the grasses and bushes grow right now. They grow a lot too. We can be driving down a road and they are taller than the height of us in the jeep! Even in our bush walks, Mike said it was a bit dangerous for us to be walking in it... There are a few "blocks" of Makalali East that the ellies just love to hang out in but we can't get ...

... only one in there until Friday night. my roomie is leaving on Wednesday so i'll have it to myself again soon. there's a sink in my room and a fan that only moves the hot air around :-(. Liam and i share a toilet and shower area. it's all quite nice and i'm especially fond of the hammock outside my door. the routine at Twines is to have a morning drive at 5:30 that lasts for 4-5 hours. we prep dinner in the afternoon and go out at 4pm for our afternoon drive ...

... in the bush looking for animals or traces of them. Bear in mind this is a totally open and wild place and all animals roam here quite freely including lion and buffalo. The latter have a nasty habit of ambushing you if you are not paying attention. Risk Assessments do not feature in the vocabulary here as there is no warden and no-one carries a rifle).They also tell us all about the trees, bushes and all fauna and flora. Nature is wonderful and an example is that there is one ...

... yet more to come!! Plus we have been out doing erosion work, learning about the trees in the area, how to get water other than from a tap, seen loads of different birds and ofcourse we sit and relax talking with other volunteers whilst looking out over the waterhole. From this viewpoint we watch giraffe, zebra, buffalo (which mock charged us one night), warthogs, guinea fowl, woodpeckers, shrikes and loads more. Last week we went on a two day ...

We know it's only been a week, and we're volunteering at the Siyafunda Conservation Programe for two weeks, but so much has happened, we thought it only fair to let you share in all the fun :o) 'Siyafunda' means 'we are learning' in Afrikaans. Very apt for the journey we are on, 'learning' to adapt to a world so different from 7 months ago. Siyafunda is a research centre for many scientists looking into management of large game, ethical elephant and lion ...

... Quien me conoce sabe que a.) yo no me enfado nunca; b.) cuando lo hago es porque he estado aguantando hasta no poder mas, y c.) cuando me enfado, por tanto, le he dado muchas vueltas y suelo tener mas razon que un santo. Al haberle explicado mis motivos al menos 4 veces, me parece que, mas que no entender, no quiere entender. Mi version es sencilla: hasta ayer en este viaje se ha hecho lo que la seniorita ha querido, al ritmo que ella ha querido ...

... mammals and 500 birds, as well as reptiles and fish. It's about two million hectares and boarders Mozambique. It's definitely a developed park, meaning paved roads, but the philosophy of the park is no intervention. Even if an animal dies, they let nature take care of it, Dad tells us he sees a Zebra die one day and the next day there is nothing left, after the lions, vultures, etc come in. They don't interfere whatsoever with wildlife and maintain strict rules about tourist ...