Bayala Game Lodge Hluhluwe

... the water here though, and there was no afternoon tea garden round the corner!

From here the animal magic is set to continue as we head to Kruger park, where will we explore further afield than we’ve ventured before – it’s the size of Wales so there’s quite a bit of land to get around! We’ll be there for the next two weeks, including another 4 days trekking in the bush, so you’ll have to wait til we return from the wild for the next installment!

... our first 'game walk' there, following a hippo trail (wide) across areas with signs galore warning you of all the wild animals that might want to eat you if they saw you. The only things we came close to were zebras and bushboks so not too much danger there but still quite a fun experience. We spent the afternoon basking on a beautiful beach up at Cape Vidal, swimming in the Indian Ocean (Ian's first time ...

... biotics that I was taking for my respiratory infection, and I feel like that matter is laid to rest. I'm feeling completely cured. The other thing is that for some reason, the blue-tooth keyboard that I bought/brought for writing my blog on my PDA is working particularly well lately. When I was in Zanzibar, it used to take me fifteen minutes to get it fired up and connected to the PDA. Now it almost connects by itself. Don't ask me why.

... either. The friendly guy, we are holding is not poisonous at all: he is very huggy. The poor owl is NOT snake food: he broke his wing and is in hospital. We are about to visit the lions, when it starts pouring again, so we decide on a beer, a snack and liar dice, of course. And then, there is the lion. He comes running. His name is Lucky, he is 3 years old and waits for his girlfriend to arrive in 2 months. The lions get fed once a ...

... summer is on its way. With Sping Day been and gone, things are bloomin, and today I was bloomin hot! So, I got in the bakkie and drove to the tourist pool. I hoped that no one was there, but a couple of elderly groups were lazing on the loungers. I felt daft as I touched the water with my toe. What was I thinking; that one day of sunshine would make it bareably warm? But no. It was cold....and not just in comparison with the air. It was just about the same ...

Today I am living in a cloud. I woke up this morning at 4:45am and lay there wondering why the air smelt different. Within 10 minutes the heavens had opened and I wondered how long it would take for my leaking rood to give in. Now the cloud is around us. It's not so much raining, than seeping through us from the every side. I am living in a cloud. And today I was meant to do laundry. Fun!

... recently. There was more rain over a wider area than in the previous months. This was the only sign the females needed to start moving out of the southern wilderness area; an area they use in the dry winter time. Of course, this was the only signal that the bulls needed. In order to mate, the bulls must first find a female herd, get around the matriarch and basically rape one of the females before he gets beaten up by the rest of the herd. Although it sounds ...

... living here do you?" 'It lives under the tweedy I think', said Sue. Great - now she tells me! Jan and Dirk approached the snake from the other side. I was amazed by how long it was for such a small snake. It looked only about 60cm long, but the tail went on for miles and was so thin by the end that I wondered how useful it was. In total it maybe measured a meter, but either way, it simply had to leave. As they approached with a newspaper, the snake spiralled off the shelf ...

... for miles at the discretion of the perpetrator. Plus, I had nowhere to go. I certainly couldn't reverse quickly enough to get away - and besides where would I go that would give me time to get out of the vehicle and to a buildling (to safety) before he would catch up, more annoyed than ever? With the other cars watching from the oncoming lane I couldn't rev the engine and go past - it would make matters worse and would lead to trouble. Besides, he was ...

... referring patients' to physio just to annoy Garreth. Being able to wear flip-flops to work Old Gogo's: "My Babooo!" South African slang: How's it? Is it? Yes, like! Aswell... The Mseleni Massive. Things I won't miss but will probably always remember: The results of Western intervention, bureaucracy, & government fukupi Wasted AIDs patients The fact that 38/40 kids at the children's home were HIV + Sick, starving kids dying treatable infections The violence & abuse ...