Gecko Lodge Hazyview

Early on the 15th day of our journey we departed for the airport in Durban and flew to Mpumalanga airport for Kruger National Park. Here we transfered by coach to the Protea Kruger gate Hotel a beautiful open area at the registration desk was the gathering place for people going to and from their safaris. Here we ...

... some bat boxes and bats were flying around that night. We also heard hyenas several times throughout the night. This too like Skukuza is very popular camp for weekenders at it near to one of the main entrance gates and not too far from Nelspruit and other South African towns.

This was our last stop in Kruger National Park. We had really enjoyed our stay here, had seen animals/birds we didn’t see last year. Our ...

... By this point it was well after 4 PM and we were beat plus we still had a couple of hour drive back. We did cut the drive short. Still, what we had seen could never be forgotten. Pile back into the van, curl up and snooze. All except the driver and co-pilot, I hope. We did get back safely, more or less, ate dinner and decided we were going to do some detective work. We were going to find the source of the hippo dung. Asking for volunteers ...

... for a recovery day but we were so excited we wanted to get started. We kept seeing signs for Hippo crossing and don't feed the monkeys. What's that about? We would soon find out. While walking along the Sabi we saw spore, droppings, land mines, whatever you call them, all over. When in doubt ask, right? When we did the staff just smiled and said Hippo and pointed to the signs. Duhhh. Dumb tourist! We did get to see a Monitor Lizard ...

... some scenery pictures... scenery pictures come out when we have been sitting in the land rover for an hour and the animals are all hiding! After this hour and a half of driving around, straining your eyes to see in force and focus on something that might have moved, we were given one of the coolest experiences in the world... the Elephant... this animal is my hero for the simple reason that we watched him for about 20 minutes as he ate and he fell asleep 3 times mid bite or while he ...

... I admire your fortitude for making such a trek in this unforgiving inclimate weather. Welcome." Ahh, "Welcome" indeed - a very under appreciated word. Well and Come, two words that describe how one has arrived. And we have arrived well. ** If you don't know what this is referencing, then you're missing out on the most addicting thing since crack. World of Wacraft - google it. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

... I am learning a little bit of sign language, and I have started to get Brian, this 13 year old boy engaged in doing math. He use to wonder around the yard just kicking the ball, which I think is fine, but I think he is having a lot of fun counting with me. What I love about the Disabled Center is everyone who comes there seems to be interested in doing something, so wherever their capability might be I'm there trying to give them something to do. More girls are ...

... I should say a few words about the driving here. First of all, South Africans drove from the right (which is to say "wrong") side of the car, and on the left hand side of the road. LJ's primary function, in addition to navigation, was to say "stay left" each time we turned. She also frequently reminded me that the right-hand lane was the passing lane, which was seldom where Lite belonged. In addition to the aforementioned challenges, I had to master the art of shifting gears ...

... here at all, spend none of their earnings on improving and fixing their homes is that whoever was to hear of such a thing would inevitably ask, "Where does the money come from?" and they're going to want a share of it, even if they have to kill in order to get it! Should poor blacks aspire to improve their standard of living and move up and get a nice home and car and fix all that needs fixing, they would run into so much trouble. That explains this 'now ...

... saw our first rhino, zebra, and some birds I confess I've forgotten the name of! We also made a stop at the Kreuger museum, which was interesting, and had some amazing photographic exhibitions that made my efforts look very amateur indeed. However an interesting feature was the living exhibits hanging on the outside of the gift shop (fruit bats)! We left the Kreuger heading for hazyview. The good thing about a glass sided ...