Kruger National Park!

It was finally time for the big one  - Kruger National Park!!  Karin had used timeshare points to get a good deal on accommodation just outside of the National Park in a town called Hazyview.  After a lovely drive, and some great scenery (loved the banana plantations) we had arrived.  The house we were staying in was a tad small inside, but the weather was so great that wouldn't be a problem.  There was a bit of a rush in deciding who would have which bedroom, with Paul and Anna-Marie opting for the upstairs bedroom, bad move!!  Heat rises, and its a shocker when you opt for the only bedroom without air conditioning, as they found out later that evening!

Ant in the house!!!

Anyways, the resort's got a swimming pool, golf course (Gary Player designed, although that means nothing to me) and some other stuff including a river running through with crocs and hippos.  The place was scattered with warning signs such as 'Beware of crocodiles'  'Hippos are dangerous at night', ooooh exciting!!!

Me having fun on the trampoline!

We took the opportunity to chill out in the sun next to the pool, I noticed that we were the only people in the full sun, everyone esle had a parasol up and were in the shade.  No way, I thought, I'm not going home looking pale!!

At dusk, Karin, Michael and myself headed to the hippo hide with the hope of seeing the hippos head out the water and onto their grazing patch.  The quickest way for us to get to the hide was via the nature walk, which Michael said he thought was like something from Predator....... Not sure about that, but it wasn't best tackled in jandals!  We sat in the hide for a while: we could see a few hippos in the water, they kept a good eye on us everytime they popped their ears, eyes and nostrils out of the water.  The noise they make is hilarious, and really quite loud, not surprising given their size, man they are huge!  Eventually we gave up, these hippos were going nowhere and it was getting dark.

Our accommodation

Palm tree

Pool