First a correction. The food at the lodge where we are staying is not as good as the Amsterdam: nothing can be that good, consistently, but it is. The food here is excellent, no doubt, however the basic ingredients cannot be as choice as the ship and I only use beef as an example. The food coming out of the small kitchen here is an absolute wonder, however.
Another comment I would like to make is about the writing of the blog. It is a thing that I like to do, but it is a commitment and it does take some doing to do it when on a trip like we are for five days, the time to write is sparse and there is so much going on that it is hard to take in sometime and I have to do it in a hurry, so I may omit some interesting picture or event that happened. The blog does cut into my free time [make that rest time], but that is fine just as long as you realize that there may be errors in it and also I do not have access to much in the way of resources to verify my facts. Also, expect spelling misteaks is spite of or because of spell-check!!!
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Monday, March 31. Another glorious day.
We were up at 5.00 am this morning for a 6.00 AM departure for a walk in the bush, or forest, or lakeside or a combination of all.
The game viewing was scarce but it was refreshing to be on the animals turf without the distraction of a noisy Land Rover. The smells and sounds were a refreshing change and we saw tracks and scat from a variety of animals ranging from porcupine to hippo. The odd sighting made it a bit more exciting but as far as photography was concerned this morning was more of mother nature's dainty and miniature side of things rather than large mammals. The shore birds near the end of the walk were interesting as were the wart hogs and Guinea Fowl family on the road on the way back.
Most of us had a hearty breakfast around 10, and then Fellette and I had a shower, checking for ticks which Fellette found one on her clothing, then we two zonked out for an hour. It is indeed a rare day indeed that Fellette will have a nap at 10.30 in the morning. I came out on the porch around 12 to do the blog where that lovely forest breeze is wafting over my tick-free topless body, nice!
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After lunch we went to the main park, some 3/4 hour drive away, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park. We were looking of course for the lion which is rather elusive in this park.We were not successful but we did see, close up in some cases about 12 white rhino, they seem to run in groups here. The scenery here, to me, is breathtaking: the rolling hills endlessly, valleys and turning into scrubland. Missing is the open savanna of the Kenya and Tanzania game parks with the endless small gazelles and zebras and wildebeest that are the Big Macs for the lion's smorgasbord hence the scarcity of lions.
Near the end of the day we did have a bit of excitement when the word got around amongst the drivers that there were lions sighted, but we never did find them. After we entered our camp we were stopped first by two nyala antelope then a few yards later by three giraffe ambling along the drive in the dark.
The end of a good day, and the end of our time at Zululand. Tomorrow morning we are driven back down the coast and catch a flight to Cape Town where we join the ship. Later the next day we sail off to Namibia.
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This was done rather in haste so I expect many errors. I ask your forgiveness in advance.
Pics.
- 5.30 AM coffee/tea.
- In the beginning.
- At the beginning of the seven K walk.
- Next two, in the bush.
- Josephine showing us a tree that a bush pig uses as a rubbing post.
- Pretty tame day when I end up taking pictures of a beetle eh!
- Next four, flowers, the first three miniatures, less than an inch across, the last one a giant cactus-like flower head.
- Next two on the trail.
- Hippo footprints in the now-dried mud.
- Locust.
- Shorefront.
- Ants nesting in shrink-wrapped leaves.
- We four near the end of the trail, note the no-swim-croc sign.
- Wart hogs.
- The last two hundred yards of a 7 K walk before breakfast. [You would think we were in the damn Army!]
- Guinea fowl.
- Last two, buffalo and rhino this afternoon.
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