It is Sunday. The first complete weekend in a long time where I don't have to go somewhere or do any work apart from administrative stuff. My dear cousin is departing this amazing country today and as the weather is horrendous and requires staying indoor at all times (it is actually raining!) I shall reminiscence about the cool stuff we did these past few weeks with a hot cup of tea.
Firstly, there was Kruger Park and what seemed like an abundance of lions. Now, Kruger is hard work. You drive in and sit in your car all day looking at animals not allowed to get out as lions might get you. What usually happens is that nobody sees a lion. Their camouflage is just perfect for the yellow grass and in the heat during the day they much enjoy slumbering under a hidden bush therefore staying out of sight. Not so on this day. At the watering hole where we usually see hippos in abundance two lionesses were resting in plain view under a bush. The sighting of rare animals is generally followed by a traffic jam in the road next to where they are resting and this happened here as well so we were lucky to catch them pretty much when hardly anybody else was present. The ladies were absolutely unperturbed by the sudden excitement from the cars and frolicked on the ground much like your ordinary house cat. Two crazy people got out of their cars to get better pictures... the lionesses didn't seem too bothered.
Further down the road was another traffic jam. A male and female lion were resting under a bush and only visible when the male lion lifted his head.
We also saw loads of zebra, giraffe, buffalo, impala etc. and a family of elephants bathing in a river.
On our way back, all alone on a road in the middle of the bush we suddenly saw a male lion in the distance. As we slowly approached with our car he lay down on the ground and took a short nap. We observed him for quite some time but were in a little rush as the Kruger gates close at 6pm. So we approached a some more in the car until we were almost on top of him. He yawned healthily, got up and moved to the side to let us pass. Pretty amazing!
We also spent a great day in the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve, the third largest canyon in the world. It's a one day drive with great hiking opportunities and amazing views. This trip culminated in a delicious dinner at a Mozambican restaurant in Graskop sponsored by mom.
She also spent two hole days with me in the field, enjoying a community meeting and carrying out a training for my staff about how to behave in a job interview. More visitors welcome!
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