Day 2 - Jo'burg to Mpumalanga

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Hi!

I have had a lovely day!

We left this morning at 7am and journeyed to the Bushman's Adventure Lodge on the outside of the Kruger. The journey was long and we arrived at about 3pm. Stopped a couple of times on the way but nothing special.

When we got out of the truck it was baking, about 35 degrees and high humidity. We (Tilly & I) put our tent up and then we had a welcome to the camp, which has a bar and chillout room under thatch (v cool) and a boma area (outdoor cooking and eating place with a fire in the middle).

It cooled slightly after that and we went on a game drive in the Thorybush Reserve, which is a private reserve, in open topped trucks. The reserve was just down the road and it was amazing. We saw: hornbill, impala, wildebeest, buffalo, rhino (including a wee baby one), hippo, warthogs, vertvet monkeys, elephant, haartebeest, zebra, dwarf mongoose, vultures, duiker, and a male lion. He was full having just eaten a buffalo and the vultures were haning round trying to get a look in. He was lying around and then got up a couple of times and roared! It was amazing and resonates in your chest! I hope I got some fab photos, although unfortunately my camera was in JPEG mode, but I still have them at least.

The elephants were amazing. We watched a bull tear a tree apart and a younger one delicately plucking shoots from a bush. It was fantastic, and I had a great time. I wish I could upload some photos but the internet is too slow. Also cute were the little warthogs running around with their tails pointing straight up like little dodgems!

When it got dark we carried on looking and there was a thunderstorm miles away that occasionally lit up the sky amazingly, but it was so far away I didn't hear the thunder.

Tomorrow we leave at 6 for a day game drive in the Kruger. We will be back by 3 and then we have dinner in the evening. Tonight we had ostrich casserole with rice and butternut squash. Ostrich tastes like chickeny sort of beef, but the neck is not a good part to eat - nothing but bones!

There are lots of BIG insects here (eep) and they keep flying into you. Also there are scorpians and spiders about palm sized, though I haven't seen one, and don't want to really! It's dark now and I am listening to the bush noises - lots of chirpings and warblings with the occasional croak and what sounds like a soar-throated duck! It's really quite a cacophony!

I have seen some porcupine quills in the shop - I might buy a few, but I hope to see some of my own too! I'm going to go to bed now, and I'm hot and sticky and tired!

Lots of Love,

Sally

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