Our travelling schedule reasserted itself: breakfast at 7:00, leave by 8:00. I am sorry to leave the mountains of Lesotho. The scenery is awe-inspiring. The people are welcoming, fully smiling and greeting:”Damela” (hello) “Hi, how are you? I am fine, how are you? I am fine.” “Hello! Where are you from? Canada!” So often, people wave at us or respond to our waves with delight. (Now at 5:15 p.m., I am sitting on a pretty balcony in South Africa, overlooking the Orange River, entertained by bird song all around.) We drove for about an hour this morning to Roma, named by Italian immigrants. There, waiting at the original Trading Post, was a guide for us. The Trading Post hotels used to be actual trading posts, established in the late 1800s by the family that still owns ... read more

8:45 p.m. We have landed in the most unimaginable “hotel” ever! Out my window and patio door is a wide view of a Drakensberg escarpment and mountain, fully green and filled with darker green trees and bushes. My “room” is a bedroom off a large sitting room and kitchen, shared by Judy, who is in a loft. Ours is part of a set of four unique sitting-bedroom arrangements, each unique, once part of a farm with stables. Ramabantha Trading Lodge was one of the original holdings on a trail of trading posts established by one family in the early twentieth century. They still run the modernized business. When we arrived about 5:00, out of curiosity we all walked through the other buildings and people's rooms. Norm and Duane are in the converted stables, with rooms that ... read more

Our departure might have been delayed this morning because restaurant service was very slow at breakfast, as it was for dinner last night. However, luggage handling was faster than expected, so we were on the road at 8:30. Most of the morning was driving on the major highway N3. (Everywhere we stopped for breaks throughout the tour, the facilities were very clean.) As we left Durban behind, the road started to climb into the url=http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-the-ukhahlamba-drakensberg-mountainsDrakensburg foothills, giving us beautiful views of rolling hills and leaving behind the planted forests. The vegetation returned to grasses and acacia trees. The higher we went, the deeper were the folds of land, green everywhere with darker green bushes near rivers and streams. Dark trees dotted t... read more

1:45 p.m. We are in an interval between our dawn safari and our dusk safari in Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park. Awakened at 5:15 a.m., we left a little after dawn in the cool of a cloudy day following a bit of rain overnight – perfect for game spotting and photo taking because the light was soft. Unfortunately for residents, the rains have been light this rainy season, which is expected to lead to water shortages and animal stress in a few months. Our guide, Karl, was a hectic driver and animal enthusiast. He was as excited as we were when he spotted animals, particularly rhinos and elephants. He was good at stopping for birds. His directions would usually consist of “There!”, and he would only say, “ten o’clock past the jeep”, if pressed. We relied on each ... read more

I crawled out of the diminutive door of my beehive this morning, sorry to let the experience go, but not wanting to prolong the inconvenience of the unconventional. We slowly drove out of the game reserve, rewarded by seeing a crocodile swimming with most of its head out of the water, evidence of its pulling a kill in its mouth, although we couldn’t see what. Also, Duane stopped by a seven- or eight-foot-tall termite mound created in less than a year. Not too far along the highway, we stopped at an excellent set of cooperative self-help craft stores called “Gone Rural ”. I found some brown and orange flat mats (meant to be placemats), which fulfilled my souvenir goal for this trip. And I fell into temptation over a cheerful printed infinity scarf (red, white, gold, ... read more