They do things early here – wake up is at 5:00! No phones though, our guide, Phanuel,  comes to our door and says “knock knock”. Much better.

It was just the 2 of us on our game drive again, which was great.

Phanuel had heard that there were wild dogs in the area so off we set in search of wild dogs. As it turned out they were not exactly in the reserve, but on the main road leading to the lodges. It was also early in the morning for them as they hadn’t really woken up yet. We sat and watched them, while the busy traffic on the road had to go around them.

Then we heard that the lionesses of the Giraffe pride were having breakfast, so off we drove to join them. There didn’t seem to be much left to eat, and there were spats going on over who was to have the last morsels. They did not seem to be good at sharing. After they all had had enough to eat, they settled in for a nap, quite unaware of our presence.

By then it was time for our breakfast, and we headed back to the lodge, stopping to take a few bird photos on the way.

Just at the entrance to the lodge, we came across a solitary rhino in our road, but he did move over to let us pass. Rhinos are so much better that way than elephants. I really love elephants, but they seem to take a perverse pleasure in standing in the middle of the road, or gently sauntering down the road, blocking your way. And there is nothing you can do about it at all.

We were soon on our way again, but stopped to look at a little chameleon, also in the middle of the road. He was easy to get around, however.

Our afternoon game drive started off well, we came across 3 male rhinos. The large one appeared to be showing one of the younger ones how to fight, so we watched the demonstration. How they don’t poke each other’s eyes out with their horns is a mystery to me. There were several very close contacts, I wanted to tell them to stop playing so roughly.

We went on to have a very nice afternoon drive.

As we continued with our drive, the skies above us started to look darker and darker, and the drizzle started. We put on ponchos (there were more than enough to go around) and continued with our drive, although I thought that any self respecting animal would be out of sight, sheltering from the rain. However, we continued with our quest. We were looking at a hyena when the heavens opened up, and despite the ponchos, we were getting soaked. We were surrounded by thunder and lightning, and again it was difficult to see where we were going.

Yes, it was time to try to return to the lodge before we were washed away. When we got back we were greeted with hot towels and a glass of sherry. All very civilized.

The MBA students had also decided to abort their game drive, and arrived just after we did, with Toto blasting out “I bless the rains down in Africa…………..”

As we still had some time before dinner, and I was feeling wet and cold, I decided to get wetter and take advantage of the bath tub. I had a wonderful long soak in the tub, taking advantage of the bath salts they had provided. Looking out the window, it was dark outside, but I thought that in daylight this would be a great spot for game viewing.

They had planned dinner in the boma, but due to the rain, the table was set up in the lounge area. However, the rain had stopped and we were ushered out to the boma and treated to a performance of song and dance by the staff. They are a very talented bunch of people, and the performance was wonderful. A real treat.

Dinner was a traditional South African BBQ, it has been a long time since we have eaten mealie pap, and the pap tonight didn’t disappoint. It was good and firm, with a tomato and onion gravy. Delicious. The barbecued chicken, lamb chops, and boerwors sausage were tasty too 🙂 I do love a good South African barbecue.