Our last morning here. This really has been the most wonderful lodge. Idube was nice, and the leopard sightings were amazing, but I have totally fallen in love with Kambaku and the Timbavati reserve.

I had such mixed feelings as I tried to finish packing our suitcase (which now totally refused to close), and headed off on our final game drive. I hate to be leaving Kambaku. It is absolutely the best lodge we have stayed in in a long time. But I am so excited that we will be boarding Queen Mary 2 later today.

Our final game drive didn’t disappoint. We saw elephants

on our way to look for hyenas.

The we found a crash of rhinos – 7 of them in a group. I have never seen that many together again. It is such a wonderful sight. Yay, for a rhino comeback!

We had our final morning tea break by the dam being entertained by the hippos, and then it was time to go back to the lodge, grab our bags and head to Hoedspruit airport.

I felt so sad to say goodbye to the amazing staff at the lodge. They have the uncanny ability to make you feel that you are their most important guest, anticipating your every need. I will miss them all.

So after a tearful farewell we drove to the airport. Luckily we didn’t have Jan as our driver this time, and the 45-minute drive was quite pleasant. Check in was very simple, and the agent was very tolerant of our over weight suitcase and hand luggage. We ended up paying the equivalent of $10 in fees. Not bad. We sat at the airport and had a Coke,

and then the time came, we had to board the plane to Cape Town. Goodbye Timbavati.