Moving Day

CLICK HERE: TODAY'S PHOTO ALBUM

Wake up call exactly at 5:30 am.  All the sleepy eyed campers gathered for coffee and then boarded the jeeps.  Karien drove around for about three hours in search of the elusive rhino. The family we were with really wanted to see rhino unfortunately they were not going to see one before they went home.  We did see some more giraffes, impalas, some pretty birds, hippos, and some other stuff.

Back at the lodge, breakfast was waiting.  Can't keep up with the food intake here.  It is far too much. Karien sat down for breakfast and announced that she was going to be driving us over to Lobengula Lodge this morning.  Great!! That meant we would go in the jeep and probably get an extra game drive in the bargain

Wound Update:  My hand looks like it is healing. Color is coming back to normal (whatever that is). Geoff, on the other hand, got whacked in the nose on last night's drive.  The hat the girl front of him was wearing went flying off, hit his glasses on the bridge of his nose and the blood just poured out. Great start to the evening drive.  The medical kit was pretty much useless. No regular bandaids. Fortunately, we had a tissue and the bleeding stopped eventually.  It looks pretty good now - the sunburn hides the cut.  Hope those are all the issues we have to deal with on this trip.

After breakfast, we packed up and headed across the plains with Karien. This reserve consists of 25000 hectors equaling 62,000 acres.   Quite a lot of land.  As we climbed further north and up the over the mountains, the terrain was turning from brown to green.  We saw lots of zebras and then lo and behold the white rhino. Not one, not two, but seven all toll!  What an afternoon!  It was very exciting being that close to these massive creatures.  Two of the rhinos had been de-horned for their safety. Poaching is still very bad and no matter how many precautions they take, it still happens. They predict that they may be extinct within 10 years.

We pulled into our new lodge at around noon.  The room wasn't ready yet, so we quickly changed and jumped into the pool!  It is very hot.  Talked to a family from Kentucky and DC but vacation in Nantucket frequently.  This lodge is older and not as modernized as Riverdene - which we like a bit better.  Finally it was time to go to our room.  OMG can you say plunge pool.  We have our own pool and a room about the size of our house with an indoor and outdoor shower.  We immediately got into our au natural and plunged into our pool. Absolutely Fabulous.  The temperature rose to about 103 today and we felt every degree of it.

The rest of the afternoon went as planned.  Lunch at around 2ish - more outrageous food and then it was back in the jeep at around 4:30 - a bit later today because of the heat.  We were paired with a couple from - you are not going to believe this - Gurnesey!! OK, what are the odds of meeting two couples from an obscure island on one trip.  We headed out with our new guide Patrick and our friends from this morning - the two de-horned rhinos.  Next Patrick found a wonderful herd of elephants around the waterhole.  Took our time here before moving on to the giraffes.

It was all quite beautiful as we reached the top of a ridge and watched the lightning and thunder from across the way.  We stopped for some lovely refreshments and took it all in.  The storm felt like it was getting closer, so it was time to head back.  Well, we got stuck right in the middle of the lightning storm.  The rain came pouring down and the thunder was very close.  Geoff thinks the lightning was only about 1/10 of a mile away from us.  Rachel really freaked out. Fortunately, there were ponchos in the jeep because it was getting pretty wet.  Not sure how Patrick made it back to the lodge but we all were very grateful to be back safe.

The rain has stopped and the stars are out. We all gathered for dinner.  Tonight there was a traditional braai (bbq) as well as a demonstration of braai bread which was like an over the top grilled cheese.  As for the meat, well when in Rome..... so we had a small sampling of the venison, venison sausage and lamb - plus a skewer of yellowtail fish.  In all honesty, the fish was the best tasting to me.  But I am glad we tried the traditional food.

It's been a very long day and another 5:30 am wake up call.  Not sure what we will see tomorrow.  Hoping for some buffalo and maybe some more cats.  Hakuna Matata


CLICK HERE: TODAY'S PHOTO ALBUM

Next time... Wild Thing!