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| After we stopped at Obaro farm store, we spotted this woman selling cooked food on the side of the road, an African-style food truck, minus the truck. |
“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
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| We had no less than a dozen kudus stop by for apples, carrots, and pellets. Check out the adorable baby kudu near the tree, most likely only a few weeks old. |
It’s Sunday morning, and once again, we’re on the veranda enjoying the view. It was only 8:30 am when I started the text content of today’s post after deciding on which photos to upload, which is always a challenge.
So far this morning, we’ve had five different species of visitors as the holiday crowds dissipate and the animals are more prolific in our yard. It’s odd how this happens. For days, we had few visitors while the park was jammed with holidaymakers. Now, as they’ve departed, the action in the yard has escalated to where it was before the “school holiday,” Easter holiday, and “spring break,”
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| Through the bushes, we could see the kudu heading our way. |
This morning’s planned “brunch in Lionspruit” was postponed. Several of the confirmed guests canceled last minute, so Louise sent me a text informing us they’ll schedule for another day this morning.
We are fine with the change of plans, which allowed me to get today’s post completed early instead of later in the day since we’re invited to dinner at Sandra and Paul’s home at 5:00 pm.
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| One by one, they entered the yard until finally, there were more than a dozen. |
I keep used photos in a separate folder on my desktop to ensure we don’t post the same photo twice. I have several other photo folders to keep the old, used, and newly separated. Managing photos is a huge daily task that requires the first hour of each day, once I’m showered, dressed, and situated at the big table on the veranda.
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| The baby kudu was nursing and not interested in solid food quite yet. |
Typically, I download all the day’s photos at the end of each day to ensure the data card on the camera (s) is cleared for the next batch. It would be too confusing to leave hundreds, if not thousands, of photographs accumulating on the card, which some travelers tend to do.
Also, I don’t want to risk accidentally deleting photos or being unsure of the circumstances as to when they were taken. Most often, the photos we share are from the previous two or three days, sometimes longer.
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| We heard something on the tree closest to the house to discover this lizard. |
Weather conditions, backgrounds, and scenery can change from time to time, so we attempt to keep the posted photos as current as possible. Then, there’s the reality that some days, what we have on hand may be redundant or less interesting to our readers, meaning we need to get out to take more interesting photos.
It’s all a part of the delicate balance of trying to keep our posts interesting and current. But, from time to time, especially here in Africa, there are many of the same animals and similar photos.
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| This lizard wasn’t quite a meter long from head to tail. |
That’s the reason why, almost every day, we head out in the little rental car in search of new and exciting scenes to share with all of you. Please bear with us if there is redundancy.
We’re excited that we’re heading to Zambia next month, which will surely provide us with plenty of photos to share over many weeks, even after returning from the one-week getaway.
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| It appears they were trying to determine if it was worth tackling the bird feeder for a treat. We put an egg on the ground, but she showed no interest when the lizard hurried past it. |
In the past day, we’ve been working back and forth via email with the highly-rated Chris Tours located in Zambia but crosses over to other bordering countries for a greater range of options.
Here’s the schedule we’ve booked with Chris for the week we’ll be in Zambia, during which we’ll also enter Botswana for the Chobe tour:
By arriving on May 11th and departing on May 18th, we won’t be doing any tours on either of those dates. The highly-rated Chris Tours is our choice for all tours based on five-star ratings at numerous sites online. We’re comfortable we’ll be in good hands.
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| This lizard climbed down the tree to the ground then running into the bush. |
It was essential to book all of these now, especially after discovering the limited options for available hotels during our required time slot to hopefully accommodate our visa renewal time slot. Please see yesterday’s post for details regarding the immigration concerns.
In all, we’ll be added three more countries to our travel map as shown on our homepage: Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. All of these will be good experiences for us, and if, for some awful reason, South Africa doesn’t let us return for any more 90-day time slots, we’ll have seen a little of these other countries to determine if we’d like to return.
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| Yesterday, a small group of mongoose stopped by for a plate of eggs. |
This time, instead of dreading immigration concerns, we are excited for the opportunity to see these particular areas in these other countries. As for photos, we’ll be bombarding our site with an endless array of what we’ll see during the tours and throughout the small town of Livingstone, Zambia, on the free days, as shown in the above itinerary.
Last night we had dinner with Kathy, Don (Don’s cousins, Sandy and David), with Janet and Steve joining us shortly afterward. The conversation on Jabula’s veranda around the table for eight was robust with conversation and laughter. The food, as always, was excellent and the pricing reasonable. Dinner and drinks for Tom and I totaled ZAR 478 (US $39.39).
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| For a change of pace, I’ve switched from wine to gin and tonic when we found sugar-free tonic at the little store in Marloth. I limit myself to one shot per day, loading up on ice, lime, or lemon. We found these metal cups that keep the drinks cold at Obara, and I brought them with me to Jabula last night, along with the sugar-free tonic. Thus, I only ordered the tiny shot of gin as shown in the little cup dividing it among two drinks. |
Many of our friends come and go to Marloth Park and homes they own elsewhere. While some are away, we spend time with the others, going back and forth between houses for dinners and dining out. It all works for us, and we’re so grateful to be a part of these great groups of people.
So, that’s it for today, folks. We’ll continue to be on the lookout, literally and figuratively, for more photos to share with all of you every day.
Have a pleasant day!
Photo from one year ago today, April 8, 2017:
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| This was the view from the next-door neighbor’s house, which was up for auction. For more photos of an expensive home in Fairlight, Australia, please click here. |