Part 1…Kruger National Park photos…A crazy morning…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 11, 2025 with 0 Comment

It was a hot day in Kruger National Park. The scenery is always stunning, but wildlife sightings were minimal because they sought bodies of water and shelter from the heat.

During the night last night, when I was awake around 2:00 am, I saw a message through my email stating I’d placed an order at Amazon.com for US $584, ZAR 10659.46, for some bizarre items I’d never ordered. When I didn’t want to get up and wake Tom, I waited until this morning at 6:00 am to get up, get showered, and dressed to go outside for a good phone connection to make the calls to Amazon and my credit card company.

Similar fraud has happened to us over the years of world travel, but none for such large sums. After spending over an hour on the phone with Amazon and my credit card company, their combined efforts finally got my credit card issue out of my hands. My credit card was canceled, and a new one is coming to Marloth via UPS within a week or two.

The narrow single-lane bridge crosses the Crocodile River. Boating or swimming is not allowed on the crocodile-infested river.

Amazon would cancel the orders while I removed my credit card information from their system and changed my password. A few minutes ago, another charge came through my email for US $1842, ZAR 33607.23 for ten Smart Tank 5000 Wireless printers at Amazon.

We were startled when we spotted this photo. It looked like a warthog in a tree near the vulture’s nest, but it was likely another vulture or vegetation high up in the tree. The photo is blurry due to the distant scene.

I immediately called Amazon back and reported the new charges, and they explained that they would also take care of this immediately. With the credit card canceled, I will wait and see if it shows up on the credit card today, to determine if I need to call the credit card company again.

What a hassle! If this had happened while we were in the US, it would have been easier to handle. The phone signal is weak here, and the calls are difficult to hear on the other end.

Zebras crossing the main paved road in Kruger National Park.

As a result of this commotion, I got little sleep and hope to recover tonight. My Fitbit says I slept 4 hours and 45 minutes, but I don’t think it was that long.

A distant view of a hippo’s ears. We waited quite a while for her to surface but no such luck.

After all that, Tom and I got busy in the kitchen, making dinner for the next three nights. We both love a fantastic keto ground beef casserole with mushrooms, onions, and cheeses. We also had an additional pan, which we froze for two more nights.

A yellow-billed stork at Sunset Dam, beyond Lower Sabie.

We often make one-pot dishes while in the bush, which prevents us from having to cook dinner every night while in the heat in the bush. It is very hot and humid right now. Finally, we finished the task and an hour before dinner, we’ll pop the 3-night portion into the oven. This will get us through to Friday when we return to Jabula for two nights. We’ll heat the balance of this delicious recipe in the microwave on the remaining two nights.

This was the first elephant we spotted, but more later appeared later in the day.

We always add a fresh salad to these meals, which I also made this morning. We’re set for the evening, perhaps leaving time for a short nap early this afternoon. Getting up at 6:00 am, earlier than usual, makes it feel as if we’re further into the day when now it’s not quite noon.

It’s always a joy to see giraffes in Marloth or Kruger Parks.

For yesterday’s self-drive trip into Kruger National Park, once we arrived at the entrance gate, we went into the building to sign up for a 12-month entrance pass to Kruger and other national parks in the country. As mentioned yesterday, we agreed to post the cost of the year-long entrance pass, the Wild Card, which was US $360.15, ZAR 6574.14.

The daily cost to enter the parks for one person is US $29.29, ZAR 535. The annual pass will pay for itself quickly since we’ll enter the park at least once a week over almost six months.

A little further down the road, we encountered two more giraffes.

The attendant processed our Wild Card in about 30 minutes, and we were on our way, 30 minutes later. It wasn’t the ideal day in Kruger for excellent sightings, but we were happy to be there, enjoying the ride and the views. We’ll continue to post more photos in the days to come.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 11, 2015:

We went to a bingo game for seniors in Kauai. A lot of work had gone into preparing the pu pu’s. For more photos, please click here.

We’re off to Kruger National Park…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 10, 2025 with 0 Comment

A common gecko checking out how safe it is for him to move about with all the predators in his surroundings.

Today will be hot and humid, so it will be perfect for us to drive to Kruger National Park and enter at the Crocodile Bridge Gate, a mere 20 minutes from here. There, we can purchase a Wild Card that enables us to enter Kruger as often as we’d like rather than pay the one-time fee each time we enter.

When we post our Kruger photos tomorrow, we’ll explain how much we paid for the Wild Card and our potential savings by purchasing a one-year card. Of course, we’ll also include photos that we hope will be good, but one never knows. At times, we’ve spent a whole day in the park and only seen a few warthogs, zebras, and wildebeest at a distance.

This pair of male zebras stopped by to see what was on the menu.

Hopefully, today on our self-drive safari, we’ll have “safari luck” and encounter some gems. Even sighting a few elephants makes the drive exciting.

With all of tonight’s dinner prep completed, it will be easy to put the meal together even if we don’t return until close to dinner time. Most times we enter the park, we return within six to eight hours, anxious to upload our photos and see them more clearly on the laptop than on the camera.

The camera battery died because we didn’t know we were going to Kruger today. I am charging it now, and we’ll head out the door once it’s fully charged.

After eating pellets, they drank the water in the pool and wandered off.

We won’t have lunch at the Mugg & Bean in Lower Sabie this time. We are both trying to lose weight, and most of their offerings are unsuitable for our diet. Once back at the house, we have a perfect keto meal prepped for dinner. But we will stop at the Mugg & Bean since it’s a good spot for photos of wildlife on the Sabie River.

I’m cutting this short today so we can be on our way. But, we’ll be back with more tomorrow, hopefully with exciting photos.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 10, 2015:

The orchids in Hawaii are amazing! For more photos, please click here.

Finally, a new photo of us in the bush, having the time of our lives…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 9, 2025 with 0 Comment

What a fun time we have every Friday and Saturday night at Jabula!

Again, last night, we had a fantastic time at Jabula, after an enjoyable day at the house hanging out with wildlife. This is the life I’ve longed for over the past few years.

My dinner was outrageously delicious: roasted leg of lamb, sauerkraut and Greek salad. I was so stuffed after eating lamb and spinach, I couldn’t eat the rest.

Sure, there’s the heat, living outdoors day after day in temperatures reaching well into the 90s.On top of that is the heat rash, insects, loading up on repellent several times a day, load shedding (which is minimized for us having an inverter system), WiFi outages, water outages, and more.

Tom ordered Eisbein, a deep-fried pork knuckle that was too huge to finish. We brought it home for the mongooses, who should arrive soon.

Those issues become irrelevant when we have endless magical moments with animals and humans. Neither of us complained about the inconveniences; almost a week later, we hardly noticed them. After six days, we’ve finally recovered from the long journey and are as content as possible.

We’ll stay in tonight and have bunless burgers on the braai for Tom (with rice on the side) and steamed garlic mussels for me, served with an ice-cold bowl of homemade coleslaw. It’s not even 10:00 am, and we have the laundry done, drying on the rack. The fixings for dinner have started, making prep time at dinnertime minimal.

Our friend Dawn is one of the two owners of Jabula Lodge. We always feel welcomed by Dawn and enjoy chatting with her at the bar.

We haven’t seen Kathy and Don yet, and it may be several days before we do. They, too, are dealing with lack of sleep and jet lag after the long days of travel. I’m sure we will see them once they are rested and settled.

It’s hard to believe that we arrived almost a week ago. However, we’ve lost several days being out of sorts and tired. It feels fantastic to be back to ourselves, cheerful, energetic, and enthusiastic. Life is good.

Friends Feliz and Lorne joined us at Jabula last night. It was fun to see old friends from the bush.

As soon as this is uploaded, we’ll go to Komatipoort to the big Spar Market, which will have everything on our list. It would still be interesting to see the food prices here, unlike in the US.

We spotted this duiker on the road as soon as we pulled out of Jabula.

Why not see a giraffe on the way home from dinner?

We’ll be back!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 9, 2015:

Red Ginger plants overlook an open area on Bev and Sam’s estate grounds in Kauai. For more photos, please click here.

Finally, settled in and fully rested…Fun anniversary night…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 8, 2025 with 0 Comment

No words can express how relieved we are to feel rested. This was the most prolonged period (five days) that either of us was tired and had difficulty sleeping after the two-day journey to South Africa.

Mom and a youngster scouring the ground for pellets.

Although I woke up several times last night, I got about seven hours of sleep and feel great today. Tom has also recovered after almost sleeping through the night. We only needed to sleep for one or two nights in past visits to feel well again. It must be due to old age.

A female kudu drinking from the bird bath.

Last night, we had an excellent time at Jabula. As always, the food was fantastic, as shown in the photos below, and Dawn kept us busy introducing us to guests we’d never met and seeing a few we knew from the past. There was never a dull moment. We arrived at 5:00 pm and had dinner at 7:00, sitting at the bar.

Tom’s dinner at Jabula consisted of Chicken Schnitzel, baked potato, green beans, creamed spinach with mushroom sauce and sour cream. He offered me his creamed spinach which he knows I love, and the sour cream.

Dawn was as thoughtful as ever, ensuring they had my favorite light wine, South Africa Four Cousins Skinny Red. We ordered a bottle for me, and last night I drank two glasses, and tonight I will have two more. There will be a little left which we’ll take with us when we go “home.”

My delicious meal consisted of grilled hake, three eggs, more creamed spinach and tartar sauce.

“The recognized size for a standard pour of wine is around 5 ounces. So, if you’re doing the math, a bottle should yield about five glasses of wine. Of course, individual preferences might vary the pour, but as a general rule of thumb, expect five (5-ounce) glasses from a 750-milliliter bottle.”

This young male was brazen, approaching us at the table. Notice his budding horns.

Tom drank his favorite, Lion Beer, which he can only get in South Africa. This week, we received an order from Takalot, South Africa’s version of Amazon, for a case of 24 cans of Lion Beer, 17.6 oz (500 ml) for Tom for ZAR 289, US $15.83.

We’re trying to feed the animals beyond the little fence to preserve the grass in the garden, but some of the animals come over anyway, even though they don’t get any pellets.

We also received a case of 12 bottles of Four Cousins Skinny Red wine for ZAR 729, US $39.94. This is an average of US $3.32 per full-sized 750 ml bottle, which is typical for wine made in South Africa. In the US, we paid at least $15 for a similar bottle of red wine.

A young kudu looking for pellets. Mom was nearby.

We’ll head to Komatipoort tomorrow to go grocery shopping at the larger Spar Market. That Spar Market has a considerably more extensive inventory than the new SaveMor Spar recently built in Marloth Park. The local store is perfect for picking up a few items but doesn’t fulfill our grocery shopping needs.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to Komatipoort, but we never mind the drive along the sugar cane fields. We’ll most likely shop every week as we’ve done in the past.

Kathy and Don safely arrived yesterday, exhausted from an even more extended trip than ours. They will undoubtedly spend the next few days recovering before we see them. We are both looking forward to reuniting with our dear friends after three years.

We return to Jabula for dinner again tonight, feeling much more alert and rested. Dawn is having the kitchen staff make a leg of lamb for me, which I haven’t had since we were here almost two years ago. A leg of lamb, creamed spinach, a Greek salad, and a glass of red wine sound perfect.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 8, 2015:

Many plants and trees on new friends Bev and Sam’s property in Kauai produce various fruits, such as in this pineapple garden, grown in such abundance that they are sold; all are organic and non-GMO, without pesticides and chemicals. For more photos, please click here.

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary…And the sightings continue…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 7, 2025 with 0 Comment

In front of God’s Window in South Africa. Photo taken in March 2013.

Kathy and Don are on their flight from Johannesburg to Mpumalanga/Nelspruit/Kruger. They will go grocery shopping at Woolies in Nelspruit and then make their way to Marloth Park. We will likely not see them for several days so that they can rest and recover from the long journey.

I just texted Kathy that when we visit over the next few months, until they leave in May, we will bring our food, including our meat and sides, and a large salad to share. We won’t need her to make starters of side dishes, especially since we are both watching our weight. In South Africa, it’s traditional for guests to bring their drinks.

It’s been a busy past few days as we’ve unpacked and organized our stuff, done laundry and finally, opened the several bins Louise had stored for us for almost two years. It was like Christmas opening those bins filled with kitchen supplies, gadgets, and spices we’d left behind.

Also, we had a black tote filled with clothes we’d left behind, some summer and some winter. After all, we’d been here for several years, accumulating more than we ever dared to carry due to weight restrictions. Once we leave here in September, we will give Vusi and Zef and their families the overflow clothing, and we’ll give the kitchen products to Louise for her many holiday rentals.

Unloading all the containers took the better part of the day. This morning, Vusi picked up the tote of clothes to be washed, dried, and folded. Of course, I advised Vusi there was no rush. After all, we haven’t had those clothes for two years and won’t miss a thing.

This was only a part of their “band.” When we made a clicking sound, many more came into the garden.

It felt good to get everything done, and we could relax and enjoy the weekend. Tonight, we’ll head to Jabula for dinner and to celebrate our 30th anniversary among friends. Last night, again, I didn’t get much sleep, waking up at 2:30 am and never going back to sleep. I tried breathing and relaxation techniques, but nothing allowed me to drift off. Maybe a nap will be on the agenda today so I’ll be perky for our night out.

Look at them! They are on a frenzy, getting to the meat we tossed to them.

We thought it may take a few days to see a steady stream of wildlife visitors, but no more than a few hours after our arrival, they were “hoofing it” over to our veranda when they saw us. We recognized some of them, but no Norman yet. I continue to wait for his return with his family.

When they’d devoured the paloney and chicken scraps, a few came to the door, wondering where we were when we were sitting at the table on the veranda.

Tom set up the trail cam, and there were only these two blurry photos from last night when a few giraffes walked across our garden (they call it a “yard or backyard,” here a garden). Undoubtedly, one day soon, we will see them lumbering across the terrain.

No, you can’t go into the house, as tempting as that may be. We shooed them away.

We were thrilled to see the many mongooses return to hang out with us. We made our familiar clicking sound and more came running from deep in the bush ready to partake in cubes of cut paloney roll and leftover chicken bones from last night’s dinner. They are funny little critters with lots of personality and endless antics. Enjoy the photos!

Can you see the giraffe near the center of this trail cam photo?

Here is another giraffe, taken with the trail cam, in the right in this photo.

Have a wonderful weekend and be well!

Photos from ten years ago today, March 7, 2015:

Our anniversary photo from March 2013, the night we were injured on the collapsed steps in Belize. Gosh, we were tan. We don’t tan anymore. For more, please click here.

It’s a wonderland for sure…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 6, 2025 with 2 Comments

This wildebeest has a new name…Blondie, with this adorable blond hair.

Last night, when we went to bed shortly after dinner. Still tired from our long journey, we both fell asleep during the two shows we tried to watch. We agreed to wake each other up when we saw the other snoozing to get on a practical sleeping schedule, but we fell asleep simultaneously. We probably shouldn’t have taken a short nap during the day.

We were thrilled to see the dozen wildebeests visit our garden.

Subsequently, I awoke at 2:30 am and Tom shortly thereafter. We’ve been awake since. It’s been hot since we arrived on Monday and the high today is expected to be 96F, 36 C and similar temps will continue through the next seven days.

Pellets were on the menu. So far, we’ve purchased two 40 kg bags, 88 pounds, which should last through the weekend. The pellet guy comes to Louise’s nearby office on Fridays, when we’ll buy two more weekly bags.

It’s still summer here, and the mozzies accompany the hot weather. We use repellent three times a day and multiple insect repellent products when sitting outdoors at night. Once it cools down, there will be fewer mosquitoes in months to come, but we will still use repellent since it is prevalent to a lesser degree during the fall and winter months.

They lingered for an hour and then took off to search for “greener pastures.”

Scientific Name: Connochaetes taurinus (Blue Wildebeest), Connochaetes gnou (Black Wildebeest) Common Name: Wildebeest, Gnu. Size: Approximately 4-5 feet tall at the shoulder, body length of 6-8 feet. Weight: 260-600 pounds. Lifespan: 10-20 years in the wild. Diet: Herbivore, primarily grasses.

Overall, we feel good. Our sleep schedules will return to normal in a few days, but we enjoy every moment in the meantime. The familiarity of living in the bush for over four years hasn’t diminished our sense of awe and wonder of this magical place.

There are two species of wildebeest: the blue and the black. We see blue wildebeests in Marloth Park.

This morning, we’re doing three loads of laundry. With the heat we don’t wear anything twice, whereas over the past year, living with central air conditioning we could wear the same shirt for a few days and jeans for several days. Tom found the portable drying rack in the storage room. He’s doing the laundry while I hang it on the drying rack as each load is done.

Tonight’s dinner will be a repeat last night’s: chicken breasts, legs, and thighs on the grill with a side of egg salad and rice for Tom. I’ll make more elaborate meals once it cools down and I’m more rested.

Wildebeests are part of the Great Wildebeest Migration, the world’s largest land migration.

Kathy and Don arrive tomorrow, but we won’t see them for a few days while they recover from an even further journey from Hawaii, several hours longer than our trip from Nevada.

This morning, more than 50 animals came to the garden, and we welcomed everyone. Already, we’re becoming familiar with frequent visitors and seeing a few we recall from almost two years ago.

Wildebeest calves can run within minutes of being born.

What can I say, other than…it is lovely. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be here. Thanks for all the well wishes from our readers/friends and family. We write here, just for YOU!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 6, 2015:

In Kauai, the seawater was so clear we could see little fish swimming in this tide pool. For more photos, please click here.

The wonder of the bush has begun…More new clear photos!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 5, 2025 with 0 Comment

A female kudu drinks from the fountain in the garden.

Last night, we both had trouble staying awake. Finally, we drifted off, both of us awakening around 4:00, due to the ten-hour time difference between Nevada and South Africa. We make every effort to avoid days-long jet lag, as described below.

Kudus are regular visitors, coming by countless times each day.

Jet lag is a temporary sleep disruption caused by a mismatch between your body’s internal clock and the new time zone when traveling across multiple time zones.

Symptoms

Daytime fatigue
Difficulty sleeping or waking up
Poor concentration and memory
Headaches
Stomach cramps, diarrhea, or constipation
Reduced physical activity

Causes

Crossing multiple time zones disrupts your circadian rhythms, which regulate your sleep-wake cycle.
Traveling from west to east can cause more bothersome symptoms.
Older people seem to be hit harder by jet lag.
An adorable young male kudu with budding horns. Only males grow horns. They are called horns instead of antlers since they do not shed them.

After two nights’ sleep, we feel rested today and back to normal. We always try to stay on a schedule commensurate with our location at any given time, as hard as that may be.

This species is most common in Southern Africa, but smaller populations of three different subspecies occur in East Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the southern Sahara. Its preferred habitat is lightly wooded savanna and rocky bush country, where it generally sticks to cover to avoid predators, which include lions, leopards, hyenas, and wild dogs.

On another note, our dear friends Kathy and Don are on their way here from even further away than we were in Nevada. They are coming from Hawaii, which is at least a 40-hour journey. I’m sure we won’t see them for a few days, and they, too, will need a few days to catch up on sleep. We haven’t seen them since November 2021 but have stayed in close touch all this time.

Kudu are highly alert and notoriously hard to approach. When they detect danger—often using their large, radar-like ears—they give a hoarse alarm bark and flee with a distinctive, rocking-horse running motion, the male laying back his horns to avoid overhead obstructions.

As for our current experiences, we adjust well to every moment of getting acclimated to life in the bush. We grocery shopped at the new Spar/Save-Mor store in Marloth Park yesterday. I expected a much bigger store, but I was wrong. Many products would work for most tourists staying for a few weeks, for the locals, but not quite enough for our way of eating.

The common name kudu is derived from the indigenous Khoikhoi language of Southern Africa. The scientific name is derived from Greek: Tragos denotes a he-goat and elaphos a deer; Strephis means ‘twisting’ and Keras means ‘horn’.

For example, I use sour cream or plain Greek yogurt to make salad dressing for the salads we eat most nights with dinner. Neither of these items was available, but I know we can get sour cream at the Spar Market in Komatipoort. It’s unlikely that we will find unsweetened Greek yogurt in any markets.

A young kudu. The traditional sport of Kudu dung-spitting (Bokdrol Spoeg in Afrikaans) is practiced in the South African Afrikaner community. The winner is the contestant who can spit one of the antelope’s small, hard dung pellets the furthest – with the distance measured to where it comes to rest. An annual world championship was launched in 1994, with contests at community events, game festivals and tourism shows. The world record stands at 15.56m, set in 2006 by Shaun van Rensburg Addo.

We’ll head to Komatipoort on Monday to the big Spar Market to get everything we need. They even have a health food section that has many items we use. Today, when Tom gets his haircut, I’ll shop in The Butchery meat market, which is located in the same shopping area as the hair salon.

In South Africa, most kudu calves are born in the summer months between December and March.

We don’t expect everything here to be comparable to what’s available in the US. Instead, we find alternative options that work just fine, which is often the case when we visit other countries. It’s all a part of the nomadic lifestyle.

A pregnant female kudu leaves the herd to give birth.

Last night, for dinner, we made porterhouse steaks on the braai with rice (for Tom) and salad for both of us. See our food photos below. Tom drank a Lion beer, his favorite here, and I had a small glass of Four Cousins Skinny Red wine, which can only be purchased in South Africa. What a treat that was!

Soon, we’re off for Tom’s much-needed haircut and the meat market after which we’ll return to the wonderful Ratel house to relish the remainder of the day with our many animal friends. Enjoy our new photos minus the blur in yesterday’s photos.

They often drink the water in the splash pool. Typically residents use very little chlorine in the splash pools, knowing the animals will drink.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 5, 2015:

Partway down the steep trail, we spotted this view, a few days ago when the sun came out and we headed down the path to Hideaway’s Beach. Wow! Today’s remaining photos are of the trek down to the beach, not the Full Moon Party. For more photos, please click here.

We’ve arrived at wildlife paradise!…Marloth Park, South Africa…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 4, 2025 with 4 Comments

Our first visitor this morning, a male bushbuck.

Note: There is a blur in some of the photos from using our camera instead of my phone. I think I’ve fixed it but I will see how it goes after a few adjustments/

It was a long trip, almost two days, but we are thrilled to return to South Africa. I wrote part of this post on our last of the three fights, albeit a little raggedy after little sleep. We awoke on Saturday morning, anxious for the long journey to be completed and never slept again until Monday night.

A younger male bushbuck than the photo shown above

And there we were on Monday, flying from Cape Town to Mpumalanga/Nelspruit/Kruger, where we collected our bags and the rental car for the 90-minute drive to Marloth Park.

Yes, it already feels like home after being away for one month short of two years. It seems like yesterday when we last left. We assumed we’d be returning a year earlier, but health circumstances kept us away a year longer than anticipated.

Three female kudus stopped by for a visit.

However, we are grateful to be here now and will treasure each day we are given in this wildlife wonderland, along with the joys of some of the best friends we’ve made in years, both human and animal.

Ah, it feels good.

The trip was long and tiring for old-timers, but we never complained. We maneuvered through each of the three flights, two layovers, five times through security, and only once through immigration.

A mom warthog with two of her three piglets.

We had to collect our bags and recheck them in Cape Town for the last leg on the smaller Airlink plane. Much to our delight, they were all there, and we didn’t have to pay more than the $100 fee for one very overweight bag.

A male warthog attempting to climb onto the veranda.

The weirdest part of the trip is that the first and second flights from Las Vegas to London and the next from London to Cape Town were both in the dark, with dinner served and breakfast 7-8 hours later. Of course, this was due to the 10-hour time difference.

This morning we had the blessed opportunity to see many animals and we stayed busy tossing them pellets.

Some of the wildlife will likely take several days to learn we are here. I’m looking forward to seeing my boy Norman, the daddy and now grandaddy Nyala, in the park. We can’t wait to share!

Last night, after our arrival and time spent with Louise and Danie at their place, we showered and dressed to head out to Jabula for dinner. The kisses and hugs from Dawn, Leon, and other old friends we saw in the bar warmed our hearts, making us all the more aware of the magic of this remarkable place.

Dinner was predictably outstanding. Our total bill included two light beers for me and three for Tom, plus our meals, taxes, and tips, was US $32.67, ZAR 608.72. This is a far cry from the US $100, ZAR 1863.25, we paid each time we dined out in the US.

Tom’s dinner was a bunless pineapple burger with green beans.

It looks awful but spicy peri-peri chicken livers is one of my favorites at Jabula.

We are entirely unpacked and will soon head to the new grocery store in Marloth Park. We only need to buy enough dinner ingredients to last until Friday, when we’ll return to Jabula on Friday night (and Saturday)to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.

Plus after a good night’s sleep neither of us has jetlag.

Stay tuned, dear readers, lots more is yet to come!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 4, 2015:

We always feel fortunate to have the opportunity to embrace these memorable scenes, in this case in Kauai, Hawaii. For more photos, please click here.

Finally, we’re off to South Africa tonight!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 1, 2025 with 0 Comment

Agave plants in Hawaii can grow these snake-like protrusions.

It’s been a busy few days. At 10:00 am on Saturday, we only have to pack the clothes we are wearing, change into our travel clothes, weigh the bags, and load the condo’s luggage rack. A moment ago, I ordered an Uber SUV for $102. It was pricey, but we have more luggage than usual and needed to ensure enough room for our large checked and carry-on bags.

Once we eventually leave South Africa in September, we will discard one of the large bags, leaving us with three bags with carry-on, our usual load. We’ve read stories about nomads only traveling with backpacks. We could travel lighter if we didn’t stay in locations for extended periods.

Every nomadic traveler has to decide what works best for them, and for the past 12 years, this system has worked well for us. We have no complaints. With luggage carts and porters in most locations, we manage just fine.

When we arrive at Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport on Monday, we’ll use their free luggage carts to load everything into the rental car and be on our way. Tom suggested that if we are exhausted, we stay overnight at the lovely hotel at the airport. However, many times we arrived in Nelspruit, we’ve managed to make the 90-minute drive, arriving in Marloth Park before dark, which is vital since driving on the N4 highway at night is dangerous due to rampant crime and carjackings.

Am I anxious to travel this far after so long? A little, I suppose. Luckily, the two legs of the journey each are 10 -12 hours long, with a layover in Heathrow for 1 hour 40 minutes and then Cape Town for almost 3 hours. Although we don’t like layovers, they allow us to move around freely and recharge a little.

If we get lucky and can get empty seats next to us, we can lay down to sleep on the flights. But, these flights are usually packed and we’ll unlikely encounter such a situation aboard the planes. Neither of us is very good at sleeping sitting up, although we may occasionally nod off for a few minutes.

Well folks, that’s all I have for today. If time allows, I will update our itinerary along the way. If you don’t see a post, we’ll return on Tuesday, March 4, about eight hours later than usual, due to the time difference.

Thanks for all of the thoughtful well wishes!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 1, 2015:

Month: March 2025