Note: Due to the number of tourists in Marloth Park over the weekend, the WiFi is slow, and we’re unable to load any photos.
Who’s in the garden this morning?
- 2 wildebeest
- 2 warthogs
- 38 helmeted guinea-fowl
- 4 bushbuck
- 9 kudus
- 2 duiker
- 4 hornbills
- 1 impala
Finally, after many nights of extended visits from two wildebeest, we selected names for this persistent pair, William and Willard. They spent most of the night sleeping in our garden on Friday, resulting in 1073 photos taken by our trail cam. Tom spent some time going through them.
The camera takes three pictures as it is triggered by the movement. If we were only to display one photo per activity, we would miss too much. But each time William and Willard moved an ear or adjusted their position, the camera took three pictures. Although we enjoyed their presence, the eight batteries in the camera, only a week old, drained that evening. Fortunately, we had more batteries left in the package we’d purchased last week.
From now on, we will have to buy batteries whenever we go shopping. Thank goodness, they are relatively inexpensive here, unlike the high cost in the US and other countries. We looked at rechargeable batteries, but the cost of rechargeable batteries and recharging was prohibitive. In addition, we could never carry it with us with the South African plug that might not work with our adapter and in other countries.
Last night was another great night at the Jabula Lodge and Restaurant. It was fun to see Dawn and Leon again after our previous fun night at our place for dinner on Thursday night. We also sat next to Patty Pan and her husband Sydney and loved their company. It was great to see the restaurant filled after so many of them were absent due to COVID-19.
Dawn made something special for me last night, a roasted lamb shank. It was divine. I could not believe how moist and tender it was in a glass of red wine, with juice, instead of a saucer filled with flour which is usually served. Thanks, Dawn! I have one more thing to order from Jabula every week.
While in Jabula, a man sitting next to us described a local man who died of COVID-19 a few days ago. This is of concern to all of us, and we must remain vigilant. Apparently, according to media reports, the rollout of the vaccine for people aged 60 and over will begin in the coming weeks. Given the lack of funds and organizational insight, this may not happen soon. We need to wait and see.
Right now, our dear friends Rita and Gerhard are in the midst of their 40 hour travel day to arrive here in Marloth Park tomorrow afternoon. We made a reservation for dinner at Jabula for the four of us for Sunday evening, hoping they would come on time. If not, Tom and I will go on our own since we won’t have anything planned for dinner.
When we came here in January, we chose a self-imposed quarantine for two weeks before we started seeing our friends. They both were vaccinated several weeks ago and will have had Covid PCR tests to fly. As a result, we aren’t worried about them being around us when they arrive without a quarantine period which is not required in South Africa.
That won’t be necessary for those who’ve completed the vaccine at least two weeks ago. I can’t wait until we can get our jabs and put our minds at ease.
As for today, we’ll continue to sit outdoors on the veranda, watching nature at its finest. Tonight, we’ll cook bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin on the braai, and Tom will finish up the potatoes and corn on the cob from Thursday night. The weather is lovely, warmish, but not hot, sunny with a slight breeze. Perfect.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Photo from one year ago today, May 15, 2020:
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| Finally, after waiting patiently, we got a good shot of this pair of cows in Ireland, most likely a mom and baby. For more photos, please click here. |