No power!…No Water!…Our road washed out…Huge storm with 100+ mm, 4″ rain during the night…Crazy night!…

Bird and Eagle are the two roads that provide access to our house. I guess we won’t be going anywhere today. We needed to go to the little market for lettuce for our taco salads. But with the meat in the fridge and the power out, it will be spoiled by dinnertime, and we won’t dare to eat it.

Tom put the metal bowl filled with ice in the refrigerator during the night. The ice will be a good indicator that the fridge’s contents will be safe to eat. The freezer should keep the contents frozen for a few days. With the storm’s intensity, we could be out of power for days. But, as we always say, TIA, This is Africa, and occurrences such as this are common.

When the power is out, the pumps for the water supply don’t function. Subsequently, the only water we have right now is left in the house’s lines. Miraculously, I was able to take a quick shower this morning. Soon, Tom will bring buckets of water from the pool to the bathrooms in the house to flush the toilets.

Of course, we use bottled water in a water machine for drinking water. The water is included in our rent. We do not purchase small bottles of water. Why use all those plastic bottles?

The electric inverter provides us with WiFi, able to supply power to the router. Without that, we’d have no access to the Internet. The inverter will run out in less than a day. If we could go out, let’s say, and go to Kruger, we could turn off the inverter and save the remaining power to use later. But, with the road washed out, that’s not possible.

The little rental car won’t make it on the washed-out road. Besides, the Crocodile Bridge may also be covered in water and debris, preventing access to Kruger National Park, even if we could go. As a result of all of this, we’ll stay put and wait it out, until the power returns, until the water returns, and until the road dries out sufficiently to pass.

With all the rain, the only wildlife we’ve seen so far today is a few bushbucks, Spikey and Gordy, and Barbara, Lori, their mom, and the two piglets and a female duiker, who all came for some pellets this morning. It will be a quiet day.

We can only imagine how frustrating it is for holidaymakers who are still in the park on what may be their only annual vacation. For us, it’s a lot easier.

This morning, Rita and Gerhard invited us for breakfast at Stoep Cafe in Komatipoort. If we had been able to go with them, they’d have had to pick us up in the big four-wheeled truck. But, after being awake the majority of the night with little sleep, we were still in bed at 8:00 am. By 8:30, we got up to begin our day.

We hope you have a pleasant day!