 |
| We were so excited to see the kudus and other wildlife returning to our garden as the holiday crowds dissipated. |
“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
 |
| One of our two favorite frogs took up residence in this cute little decorative basket near the pool on the veranda. |
This morning, two bushbucks, one duiker, five zebras, and three warthogs stopped by simultaneously.Last night before the pelting rain began, 12 kudus and three warthogs stopped by for a snack. We couldn’t toss the pellets quickly enough.
 |
| Notice the pellet crumbs on her nose. Often, there are lots of crumbs in the enormous bags of pellets. Most wildlife is happy to lap up the crumbs if we place them on the tile steps. See more here at this link. |
We’re so excited the animals have begun to return to our garden. After all, that’s why we’re here, the wildlife and the people. They’re all wonderful and have made this past year fly by in a flurry of activity.
 |
| We couldn’t believe our eyes when we spotted this elephant digging a hole to access water in the ground below. Please take a moment to watch our video at the top of the page. See this link here for more. |
The now working aircon in our main floor bedroom provided us with a good night’s sleep along with the fact the power stayed on for the past 36 hours. Add the fact that today, for the first time in days, the temperature is cool and comfortable at 21C (70F) and surprisingly doesn’t feel as humid as it had over the past several days. What a welcomed relief!
 |
| Louise and Danie joined us for dinner that night at Kambaku, the popular restaurant at the golf course in Komatipoort, as we celebrated their belated birthdays. We couldn’t be more grateful for all they’ve done for us. See this link here for more. |
Today, we’ll complete this three-part series of 2018, “Year in Review,” and return tomorrow with our regular posts and all new photos as we see more and more wildlife each day as the holidaymakers have begun to drift away.
 |
| Our photo of the blood moon was taken on July 27, 2018. See this link here for more. |
Holiday times are different in South Africa than in many other countries. In the US, kids return to school the first day after New Year’s Day. But here, the return to school varies from public to private schools but maybe as late as the middle of January. This fact determines when many of the holidaymakers leave Marloth Park.
 |
| Not a night passes without an opportunity to watch these adorable bushbabies enjoy the yogurt we place on their little stand. See this link here for more. |
However, as we’ve seen from the gradual return of the wildlife to our garden, many may have left right after New Year’s Day. At this point, we’ll see how it transpires over the next week or two.
 |
| What an animal! We feel fortunate to have been able to get lion photos. See this link for more. |
This morning when Tom was reviewing past posts, he mentioned it was precisely six years ago today that we boarded our first cruise. See here for the link. (At that time, we didn’t post many photos and didn’t post daily). In 80 days, we’ll be boarding our 24th cruise in Santiago, Chile, ending in San Diego, California.
 |
| Mom and baby love. See this link here for more. |
It’s even hard for us to believe how many cruises we’ve experienced in this short period, and other than a four-day back-to-back cruise in 2013 in the Mediterranean, we’ve loved every one of them.
 |
| Every piece of art at WayiWayi Art Studio & Gallery was representative of Zambian culture. See this link here for more. |
The four-day cruise was during spring break and was crowded with highly inebriated, loud, demanding, and pushing and shoving passengers. It couldn’t have ended quickly enough for us.
 |
| We were excited to get a view of the leopard’s face after waiting for a considerable period while Samson, our guide in Chobe National Paek in Botswana, kept moving the vehicle for better shots. Upon careful inspection of this photo, you can see the pads of the feet of her kill in the tree near her head. See this link here for more. |
Below included in our “one year ago today” feature, we posted the itinerary we’d included on today’s date in 2018. Certain aspects of our itinerary have changed, including the first year that has since passed. As we add more bookings in the next few months, we’ll be updating the itinerary and posting it here.
 |
| Based on our position in the line-up of vehicles in Kruger, our photo-taking advantage was limited. See this link here for more. |
As the years have passed, we don’t feel the sense of urgency to fill in the blanks and extend the itinerary beyond two years. It’s less about being lazy and more about feeling comfortable that all of it will work out as we go along.
 |
| Stunning female lion – as a part of the Ridiculous Nine, we spotted in a game drive in Marloth Park with friends Lois and Tom, who visited for three weeks. See this link here for more. |
Tonight, we’ll be visiting Rita and Gerhard at their second condo at Ngwenya where they’re staying until tomorrow. Then, much to their delight, they’re moving back to the Hornbill house where they lived the first month they were here and will stay until sometime in March when they’ll be leaving Marloth Park.
 |
| After a highly successful game drive in Kruger, Tom, Lois, Kerry (our guide), me, and Tom. See this link here for more. |
We’re hoping to see them in the New Year when they’ll come to visit us in Ireland during our three-month stay beginning in May. We’re also looking forward to Kathy and Don visiting us in Ireland as well. How fortunate we are to have made such fine friends.
 |
| We encountered this stunning scene of zebras and wildebeest from the fence at Marloth Park. One reason zebras and wildebeests hang out is that they love to eat the taller grass and wildebeest the shorter grass – it’s a type of symbiosis. There is no competition regarding food. Also, wildebeests have a better sense of hearing, while zebras can see very well. It’s always great to have an ally to warn of any impending danger. Another reason is zebras and wildebeest prefer to be in the open savannahs…the concept of safety in numbers comes into play. See this link here for more. |
Then upcoming on January 14, friends Linda and Ken will stay here with us for a week. They arrive from Johannesburg on the day that we’re having a birthday dinner party for Rita. We are grateful to have such good friends.
 |
| We’ve so enjoyed spending time with new friends Rita and Gerhard who came to Marloth Park after reading our posts years ago. They found the holiday home they’ve rented through our site and found Louise to help them get situated. They’ll be here in Marloth until March. We look forward to many more exciting times together. See this link here for more. |
That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
May you find your day to be fulfilling and meaningful!
Photo from one year ago today, January 3, 2018:
One year ago today, we posted the upcoming itinerary that included a total of 852 days, which is now down to 486 days since the first year of this itinerary has passed. Since that date, we’ve had a few modifications which we’ll include next time we update and post the itinerary. For details, please click here.
| Location |
Days
|
Dates |
| Buenos Aires, AR – Prodeo Hotel |
20
|
1/2/2018 -1/23/2018
|
| Ushuaia, AR – Ushuaia, AR – Antarctica Cruise |
16
|
1/23/2018 – 2/8/2018
|
| Buenos Aires, AR – Prodeo Hotel |
2
|
2/8/2018 – 2/10/2018
|
| Marloth Park, South Africa – Bush home selected |
89
|
2/11/2018 – 5/11/2018
|
| Zambezi River Cruise – Victoria Falls |
8
|
5/11/2018 – 5/19/2018
|
| Marloth Park, South Africa – Rent a bush home |
89
|
5/19/2018 – 8/16/2018
|
| Uganda – See gorillas and the “Cradle of Mankind.” |
7
|
8/16/2018 – 8/23/2018
|
| Marloth Park, South Africa – Rent a bush home |
89
|
8/23/2018 -11/20/2018
|
| Mozambique, Africa (get visa stamped) |
1
|
11/20/2018 -11/21/2018
|
| Marloth Park, South Africa – Rent a bush home |
89
|
11/21/2019 – 2/17/2019
|
| Valparaiso, Chile – Rent vacation home or hotel |
36
|
2/17/2019 – 3/24/2019
|
| Cruise – San Antonio, Chile – San Diego |
14
|
3/24/2019 – 4/8/2019
|
| San Diego, CA – Fly to Minneapolis, MN – Family visit |
13
|
4/8/2019 – 4/21/2019
|
| Cruise – Fort Lauderdale, FL- Dublin, Ire (1-day hotel stay) |
15
|
4/21/2019 – 5/6/2019
|
| Ireland – Rent country house – Research Tom’s ancestry |
90
|
5/6/2019 – 8/1/2019
|
| Amsterdam, NLD – Hotel stay |
11
|
8/1/2019 – 8/11/2019
|
| Cruise, Baltic – Amsterdam, NLD – Amsterdam, NLD |
12
|
8/11/2019 – 8/23/2019
|
| England – Rent country home |
62
|
8/23/2019 – 10/24/2019
|
| Southampton, UK – Fort Lauderdale, FL |
15
|
10/24/2019 – 11/8/2019
|
| Henderson/Las Vegas, NV – Los Angeles, CA -Scottsdale, AZ |
25
|
11/8/2019 – 12/3/2019
|
| Ecuador – Galapagos – Rent vacation homes on islands |
89
|
12/3/2019 – 3/1/2020
|
| Peru – Machu Picchu – Rent vacation homes, visit site |
30
|
3/1/2020 – 3/31/2020
|
| The Pantanal/Amazon River Cruise – Brazil (2 cruises) |
30
|
3/31/2020 – 4/30/2020
|
| Number of days |
852
|