“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
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| It’s not easy lying down and getting comfortable when you have big tusks. |
By the time you see today’s post, we’ll already be in Nelspruit at the immigration office for our 11:00 am appointment to which we’re bringing a pile of printed documents inside a plastic bag as required. I don’t quite get the plastic bag thing but who cares? We have plenty of plastic bags.
This won’t be the first time in our travels that we’ve had immigration issues. It was most challenging in Australia as described in this post in March 2017. Earlier in Bali, Indonesia we had to visit the immigration office every 30 days with a new pile of documents as shown here in this post.
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| We’d just fed the eggs to the mongoose and the green bowl remained on the ground. The warthog on the left was digging a hole, most likely in search of roots. |
During our stay in Belize for 2½ months in 2013, we had to take a small rickety boat, called the Hokie Pokie to get to the immigration office on the other side of the bay, a 30-minute excursion. Here’s the link to that post.
Needless to say, we’ve had our fair share of immigration challenges. Now, as we’ve matured in our travel experience, we’ve begun to avoid long stays where it may be an issue, the exception, of course, has been our desire to stay in Marloth Park for one year, a rare occurrence.
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| Last night, Bid Daddy stopped by in the dark. |
It’s unlikely we’ll ever stay anywhere longer than 90 days in the future regardless of how much we love the location. This doesn’t mean we’ll avoid countries with 30-day visas.
We’ll only stay 30 days or less in those locations. We’ve learned our lesson although we don’t regret the valuable time we spent in those countries, leaving us with exceptional memories with stories and photos to share.
As for today’s appointment, as mentioned, we’ll share the details as they unfold over the next many weeks.
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| He stayed in this spot for quite a while deciding on his next move. |
As for today’s video and photo, we continue to reel with excitement over the number of visitors coming our way. We particularly get a kick out of the mongoose who seem to hover nearby most days. We can hear their little squeaky little sounds, at times high pitched when they have a mission in mind.
Today’s video clearly illustrates how funny they are. They’ve come to know us quite well, Tom when he delivers the green bowl filled with raw scrambled eggs and my voice when I call them to announce eggs are on their way.
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| This is our new favorite male pair, “Siegfried and Roy.” They adore each other and are always close to one another. |
Once we spot them in the garden I keep them around by talking to them while Tom mixes up the eggs in the bowl. No, we don’t give them pricier free-range eggs. Instead, when Tom goes to Lebombo for apples and carrots, he’ll purchase a five-dozen pack of their cheapest eggs.
The mongooses go absolutely wild when he places the bowl of eggs on the ground as shown in the above video. Each time, we can’t help but laugh with sheer delight over this unusual event.
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| Although we posted a similar photo a few days ago, last night this frog returned to be near the thermometer. |
It’s important to keep the mongooses happy when they are experts at killing snakes. Oddly, they’re immune to the toxic venom and can easily survive being bitten. For an interesting post on mongoose facts, please click here.
Well, that’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back tomorrow with more photos and the story of our appointment at the immigration office in Nelspruit.
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| A few hours later he’d moved to the light fixture above the thermometer and was facing the wall supporting the fixture. When we stayed at the African Reunion house in Marloth Park in 2014, we had a similar situation where a frog visited every night hanging out in the same area of the veranda. |
Have a pleasant and fulfilling day!
Photo from one year ago today, September 5, 2017:
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| A hen and her chicks in the gated community in Atenas, Costa Rica. For more photos, please click here. |