It was 9:00 when I began today’s post, and we were both situated on the veranda. The animals have gradually returned to our garden, but it’s not as busy as it had been a week ago before the holidaymakers arrived. The heat might be a factor after the cool winter, and they are hunkered down in any shade they can find when the sparse bush is devoid of leaves to provide cover.

According to the weather report, today will be the hottest day of the week. A breeze would help, but the air is still and the humidity high. If it gets too uncomfortable, we can always turn on the outdoor fan, although it makes a lot of noise and defeats the purpose of being outdoors in this exquisite solitude.

Tonight’s dinner is primarily already prepared, so not much time will be required to spend in the kitchen. Soon, Vusi and Zef will arrive to clean the house and veranda, although everything is pretty clean and tidy. I thought about packing, but it’s still too soon.

Bushbuck Thick Neck/Bad Leg is within a meter of me, staring in expectation of some pellets or carrots. We’ve been out of carrots for a few days. We have begun chipping away at the last of the food on hand, including everything in the freezer. We plan to head to Komaipoort the following Monday for what could be our final grocery shopping trip when we purchase our last big bag of carrots.

I have accepted the fact that we are leaving Marloth Park and leaving Africa for a while. Many of our friends will be gone, even Dawn and Leon will be on holiday from tomorrow until after we’ve left. Rita and Gerhard leave in a little over two weeks. Surely we’ll have fun with them and Kathy and Don before we go. We plan to see Alan and Fiona next Tuesday to celebrate her birthday.

Last night, when we played songs using our speaker while sitting outdoors, the Spotify playlist included the song “Africa” by Toto, popular in 1982. We both always loved that song but never knew in 1982 that the song would have such meaning to us now.

Yesterday, I concentrated on doing as many corrections as possible, and now I have only 39 pages with 20 posts to go.  Today, I will do the same, hoping to get down to 37 pages in the next 24 hours. Yesterday, while doing them, I streamed two sci-fi movies on a separate screen on my laptop, easily paying attention to both.  Doing so helps the process seem less boring.

We plan to go to Kruger National Park this week on a cooler day since school holidays are coming this weekend, from October 1st until October 11th. Both Marloth Park and Kruger National Park will be packed with holidaymakers during this period, and it’s unlikely we’d be able to get into Kruger with the crowds having to book appointments to enter. We have no desire to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic in the park.

Currently, I am sitting on the bed, propped up with pillows with the fan blowing. We don’t use the aircon to save on electricity during the day, although electricity is included in our rent. During the hot summer months, we insisted on paying Louise an extra ZAR 1000, US $66.25 each month since we were using it every night, even on the slightly cooler nights.

She didn’t want to accept this, but we felt it was essential and persisted. We ceased those payments once we no longer needed aircon during the cooler winter when we didn’t use much electricity. We’ve only recently been required to use the aircon at night, on the hottest days.

Today, we paid our final rent payment until October 21st, the day we leave. The rent is always higher during peak holiday periods, and thus the ten days are at the higher rate, included in our final total. We are OK with this since Louise has been so fair with us based on our long-term rental.

That’s all, folks! Have an unforgettable day wherever you may be in this world!

Photo from one year ago today, September 28, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #189. While on a cruise in 2014, I was served this fantastic dish, Pistachio Duck Terrine. I ordered a second serving which I rarely do. For more, please click here.