A single bottle brush flower blooms in the bush.

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

Tom took this photo of two hadeda birds on the roof of a neighboring property. They are known as the loudest birds in South Africa. Click here to hear the sounds they make, which result in their name.

No words can describe the relief we feel after the temperature has dropped after the rains of the past 24 hours. Currently, at 10:00 am, it’s a comfortable 25C (77F).

What a pleasant surprise for Tom early this morning! There were three duikers, one male and two females, and two female bushbucks in the garden sharing pellets.

Although the aircon in our main floor bedroom won’t be repaired until after January 1st, we’ll manage just fine if it stays this cool for the next few days. If it heats up to 40C (104F), we’ll be back where we were when the power went out when the company can’t handle the extra load of holidaymaker’s use.

Several locals have made comments on various Marloth Park pages on Facebook, such as “We wouldn’t lose power if you idiots don’t use aircon when it’s hot.”

This is a male giraffe due to the lack of hair on the ends of his ossicones—the pointy protrusions atop his head. The coat has worn down from competition for dominance with other males.

But, the reality is, people will use aircon when temperatures are so high. Many people living and visiting Marloth Park are seniors, have health problems, children, and everyone in between. 

Male elephants are excluded from the family during their teenage years to live and fend for themselves. This is done to preserve the integrity of the gene pool and prevent the male from mating with his siblings and other female relatives.

When the temperature is over 40C, it’s doubtful anyone will be willing to sacrifice being cool, at least at night, when sleeping is nearly impossible. It’s a catch 22.

Plus, you can’t single out healthy mid-age residents to avoid using aircon, so others less fortunate may use it.  That’s not going to happen. Thus, with high temps in Marloth Park right now, the power goes out. Plain and simple.

At times, we’ll see two or more males hanging out together.

It should become more accessible within a week when many holidaymakers leave the park after New Year’s Day. By January 9th, we should be back to “normal” with sufficient power to handle the park’s needs in most cases.  

When we spot a herd or “parade” of elephants, it often comprises a matriarch, moms,  offspring, other females who’ve yet to give birth. and young males who’ve yet to be ostracized from the family.

That’s not to say we’ll be free of outages. Load shedding is supposed to continue in January, but right now, the Eskom website states, “We are currently not load shedding.” We’ll see how that goes.

Three lions were lying…

Last night, I had a great night’s sleep. Although we both awakened many times during the night, I easily fell back to sleep, getting a total of eight hours of rest. On the other hand, Tom was out of bed by 6:00 am and may need a 20-minute nap today. I feel like a new person.

Last night, we decided to go out for dinner, and we showed up at Jabula Lodge and Restaurant without a reservation, although a group of nine of us will be dining there tonight. I was so tired I couldn’t imagine putting a meal together.

A male lion was perusing the area near the Crocodile River.

With the fabulous restaurant booked, we knew we’d be willing to eat at the bar rather than request a table. We arrived at 1700 hours (5:00 pm), and by 1930 hours (7:30 pm), after another beautiful meal, I was ready to head back to our house.

Tonight, Kathy and Don and three friends/family members and Rita and Gerhard will join us for dinner as mentioned above for what surely will be another enjoyable evening with friends.

A male lion on the move.

As for today, if it doesn’t rain, we’ll try a drive in the park, hoping to spot some of our wildlife friends. If there’s too much traffic along the river, we’ll turn around and come right back. This place is all about low stress and a powerful sense of calm. We prefer to keep it that way.

Have a peaceful and calming day!
                    
                                          Photo from one year ago today, December 29, 2017:

Tom ordered a local beer while I had a Malbec at La Cabrera Restaurant in Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, one year ago today. For more photos, please click here.

Here is a younger wildebeest who visits on occasion with what appears to be his dad. We call them “Dad & Son.”

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

Little’s stopped by a few times today, including during the pouring rain.

We love this house in the bush. We love living in the bush, the wildlife, the people; it’s all beyond our greatest aspirations of spending time in Africa. But, with it, there are some challenges, for which we’re making every effort to stay upbeat.

The hardest part has been not sleeping for the past two nights when the power was out for 12 hours each night, the first night beginning at 2100 hours (9:00 pm) and the second night starting at 1930 hours (7:30 pm). In the past 18 hours, we’ve only had power for less than three hours.

 

If it hadn’t been so hot, it wouldn’t have been so difficult. But with no screens on the windows, no breeze whatsoever, and daytime temps in the 42C (107.6) with high humidity with nighttime temps only slightly less, sleeping was out of the question.

Big Daddy was eating pellets off the veranda’s edge.

We each took cold showers twice during the past two nights, but even the water temperature wasn’t cool enough to do any good.  Within minutes, we were soaking wet in sweat once again. I don’t recall any time in my entire life that I sweated so much.

After each shower, I had to load up again on insect repellent that works great without DEET but is sticky and smells awful.  It almost wasn’t worth taking the showers.

It’s easier for male kudus to eat this way instead of bending down with those giant horns. Wildebeest Willie waits in the background for his turn.

I’d considered the possibility of our leaving to stay at a hotel until the crowds in Marloth Park thin out, and less power is needed to accommodate the additional power usage. 

Tom wasn’t enthused about the costs of spending on two rental properties simultaneously when we have huge payments upcoming in the next two weeks for future cruises and the final balance on the Kenya tour. I got that and didn’t press the issue.

Finally, Willie inches his way into the pellets on the ground.

For the heck of it, I checked online, and there wasn’t a single room available outside Marloth Park during the next week or two. After all, it’s still the holiday season that doesn’t officially end here in South Africa until well into January. My research was pointless.

The aircon in our main floor bedroom has officially died. No matter what we do, it won’t turn on – new batteries in the remote – resetting the electric switch when the power is back on temporarily – nothing works.

At times, there are scuffles over dominance.

If we have power tonight and it’s still so hot, we’ll have to sleep upstairs for a working aircon. But that’s not the problem. Most likely, we won’t have power. As soon as everyone in Marloth Park turns on their aircon, the power goes out. There are just too many people here.

We’ve heard that some holidaymakers have left due to the power outages and the heat. Whether or not their landlords/property managers have given them any refund or credit remains to be seen.  

It rained for a few hours today bit not long enough.

I suppose all Marloth Park rental agreements should have a clause stating, “It is possible, if not likely, that during your occupancy, the power, WiFi services, and water services may be interrupted from time to time.  No refunds will be provided in the event of such occurrences.”

After all, this is Africa (known as TIA), and stuff happens here which may rarely occur in one’s home country.  It’s the price one pays to partake of the many wonders this continent offers, experiences that dreams are made of.

Each time it rains, the bush gets greener with life-saving vegetation for the wildlife.

And, as hard as it is right now to sleep and bear the heat during the days, we have the time to look forward to when the holidaymakers leave, and everything is right with the world once again.

Instead of counting the days until we leave, I’m counting the days until they leave. If predictions are accurate, this should be around January 9th – 12 days and counting.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, December 28, 2017:

This is exactly what we posted one year ago today: “The entrance to our new vacation/holiday home we’ll be renting in Marloth Park beginning on February 11th, aptly named “Orange…More Than Just a Colour.”  For the link to this listing, please click here.” For the entire post, please click here.

Youngsters of varying ages comprise an integral part of the elephant family.

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

Note:  Based on a lack of sightings these past few weeks, many of today’s photos were taken over the past few months.
For December, we expected exactly what we’d been given; power outages, heat; humidity; tourists; lots of bees, flies, mosquitos, and other insects, and fewer animals in the garden than at different times of the year.

Elephants were coming down the hill to the river.

But, when facing these types of challenges, our former expectations provide little relief or comfort.  When yesterday’s temps reached 43C (107.4F), the power went out at 2100 hours (9:00 pm), leaving us in a bedroom with no screens and not even a fan for relief.

We both drifted in and out of sleep throughout the night, laying atop the top sheet and comforter. I can’t recall the last time I slept without at least a sheet covering me.  

They made it down to the river to cool off.

I spent most of my waking hours playing solitaire on my phone with the screen dimmed while continually aware that the battery was rapidly losing its charge. By the time I rolled out of bed this morning, sweaty and exhausted, there was a paltry 10% left. Thank goodness it made it through the night.

We try to avoid taking photos through the fence between Marloth and Kruger Parks, but it’s often unavoidable.

Showering in the dark bathroom this morning even left me hotter and more sweaty. My phone wouldn’t work to call Louise for a power update. Oh, good grief. So, we decided to drive to her house to see what she’d heard about the outages.

Before we headed out the door, John, the WiFi guy, appeared prompted by a thoughtful call from Louise, and a short time later, we had both electricity and Wi-Fi.

Dad ostrich and one growing chick.

At this point, we realized we’d better get to Komatipoort to do our shopping, or the crowds would be outrageous later in the day or tomorrow. With the upcoming New Year’s Eve party on the horizon, we needed to shop for ingredients for the dish we’ll bring to share. It was a good thing we grocery shopped when we did.

As we drove back out of the small town when we were done, the roads were already backed up with holiday shoppers and locals preparing for the upcoming New Year’s Eve celebrations.

The dry ground seems to offer little in the way of nourishment, but somehow they manage to find enough food to sustain their growth.

While shopping, we ran into Kathy and Don, who informed us they’d love to join us (and Rita and Gerhard) at Jabula Lodge and Restaurant on Saturday evening, adding three more friends to our already booked party of six. Now, we’ll be a party of nine. I notified dear friend/owner Dawn to see if nine will work during this busy period. Most likely, she’ll find a way to make it work.

Back at the house by noon, we unloaded the groceries, and finally, I had a chance to sit down to get to work on today’s post. In the continuing heat, I wondered if I could muster up the energy to get it done before too late in the day. The hot weather has a way of slowing us down.

A darkly spotted giraffe was sitting in the bush, taking a break from standing on her long legs all day and night.

We lost some food overnight during the 12-hour power outage but not too much since it was time to shop again. We tossed it all away, and Vusi removed the garbage a short while ago. Rotting food certainly gets stinky in heat such as this.

This morning when we pulled into the driveway, we noticed Mom and Baby warthogs, four to be precise, sitting in the cement pond. What a delight it was to see them here. A lone female bushbuck was lying in the shade at the edge of the garden, trying to stay cool. We can only imagine how hard this heat is for our wildlife friends.

Hopefully, tonight more will visit when we sit on the veranda while watching and waiting.

Have a cool day!

Photo from one year ago today, December 27, 2017:

We found these colorfully painted buildings interesting and befitting the somewhat flamboyant nature of Palermo, Buenos Aires.  For more photos, please click here.