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.

Two female rhinos on the trail of a nearby male.  See this link here for more.

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

Yesterday was another hot and humid day, leaving us soaked in sweat throughout the day. Today, it continues. Luckily, the power didn’t go out, and we slept in one of the upstairs bedrooms with a working aircon.

Linda, me and Kathy.  It was these two thoughtful friends that took me to lunch on my birthday four years ago. Now, we’ll all be together again to celebrate my 70th. Wow! See this link here for more.

We’re hopeful the repair guy will come today and repair the aircon in our main floor bedroom, where we have a dust-mite-free mattress, pillows, and covers. The bed upstairs is double, and although we’ve slept in double beds throughout the world, a queen-sized bed is much more comfortable, especially when we both tend to hog the center of the mattress.

Ken, Tom and Don making big faces for the camera!  See this link here for more.

We’re looking forward to aircon comfort in our main floor bedroom, hopefully, available by this evening. From there, we hope the power stays on as it has for the past 24 hours.

We’ll always remember this birthday as a special event for both of us; celebrated life, health, our experiences, and the fine friends we’ve made along the way. See this link here for more.

This morning, it rained. A nice soaking rain was needed in the bush at this point. We were discussing the frustration many holidaymakers felt after coming to the bush with lots of expectations, only to be sorely disappointed by some events that transpired.

While in Kruger, we spotted a rhino mom and her baby, born this season and still closely attached to the mother. See this link here for more.

It’s been boiling, humid and there have been more power outages than we can count.  Kruger National Park has been difficult to enter, with the crowds going as far as making reservations for a fee to enter. Once inside, they’ve had to deal with all the vehicles blocking the roads during a sighting.

This was a “tower” or “journey” of the eight giraffes who made their way to the only paved road in Marloth. Note the eighth giraffe is to the far right in this photo. See this link here for more.

On top of that, there has been less wildlife visiting the properties over the past several weeks due to the added number of people and vehicles in Marloth Park, certainly adding to the frustrations.

When “capturing” the Black Mamba, it is imperative to immobilize the head close to the ground and raise the tail. Tom managed to do this while desperately attempting to escape during his snake-handling experience at Snake School. The Black Mamba is the fastest snake on the planet. See this link here for more.

As we often drive around Marloth Park for two-hour periods, almost every day, we see few animals in the gardens of holiday homes, other than an occasional kudu or warthog.  

At a distance, they saw Dad coming their way.  The chick’s pace picked up the moment she spotted him. Look at the far end of the dirt road to see him coming!  His feathers are dark. See this link here for more.

We can only imagine the frustration of the holidaymakers dealing with these issues and property owners and managers dealing with the renter’s demands as a result of their frustrations.  It hasn’t been an easy situation. Some tourists have left earlier than they’d planned.

I awoke Tom when this thing was walking on me.  With the light from my phone, I saw it and must admit, a little scream escaped my lips as I shooed it off my shoulder. Yucky! Look at those spiky legs! Tom captured it in this plastic container and released it outside.  See this link here for more.

Today, we continue on with Part 2…2018, “Year in Review.” In yesterday’s post, found here, we covered our cruise to Antarctica and the many stunning photos we captured along the way. It was exciting for us, once again, to review each post for favorite photos to share in the post.

This was a common sight in Marloth Park a holiday weekend in April. It’s packed with tourists sitting in the back of a “bakkie” which is Afrikaans for “pickup truck.” Very dangerous. See this link here for more.

Today, we’re including photos and links from the first half of the year up to and including June 2018. Tomorrow, we’ll add Part 3 which, with so many photos, we found to be necessary.

Adorable baby Danie with his loving and attentive mom, Okey Dokey, our friend and driver from 2013 when she and her husband and baby came to visit.  He never stopped smiling and laughing the entire time they were staying.  See this link here for more.

Of course, we want to “save” some favorite photos to share on the last few days of our one-year stay in Marloth Park, including all the year’s expenses which we’ll include on the previous day, February 14, 2019. On that date, we’ll depart the park to spend the night in a hotel in Nelspruit, close to the airport for our early morning flight to Kenya.

This gorgeous feta, onion, and lettuce salad served by dear friends Louise and Danie when they invited us for dinner were enhanced with edible flowers, indicative of the attention to detail and creativity these two fine hosts possess. See this link here for more.

We made a critical decision in the past few days. We will return to Capetown, South Africa, via a cruise on December 2, 2020. However, we’ll fly to Namibia from there to spend three months and then return to Marloth Park.  

Alas, we arrived in Zambia to see the magical splendor of Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Later that day we also went to Zimbabwe to see the falls from that country. See this link here for more.

By then, the holiday season in Marloth will have passed, and we can avoid or at least diminish some of our frustrations during the holiday season. No doubt, Namibia will have some challenges, but we’ll have an entirely different set of expectations of our own.

None of the six of us or our guide Alfred could believe our eyes as we watched this male elephant build his mud pool in Chobe National Park. We’ve seen a lot of elephants in Africa, but this was a rare sighting for us. See this link here for more.

As for yesterday and today’s photos, many of our long-term readers certainly have seen them in past posts. However, we always have a new influx of readers and encourage them to click on the links we’ve provided along the way.

Crocs can replace each of their 80 teeth up to 50 times in their 35 to 75-year lifespan. Check out those teeth on a croc we spotted while on the Zambezi River cruise. See this link here for more.

It’s been a fantastic year, as we mentioned in yesterday’s post, and we continued to smile when we reviewed the year’s posts and saw all that we’ve accomplished and experienced along the way.

The harsh realities of the bush; here is a Bovine Tuberculosis infected kudu we spotted only the day after we were educated on this dreadful disease impacting mainly kudus in Marloth Park. See this link here for more.

And, there’s so much more yet to come in the New Year. Please stay with us as we continue on our exciting world journey.

Have a spectacular second day of the New Year!

Photo from one year ago today, January 2, 2018:

We set up the tripod to take this photo of us in Costa Rica on October 31, 2017, the fifth anniversary of our world travels, which was posted in Part 2, our 2017 “Year in Review.” For more, please click here.

It was fun to hold up our US flag on the ice floe in Antarctica. See the link here for more.

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

Perhaps the holidaymakers are beginning to leave the park when yesterday we had no less than 20 kudus stop by throughout the day, including this adorable young male.

This has been one of the best years of my life. The adventures were many, the challenges endless, and the opportunity to see parts of the world we only dreamt of.

A one or two-year-old Rock Hopper Penguin on New Island in the Falkland Islands has yet to grow his full plumage. See this link for more.

Tom always says, “The best year of my life is yet to come.” OK, I’ll go along with that premise as well.  

Closer view of King Penguin with a chick.  See this link here for more.

But, how in the world can we possibly top this past year visiting Argentina, Antarctica, spending a year in Marloth Park, and twice traveling to Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe…Chobe River, Chobe National Park, Victoria Falls, and cruising on the Zambezi River?  (More photos will follow in Part 2 tomorrow).

Tom certainly got it right when he captured this Black Browed Albatross chick with what appears to be a smile. See this link here for more.

Today, our photos focus on our Antarctica cruise, surely one of the highlights of both of our lives.  We left Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, on January 23, 2018, to head to Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southerly city in the world, to board the ship, the Ponant Le Soleal.