Twelve years ago today…A precious new little life in the bush…

Norman and Nina’s daughter Natalie, the striped nyala behind this duiker, from December 12, 2022, who, at that point, had yet to be named based on gender, which we can’t yet determine. Natalie had her first foal a few days ago.

Please click the link below for a video of Natalie’s first foal, taken at Louise and Danie’s home, only a short distance from the Ratel house, where we’ll live for three months in the bush.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ij7JDeU85Pw

Above is the link to Nina and her baby, born only hours before this video was taken by our dear friend Louise a few days ago. It will be a long time until we can determine the gender of this little one, but once we know, we will give them a name, preferably one that starts with an “N.”

This photo is of Norman, Nina, and Natalie with the bushbuck we named “The Babysitter,” who always wandered the bush with Nina and Natalie.

We can’t wait to get to Marloth Park in three months, especially since our holiday home is only a few bush houses away from Louise and Danie’s home.

On another note, our first post was written and published on March 15, 2012, 12 years ago today. We didn’t begin traveling until October 31, 2012, but we started preparing posts with very few photos as we prepared to leave our old life behind. If you haven’t read that post, please click here.

Today’s post is #4218. It’s hard to grasp the concept of us posting 4218 stories, most containing photos. Initially, we thought more about writing than photos. Still, 12 years later, we certainly appreciate the importance of photos and look forward to the time when we’ll have new photos to share each day, rather than the repeated photos we’ve been sharing lately.

When we discussed the 12 years of posting, it’s hard to believe we began so many years ago. That first post and the day we published it is as clear in our minds as if it was only days ago. We’re both smiling over this milestone anniversary.

We want to thank every one of our worldwide readers for following along with us for so long and for our newer readers who found us online over the years. Your loyalty, friendship, email, and comments are always appreciated. We’ve never felt alone in our travels with all of you beside us.

Our passion for continuing to post hasn’t diminished over the years. But I must admit, having new experiences with photos makes it all the easier to write stories daily. No doubt, it’s been a bit tedious these past several months since we arrived at the less-than-desirable house in Ecuador, where we were so far from everything we seldom took photos.

Here in Lake Las Vegas, which we’ve thoroughly enjoyed, the lack of photo ops has hindered our objective of presenting varied and exciting posts. Soon enough, we’ll be back in Africa. How long we stay there beyond the three months we’ve booked will be determined by the results of my upcoming heart scan on March 27. If the results are good, we can begin planning more adventures. If not, we’ll go from there with a new plan.

Tonight, we’ll be out for dinner and a movie with Richard and his girlfriend, and we hope to take some photos in the process.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 15, 2014:

While at PepeNero restaurant for lunch, it was bright and comfortably warm from the sun in the courtyard as we were seated near one of the flowery fountains. For more photos, please click here.