It’s been a busy morning. Many animals came by for pellets, mainly warthogs and kudus, including an adorable baby kudu, perhaps less than a month old. We don’t have a birdbath at this house, but most wildlife drink from the pool. When summer is sweltering, we’ll put out a pot of water for the mongooses, warthogs, and birds who can’t partake of the water in the splash pool. The mongooses and warthogs can’t reach the pool, and the birds don’t seem interested in drinking from a pool.
Very little chlorine is used in private pools in Marloth Park since it’s common for the wildlife to drink from them. We never use splash pools when we prefer a normal-sized pool and aren’t interested in languishing in a pool of water filled with a wide array of “bush” things. Zef and Vusi clean the pool regularly, but they have no control over the dust in the air, falling leaves and debris from vegetation, dead scorpions, and other insects that may fall in day and night.
As we sit on the veranda, day after day, we’re in awe of what treasures may appear at any given moment. Whether it’s birds, rodents, lizards, snakes, or the many other animals that come to call, we never tire of seeing them. Plus, it’s extra exceptional living in this house which abuts the parkland, and we have even more expansive views than we had at the last house.
Don’t get me wrong, we loved that location, but the house was small, although it had all the needed amenities. But, here, it’s entirely different. A few years ago, Louise and Danie lived in this house before they built the Marloth Park Info Centre, to which their current home is attached.
Theirs is a fantastic house, and we see many personal touches they incorporated into this house when they remodeled it, serving us well right now. The only peculiarity is the lack of electric outlets and conveniently located light switches. But that is typical in Africa. In South Africa, there aren’t the regulations we found in the US requiring so many outlets in each room, based on its dimensions.
The electric plug-ins here make using small appliances very tricky. Many small appliances such as mixers, hair dryers, and blenders have different types of plugs, none of which work for our bevy of adapters and converters. But, somehow, we figure it out and manage to use what we need.
We’re grateful to have a food processor, blender, hand mixer, and several types of coffee-making devices. Tom uses the French press for his coffee, and I use decaf coffee crystals with hot water from the teapot, which surprisingly makes excellent coffee. After living in India in a hotel room without laundry facilities, we’re grateful to have a good quality washing machine.
As I’ve previously mentioned, clothes dryers are rare in the bush. Houses here don’t have city-supplied natural gas. Propane is used as an alternative. Electric clothes dryers use a lot of electricity, and with the power problems in South Africa resulting in load shedding (planned power outages), having a clothes dryer makes no sense. Besides, most days are sunny here, making outdoor drying easy.
Oops, I just had to run outside while putting a few things away in the bedroom. A zebra looked in the window at me, wondering where the pellets were. We took several photos, which we’ll share in the next few days. How fun is that!
As for today…this is Friday, and at 1700 hrs, 5:00 pm, we’ll head to Jabula to have fun at the bar, followed by dinner, enjoying the fabulous service and consistently great food. Tomorrow evening friends Fiona and Alan are coming for sundowners. We’ll put together an array of appetizers and be bundled up for the evening in this cool weather.
Danie had the outdoor heater repaired for us while we were away. Based on the forecast, I think we’ll need to use it tomorrow evening and on many other evenings to come. It’s almost winter in the bush!
Happy day!
Photo from one year ago today, June 10, 2021:
