Slow down, you move too fast…Customs fees on a package we received…Scroll to the end for a favorite new photo…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 27, 2013 with 0 Comment

Yesterday morning, on our way home after refueling the pink car at the “petrol” station this giraffe made it clear that she had the right of way.

We’ve found that every three months or so, it’s necessary to place an order for supplies. As we’ve mentioned in the past, the shipping costs are outrageous, particularly if we need the package to arrive quickly.

After one of our surge protectors were confiscated from our carry on at the Dubai airport and an electrical converter and another power strip burned out in Kenya from the generator, we were operating our digital equipment with minimal supplies. Appropriate replacements for these were nowhere to be found in Kenya nor in South Africa.

“Yum, these taste better on this side of the road,” she says.

After the annoyance of swapping the plugin for our laptops every few hours, we decided it was time to place an order which we did as usual through Amazon. Plus, I needed a pair of Keds leather slip-on. The pair I’d been wearing (one of only a few pairs of shoes that I own) were worn beyond one more wearing.

Most items are shipped free to our Nevada, USA mailing service. When all of the items arrive, they remove the packing materials and ship them all in one box.

The treetop munching was still pretty good on this side of the road for these two.

This time, we chose to send it through the US Postal Service sending it the slowest and least costly way, which hopefully would arrive in six weeks or less. Earlier than expected, Louise walked in the door with our box of supplies on Tom’s birthday, December 23rd, handing us a slip of paper saying we owed ZAR $279, US $26.97 to the local post office for customs fees.

Immediately, we knew the cause of the extra fees, the pair of shoes. While in Kenya, placing the order a few days before we’d left, I’d read that South Africa doesn’t allow pairs of shoes to be shipped, only one shoe per box.

A pile of Vervet Monkeys we spotted when we went to the post office to pay our outstanding bill. They were living near a dumpster situated behind the little strip mall.

Thus, when customs opened the box and saw the pair of shoes, they’d decided to let them go through but would charge the fee. But, I have my shoes, never having been so happy with a new pair of shoes, extra fees and all.

Having hooked up our two new power strips, we no longer have to swap back and forth, making life a little easier, not that life in Marloth Park is tough.

Skittish around people, they aren’t shy around food, constantly on the lookout for scraps.

Sure, there are many insects, some scary, the heat can be unbearable at times (with comfortable days in between), most of the roads are unpaved and bumpy, but who’s complaining?

Had this been a holiday/vacation for a mere week or two this by far would have been the most glorious holiday/vacation of our lives. Knowing we have over two more months in Marloth Park, enjoying its many wonders makes our hearts leap with joy.

Flowers aren’t prolific in Marloth Park. The few that grow are stunning.

Tonight, we’ll dine in, the second night in a row, savoring a giant piece of trimmed beef tenderloin that we cut into amply sized fillets, enough to last both nights with sauteed portobello mushrooms, two side vegetables, and a bowl of our daily staple, coleslaw.

Today, a cooler day than yesterday’s scorcher, we’ll lounge on the veranda awaiting visitors and later take a sunset drive to search for more.

This photo was taken a few days ago with the sun in my eyes. It wasn’t until I downloaded it to my computer that I realized that the two birds were on the impala’s back. Check out the babies sitting in the grass near their mom.

Tonight, we’ll watch the second half of the recent movie, “The Butler.” I could do this forever. Life is good.

Holiday festivities in the bush…A Christmas visitor came to call..Little did we know…A scary adventure from our recent past…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 26, 2013 with 0 Comment

Not wanting to alarm this visiting kudu when we left the house to get into the car to go out for Christmas dinner, we interpreted this as a Reindeer visitor. Practically, holding our breath, we took this photo with the carport support post in the way in the hopes of not scaring him off.

With no Christmas tree, no decorations, no gifts to unwrap, no big dinner to cook and no friends and family stopping by, it was a different kind of Christmas for us, living in the bush in South Africa.

The temperature in the steamy low 90’s F, 33’s C, it hardly felt like the Christmases we once knew and loved. We’re not complaining. It was different.

The kudu’s neck will enlarge during the mating season. From the looks of our visitor, mating season must be imminent. Look at the muscles on this big guy, males can weigh as much or more than 700 pounds, 318 kg. This one was smaller than many we’ve seen weighing perhaps in the 500 pounds, 227 kg range. Kudus can easily scale a 5 foot, 1.5 meter wall.

And, different can be good, if one can find alternate means of enjoying the holiday season. Fortunately, thrown into our laps were two situations that proved to make both Christmas Eve and Christmas day special in a manner we never imagined.

Call it “serendipitous” if you will, or merely our good fortune. By Monday morning, we had no plans other than attending a midday buffet at Jabula Lodge, which was fine with us. By Monday afternoon, it all began to change.

View from Kathy and Don’s third floor veranda, overlooking the Crocodile River.

Little did we know, we’d be invited for Christmas Eve to the home of Kathy and Don, people we’d never met, long time homeowners in Marloth Park, who’s gorgeous home overlooks the scenic Crocodile River for a fabulous evening of laughter and story telling of mutual world travels and more.

Little did we know, that as we walked out the door at noon to drive to Jabula Lodge for Christmas dinner, that a giant kudu would be standing at the edge of our carport staring at us, reminding us of a reindeer, it’s massive antlers swirling high into the air.

Kathy suggested we start putting food out for the bush babies whom we’ve yet to see in our yard at night. We’ve feared doing so may attract the destructive baboons, who love hanging out on our veranda when we’re not home.

Stopping dead in our tracks, I slowly reached into my handbag to grab the camera. I was so excited, I could barely take a good photo. Nonetheless, albeit less than ideal, with the pole in the middle of the shot, we got a few. For 15 minutes, we watched him as he lumbered about our yard, nibbling on the lush vegetation, finally taking off into the deep bush and no longer visible.

As we drove off Tom claimed, “Oh, I arranged that for your Christmas gift.” I chuckled, saying, “There’s no gift that I’d have enjoyed more.”

Little did we know, a short time later when we arrived for the buffet at Jabula Lodge that we’d be seated with yet another fabulous couple, Piet and Hettie, also Marloth Park homeowners, with whom we spent the better part of the day enjoying fabulous conversation. Later, we hugged goodbye, with hopes of getting together again before they leave to depart for their second home, a three hour drive from Marloth Park.

We’ll never tire of the adorable face of a giraffe with its cheeks stuffed with greenery, this one captured in our neighborhood.

As we returned home, we couldn’t wipe the smiles off of our faces. In awe, not only in the wildlife visitors in Marloth Park, but also in the realization that people in Marloth Park are unlike any we’ve met anywhere, friendly and open to making new friends.

After returning home, we watched a movie from Graboid, “Captain Phillips, a story about pirates boarding and taking over a cargo/container ship out to sea in the Gulf of Aden.

It was in this exact location that we’d sailed on May 17, 2013 with the necessity of sharp shooters boarding our ship with automatic weapons to secure our sailing through the Gulf of Aden, as told in our story at this link. Watching this movie brought it all back for us, an adventure we’ll never forget.

Little did we know, that traveling the world would present situations, people, culture, wildlife and nature to us in a manner we could never have anticipated. For us, this has been the gift that “keeps giving” for which we are eternally grateful and for which, we promise ourselves, that we’ll never stop appreciating. Little did we know

Our 500th post on Christmas Day, quirky coincidence..Merry Christmas to all! …Link to Post #1 below…Miles to go…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 25, 2013 with 0 Comment

Not quite a reindeer! This duiker tentatively looked at us through the bush. They are “very shy, elusive creatures with a fondness of dense covers” most often traveling alone.

Merry Christmas to all of our readers, the actual day of our 500th post!

It’s hard for us to believe that it was on March 15, 2012, when we wrote our first post. Here’s the link to that first entry which seems so very long ago. Much has changed for us; our circumstances, our priorities, our resilience, and our tolerance for discomfort.

We’ve learned more during this period of time than either of us had learned since our school days. We’ve taken risks that we’d never imagined possible. We’ve witnessed events, we’d never imagined we would see. We’ve learned to remain calm when in the past, we’d have run around in circles, frantically and unfocused.

We’ve learned the value of patience, the avoidance of preconceived notions, and the ability to be more tolerant of others. We’ve learned to communicate when we don’t understand the language, knowing that kindness goes a long way in any language.

A lone giraffe on a walk along a road in Kruger Park. Our guide, waited patiently for him while he took his time moving out of the way of our vehicle.

We’ve learned to “go without,” to make use of what we have on hand, and oddly, we’ve learned to become minimalists, reveling in “less is more.” Letting go of the need for “stuff” has reshaped our lives.

We’ve found ways to entertain ourselves without TV, although we both thrive on keeping our brains active with some favorite interesting shows as well as the profound absorption of science, geology, history, biology, and more as we research any morsel that piques our interest.

Yet, through all of this time, since the first day that we wrote here, we’ve been humbled by how much more we have yet to learn, to experience, and to explore.

In the process, we’ve accepted that we have some limitations due to our age and condition and the fact that there are certain creature comforts we’re not willing to forgo, such as sleeping in a bed, being able to shower each day, eating, and drinking safe and healthful food and water.

We’ve never been interested in staying in hostels, sleeping in ordinary tents, carrying backpacks, and trekking through mountainous terrain. We don’t do zip lines, bungee jump, or white water rafting or take unnecessary risks that could potentially put an end to our travels.

We continually strive to protect our health, our well-being, and our emotional strength and resiliency. And above all, we treat our relationship with one another with great respect, consideration, kindness, and love. Without that, we couldn’t go on.

We continue to write and post photos almost every day. In the beginning, we wrote every few days. Since leaving the US, we’ve posted almost every day with no plans to change that in the near future.

Although few of our readers have officially “joined” our site to receive an automatic email each time we post, our readership is now in the 130,000 range with this month of December being our highest readership ever. Most of our readers prefer to click the link or their bookmarks to find us each day at their leisure.

We thank each and every one of you for sharing this journey with us. As we approach the New Year, we hope you’ll continue to read our posts as more and more diverse experiences unroll in our path.

No words of mine can better express our intentions than those of poet Robert Frost in his poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and in his words, “And miles to go before I sleep.”

Merry Christmas to all.

Merry Christmas everyone…Power is out…Very little battery left….No generator…a Christmas poem I wrote many years ago…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 24, 2013 with 4 Comments

This must be the tree frog mom or dad as it croaks atop this branch a few feet from the white foam nest that is rapidly disintegrating. We now doubt that they’ll mature into tadpoles since the environment in the pool is not conducive to their maturing.

Yep, the power goes out here as often as it does in Kenya. With no generator for this house and one hour of battery left on my laptop, today I’ll post quickly wishing all of you a Merry Christmas with a few photos and a poem I wrote over 20 years ago, to read at our holiday table each year.

On our way to the Marloth Park Farmers Market, a few blocks from our home. We count the days until they return to our yard.

This year, there’s no holiday table. Leon, the owner of Jabula Lodge was so kind to introduce us to a lovely couple, Lynne and Mick, whom we so enjoyed on two occasions before they were scheduled to return to their second home in the UK.

Happy birthday to the man of my dreams, whose made my dreams come true…The photos below explain how…Yesterday’s safari…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 23, 2013 with 0 Comment

In our travels, we’ve found that “two heads are better than one!” We were so close to these rhinos that it took our breath away.

Without a card to give to him, a gift for him to unwrap, Tom’s 61st birthday could potentially be a letdown. But, it won’t, if I can help it.

Only minutes after commencing the game drive, we drove over the Crocodile River to spot these Hippos.

Although we were facing the bright afternoon sun, we were grateful to get the Hippos photos.

One last shot as we pulled away.

Yesterday afternoon’s game drive in Kruger Park fulfilled our now deep-rooted expectations after the hard-to-match experience we had in the Masai Mara only a few short months ago. The photos we’ll share today will show why.

A small crocodile in the Crocodile River where no boating is allowed due to the viscous predators.

Throughout the game drive, we saw many wildebeests.

This was the first time we’d seen baby wildebeest.

Kruger Park is very different than the Masai Mara. The regulations require that the safari vehicle stays on the paved or dirt roads at all times, limiting the opportunity to “chase down” amazing sightings while driving across the bush. Thus, one is dependent upon the lucky sighting of wildlife that happens to be near the roads at any given time. Talk about the need for “safari luck!”

An hour into the game drive, we spotted rhinos.

Thanks for turning our way rhino.

The situation with rhino poaching is a serious issue worldwide. In Kruger Park alone, there were 425 killed in 2012 with 2013 stats coming out soon. When a mother Rhino is slaughtered, the babies are left to die. We’ve seen armed guards moving quickly along the roads in the park, on their way to a possible poacher being sighted. They are shot on site, hoping to deter future poachers. It’s been proven that the horn of the Rhino has virtually no medicinal benefit and yet millions worldwide believe otherwise. These amazing animals will be extinct in the near future if their senseless slaughter isn’t stopped.

Our first time in Kruger Park a few weeks ago was disappointing, as we’d posted here a few weeks ago. Expectations were high when sightings were mostly birds. Don’t get me wrong. We like birds.

She’s got something in her mouth.

Yesterday, once again, “safari luck” kicked in!

Nothing flips our hearts over in our chests more than the sighting of an animal in the wild and the opportunity to take a photo in order to recall the experience at any time in the future. As we began to tour the park in the huge game vehicle loaded with 19 participants and an excellent driver/guide, Dion, we were surprised how few participants were taking photos.

Next game drive we’ll go in a smaller group, allowing ample time to wait for the best photos. I would have waited for this ostrich to pick up its head, but the others preferred to move along.

Then again, few are as driven as we are to document the wonders of nature in our travels with stories and photos. If we didn’t write here, most likely we’d never learn even a little about taking photos and most wouldn’t be saving, sorting, and cataloging them as we do now. Actually, we thank our readership for joyfully inspiring us to capture as much as we possibly can.

We never tire of seeing giraffes and look forward to them visiting our house again after the tourists leave Marloth Park after the holidays. It’s apparent the increased traffic and people have had a bearing on the number of visitors to the houses.

Our guide, Dion, explained that this giraffe was no more than three or four months old. The oxpecker birds take up residence on the youngsters as well.

This female, evidenced by the hair on the little horns, had three oxpecker occupants.

The giraffes graceful legs are surprisingly powerful.

From afar, a lone giraffe against the backdrop of the African bush.

The elegant “bush braai” hosted again by Louise and Dani was as equally enjoyable as the last experience, the food hot and delicious, the wine and beer freely flowing and the service was impeccable. Our table mates were fun and the conversation and laughter never ceased.

As the sun began to set, it became difficult to spot any wildlife. Dion handed out three torches or spotlights handing them to participants who wanted to scan the surroundings for wildlife in the dark.

We peed in the makeshift outhouse, that was missing a few walls when rhinos had decided to decimate it. We laughed as we checked the ground for scorpion with our little flashlights, as we’ve become more and more at ease with the insects.

The setting sun in Kruger Park.

Our armed guard wandered about the braai site, ensuring we were never at risk and we never felt unsafe for a moment. I noticed a few women wearing sandals. Perhaps someday, I will become accustomed to the bugs and not feel a need to wear my boots in the bush.

These Citronella filled lanterns at the bush braai kept the insects off of our plates and out of our food.

This morning we headed to the Farmer’s Market to pick up our cabbage and carrots, but they hadn’t yet arrived from the farm. This afternoon, we’ll return, hoping they’ll be available.

Check out this creature that joined us for the bush braai.

Closeup, taken in the dark.

With too many photos from yesterday to post in one day due to the Internet traffic, we’ll spread them out over the next several days.

Hope you’re all enjoying the holiday festivities as we rapidly approach Christmas. Stay safe, stay warm, be healthy, let happiness and love envelop your hearts, now and always.

Video…Visitors…Viewing the Crocodile River, impossible with many tourists…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 22, 2013 with 0 Comment

The white below his nose is his mustache, not his teeth. I’d have preferred to get out of the car to get closer to them, but their shyness would have caused them to run off.

Having the freedom to come and go as we please has enhanced the quality of the experience in Marloth Park. If, that seems possible when we’re already having the time of our lives.

The kudus were so busy chomping away, it was hard to encourage them to look our way.

With the little pink India-made vehicle in our possession for less than two days, we’ve certainly been out and about, spending only a few daylight hours at home, long enough to post yesterday and sleep at night.

The kudus were in dense bush in our yard having their hearty breakfast. We wondered if they would have come closer to us had we been on the veranda. Now, every time we leave we’ll wonder if visitors come that we’ll have missed.

To tell the truth, I’ve already begun to miss our time outside on the veranda, from early morning until dusk, anxiously awaiting the arrival of yet another visitor. From the short periods we’ve been home over the past 2 days, it appears the pace may once again be picking up and they’re returning to visit.

Saturday, while halfway down our long driveway, we were thrilled to see three male kudus happily chomping at the treetops. Although kudus are not as tall as the giraffes, their enormous height makes it possible for them to munch on the tops of many trees.

While driving in Marloth Park yesterday morning, Tom yelled to me, “Hurry, get the camera. This dung beetle and his wife were crossing the road with this huge piece of dung. I was able to take this very short video when cars behind us required us to move along. We would love to have seen how they maneuvered the rocks that were in their way.

Yesterday, while we were gone, Louise stopped by to pick up the cooler we’d borrowed, to find our veranda a horrible mess with baboons having taken over. Again, they’d moved the furniture, taking more of the seat cushions pooping everywhere.

The beautiful Crocodile River.

She cleaned it all taking the dirty cushions with her to be washed. Thanks, Louise! When we returned hours later, apparently the Baboons had returned since she’d cleaned, and left another mess.

Once we put away the groceries, we cleaned the veranda, wrote, and posted it indoors. With many tourists in the area for the holidays, our connection was slow, making it difficult to post our photos, taking twice as long as usual.

The vegetation around the Crocodile River is lush and green now that it’s summer.

Suddenly, it was time to leave in order to get to the Crocodile Overlook before sunset and later to Jabula Lodge for dinner. To our disappointment, the overlook was jammed with tourists making it difficult to get a good spot along the railing for photo taking. I must admit, the crowd spoiled the experience and we took very few photos.

After New year, the crowds will disperse, and once again, it will be peaceful and quiet in Marloth Park. We’re looking forward to this time, but will make the most of these crowded the next 10 days.

On our way to dinner, we spotted giraffes lumbering into a yard.

Last night, returning after another great dinner at Jabula Lodge, we checked out the pool for the status of the tadpoles. Nothing yet, but we continue to see the little swirls of water where they’re swimming. As we stepped to the side of the pool both using our mini flashlights, we saw a scorpion jump into the pool, a definite suicide mission. Today, he lies dead at the bottom of the pool.

Later today, we’re going on another game drive in Kruger Park with 18 tourists in the huge open-sided vehicle, followed up by another bush dinner. We’ll do our best, taking photos, and sharing our experiences tomorrow.

Guess I’ll be wearing my boots again tonight with my Bugsaway pants tucked tightly into the pants!

We have wheels…Lots of “extra” charges and fees…Local markets.. Losing a dear family member…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 21, 2013 with 0 Comment

Early this morning, our dear our sister-in-law Lee Lyman, wife of Tom’s brother Jerome, passed away in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Although a vibrant 85 years old and a great-great-grandmother, Lee gave so much of herself to her beloved husband, children, grandchildren, and family. We offer our heartfelt love, prayers, and sympathy to Jerome and all who were blessed to love and know this fine woman. She will be dearly missed.

On the way to Nelspruit with our driver Okee Dokee, she stopped to buy lychee nuts from this adorable girl, who was selling them on the side of the road with her mom.

Having just returned from shopping, we’re late writing today’s post, but as promised, we planned to post after we returned with the rental car.

Yesterday, our plan was to pick up the car, check out the town of Nelspruit, grocery shop, buy more data at the Vodacom store, and find a store in order to purchase white socks. All we accomplished was sock purchase at a sporting goods store and a portion of the groceries.

By the time we drove away from the Mpumalanga/Nelspruit airport with the car in our possession, it was already 2:30 pm. We’d hope to get our errands done, have dinner at the popular Hamilton’s Restaurant in Malelane and be back on the road before dark.

There was captivating scenery along the way to Nelspruit but the heavy flow of traffic during the start of the weekend before Christmas prevented us from stopping.

Although there was no line (referred to as a queue outside the US) at the Budget location, considerable time was spent as the rep explained all of the “extra’ charges over and above the basic car rental fee we’d prepaid online of ZAR $5300, US $519.47.

Notice the scowl on Tom’s face as he’s opening the door to the driver’s side on the pink rental car.

Renting a vehicle for a week or two is no big deal. Renting a vehicle for over two months is tricky since the rental car companies don’t want to honor the great online rates from outside travel sites beyond a 28-day period.

If yesterday, when picking up the car, we’d chosen to extend the rental beyond the 28-day period, the cost per day would have jumped from ZAR $189.26 US $18.55 to ZAR $310, US $30.38! With a total of 41 days remaining until we go back to the airport to fly to Morocco on February 28, 2014, the additional cost would be ZAR $12,710, US $1,245.70.

Getting another rental car at another great online rate is an option but the taxi fare with tip is ZAR $950, US $93.12 plus it takes a half-day of time with the long drive each way.

On the return drive from Nelspruit this sky caught our eye.

On top of all of that, Budget withheld an additional ZAR $11,733, US $1150 for damage, and other miscellaneous against the credit card we used which annoys us. On top of all of that, much to Tom’s dismay, the car turned over to us, the only car available, was PINK! Yep. Pink.

After using it today to finish our uncompleted errands from yesterday, we both decided the pink wasn’t so bad after all. We quickly moved through the Marloth Park security gate with a breeze the second time and, it was easy to spot it in the busy parking lot when we did the errands today in Komatipoort.

On Friday afternoon, we decided to only partially grocery shop, finishing today to allow us time to get to the restaurant, have dinner and get back on the road. After one of the best dinners we’ve had in a restaurant, it was worth the monkeying around.

Must be a free-range chicken walking around the restaurant.

Although a 40 minute drive to Hamilton’s in Malelane from our home in Marloth Park, we’ll definitely return to Hamilton’s again. Check out the photos of our fabulous dinner. With one beer for Tom and bottle water for me, plus tax, plus tip, our entire dinner was a paltry ZAR $274, US $26.86!

My dinner was a moist and tender filet with a side of seasoned butter, a small salad, and stir fried veggies. We look forward to returning to Hamilton’s soon.

This morning, we decided to finish our errands, taking off in the pink car down our long driveway to be delighted to find three male kudus munching treetops in our yard. Wow! What a way to start the day!

Marloth Park has a few small strip mall-type shopping areas. Before heading to Komatipoort, a 25-minute drive to the closest large grocery store in the area, we thought it a good idea to check out the Marloth Park shops, as we’re always interested in supporting local businesses.

Tom enjoyed his tender sirloin steak with mushroom sauce, stir-fried veggies and fries.

Although the tiny local grocery store didn’t carry many items we normally purchase, we knew we’d use it on occasion for staples. But, the separate little meat market was perfect for us, with grass fed meat at unbelievable prices, for example, a 680 gram, 1.5 pounds, Filet Mignon for Christmas Eve was a mere ZAR $110, US $10.71! We purchased enough meat to get us through another week.

The butcher store where we purchased all of next weeks meats.

The Farmer’s Market with fresh-picked, organic produce is a dream come true.This will serve all of our vegetable needs going forward. With both a meat store and produce store next door to one another, we can avoid going to the larger Komatipoort grocery store more than once every few weeks.

We’d rather spend our time exploring than shopping. We returned home to put the meat and produce away and took off to Komatipoort to finish. We purchased more data, finished the grocery shopping, found the local “chemist” to purchase, contact lens solution, got Tom a few more bottles of brandy, and returned home to find our veranda a mess.

The baboons had visited while we were gone, taking three cushions off of the outdoor furniture with them. When it cools down, we’ll wander around the yard to see if we can find them. lus, they pooped on the veranda after literally moving around the heavy Adirondack chairs.

The cozy storefront Farmer’s Market.

The interior of the local Farmer’s Market with organic produce arriving from the farm regularly.

None of the other animals have bothered or damaged anything thus far. But Louise and Dani warned us to expect this. We’re surprised it took this long before they wreaked havoc.

The small grocery store in Marloth Park has basic food supplies.

The tadpoles are still swimming around in the pool, although still not visible to the naked eye. After reading at length about tadpoles, I am concerned they may not survive due to the chlorine that was already in the pool when the eggs dropped. Apparently, any type of chemical will prevent the life cycle. We’ll keep you updated.

Soon, we’ll dress for dining at Jabula tonight, another of our favorite dining establishments. On our way, we plan to stop at the Crocodile River overlook for happy hour. Tomorrow afternoon, we’re going on yet another Kruger Park game drive and bush dinner with a group of nine.

The chair cushion we found in the driveway, apparently taken by the baboons while we were out shopping.

Gee, we’re so busy in Marloth Park! Living in the bush warrants “never missing a thing!”

Have a festive pre-Christmas weekend. We plan to do the same and we’ll be back tomorrow with more photos from our visit to the Crocodile River!

An exciting discovery in our yard…Foam attached to a tree appeared overnight…What is it? Please see NOTE at end of post!

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 20, 2013 with 2 Comments

Yesterday morning, we spotted this white mass in a tree hanging over the pool, only 15 feet, 4.5 meters from where we sit each day, waiting for visitors.

While busy preparing yesterday’s post, we both continued to look around the yard every few minutes, which has become our usual practice, scanning our surroundings with the hope and expectation of sighting visitors. As mentioned in the post, we’ve had less visitors this week than the prior two weeks since arriving in Marloth Park on December 1st.

Although each day we do have some visitors including warthogs, Helmeted Guinea-fowls, duikers and an endless array of birds and insects. This past week, we’ve seen dozens of baboons, as described in an earlier post, who continue to watch our activities hoping that we’ll eventually bring food outdoors.

I took this photo while sitting at the outdoor table. The white foamy ball can be seen on the left of this tree, opposite the bush baby house on the right. It is from this vantage point that we’ll keep a watchful as the life cycle of the tree frog unrolls before our eyes.

As yet, we haven’t dined outdoors for a few reasons; one the insects are fierce at night and two, by not bringing food outdoors during our extended stay, we can keep the monkey population under control in our yard. Monkeys of varying species can be annoying, dangerous and destructive, although we continue to revel in their entertaining behavior that easily occupies us for hours.

As I was working my way through finishing the post by adding the photos, a time consuming process with the somewhat slow Internet connection, I happened to look at the tree above the pool and noticed something “white” situated on a branch, spilling over onto smaller branches.

This tree frog was waiting on the outside ledge of a window in a sunroom in a house Danie built-in Marloth Park. The house was gorgeous. The tree frog was interesting to us at the time.

I pointed out the white glob to Tom. Moving closer to the tree we were trying to determine what it possibly could be. Suggesting it was a white plastic bag that blew into the tree, Tom immediately dismissed my thought with a round of laughter, “That’s no plastic bag! Look closer!”

Inching closer to the tree while standing on the narrow ledge of the pool, preferring not to fall in, I too, began to realize this was no white plastic bag. I couldn’t grab the camera quickly enough.

Downloading the photo to my laptop, I immediately sent the photo attached in an email to Louise anticipating she’d undoubtedly know what it was. In her usual one minute or less response time, she wrote, “It’s a foam tree frog nest!”

Fascinated by this anomaly, (to us anyway), we both immediately began searching online for more information such as:
1. How many eggs are in that white foamy ball? 500-1200
2. How will they hatch? They’ll drop from the foam ball within a week falling into the pool as Tadpoles.
3. Did the female make this foamy nest overnight since we hadn’t seen this on Wednesday? Yes, it takes seven hours to make the foamy nest at night.
4. Will the Tadpoles swim in the pool before the metamorphosis begins and they become Tree Frogs? Yes!
5. How long does this process take? It could be as quickly as 24 hours.
6. Will we have the opportunity to watch and photograph this process? Hopefully! We’ll certainly try.

Here’s an interesting site with photos and more information.

The opportunity to witness this fascinating life cycle, one we all learned in biology, is such a coincidence. Tom says it’s more of our “safari luck,” which for us is construed as, “Interesting wildlife observations serendipitously becoming available during the most opportune period, as we travel the world.”

We’ll make every effort to take photos and videos as this life cycle transpires. How convenient that the foam ball is within 15 feet, 4.5 meters of our line of sight! At this point, we are unsure as to what the frogs will look like but it may be similar to the photo of this one (see above photo) that I took last week. Stay tuned for the details as they occur.

In a few hours, we’ll head to Nelspruit (a 75 minute drive each way) to pick up the rental car, do a few errands ending with grocery shopping. Louise and Danie loaned us a giant cooler to take with us today enabling us to shop first and then head to dinner in Malelane.

We’ll be back tomorrow with details and photos of our “road trip” which most likely will include photos of beautiful scenery and wildlife along the way.

NOTE: As I’m finishing today’s post, getting ready to upload it, I heard a “plop” into the pool! Some of the eggs have dropped into the pool! At the moment, we can see 100’s of little swirls of water as the minuscule (yet too small for the naked eye to see) tadpoles begin their life cycle. We’ve turned off the pool filter to avoid them getting sucked into the filter and asked Zef, our houseman, not to clean the pool for a few days so we can take videos as they grow, if possible. Amazing!

Holiday postings update…Please stop back by tomorrow…Something very strange occurred while writing today…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 19, 2013 with 0 Comment

Of nine members of this warthog family, there are two moms; one with four babies and the other with three babies. From watching this family almost daily over a period of 18 days, we believe the mom shown above is the mom of the three babies, which if you look closely are all nursing. (It’s hard to see the third). Thus, the baby on which she is resting her chin belongs to the other mom who is nearby and seems comfortable with this situation. We couldn’t have laughed more when the fourth baby, whether hers or not provided this neck resting spot.

With the holidays imminent, we imagine that most of our readers are busy with preparations and events, leaving little time for our daily musings and photos. We will continue to post each day presenting an abbreviated version that can easily be perused and caught up after the holidays if you so choose.

The “three little pigs” quit nursing and took off following the other mom as she’d had enough of us for one day.

However, tomorrow we’ll pick up our rental car, and with that, begin exploring, offering what hopefully will be exciting new content as we venture out beyond Marloth Park. Also, we’ll commence on our own game drives in the area, including Kruger Park (which we’ll visit after the holidays).

Notice the size of the anthill behind Tom, located in our yard where there are several.

The thought of entering Kruger Park in a tiny, economical vehicle is a little intimidating when we’ve seen photos of elephants knocking cars on their sides. But, we certainly won’t antagonize any of the wildlife which is often a precipitating factor in any angry animal behavior.

On our way out to dinner on Tuesday night, these wildebeest were hanging out in the front yard of a house.

We’ve heard that Kruger has increased the vehicle limits over the holidays due to the increased number of tourists in the area from 500 per each of the 11 entrance gates to 700 per gate. Over the holidays, vehicles will be backed up on the narrow roads inside the park. We prefer to wait to visit Kruger until after the first of the New Year.

The fees for “internationals” to enter Kruger Park are ZAR $248, US $24.31 per person, per day.

One of the first things we’d like to do shortly is to return to the Crocodile River overlook. Alcoholic beverages are allowed and Tom can enjoy a cocktail while I sip on my ice tea for a delightful “happy hour,” as often as we’d like. There is no fee to enter the overlook area.

Why all these zebra butts were facing the wildebeests escaped us.

The prospect of freedom of driving ourselves is refreshing. After we pick up the rental car, run a few necessary errands in the larger city of Nelspruit, we’ll dine at the popular Hamilton’s located in the cozy town of Malelane (pronounced mal-e-lawn). The distance from Hamilton’s back to Marloth Park is 42 km, 26 miles.

Nothing is close to Marloth Park. Okee Dokee is driving us to Nelspruit from Marloth Park tomorrow at 12:30 pm at a distance of 95 km, 59 miles. Stopping for wildlife sightings certainly lengthens the normal 75 minute driving time.

Tomorrow will be a busy day of driving, which we don’t mind at all. With our newfound ability to stop and take photos along the way at our leisure, we’re both looking forward to being out.

More wildebeests gathered around the clump on the ground. There was harmony with the zebras.

This past almost three weeks of waiting and watching for visitors has been glorious. Now, with Marloth Park jammed with holiday tourists, we’ve noticed a decline in the visitors over the past four days.

Danie explained that the animals roam from spot to spot foraging along the way. As the rains come (it’s rainy season now as summer begins on December 21st) and more vegetation grows, they move on to the next prolific location, returning to past locations in a period of time.

This makes sense to us, but I wouldn’t be surprised if all the extra cars driving on the roads and people at the resorts and vacation homes could certainly have a bearing on the wildlife moving about as freely, considering how cautious they are around us, humans.

It appeared that the zebras and wildebeests were sharing some tasty morsel on the ground.

Over these past few days, the warthog family of nine continues to visit, playful, and funny as ever, while an occasional duiker stands ground, staring at us or a baboon skitters by checking out the status of food on the veranda. The birds, including the three Helmeted Guinea-fowls, make a daily appearance.

Again this week, we got a glimpse of the elusive monitor lizards whose home is near the pool, as they slither in and out of their holes, much too quickly for another photo.

Tomorrow morning, before taking off for Nelspruit, we have an exciting story to share of an anomaly we found in our yard this morning after writing today’s post, with photos, of course. Please stop back later!

On Saturday, we’ll be sharing photos of our travels outside of Marloth Park, our first big trip to a grocery store, the much-anticipated purchase of socks and the dinner at the popular Hamilton’s. Our course, we’ll include all of the costs, including the car rental.

Enjoy the holiday festivities!

Come see the gifts we’ve received for Christmas…Tom’s Irish Cream Recipe…Christmas in the bush…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 18, 2013 with 0 Comment

With no Poinsettias for us this year, we revel in the beauty of this flower that we encountered on a walk in the area.

In our old lives, Christmas was a time to celebrate life, family, friends, and the powerful message the holiday season represents for many. There was nothing spared in the preparation of this special time of the year.

A flaming sky at sunset is a gift.

For almost 20 years Tom made his well-received over 100 bottles of Lyman’s Irish Cream (see recipe below) to give to friends and family while I spent endless hours decorating, sending cards, wrapping gifts (mostly purchased online), baking, cooking, and entertaining.

A baby duiker on wobbly legs warms our hearts.

Each year we’d receive tons of cards, which we displayed during the Christmas season, saving them until the following year. The next year, I’d cut them into shapes befitting the card’s design punching a small hole in a corner, inserting a satin ribbon for them to be used as gift tags.

A curious baby zebra at our door.

We all have traditions that bring us comfort in their familiarity. As a family, the participants in the traditions, look forward to their implementation with little concern for their redundancy or silliness.

A mama duiker, standing watch.

Last year, we spent Christmas in Henderson, Nevada, renting a spacious vacation home, with 19 in attendance on Christmas Day. It was a memorable time, as we were only days away from leaving the US to begin our worldwide journey on January 3, 2013.

A Giraffe we encountered on the road on a cloudy day. Notice the three Oxpeckers (birds) on its neck eating off the insects and one flying off its head. Seeing this was a gift.

Tom’s birthday is on December 23rd, an unconscionable time of the year for a birthday. Over the years, I made every effort to make it a special time for him as well, wrapping his gifts in birthday, not Christmas paper, planning festivities unrelated to the holidays, often not easy to do.

A rank of impalas, very sensitive to sound and movement, kept us practically holding our breath when they appeared in our yard.

He shared the same birthday with our dearest friend and neighbor Chip whom we lost a year and a half ago. Over the years, together with his wife Sue, the four of us celebrated birthdays, times we’ll never forget.

This is the cactus plant from which we took the above flower photo. In our old lives, our Christmas cactus would often bloom. This will do as an alternative.

By this time each year, all the festivities were planned, the gifts were wrapped and under the tree, the cookies were baked and placed in colorful tins and Tom had attended or was about to attend his railroad union Christmas party. My various annual “girlfriends only” Christmas luncheons had occurred and all that remained was the sharing of the meals with family and friends as Christmas edged its way in and of course, the always fun-filled gift opening.

A glimpse of the sunset from our veranda.

So, here we are, Christmas in the African bush, the South African bush to be precise, surrounded by nature, a Skype call away from contact with family and friends without a single card or gift, decorated tree, or homemade cookies.

A joy to behold such beauty.

This is our first Christmas outside the US. How do we feel about that? We don’t feel alone. We’re surrounded by nature. If someone had told me years ago, that I had to forgo all of my usual holiday activities to sit at home without family around us, a tree, gifts, or homemade treats, I’d have gone kicking and screaming.

Certainly no “partridge in a pear tree” we delight in the simple beauty of this bird visitor.

Now, here in Marloth Park at Christmas time and for Tom’s birthday, we are at peace. The thought of all the work we used to do makes us cringe. The thought of being with our adult children and their families next year in Hawaii makes us smile. Yes, we are at peace.

Not quite, “Three French hens,” instead we have three Helmeted Guinea-fowl that visits us daily.

Living in Marloth Park is a gift, God’s creatures all around us, nature at it’s finest. We are thankful that in our senior years we are given an opportunity to engage in an entirely different Christmas season, one that isn’t about our somewhat selfish objectives to “get everything done” based on our own outrageous expectations.

The sun finally came out to reveal the moon and blue sky. Heavenly.

Instead, we simply watch, wait and marvel as the visitors and lush vegetation surrounds us whether we’re lounging on the veranda as we’re doing at the moment, on a short drive to dinner, on a game drive, a bush dinner, or a walk in the area. For us, this is the gift that keeps giving… and giving… and giving.

Merry Christmas to all.

Tom Lyman’s Irish Cream (Bailey’s)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 pint half and half cream

3 pasteurized eggs (important for safety)

1/8 teaspoon coconut extract

1 T. chocolate syrup

1 cup whiskey

Blend in a blender for 2 minutes, then add the 1 cup whiskey. Blend for another 30 seconds.

Pour into a clean glass bottle with tight-fitting cork. (Use your empty wine bottles after they’ve been washed in the dishwasher).

Make 1 1/2 wine bottles, enough for sipping while making. Recipe doubles for more easily.

Keeps fresh for 30 days in the refrigerator.

Tag: South Africa