Light at the end of the tunnel…Hopefully, we’re on the mend…A doctor, like none other…

Posted by worldwide-admin on May 29, 2022 with 2 Comments

A baby duiker with her mom was the first sighting for us.

I awoke at 1:30 am and never went back to sleep. Surely, that’s a result of napping on and off all day which with this bacterial infection it’s hard for us not to do. Yesterday, Tom napped for three hours straight, but he could sleep during the night, although he woke up several times while I mindlessly played scrabble with strangers on my phone.

Yeah, I know the deal about “screen time” at night, but after countless tries without it, I still couldn’t get to sleep and just gave up trying. Worrying about not sleeping doesn’t help. I resigned myself to this reality and beat the heck out of several players, one after another. At least if I was going to be awake, I might as well enjoy some lively competition.

Before bed, we continue to watch Outlander on Netflix. We are on Season 3 with two more seasons to go. What a show! But in our weakened state the past several nights, we had an awful time staying awake, later re-watching the portions we’d missed. Tonight, I’ll have a heck of a time staying awake after dinner. If I take a nap today, I’ll ask Tom to wake me up after 20 minutes.

Last night, Tom drove to Jabula to get takeaway food for us. Doc Theo suggested I eat lean meat and pumpkin which is easy on the digestive tract, so I ordered roasted chicken, and butternut which is comparable to pumpkin. It tasted so good after not eating for a few days. For the first time in days, I was hungry. Tom enjoyed his chicken, rice, and creamed spinach, and the meal sat well with both of us.

In the past, we couldn’t get this close to shy duikers. It’s such a pleasure to see them get so close to the house.

As we were placing our food on plates since we don’t like to eat out of styrofoam containers, Danie showed up at the door. He said, “Hey, man, are you guys ok? Doc Theo was trying to call you Friday night and he’s worried that you didn’t answer” I had left the phone on, next to me Friday night. He didn’t have the correct phone number for me.

He told Danie if we weren’t feeling better, please go to the hospital for IV solutions and more treatment and not wait until Monday when we could see him again. But, we were feeling better, drinking plenty of fluids, and felt like we were turning the corner. Danie called Theo back to tell him we were alive, improving, and thanks for worrying about us. It was almost 7:00 pm, 1900 hrs, on Saturday night, and Theo was worrying about us. Bless his heart.

Where in the world would we ever find such a doctor who cared this much? Nowhere we’ve ever been. After all, Theo diagnosed my painful jaw as a dangerous indication of heart disease and a potential immediate heart attack or stroke. Good grief! The man saved my life, and here he was, once again, providing a level of care that is rarely found anywhere. We are very grateful.

Mom and Babies and another female arrived early this morning. Most likely, the extra female is from Mom’s last litter.

Feeling a little better today, although we still have a way to go tonight; we’ll make chicken breasts on the braai with rice for Tom and sauteed mushrooms we have on hand. It will be an easy meal to make. All I will do is season the chicken, after which Tom will place it on the grilling rack, then cook the rice and the mushrooms in garlic and butter. It’s great we have a gas stove and oven in this house. When there’s load shedding, we can still use the stove.

Louise offered to cook for us, but we insisted we’ll figure it out, and we have. Here again, is it any wonder we love being in Marloth Park? Our friend’s and medical professionals’ love and kindness are enough motivation to be here.

We haven’t seen many animals the past several days since we’ve been hunkered down in the bedroom resting day and night. However, this morning, Mom and Baby warthogs returned, along with a first for us, a Mom and Baby duiker. What a sweet sighting. Of course, we took a few photos we’ll share here soon.

Every so often, we check outdoors as we continue to rest and recover. We won’t hesitate to offer pellets to any of our visiting new friends. Many more visitors will stop by once we are better and can spend all of our time on the veranda.

Have a safe and healthy day.

Photo from one year ago today, May 29, 2021:

Hal and Crooked Face were standing at the veranda railing that morning, awaiting their pellets. For more photos, please click here.

We’re baaaack!!!…You won’t believe this…Why we’ve been away…

Posted by worldwide-admin on May 28, 2022 with 0 Comment

I wish we’d never have to write about being sick. But, with our commitment to always “tell it like it is,” we feel compelled to share every aspect of our lives of world travels with our readers. Even if we didn’t travel, we’d be sick from time to time. Would it be so unusual for a senior citizen to get sick once or twice a year with a cold, flu, or a virus? Certainly not.

Of course, some people never become ill, and we surely envy their sturdiness. But, we aren’t quite so fortunate. Why? We don’t know. We certainly strive to live a healthy lifestyle. Tom is considerably less likely to become ill than I am. He takes no medication and has no known conditions in his almost 70 years.

But, I don’t see him doing anything more diligently than I do, yet I fall prey to various illnesses throughout the year. This frustrates me, the person who has strived for good health all of my life through a healthy diet, exercise, and positive attitude. I guess I am missing something, or perhaps, genetics plays a more significant role than I’d thought.

Soon, the scary processionary caterpillars will arrive.

Our recent bad bout of Omicron left us both reeling with exhaustion and lingering effects, most of which continue to subside day by day. Tom had fully recovered from Covid pneumonia. We both only have a tickle of cough on occasion.

When we arrived in Marloth Park on Tuesday, although exhausted from the long journey but we both knew a few good night’s sleep, we’d recover from the two-day trip from Las Vegas, Nevada, back to South Africa, the last leg of which was a 15-hour red-eye in the coach. We each only slept an hour or two, sitting straight up in our seats. The remainder of the time was spent watching movies on the entertainment screens at our seats.

Once in Marloth Park, we were excited to complete the recovery of Covid while resting from the long journey and being fit and chipper to cherish our time back in the bush. But that was not the case.

On Wednesday, we both started experiencing severe diarrhea and stomach pain. I was feeling nauseous and very ill, Tom less so. By Wednesday evening, I had a fever and lay under four blankets on the bed, shivering all night. I took two Paracetamol (Tylenol) every six hours to keep the temperature down but never slept a wink due to the constant need to run to the bathroom and the awful feeling of having a fever.

Big Daddy stopped by to check out the action in the garden.

Thursday, I never left the bed other than to shower and run to the bathroom. Tom was struggling as well, but not quite as bad. I couldn’t eat, knowing the result would be more trips to the bathroom, but I didn’t have an appetite. By Thursday night, we acknowledged that we needed to see Doc Theo as soon as we could get an appointment, hopefully on Friday with the weekend coming.

Our appointment was scheduled for 2:30 pm, 1430 hrs, but we arrived 30 minutes earlier, and he could see us. At that point, I could barely keep my head up. We told Theo about our awful bouts of Covid and Tom’s pneumonia. He explained that Covid weakens the immune system, which is most likely why we’d both become sick at this time.

He diligently examined each of us. He ordered blood tests just for me since, most likely, we had the same affliction. He noted my case was much worse than Tom’s since he’d been on antibiotics for pneumonia only a week or two earlier, which provided him some lingering protection.

The testing lab is across the street from the doctor’s office. There was no way I could have walked, so we drove. We went back to Theo’s office to await the results. In no time at all, he called us back into his office and said I had a severe gastrointestinal infection, either e-coli or salmonella. Tom has a lighter version. How did he know Tom’s was less? From palpating our stomachs. Mine was tender to the touch where Tom’s was not. Plus, Tom’s symptoms were less severe.

He prescribed a litany of medications for each of us. Tom didn’t need antibiotics which was good since he’d recently been on two. But, he prescribed Cipro and other meds for me. Cipro is commonly used in Africa to treat bacterial infections which is what I have.

When we arrived at the pharmacy i brought the prescriptions inside and handed them to the pharmacist. But moments later I could no longer stand and went back to the car, asking Tom to go inside and collect them when they were ready. By 4:00 pm, 1600 hrs., we were back at the house, began taking our meds while I headed back to bed. We had scrambled eggs for dinner, the first food we had eaten all day. But, within minutes of eating, the rushing to the bathroom began again.

This morning I am a little better, and so is Tom. We are hopeful we are on the mend. How we got this dreadful infection is unknown to us. We went over everything we ate and drank, and there is nothing we ate the same except for the dinner we made at the house, salad (unbagged), rice (for Tom), and meat, nothing that should have caused an issue. But one never knows. It could have been either the salad or the beef, which was fresh when we cooked them.

So, that, dear readers, is why we didn’t do a post yesterday, nor did we take any new photos. I’m still not up to sitting outdoors and watching our animal friends visit. But that will come in time, and for that, we can hardly wait.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 28, 2021:

Tiny never disappointed us. His gentle nature and interest in us was delightful. Of course, he enjoyed pellets, carrots, apples, and bird seeds from time to time. We never saw him again after we returned from the US at the end of July. For more photos, please click here.

Adaptation is the name of the game…

Posted by worldwide-admin on May 26, 2022 with 2 Comments

Tom was feeding eggs to a large band of mongooses. We were happy to see them since they can keep the snake population at bay around the house.

As much as we love being back in Marloth Park, we realize we need to adapt once again after being in the US for almost two months. No, it’s not as if we were out and about much while there, but we quickly rolled back into our old ways of the conveniences offered in the US. Of course, prices on everything are reflected in the significant price differential.

But the differences aren’t all wrapped up in making purchases. They are mainly centered around the nuances of daily life. Here are some examples:

Each time we go inside the house from the veranda, we have to bring our laptops and phones inside with us, even if we are going to the bathroom or getting a coffee cup and closing and closing the doors. There are two reasons for this. Some thieves watch the bush houses to see if anything valuable is left outside. Two, the baboons and monkeys could get into the house or damage the equipment outdoors.
It’s a long drive to the market, about 25 minutes. The little local markets have very few items. Yesterday I needed sour cream to make salad dressing. There was none to be found anywhere in Marloth Park or any salad dressing other than Greek which neither of us likes.
Extra care must be taken when using the septic system and hot water. Generally, the water pressure is low.
Load shedding: This occurred (power outage) last night from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm and can occur twice to four times a day. It will happen again tonight at the same time as last night. We ensure we’ve had dinner, are doing the dishes, and have battery-operated lights handy.
WiFi can go out during load shedding or other times. Since Louise and Danie installed inverters for us, we’ll have WiFi on most occasions to stream our shows at night.
There is no dishwasher at this house and never a clothes dryer. Zef and Vusi will do our laundry, but we’ll do our own once it’s busy here.
Extra caution must be exercised when driving to avoid hitting the animals crossing the road. This includes watching for snakes, rodents, dung beetles, and mongooses.
No TV on the main floor. It’s not that we spend time watching TV; we don’t. But we may check out news from time to time. Instead, we use our phones and laptops for news updates.
We must drive small, inexpensive cars due to recent increases in car rental prices. These car types don’t handle the pot-hole-ridden dirt roads very well in Marloth Park.
Insects, mosquitoes, snakes, and other “creepy crawlers” are in the bush year-round, although they are considerably less right now since winter is approaching. (We are in the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are opposite the Northern Hemisphere). It’s necessary to use powerful insect repellent at all times of the year on all exposed skin.
Limited shopping. If we need a clothing item, there isn’t a local shop that will carry the products we’d be interested in buying. Online stores have inconsistent sizing, making it difficult to order anything online and feel assured it will fit. If we need non-clothing items, brand names are expensive since they are imported.
Shipping items from the US is costly. A typical 20-pound, 9 kg package can cost around the US $400, ZAR 6277 when it’s necessary to use fast shipping through DHL or FedEx and pay customs fees when the items arrive.
Problems using ATMs. If an ATM is not associated with a specific bank and is located at a bank, it’s challenging to get the machines to work to obtain cash. When we arrived in Johannesburg, we had to go to four ATMs to get one to work. This is common.
Due to Covid and employee shortages, it isn’t easy to get responses from many service-orientated businesses.
An adorable male duiker stopped by.

Well, I suppose I could go on and on. But, what it boils down to is that we so appreciate the wildlife, the scenery, and the people, items such as the above are a small price to pay. In no time at all, we get into the groove, finding ourselves comfortable and fitting into the environment.

This morning we had no less than 25 impalas in the garden with one male and the rest females and babies. It’s called a harem.

Last night’s dinner of well-seasoned bacon-wrapped filet mignon, rice (for Tom), and a big salad was all we needed. We cooked on the braai whilel it was dark outside, and we still had electricity for lights. It was terrific dining at the outdoor table amid the night sounds of the bush.

Our first wildebeest visitor ate some pellets and took a nap outside our bedroom window.

Yesterday, I made the terrible mistake of taking a two-hour nap during the day, which I never do. As a result, sleep was elusive last night. Today, I’ll be more careful and not sleep until bedtime. Since we were infected with Covid, we both have been napping on and off during the day. Hopefully, soon, the need to do that will pass.

Our wildebeest stopped for a drink from the pool before he left with a female impala looking on.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 26, 2021:

Frank and The Misses share their seeds with two hornbills. They all got along quite well. We haven’t seen any francolins here yet. But, we set up the bird feeder and shall see what happens. For more photos, please click here.

Vague and confusing rules to re-enter South Africa…Three days and counting…

Posted by worldwide-admin on May 19, 2022 with 0 Comment

If I could eat sweets, most likely I’d choose some of these. We wondered what they did with the items that didn’t sell and how many days they stayed in the case.

As it turned out, the two Covid-19 antigen tests we purchased at Walgreens are not suitable for travel. In my state of COVID brain fog, along with a long queue in the pharmacy that day, I failed to ask the question to the pharmacist before I purchased the kits.

We’d used the same brand name kit to enter the US, but apparently, the tests I purchased in the US don’t have the red stripe across the box. It is the brand name, but it didn’t say it couldn’t be used for travel. Upon further investigation online, Tom discovered these test kits wouldn’t work.

These baked goods for sale at the Lucky Penny are much larger than they appear in this photo.

The next point was the confusion over whether South Africa requires a PCR or antigen test. According to several government sites, on March 22, 2022, it was no longer necessary to have a PCR test to enter the country if a person had a valid vaccination card.

The tricky part is they won’t accept the CDC white vaccination cards, which we have. They will only accept a vaccination certificate with a QR code.

These baked goods are twice the size of those you’d find in a bakery. Everything in Las Vegas is vast!

Yesterday afternoon, we spent hours finding out where and how we could get such a certificate. If we had weeks to spare, we could request it and get it in the mail at our “home” address. Well, that doesn’t work for us. Our only option is to get a new PCR test at a drive-through at CVS pharmacy. We don’t have a car. We’ll have to pay for a taxi to take us to CVS’s drive-through to get the test.

But that expense is a lot less than having a company come to the hotel to do our tests. After checking with the concierge, we discovered the cost is US $199 per person. Our taxi bill will be a lot less than the US $398.

These macaroons were the size of a man’s fist and stuffed with something creamy.

This is a bit frustrating, especially after all we’ve been through the past four-plus weeks. Our two tests are booked at a nearby CVS for 11:00, and 11:10 am tomorrow. We should have the results by Saturday, which we’ll print at the hotel, along with our rental agreement with Louise, which is required to enter the country for three months.

The next hurdle we had to handle was that we couldn’t find confirmation for the 90-day car rental for the vehicle we’re picking up at Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport (MQP). Indeed the issue was more about Covid brain fog and our lack of ability to locate the booking information easily. This has never been an issue for us. I always enter the booking details on our Cozi travel calendar. There was nothing there.

These massive chocolate cream puffs made my mouth water. The brownies on the far right were at least 4″ squares.

We spent at least two hours figuring out which car rental company we’d used and which company was supplying the car. We went through past credit card statements and finally found three small deposits we’d paid in March. Finally, we figured it out, after calling the company..

This error occurred when we were rushed to book this entire trip to the US, one hotel and flight after another. When we returned to South Africa, the records for that one rental car fell through the cracks when we were swamped booking flights and vehicles for Florida, Minnesota, and Nevada.

Yes, we love bacon, but I’m not sure about chocolate-covered bacon. Thank goodness I can’t have sugar. I’d have been tempted to try it. I encouraged Tom to try one of these fantastic items, but he prefers plain old-fashioned doughnuts, which weren’t available.

Thankfully, all is fine now, and the car will be waiting for us at the airport next Tuesday. However, we weren’t able to secure a straight 90-day booking. Every 30 days, we’ll have to return the car to Nelspruit (a three-hour turnaround) to sign another 30-day contract. However, we will make every effort to convince them to let us send them photos of the car and odometer readings to allow us to keep it the entire time. We shall see how that goes.

Whew! Lots of challenges this time around. Fortunately, with sheer determination, I managed to set up my new laptop completely, finishing early this morning. That’s a relief to have out of the way. In the next few days, we’ll reorganize the contents of our luggage, weighing everything to ensure we comply. Then, at 4:00 am Sunday, we’ll leave the hotel for the airport.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 19, 2021:

This photo astounded us. See the post for details of the unusual phenomenon from our trail cam in Marloth Park. For more information, please click here.

A new plan for the next year…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 31, 2022 with 0 Comment

As it turned out, we’re booking the new house in Marloth Park for one full year, during which we’ll leave from time to time for new visa stamps. We plan to do one more visa extension through the law firm, and we’ll be going for cruises at other times. Subsequently, we’ll only have to leave once for a visa run during the 12 months. This works out well for us.

Are we settling down in Marloth Park? No. We’re using it as a base until after we return from the Lisbon to Cape Town cruise in December, leaving us six more months of the one-year rental contract from which we’ll embark on more cruises. After that year ends, we will leave South Africa for new and different horizons. But, for this particular period, it works for us.

Are we done with staying in holiday homes for two or three months in various countries? Not necessarily. In the interim, we can live well below our budget to offset the cost of the cruises. But with the cost of holiday homes skyrocketing worldwide due to the pandemic, we’ve had no choice but to reconsider what works best for us.

We have seen an increase in holiday rents, not only in the UK and Europe but also worldwide. We are not wealthy people who can spend thousands of dollars a month on rentals. Nor are we willing to forgo our criteria of living in nice properties in safe neighborhoods, in excellent condition, with utilities included and unlimited WiFi. We can’t justify forfeiting any of these critical requirements.

For those of our readers who have grown weary of wildlife photos, we apologize when we say there will be plenty more to come once we return to Marloth Park on May 24. The difference will be an entirely new batch of animals, with new names, new behavior, and the plethora of peculiarities we find in the bush.

If we named our site Worldwide Wildlife Adventures, a steady stream of animal photos would be expected. So, from that point forward during the upcoming year, you may ask yourself, would I read such a daily blog? Would I become bored with one wild animal after another?

If your answer is that you would be bored, then please check back from time to time to see what adventures are upcoming or perhaps wait until we are on the move again. On November 8, 2022, we’re sailing through the Middle East, including visiting Israel and many other countries.

On August 1, 2023, we will finally be sailing to Norway, a new experience for us. Thus, during this one year, we won’t be sitting on the veranda the entire time, tossing pellets to our newly named animal friends and heading to Jabula every Friday night. There definitely will be some adventures along the way.

Our lives are not long-term vacation/holiday. It is a compilation of experiences in many cultures, focused on nature, building relationships we make along the way, and learning about the world’s ways. Our goal is to remain intrigued while continuing to grow and flourish in many environments. Staying stimulated by our surroundings is a fantastic means of maintaining a youthful outlook and demeanor.

As long as our health remains good, we will continue on this path. When that changes, which it ultimately will, we will make another plan. Also, based on great medical care, we feel incredibly at ease in Marloth Park.

So, there it is, dear readers, our plan for the upcoming year. It begins when we return to South Africa on May 24; after our two upcoming cruises, a two-week visit to Minnesota with another one-week visit to Nevada. From there, we’ll embark on the long journey to return to South Africa.

We are content with our plans and hope most of our readers will continue to share this peculiar life with us. We’ll be back tomorrow with some exciting photos of “safari luck” in Florida after sightseeing.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 31, 2021:

Frank was standing on the veranda railing. For more photos, please click here.

Final post from Marloth Park…Surprising news on our itinerary…Some of our favorite photos…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 23, 2022 with 0 Comment

We always had a reason to celebrate. Here is Don (Kathy and Don) and Rita (Rita and Gerhard) at Jabula celebrating our friendships.

Note: Due to the high volume of tourists in Marloth Park right now, during school holidays, the WiFi is sketchy and inconsistent. Subsequently, I am unable to make formatting corrections including spacing and adding some links. We’re sorry for the inconvenience. After all, TIA (This is Africa)!

It’s Wednesday morning, and we’re almost totally packed and ready to go. All that’s left is to pack the everyday toiletries when Tom showers soon, and we’ll close our bags. We aren’t worried about overweight baggage this time since we’re allowed two 23 kg (50 pounds) bags each, and we only have three.

We packed one of the duffle bags into another suitcase since we’ll need extra room when we go on the cruises for the dressy clothes we’ll be packing for the Queen Mary 2. Once we get to Minnesota on May 1, we can send the formal attire to our mailing service to hold for us until we need them again.

A female kudu, in a daze from oxpeckers cleaning bugs off her ears and head. For this post, please click here.

I suppose you are curious about our itinerary news, and I should get on with it. After days of research and discussion, we’ve decided to return to Marloth Park on May 24, only 62 days from today. A few factors contributed to this decision, including the difficulty we encountered in traveling to many countries at this time. We considered increased costs, fuel shortages, and overall excessive cost of living due to the ravages of each economy as a result of the pandemic and now the war in Ukraine.

I.B. (Itchy Butt) laying in the wet, muddy cement pond, attempting to ease the itching. For this post, please click here.

There is so much unrest in many countries with poor economic conditions, political unrest, poor medical care, prohibitive medical costs, and the list goes on and on. We’ve decided, for now, making Marloth Park a base from which we’ll continue to travel and embark on cruises makes all the financial sense in the world.

We never figured out what this peculiar apparition that appeared on the night cam could possibly be. For that post, please click here.

Yes, we’ll have visa issues, but we know how to deal with these issues. We can travel to other countries in Africa for short stay safaris and expeditions and then return with a new 90-day visa stamp. Once back here in May, we won’t have to leave until August for a visa stamp. We can either fly to a non-bordering country or start a new visa extension. The new stamp will be good until November when we’re planning to leave anyway.

Our friend Frank, of Frank and The Misses francolins, had a self-tour of our house, including the kitchen. For that post, please click here.

In November, we’ll make our way to Athens, Greece, for three back-to-back Azamara cruises for a total of 42 days, which brings us to Cape Town, South Africa, when we’ll make our way back to Marloth Park and begin the cruising booking process all over again, as new cruises are posted. These new cruises will take us to many new countries we’ve never visited in the past.

This was the third photo I got of the leopard, hoping for a better shot, the best of which is the main photo. For that post, please click here.

We realize that spending one or two days on a ship excursion is not the same as living in a country for a few months as we’ve done in the past. But, our travels are an ever-changing adventure, and we have to do what feels right to us. In between adventures, we’ll enjoy our lives to the utmost in our favorite secluded place in the world. Undoubtedly, South Africa has its issues but is tucked away in the bush; we feel far removed from many issues. For now, this plan is precisely befitting our needs.

When thick-tailed bushbabies are around, the usual small bushbabies run for cover. The larger species will kill the little ones. For this post, please click here.

We have lots of wonderful friends here. We have a constant stream of entertainment as wildlife visits our garden. It’s only a 20-minute drive to enter Kruger National Park. We have access to excellent medical and dental care at affordable prices and insurance covering emergencies. Although smaller than Amazon, we can shop at markets that have all the food products we like to purchase and the excellent online shopping service, Takealot, although smaller than Amazon, carries most items we need to buy from time to time.

This adorable zebra was lounging in our garden. He must have spotted something interesting on the ground. For this post, please click here.

On top of it all, we will be moving into a different house when we return, as shown in photos in this post and in this post. We are excited about moving into this property when we return in May. It has everything we could want or need.

Mom, with the perfect curled tusks, whom we now call Tail-Less Mom, who lost her tail, also lost one of these babies, since then only returning with the fast-growing two piglets. For this post, please click here.

We realize and accept the reality that we may lose some of our readers from making this temporary decision. But, we hope those of you who decide to opt-out make a note of days we’ll be visiting other countries and will stop back to see our stories and photos.

The beautiful Christmas dinner table at Sindee and Bruce’s lovely home in the bush. Dawn was taking a photo of Sindee and the serving table, a short time later filled with great food. For this post, please click here.

For now, the next two months will be exciting for us:

15 nights in Apollo Beach, Florida
13 nights on a transatlantic cruise on Celebrity Silhouette to Southampton, UK
3 nights in Southampton, sightseeing
7 nights on transatlantic return cruise on Queen Mary 2 to New York
14 nights in Minnesota visiting family and friends
7 nights in Henderson, Nevada, visiting family and friends
Return to Marloth Park

It was Rita’s birthday and she and Gerhard took all of us on a bush dinner and night game drive. For this post including great wildlife photos, please click here.

Louise and Danie hosted the best possible birthday gift for me, a visit to an in-the-wild elephant interaction. For this post, please click here.

The above number of nights doesn’t account for the 62 days we’ll be gone, but the long travel days to and from Africa make up the difference. There are many time zone changes in this period that, hopefully, we’ll adapt to with ease.

Today may be the last time we see Little since we’re moving to another house a few km from here. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll find us once again. Little was thrilled we’d returned from Zambia in October 2021 when he stopped by at his usual 4:00 pm. Immediately, he positioned himself on the right side of the veranda, near where I sit, waiting for his treats and words of affection (from me only). For this post, please click here.

So there it is folks, Next time we write to you, most likely it will be from Apollo Beach, Florida, unless we have time on one of our layovers for a quick update.

Be well. Be happy. Live life to the fullest.

Photo from one year ago today, March 23, 2021:

A male bushbuck with a plant growing from his muddy hoof after a big storm. It made us laugh out loud. For more, please click here.

One day and counting…Final expenses for 14 months in South Africa…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 22, 2022 with 0 Comment

Bossy’s baby suckling while another female looks for pellets.

Today, I started totaling the expenses we had incurred since our arrival here in Marloth Park on January 13, 2021. As I reviewed all the costs and started totaling them, I realized what a daunting, time-consuming task this would be. We still have a lot to do to be ready to go tomorrow. Plus, I need to do my walking after missing several hours while we were gone this morning for our Covid-19 PCR test, a trip to the pharmacy, and breakfast at Stoep Cafe.

Subsequently, the following figures are within 10% of accuracy in an attempt to get through today’s post in a timely fashion and rounded off to the nearest US dollar.

Final Expenses – 14 months*
Marloth Park – January 13, 2021, to March 23, 2022
US Dollar ZAR
Rent & Hotel $ 38,056 566144
Air, Train, Ferry 8,975 133533
Taxi, Car Rental, Fuel 8,256 122836
Entertainment 898 13361
Dining Out 4,760 70799
Groceries 12,040 179079
Shopping (Misc.) 4,080 60684
Tips 2,460 36587
Legal Fees-Visa Ext. 2,280 33910
Medical, dental & Ins. 13,300 197810

TOTAL $95,105 1414487
Monthly Average $ 6,793 101029
Daily Average $ 219 3245

* Included in these totals was the cost for the one-month trip to the USA in July and a 5 night stay in Zambia for a visa stamp.

When totaling up these numbers, I was surprised by how much we spent. But, since we arrived here, we’ve had several expenses that brought up the totals to the result. The trip to the US was three times higher than what we’d have spent living in Marloth Park. Also, we had expensive hotel bills, more expensive rental cars, and dining out daily (also included in these totals). When we left for that month, we kept the house and paid rent while we were away.

It makes more financial sense for us to be in Marloth Park than living in the US or many other countries. Prices are rising here but nowhere near as quickly as they are in the US.

Of course, I am busy as I can be today, making sure everything is in order, including what we’re taking with us and what we’re leaving behind, including clothing and household goods that we’ll use later when we return. Trying to get the walking accomplished today will be the biggest challenge. As I write this now, it’s already 2:00 pm, 1400 hrs, and we’re heading out the door at 4:30 pm, 1630 hrs to meet Louise and Danie at Giraffe for one last night together.

These moms often visit, looking for treats.

They returned ten days ago from their trip to visit family in Cape Town, and we’ve yet to have a moment to hear about their trip. With the school holidays in full force in South Africa now and all of their properties full, they’ve had their hands full with visitors at the houses and to their Info Centre.

The Info Centre is indeed a fabulous place for tourists and locals to stop to arrange safaris and other events and hear about what’s going on in the park. They loan out books and puzzles at no charge. What a fantastic resource for visitors! It’s a wonderful place to stop and meet Louise and sometimes Danie when he’s not out at building sites.

An impala mom and her baby visit our garden. Impalas are very shy around humans, so I had to take this photo through the screen door, or they’d run away.

This morning’s trip to Komatipoort accomplished everything we expected, except our expectation of finding a large plastic tote with a lid. If a person wanted to buy these, they’d have to make the long drive to Nelspruit, the same drive we’ll make tomorrow when we head to the airport in the afternoon for our flight to Johannesburg to begin the long journey to Florida, USA.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 22, 2021:

These same three wildebeests are lounging in the driveway right now. They were happy to see us when we returned from Komatipoort today. For more photos, please click here.

Two days and counting…A smooth transition so far…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 21, 2022 with 0 Comment

Mom and Baby mongoose sucking out white and yolk from an egg.

It’s all going well. We are feeling organized, and everything is getting sorted and packed. It seems it works better for us when we pack over several days rather than rushing on the last few days, especially when we’ve accumulated more stuff than usual during the past 14 months.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. We’ll be heading to Komatipoort for the required Covid-19 PCR tests and will get the results by email on Wednesday morning, the day we’re leaving. We’ll have Louise print off the report, the only item we need to have printed.

Over the years, we’ve found we don’t need paper copies of flights, hotels, cruises, and car rentals as long as we have the reservation or confirmation numbers on our phones. The documents may say to print a copy, but we’ve done fine without hauling pages and pages of documents. It’s wasteful and unnecessary in the majority of cases. Once we show our passports, providers can easily find us in their system.

How quickly the youngsters learn the value of an egg.

We’ve gone through all of the Covid-19 restrictions for this upcoming flight and our two upcoming cruises. It’s all under control. We’re pleased with how organized we’ve become over the years. But, it took us a while to learn the best way to handle all the necessary documents clearly and concisely. There is so much paperwork it can be overwhelming without an easy-to-use system.

But, who knew how to travel the world? In the beginning, technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now. And yet, in some countries, technology is far behind, and actual printed pieces of paper are required for many venues, rentals, and other services. We continue to learn as we go.

Today, I did laundry for the last time. With the high humidity, clothes usually take two days to dry, so today was the day to wrap that up. The cupboards are empty of our foodstuffs, and the refrigerator only contains enough food for tonight’s dinner. Tomorrow morning when we head to Komatipoort, we’ll have breakfast at Stoep Cafe.

This little one was unsure how to crack open the two eggs.

We’re going out to dinner at Giraffe with Louise and Danie tomorrow evening. We always enjoy their company. It will be wonderful to spend our last evening in the bush with them.

Throughout all of this busy packing, I’ve continued walking, staying at a full 25 miles, 40 km, per week. Even when we’ve been out for the majority of the day, I catch up when we return or, in a few cases, add to the next day. Surely, while traveling, I should be able to keep pace with all of the walking at airports.

There’s no doubt we’ll be exhausted when we arrive in Tampa. Thank goodness the drive to Karen and Rich’s house is less than 40 minutes, in regular traffic. They are planning a nice dinner for us. Karen wrote a thoughtful message, asking if we would prefer to eat a light meal when we arrive since it will be later at night to us, after being awake all night.

I explained how that wouldn’t be an issue for us. We prefer to immediately adapt to the new time zone, eating and sleeping based on the times of the day and night where we are currently. This helps us to acclimate more quickly and avoid severe jet lag. Usually, after two good nights’ sleep, we are back to our “old selves.” But, on a few occasions, we were a little tired for a few more days. Missing a night’s sleep in itself can cause that!

When we arrive, we’ll avoid napping and get into the groove as soon as possible. Surely, by 10:00 pm, 2200 hrs, we’ll be ready for bed on Thursday, our day of arrival. Thanks to Karen and Rich for thinking of us and inviting us to stay at your lovely home. I can’t wait to see the ocean once again!

Two little ones were trying to get in on the action.

That’s all for today, folks. It’s time for me to start walking again to ensure I stay on track. When we get to Florida, I may be able to walk outdoors, hopefully, avoiding running into any alligators!!! Then again, it would be fun to take a photo!!!

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, March 21, 2021:

Frank eats out of the seed container. There were so many warthogs in the garden I set this down for Frank. The warthogs love to eat the seeds, leaving none for Frank. This was a good solution at that point to ensure Frank and The Misses got their share. For more photos, please click here.

Three days and counting…We’ve accumulated too much “stuff!”…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 20, 2022 with 0 Comment

This is Bossy’s baby who may be a boy with a lumpy structured forehead that will eventually have a full set of horns that last a lifetime.

I am busy sorting and packing, deciding what to leave behind for when we return, what to throw away, what to pack in our bags, and carry-on. Tom packs all of his clothes and digital equipment, and zillions of power cords. But, as always, which he prefers, he doesn’t start until the day before we leave.

Since I am the cook, I prefer to pack all the kitchen items we’re leaving behind since we aren’t taking any of those items with us. Also, Louise provided us with many household goods from her inventory, and we are sorting and keeping those separate to return to her. It’s been a daunting task.

Bossy arrived with three young calves. She was on babysitting duty.

Usually, when we’re moving out of a holiday home, we only have to pack our clothes, toiletries, and equipment. But, this time, it feels like another time in my life, many moons ago, when moving from one house to another. Every cupboard, drawer, and cabinet in this house has our “stuff” in it.

It’s not as if we did a monthly run to Costco, loading up on inventory of household goods. But, over the 14 months, we’ve spent in this house, we accumulated enough to make packing more challenging this time. I have run out of room in the two plastic totes I borrowed from Louise, and she, too, is also out of empty containers. Soon, we are heading to the hardware store to see if we can find a few more bins.

Two youngsters were fussing over one another.

As for leftover food, we are in great shape. We will have used every frozen item and all meats by tomorrow night. Tuesday, we’re dining out with Louise and Danie on our last night. Tonight and tomorrow night, we’ll be eating grilled chicken breasts with sausages, green beans, rice (for Tom), and salad. We’re using all of our eggs and bacon. Since we don’t snack, we don’t have leftover chips and other snack bags to toss.

The few things left in the fridge, such as unopened butter, cheese, sour cream, and a few condiments, we’ll give to Zef and Vusi. Plus, I have accumulated a pile of clothing for their wives and daughters in good condition, which they may or may not be able to use.

It was tricky getting the three young kudus in one photo.

Shortly after returning from the local hardware store, unable to find any large plastic containers, Vusi showed up at the door with another large empty tote. Louise emptied it so we could use it. That’s her! She’s always thinking of everyone else. They are such great friends and the best property managers in the world. We know from experience!

We enjoy our wildlife friends in the garden even though it’s a school holiday and the park is packed with tourists. We couldn’t believe the number of tourists at the shops, the water park at the Bush Centre, and the restaurants. At these holiday times, we don’t often see many animals. But these boys and girls know, after 14 months, which “side their bread is buttered on.” Pellets are still offered in abundance.

Here’s all three of them together. Kudus are very social animals.

We have over two 40 kg, 88 pounds bags of pellets left to use before we go in three days. Certainly, we’ll have no trouble getting them tossed into the garden in the next few days.

Our flight from Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport is at 6:30 pm, 1830 hrs, so we don’t have to leave here on Wednesday until about 3:00 pm, 1500 hrs, leaving us plenty of time to drive the problematic N4 highway, in the event of any unforeseen slowdowns.

Are we excited about our upcoming visit with Karen and Rich in Apollo Beach, Florida? Absolutely! We missed their wedding due to Omicron, and it will be fantastic to spend time with them at their oceanfront home. As for the two cruises, we’re very excited to be cruising again and surely will enjoy both Atlantic crossings on two very different ships.

Then, of course, we’re excited to spend time with our adult kids, grandchildren, Tom’s siblings, and hopefully, my sister Julie (who may come from LA) in Minnesota and then off to Las Vegas/Henderson, Nevada, to see son Richard and his girlfriend. If time allows, we hope to see some of the many friends we left behind in 2012 when we began to travel.

Thanks to many of our readers who have written to wish us safe travels. Finally, you’ll be able to read and see photos of something other than wild animals in our garden! They never bore us, but they may have become “old news” to all of you.

We hope you have a pleasant Sunday. We’ll be back tomorrow with more!

Photo from one year ago today, March 20, 2021:

These three warthogs, whom we’ve named Bennie, Hennie, and Lennie, visit several times a day. But in the past several months we haven’t seen them together. For more photos, please click here.

Four days and counting…Busy packing the house…

Posted by worldwide-admin on March 19, 2022 with 0 Comment

Look how swollen Big Daddy’s neck signifies he’s ready to mate. Amazing!!!

The only time since we began traveling in 2012 that we stayed in one property for over a year was here in Marloth Park when I had heart surgery, and we didn’t leave for 15 months, the final three of which I spent recovering to become well enough to travel.

Now, during times of the pandemic, we will have lived here for 14 months due to many travel restrictions in force all over the world. We would have left sooner had it been a little easier to travel. In the past 14 months, we left, once to Zambia for a week and another time to the US for a month.

On another occasion, we’d booked an exciting trip to Kenya, which was canceled due to Covid-19. Is it any wonder we were hesitant to book anything when we’d already lost so much money due to the pandemic in the past two years? In many cases, we got most of the money back, but it required hours and hours of phone calls, documentation, and applying pressure to the providers to give us a refund.

We became weary of all of these issues. We’re facing another possible cancellation on the cruise scheduled to travel to Ukraine. We’ve decided we won’t accept the Black Sea price to swap out for the Greek Islands. We’ve done that route in the past, and we’re not willing to pay twice as much as other such cruises are charging right now.

We’ve been watching opinions from other passengers on that cruise via cruisecritic.com. They feel like us. They want their money back. If we apply for the refund now, we will get 100% of what we paid, applied to a future cruise which must be used by the end of 2022 or one year from the original cruise date, whichever is later. That may not work for us. We’d be happy to have them apply the funds to the other cruises we have booked with Azamara.

However, if enough passengers cancel, the cruise line will cancel the cruise. According to Azamara’s cancellation policy, if they cancel a cruise, we’d get 125% of the cost of the cruise as a future credit since it’s only a 600 passenger cruise with most likely only 500 passengers that would account for approximately 250 cabins.

Thus, instead of canceling now, we will wait a few weeks and see if the cruise line cancels. We’ll receive a 100% credit for everything we’ve already paid in advance to Costco Travel in the worst case. Whew!

As for the packing, after living in this house for so long, the packing is more complicated than usual. Since we are returning before too long, we are leaving the non-perishable kitchen items in a big tote. Also, we’re leaving some clothing that we won’t need on the cruises or in the US to lighten the load.

I fed him an entire bag of whole large carrots. He inhaled them in seconds. He was quite thrilled with the treat.

We are allowed two 23 kg (50 pounds) bags each. We will each bring our largest bag, the yellow supply bag, one duffle bag along with two carry-on bags for me, and the computer bag for Tom. We’ll have to pay baggage fees on the US flights (one to Minneapolis and the other to Las Vegas). There’s nothing we can do about that.

After all, we’ll be sailing on two very distinct cruises in the next six weeks, and we’ll need different clothes for each, although some everyday items will work for both voyages.

That’s it for today, folks. Enjoy your weekend!

Photo from one year ago today, March 19, 2021:

Tag: South Africa