Part 2…Exciting birthday plans revealed…Please watch our video!!!..This is the fifth time my birthday was spent in the bush!…

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Let me start with this. I’d planned on doing a comprehensive post on our elephant interaction yesterday morning at Kwa Madwala, with photos and stories from earlier days when it was open to the public. Today is a brutally hot and humid day with around 90F, 32C, but the dew point is 73. The air is so thick it’s almost hard to breathe, and I’m struggling to get motivated, a rarity for me.

Based on hard times over the past few years and the financial ravages of Covid-19, the formerly famous game reserve has been closed for almost two years. It has become rundown, requiring a massive renovation and restoration. Plans are in the works to bring this magical place back to life next year.

Tom touched the soft velvet-like skin on the back of the elephant’s ear while Louise waited to do the same.

Online is it described as follows:

“This unique hilltop camp is without a doubt the true pride of the Kruger Park south area. In 2000 the neighboring farms abandoned hunting which was very much in vogue and joined the vision in terms of eco-tourism, and the name was changed to Kwa Madwala, meaning ‘the place of the rock’ in Swazi.”

I’d hoped to find a website for the reserve, but unfortunately, their site is no longer active, and there was very little information online to aid in the preparation of today’s post. The guide at the property, one of two that introduced us to the two wild elephants, told a story about the property while I was engrossed in taking photos and watching the magnificent beasts.

Tom filled me in on the details today to help me share the remarkable story of the elephants and how they came to become such an integral part of the property.

Rita was sitting on his leg after he lay down.

There are seven elephants in the herd. Yesterday, we met two of them, a female and a larger male, brother and sister. Two calves were born in the past few years, a few years apart. Years ago, the plan in the area was to cull the elephants due to some economic reasons.

The elephants were rescued and moved to the bush near the reserve and placed in a boma while they were cared for and fed in an attempt to get them used to be around humans. It took over 18 months of loving and gentle care to watch the elephants change from hostile wild animals to gentle giant beasts, suitable to being around visitors and guests of the reserve.

Danie and Louise were hanging onto our elephant’s tusks.

No ropes, chains, or disciplinary instruments were used on the animals at any point. A thoughtful food reward program was instituted from the start, and in time, they associated humans with kindness and tasty fruits, vegetables, and pellets.

The female elephant, the first one shown, is 34 years old, and the male, her brother, is 30 years old. We couldn’t have enjoyed the experience more. When the elephants had enough of us, they wandered off after the handler jumped off and returned to grazing in the bush. They are not fenced or chained. What a fantastic experience!

Gerhard and Rita interact with the friendly and gentle elephant.

After the elephants left, Louise and Danie set up a fabulous brunch for us and Rita and Gerhard. There, at the picnic table on the resort’s veranda, the enjoyment of the special day continued with great food, drinks, and conversation. A special thanks to Louise and Danie for managing a way for us to get into this now-closed venue and be a part of this extraordinary experience. The elephants were happy to interact with humans and show off their skills once again. Such amazing animals. Such a fantastic day.

Louise and Danie served a delicious platter of low-carb treats. Even the crackers were low carb!

Wow! It was a fabulous birthday! Tomorrow, we’ll share Part 3 of my birthday celebrations when our group dined at Jabula and had one heck of a good time.

Thanks to our readers, family, and friends who sent me countless birthday wishes. It meant the world to me!

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

My birthday last year was also at Jabule with our dear friends Louise and Danie. They have a magical way of making every get-together special. For more, please click here.

Finally booked our flights and rental car for the USA in 32 days…Sailing across the sea in 48 days…

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Big Daddy comes right up to the veranda to let us know he has arrived!

After spending the past 13 months in Marloth Park and the prior ten months in lockdown in a hotel room in Mumbai, we are ready to be on the move once again. Don’t get me wrong. We have enjoyed Marloth Park as much as ever, if not more than all of our prior visits to the bush. But, after feeling a little confined, we are ready to return to our lives of world travel.

I must admit we have procrastinated booking our flight and rental car, waiting to see if the upcoming transatlantic cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette would be canceled. Flights are booking up quickly, and we don’t want to lose the opportunity for the flights with the shortest duration. We can no longer wait.

Lots of girls and young ones in the garden.

It wasn’t easy finding a fair price. Car rentals are extremely high in the US, as much as seven times more than what we’ve been paying in South Africa. This time we got the best price we’ve seen in years in the US using the link on the right side of our home page with Auto Europe. We ended with a four-door Buick at US $688, ZAR 10400, a price we were thrilled to get for the 15-day rental, averaging at US $46, ZAR 695.

If you use this link on our site on the right side of the page, we receive a small commission. But you may get the benefit of a great price you may discover after shopping around online. Our goal is always to have our advertisers offer prices as good as you can get on your own and, on occasion, even better. Using our links makes us a little revenue that helps offset some of the cost of maintaining our site. Thank you to all of our readers who’ve been using our links.

Seigfried and Roy sharing pellets.

We booked the flight using our link for Expedia after shopping around for the best possible flight and pricing. Many flight apps don’t allow including the flight from Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger to be included in the package of flights. If it’s not included, we’d have to collect our bags in Johannesburg and check in a second time.

As it turned out, our flight on March 23 is a total of 27 hours, arriving in Tampa on March 24 at 1:55 pm, 1355 hrs. We’ll collect our bags and head to the Avis counter to get the car and then be on our way to newlywed friends Karen and Rich’s fabulous home in Apollo Beach, where we’ll stay until we leave for Fort Lauderdale on April 8 to board our cruise.

It will be wonderful to spend the two weeks with our friends. The four of us have great memories and so much in common. We are looking forward to being with them both.

A monitor lizard was scurrying off into the tall grass.

This morning I’ve been busy walking while stopping intermittently while we booked the flights and car. Louise loaned us some large totes to store items we would leave behind. Now we can relax for a while, having this out of the way. Soon, I’ll begin sorting and packing for the upcoming journey. After all, we will be back in Marloth Park in December, after arriving in Cape Town by cruise.

As mentioned earlier, we haven’t booked any holiday homes or hotels for the almost two months we’ll spend in the UK awaiting our next flight to Istanbul at the end of June. We won’t feel safe committing to holiday homes when the cruise could still be canceled last-minute, and we’ll have to make alternate plans as to how and where we’ll spend the time from April through June. We aren’t concerned about that now. It will all work out.

Today is a quiet day, spending lots of time with our furry friends who have been coming in droves all since early this morning. Now that I’m just about done with today’s post, almost completed today’s walking goal, and have most of tonight’s dinner for the braai ready to go, the remainder of the day will be easy and pleasant.

We hope your day is as easy and pleasant as ours.

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

Tiny’s best begging pose for more pellets. We haven’t seen him since we returned from the US at the end of July. We continue to call for him. For more photos, please click here.

Frustrating day attempting to resolve issues…

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Last night we took this blurry photo of our visiting porcupine through the glass and the screen doors to the veranda. If we’d opened either door it would have run away.

It was hot and humid. The dew point was 73, and the temperature was 93F, 34C. It felt as if it was much higher due to the thick and stifling air. Knowing I still had to do the walking, I struggled to follow my usual routine throughout the day. I set the alarm on my phone to remind me to walk every 15 minutes.

On less hot days, I set the alarm for every 20 minutes. Cook, walk, do post, walk, do laundry, walk, feed animals, walk. But yesterday was different. I spent the entire day on the phone, on hold cumulatively for hours, trying to figure out a solution for our cellphone situation. When they put me on hold, I’d walk, stopping when they came back online.

It was hopeless with Google Fi. They are suspending our service due to overuse of roaming data and phone, on or about March 12, which is 30 days from their original notification letter. We leave here on or about March 24. Most likely, today we’ll book our flight and rental car.

What a rare occasion! Broken Horn and Hal sharing pellets! We were thrilled to see them getting along so well.

From March 12th until we enter the US, we will be without phone service, when Google Fi service may or may not be restored automatically. If it is, it’s not a solution for us. Once we leave the country on April 8 to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to the UK, the service may be suspended once again.

Our only option is to sign up for a service such as T-Mobile with their senior international plan, which requires we call them once a month to “reactivate our service.” The cost for such a plan will be a little more than we’re paying now, but their international data is unlimited, which would enable us to make calls on Whatsapp, Skype, or other such online calling services.

When I spent an hour on the phone with T-Mobile yesterday, I concluded this would be our best option. I set a notice on my calendar to call them once a month on, let’s say, the first of each month to ensure our international service continues seamlessly. This calling requirement is weird, but it will provide service worldwide.

This was the first time we’d ever seen them together. They even politely sniffed each other’s butts, not unlike dogs would do.

In the interim, next time we go to Komatipoort for groceries, we’ll purchase SIM cards for our phones and will be able to talk and text. However, all our accounts are set up to send us texts at our current phone number. We may or may not lose our phone numbers.

If the service is restored once on US soil, we can quickly get to a T-Mobile store to get their SIM cards installed (our phones can’t sign up remotely to T-Mobile’s network), and we will be able to keep our current phone numbers. If the service is not restored with Google Fi, we will lose our phone numbers and reset our new numbers into each online app that texts us to verify transactions.

During the gap from March 12th on, we will have to make sure we request verification through email, if possible, or enter the SIM card phone number into each account. This could take quite some time to complete and then would have to be redone once we are in the US, one way or another, whether we can use our old numbers or have new phone numbers. It’s all a lot of extra work.

This adorable male impala whom we’ve named Chevy has been stopping by frequently.

A thoughtful reader and world traveler wrote to us last night explaining she is using T-Mobile’s international plan and is working for them with a few adjustments here and there. Thanks for writing, Lisa. We appreciate your input. We always value our readers sharing solutions for similar situations we encounter and sharing our solutions in our posts.

I made it through the day, managing to get all the information we needed and get in all but 500 steps of my usual routine. Today, I will make up for it. On Sunday, the day of my birthday, I doubt I will be able to get in all the steps. Louise and Danie have a surprise for us for my birthday and are picking us up at 9:15 am. We don’t have a clue what it will be. Whatever it is, I’m sure we will like it. They know me very well.

I hope you have a fantastic day and evening!

Photo from one year ago today, February 17, 2021:

Helmeted Guinea-fowl and their four chicks stop by daily for seeds. They are so shy it’s difficult to take a good photo when they don’t stay still for a moment. For more, please click here.

Results regarding our cell service…Google Fi…

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Two male elephants, one missing a tusk, walked along the river back, followed by several cattle egrets.

This morning I awoke to two annoying email messages. One was from Google Fi as follows:

“Hi, Jessica,

Thanks for contacting Google Fi support!

I see that you’ve contacted us to request an exception for international roaming. Let me look into this.

After reviewing your account, it shows that you are not verified via Sheer ID. Eligible users include Military statuses other than active duty or reservists, like retired.

Military or State Department employees who are in the US and don’t serve abroad
People that work on a military base but aren’t in the military, like contractors
Dependents who aren’t in the same group as the eligible military or State Department employee
If you fall under one of the above categories, please submit documentation through goo.gle/fi-sheerid. If your military status or branch isn’t listed as an option on the verification form, you’re not eligible for an exception. I hope this helps!

If you have any further concerns and questions, please reply to this email or contact us over Chat or phone (available with a limited team). We’re here to support you 24/7.

Thanks,

Sai

Google Fi Support”

When they were facing one another, it appeared they were communicating.

Subsequently, we will have to research a suitable alternative and set it up when we’re in the US at the beginning of April. This is frustrating. We purchased expensive Google phones for this purpose. Our phones will work with other providers, but the costs for data and calls will be outrageous on a roaming basis. We’ll update what we find here in the next week or so.

Secondly, we received an email from one of our credit cards:

“Thomas,

We’re writing to inform you of an upcoming account review scheduled for April 2022. Over the last several months, the highest balance on this account has been significantly lower than your credit limit. Because of this, your credit limit could be decreased following this review.

If your credit limit is decreased as a result of this review, we’ll notify you and make sure to keep your credit limit significantly above your highest balance from the previous two years.”

We have excellent credit. But now, when we haven’t used this particular card over the past year, why do they want to lower the credit line? That’s ridiculous! We called the company, opted out of the “review,” and tried to use this card regularly to avoid losing the good credit limit.

With these two things on our minds, we felt frustrated this morning. As soon as I’ve uploaded today’s post, I’ll get to work on researching a new cell provider, so we don’t have to spend a lot of time on this when we get to Florida. In any case, whichever company we choose will cost us a lot more than we’ve been paying. Our monthly bill with calls and data hasn’t ever been over US $80, ZAR 1206.

They walked in single file close to one another.

Many such issues exist for world travelers, including health insurance challenges. We will be in the US for about eight days. During that time, the only coverage we’ll have in the basic included Medicare plan, certainly not enough to cover in the event of a medical emergency. Our current health insurance with United Healthcare Global, SafeTrip, doesn’t provide any coverage in the US.

You may ask, “With these inconveniences, is it all worth it?”

We aren’t letting various agencies and organizations prevent us from our freedom of traveling as we choose. We often think of people in countries where they aren’t allowed to travel at their leisure. As US citizens, we are grateful that we can but never allow any company or provider to dictate what we can and can’t do.

If all else fails with cell service, we can always return to buying SIM cards in every country we visit. We did this for the first seven years of our world travel journey, and if we have to do it again, we will. It just seems illogical to go backward in technology based on some arbitrary regulations to make companies more money.

The larger male only had one tusk. There could be many reasons for this, including fighting with other elephants or animals or natural causes.

Anyway, on a lighter note, yesterday afternoon, we met Rita and Gerhard at Two Trees overlooking the Crocodile River. We didn’t see much. Many animals have access to water holes throughout Kruger National Park with the recent rains and may not venture down the steep ravine to the river to drink and cool off.

Fortunately, we took photos of these two elephants from afar. The photos aren’t as clear as we’d like, but they were across the river from us up a steep hill. They never came down to the river, although they stayed nearby. They appeared to be two males, one much larger than the other. They may have been “kicked out” of the main herd based on their ages.

Once an elephant reaches puberty and can impregnate females, they are banned from participating with the larger herd, usually by the matriarch. She intends to preserve the “family line” integrity by preventing young males from mating with their sisters and other family members. This makes so much sense. These wild beasts are so intelligent!

That’s it for today, folks. Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully, we’ll have found a resolution for our cell phone needs by then.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, February 16, 2021:

There was no post one year ago on this date due to a power and WiFi outage resulting from storms.

Weird…Google Fi stopping our data/cell service!..What???…Why???…

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This bushbuck, most likely Gordy, stood directly in front of the trail cam. It picked up this grasshopper close to his eye.

Last night, e received this email message from Google Fi, our data and phone service provider:

Google Fi

“As a reminder, Fi’s Terms of Service require you to use our service primarily in the United States (territories not included), and it looks like you’ve been predominantly using Fi abroad. In 30 days, we’ll need to suspend your international roaming data capabilities unless you start using Fi in the United States again (territories not included). Your calls and texts will not be impacted.

We may grant exceptions for military members and state department workers who are serving abroad. Please complete the following steps to request an exception.

  1. Go to offers.sheerid.com/google-fi/government
  2. Fill out the verification form (make sure to use your corresponding Fi email address)
  3. Submit the required documents

Once SheerID verifies your status, Fi will process your exception and you’ll be notified via email. This process usually takes 20 minutes, but up to a day in some cases. Visit our Help Center for more details.

Your phone number is safe on Fi until you cancel service or move it to another provider. If you believe you received this message in error, please contact Fi support.”

This is Thick Neck. He hasn’t been coming around as much as he did before Gordy claimed his territory. We can distinguish Gordy and Thick Neck from TN’s thicker neck and Adam’s Apple on his throat. Zoom in to see this anomaly.
As a result of receiving this letter, this morning I spent 45 minutes talking to their customer service department for a solution to this ridiculous policy. After all, we purchased a Google Pixel 4XL for its ability to provide international calling, texts, and data.
Also above, it says, “Your calls and texts will not be impacted.” But, after talking to the customer service department, we found this statement not to be true. Within hours or a few days of cutting us off, our ability to make a call or text will also be suspended.
Apparently, during the past year, Google Fi, a global cell service company, owned and operated by Google, made a decision to control how many phone calls, texts, and data a customer uses while outside the US. This is ridiculous. But, in speaking to an upper supervisor, after going through a few other people, they are going to “try” to come up with a resolution for us.  We should be receiving an update by email later today.
If they don’t, we’ll have a problem when we get to the US at the end of March. We won’t be able to use MAPS to get to Karen and Rich’s house in Apollo Beach or make a call to let them know we are on our way. Then, we’ll have to spend our one week in the US working on getting a new provider that is suitable for international travel.
Several kudus were in the garden including Bossy at the forefront.
We’ve already checked out some options online and there are some but all of them will cost us much more than we’ve been paying the past few years.
After spending so much time on the phone about this issue this morning, I’m behind on getting my steps done before we leave at 3:15 pm, 1515 hrs, to meet Rita and Gerhard at Two Trees overlooking the Crocodile River. It’s been so hot lately, we haven’t felt like going. But today it is only 81F, 28C, with the dew point at 70, so it should be comfortable by that time. It’s amazing how high humidity can make lower temperatures feel so uncomfortable.
Otherwise, not much else is going on here. The animals have returned to our garden after the busy holidaymaker’s weekend has ended. I have everything prepped for tonight’s dinner for when we return from the river. All that is left is making Tom’s white rice, cooking the green beans, tossing the salad, and cutting up our leftover meat; chicken for me, roast beef for Tom.
We heard from friend Karen that their wedding was a huge hit. The only glitch was that her brother got Covid in Florida and wasn’t able to walk her down to the aisle. Instead, her adult son Jack did the honors. We wish we could have been there. If we had, it may have seemed that we brought the Covid with us since many people in the US are terrified to be around anyone from South Africa. And yet, the number of cases is so much less per capita here in South Africa than in the US. Sensationalized news rules the world.
But, soon we will see Karen and Rich and most certainly we’ll all have a great time together. We are all looking forward to that time in about six weeks.
We will report back on what Google Fi came up with in regard to a solution for our ongoing world travel cell service.
We hope you have a pleasant day.

Photo from one year ago today, February 15, 2021:

What’s with the uneven ossicones? Too cute for words. For more photos, please click here.

Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate…

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Happy Valentine’s Day to our friends and family all over the world

Today is Valentine’s Day, celebrated in one way or another throughout the world. I found this website listing how a few countries celebrate this day of love, a few of which I am sharing below using their photos:

Finland and Estonia

“While Valentine’s Day is celebrated with cards, candy, and flowers in North America, other places around the world put their spin on the holiday. They may celebrate a little differently now to ensure social distance, but people still find ways to show their love during this holiday.

box of chocolates

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

In Finland and Estonia (both countries in Northern Europe), February 14th is less about romance and more about friendship. In fact, these countries celebrate Friend’s Day rather than Valentine’s Day. During this holiday, people exchange cards and small gifts with their friends.”

In 2019, we visited both of these beautiful, historic countries in our travels. While there, it was evident they are kind and friendly people, certainly impacting how they celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Wales

Valentine's Day wooden spoon

“Photo Public Domain by Jose-Manuel Benito

Wales, part of Great Britain, has its version of Valentine’s Day. On January 25th, the Welsh people celebrate St. Dwynwen’s Day. For centuries, men gave women a “love spoon” as a token of their affection. These wooden spoons were carved by the men and had elaborate designs on the handle. Today, love spoons remain a popular gift on St. Dwynwen’s Day and are even available in chocolate.”

We visited Wales in 2019, while in the UK as we will be again in only a few months. Their rich history, fascinating ruins, and points of interest made our two weeks there memorable and special. Of course, we’ve spent Valentine’s Day in nine countries over the years.

Following is a list of each of the countries where we spent Valentine’s Day over the past nine years of world travel:

2013: Placencia, Belize

Valentine’s Day sunrise photo of the Caribbean Sea taken by Tom this morning while standing less than 10 feet from our veranda. See the link here.

2014: Marloth Park, South Africa

Honey, if I can’t make your favorite butterscotch pie for Valentine’s Day to celebrate. Instead, I present you with this photo of one that I had made many moons ago in the days when we ate sugar and flour and ingredients were available. See the link here.

2015: Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii

This parent and chick sit close to one another until the chick becomes more confident, and the parents feel more at ease. In time, the chick will be left behind on its own, most likely in June or July. Although Cathy explained that on occasion, a fledgling won’t leave the nest until August, at which time, she can go on her vacation. She won’t leave until they have all left the area and her job of overseeing them for the years is over until next November, when many will return to the area. See the post here.

2016: New Plymouth, New Zealand

Here’s my Valentine’s Day date, smiling as always. See the post here.
It was fun to be out to dinner. See the post here.

2017: Huon Valley, Tamania, Australia

Statue in Franklin commemorating World War I soldiers. See the post here.

2018: Marloth Park, South Africa

There she was yesterday,  a pretty kudu, standing by the watering hole in the yard of our holiday home. She nibbled on pellets and hung around for some time. Female kudus usually weigh 463 pounds (210 kg), while male bulls may be well over 661 pounds (300 kg). Only the males have long spiral horns. We’ll share male kudus we spotted while out on our nightly drive tomorrow. See the post here.

2019: Nelspruit, South Africa

There was no post on this date. I was in the hospital in Nelspruit, having had open-heart surgery two days earlier.

2020: Amritsar, India

Town after the town became a picturesque view as we wound our way down the mountains from Shimla to Amritsar in India. See the post here.

2021: Marloth Park, South Africa

Due to WiFi issues, there were no photos posted on this date. See the post here.

That’s the list, folks. We left Minnesota in October 2012 but didn’t celebrate our first Valentine’s Day on our journey until February 2013. We hope all of our family, friends, and reader/friends, have a lovely Valentine’s Day celebrating those you love, near and afar.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, February 14, 2021:

As mentioned above, there was no photo on this date in 2021.

Power outage during Valentine’s dinner…What’s happening with the cruising industry?…

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Tree frog foam nest hanging over the pool, made by a female frog during the night.

Yesterday, we heard that power was out at Gate 1 due to necessary repairs due to vandalism and theft of significant parts at a substation. This happens frequently. Fortunately, since our area is considered Gate 2, we weren’t without power for 12 hours. However, as mentioned in a past post, the power used to pump the water supply fails when the power is out.

Luckily, by the time we were getting ready to go to Jabula for Valentine’s dinner, the water had returned, and Tom was able to take a shower. I had showered early in the morning before the water turned to a trickle.

Adult pigs and piglets in the garden. Bossy is standing in the bush, waiting for the pigs to leave.

When we arrived at  Jabula, the power outage was evident. Lyn and David set up battery-operated lights. We were able to sit at the bar as usual, which we always enjoyed. We decided to eat dinner at the bar around 6:30 pm, 1830 hrs, rather than go out onto the veranda at a table. It was still hot and humid without a breeze and felt cooler inside, even when the air-con wasn’t on due to the outage.

In no time at all, we forgot about the outage and had fun chatting with each other and other locals as they arrived for the evening. There were three seating times resulting in a steady flow of guests. It always amazes us how many people we’ve come to know, or at least recognize when they came in. The exchanges were always enthusiastic and friendly on both sides.

Little was in his usual spot eating pellets at the same time each day, usually around 4:00 pm, 1600 hrs.

Yesterday, we started looking at potential flights to Tampa, Florida. We decided to wait to book anything until we are closer to the date we’ll be leaving. It’s still possible the transatlantic cruise will cancel, and we don’t want to risk losing any portion of the cost of the airfare. We’ve already lost enough from non-refundable cancellations due to the pandemic.

The cruise on April 8 is a repositioning cruise which is described as follows:

“A repositioning cruise is a cruise in which the embarkation port and the disembarkation port are different. This is a less common type of cruise; in most cruises, the ship’s final destination is the same as the starting point. Some cruise ships relocate due to change in season or economic conditions.”

Bossy was posing for a photo.

The cruise industry has lost billions of dollars since the onset of the pandemic. Anything can change on a dime, including cancellations of cruises for which passengers have arranged and paid for flights, transportation, hotels, and holiday homes.

Some of the cruise lines are offering future credits for lost airfare if the passengers booked the air travel through them when a cruise is canceled at the last minute.

For example, if our cruise from Istanbul was canceled after we were already there, we’d be in a pickle. We’ve been to Istanbul in the past and have no interest in staying there for weeks, let alone a month. If we spend the two months in the UK from the end of April until the end of June when we must fly to Istanbul, it’s possible the cruise could be canceled at the last minute. We’d end up in Istanbul without plans and losing our airfare from the UK.

Regardless of how much things seem to be settling down since Omicron hit, there still is a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the travel industry. We are anxious to get “back out there” and hope our future plans will stay in place.

Have a great day!

Photo from one year ago today, February 13, 2021:

Here was mom and Lori and Barbara when they were piglets. This mom has three new piglets, and Lori and Barbara often hang out with her mom and three half-siblings. Of course, they could be full siblings if mom mated with the same male warthog. For more, please click here.

Valentine’s celebration tonight…Today is my three year “heartaversary” and thank goodness, the beat goes on…

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May be an image of one or more people and text that says 'Jabula Lodge Rest Restaurant Sat February 12th 12th Come And Celebrate The Love The dance floor will be open. A complementary glass of bubbly or a glass of wine if you prefer and Delicious dishes to choose from our menu. 10% off your tota bill. From 5pm to closing Book.Now. Dawn: Dawn:084366 3664 or Leon: 082555 555 2355'

Last night, with eight of us at a big table on the veranda at Jabula, I had planned to take some photos. In my excitement to be seated with three of my dear female friends, Rita, Lynne, and Janet, I was so distracted that my photos didn’t come out so well. We plan to take better photos at my birthday gathering next Sunday, February 20, at Jabula, when we are hosting dinner and drinks for 12 of us.

Mick, Gerhard, Steve, and Tom were seated at the opposite end of the table, although we all shared in the conversation at times. This is a lively group of travelers, each couple with countless adventures and passions for the wild, nature, and stunning scenery.

We are always happy to see Big Daddy in all his majestic glory.

Lynne and Mick, and Steve and Janet live on the small English island of Jersey. They are all avid birders. Lynne and Mick just returned from a fantastic “birding” cruise, fulfilling a dream of seeing and photographing several species new to them. Janet and Lynne, who live five minutes from one another on the island, shared their stories of swimming together in the cold ocean in the early morning hours in Jersey during high tide.

The conversation was so lively. At times we were all talking at once. I even found myself rudely interrupting when I usually am more gracious. I will work on that!

As mentioned in yesterday’s post and as shown in the above image, tonight, we’re heading back to Jabula, just the two of us, to celebrate Valentine’s Day, which is actually on Monday. But, most establishments acknowledge the special day on Saturday night instead of Monday when operating at a lighter staff during the pandemic. We never mind going back two nights in a row.

Two generations of Big Daddies, scoping out the garden for pellets and possible threats.

On top of that, today is the third anniversary of my triple cardiac bypass surgery. On February 11, 2019, I posted the following from our link here to inform our readers that there wouldn’t be a post for a week or more. I wrote a quick blurb to say there would be a full post the next day. As it turned out, I didn’t do another post until February 23, when finally I left the hospital in Nelspruit with a massive recovery ahead of me.

But, the power was out the next full day, and it was so hot, and I was in such pain that I wondered how I’d make it through the day. Wearing the mandatory compression stockings in the 104F, 40C made life miserable. There was no place to get comfortable due to the pain, and the heat only worsened matters.

Finally, on February 25, 2019, I wrote my first full post since the surgery, as shown here. When I reread that post this morning, I couldn’t believe how hard it was, but between Tom’s loving caregiving and Louise’s thoughtfulness, somehow, I got through it. You can read more about it on the post if you’d like.

A young daddy with lots of growing to do.

Of course, I am grateful on this date, which patients on Facebook refer to as their “heartaversary.” Ironically, tonight we’re celebrating the heart concentric Valentine’s Day.

We just found out that the power is out tonight at Gate 1, which doesn’t impact us since we’re on the Gate 2 side. But, Jabula is located on the Gate 1 side, and if power isn’t restored by 5:00 pm, 1700 hrs, they may not be able to host tonight’s Valentine’s event. As always, we’ll play it by ear and decide what to do later.

Have a great day!

Photo from one year ago today, February 12, 2021

This male impala visited us in the garden. These animals rarely come close to humans, so we were pleasantly surprised to see him in the garden. For more photos, please click here.

Vision and dental costs in South Africa…An amazing find on a veranda…

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While shopping at the Spar Market in Komatopoort, Rita sent me this photo on Whatsapp of a tiny newborn bushbaby they found on the veranda.

This morning Rita and I are headed to Stoep Cafe for breakfast and girl talk. Our veggie omelets were delicious, only topped by the delightful conversation. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, afterward, I will walk to the dentist’s office for my and Tom’s teeth cleaning appointments at 11:00, one after the other. Then, shopping and back home by 1:30 or so.

Today, I got up early to do some steps, but I won’t finish until we return in the afternoon and put the groceries away. Tomorrow’s upcoming trip to Nelspruit will be tricky to get them done when we get home as I upload the post. It will be a busy few days.

We made a reservation for Valentine’s celebration at Jabula on Saturday night, actually the 12th, for just the two of us. Rita, Gerhard, Lynne, Mick, Janet, and Steve will join us on Friday evening for dinner at Jabula. We don’t mind going there two nights in a row since we always have such a great time and the food is consistently spectacular.

We just returned from Komati. We had our teeth cleaned but couldn’t pay our bill. There’s load shedding, and their credit card machine wouldn’t work. We’ll stop by when we shop next week and pay the bill at that time. They were pretty fine with that.

Several providers here ask us to do wire transfers for various services. Our bank charges a lot for these and we are concerned about security. Plus, if a refund is needed for any reason, there is no way to get a refund from a wire transfer. We decided we wouldn’t do wire transfers from our US bank in the US to any foreign countries long ago.

Suppose we are unhappy with a service or product. In that case, our credit card companies are excellent at helping us recover refunds, especially in times of Covid when flights and rentals are necessary to change. We keep detailed communication between the provider and us, which the credit card company may ask us to provide. We’ve had no issues that weren’t resolved with their help.

While Tom was getting his teeth cleaned, I walked next door to the optometrist’s office and paid for Tom’s glasses. His prescription sunglasses had arrived but not the clear glasses, which will be here within a week. It feels good to get these ancillary services out of the way while in South Africa. Costs are considerably less here, but the quality of the services and the products is equal to that in the US.

We had our teeth cleaned for under ZAR 1000, US $66. In the US, we paid at least six times this amount for both of us, if not more. The savings on eye exams and eyeglasses were around 30% less than in the US. My contact lenses were about the same price as in the US, but my eye exam was 50% less.

From there, we headed to the pharmacy for a few toiletries, and then we were off to Spar market. Tom pushes the cart while I run around, filling it with the items on the free grocery app on my phone, called “Bring,” which you can easily find on your app store. It takes a few minutes to get familiar with the app, but it’s easy to use once you get used to it. I create the grocery list during the week and check off the items I found while in the market.

While checking off the last few items, I noticed a Whatsapp message from Rita. The above photo was included in her message. They found this tiny bushbaby on the floor of the upper-level veranda at the house on Hornbill. Oh, my gosh! I swooned when I saw this and couldn’t resist sharing it with all of you today.

One of the Honorary Rangers, Nadine, came by after Rita contacted her and picked up the helpless newborn bushbaby. She’ll take it to Wild and Free Wildlife Rescue, Rehabilitate and Release, where it will be hand-fed and cared for until it’s able to be returned to the wild along with other newborns’ bushbabies discovered in the past few days. What an amazing service provided for the vulnerable wildlife in Marloth Park and the surrounding areas!

By the time we were home, put away groceries, and got back to work on today’s post, I also got back to work on my walking with enthusiasm. I set my alarm every 15 minutes to stand up and get to work. It looks like today; I’ll be able to accomplish my usual goal of 7500 steps.

It’s another scorcher today. Last evening, we sat on the veranda at 100F, 38C. As the sun went down, it cooled down considerably. Luckily, there is no load shedding over the next few days.

Have a pleasant evening!

Photo from one year ago, February 19, 2021:

Mr. Hornbill was sitting on the veranda of his “stolen” bushbaby house, where he and the Misses are waiting for their eggs to hatch. For more photos, please click here.

Immigration has an answer for us…

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Dung beetles are fascinating little creatures. We spotted this one in the garden yesterday morning.

Yesterday afternoon, we received an email from the law firm representing us in our request for a visa extension that the decision has been made. Since the South African immigration department is backlogged, we had to use an attorney. If we attempted to file independently, we may never have received an answer in time and would have overstayed.

We’d be banned from the country for five years if we overstayed and subject to fines. We are prepared for this possibility. If our extension is rejected, we’ll have seven days to leave the country. If that transpires, we will head to Florida early to wait for our cruise on April 8.

While seated at the table on the veranda, I spotted him at quite a distance. In this photo, he was trying to figure out how to get away from wildebeest Hal’s legs, fearful he’d be stepped on. He safely made it past Hal.

Most likely, we will be approved. Why would they turn us down? We are spending money in their country and not causing any problems. We don’t use their medical system without payment, although we did receive a no-cost vaccination booster. We offered to pay, and they refused.

Friday morning at 10:15 is our scheduled appointment to appear at the immigration office in Nelspruit to each open our sealed envelopes. Once again, we’ll make the harrowing three-hour round trip drive, head to the immigration office, wait for our turn to open the two sealed envelopes, one for each of us, to see if we’ve been approved and the date we have to leave.

On average, dung beetles can handle a dung ball 50 times their weight.

The last time we filed for an extension was in 2018 when we were each given different visa expiration dates. Go figure. Our applications were entered as a couple. Why would we leave on different dates? Instead, we left earlier so one of us wouldn’t be considered “undesirable” for overstaying by a few days.

I always dread the drive to Nelspruit, especially through the gorge where giant semis hog the two-lane road. Thank goodness South Africans are courteous drivers who move over onto the shoulder to allow faster vehicles to pass. We’ve never seen this anywhere else in the world. Drivers are thoughtful. We’ve yet to see any road rage. Instead, there are other issues on the roads here, such as shootings and carjackings. Then again, these have become commonplace in the US as well, including in Minnesota, where we lived.

Every so often, he fell off his ball and landed on his back. Struggling for a few minutes, he managed to right himself and start again.

This morning, I am rushing, trying to get the post done, and walking as much as possible. Rita is picking me up in an hour for us to have pedicures together at the lovely little spa in Marloth Park. We’ll be gone a few hours, so I will have to catch up on the walking when I return a few hours later. Right now, I have the timer set to walk every 15 minutes.

Already this morning, I folded all of the laundry on the rack, made the salad for tonight’s dinner, worked on the documents for Friday’s trip to immigration, and walked two miles in the house. Friday, we’ll be gone from 8:00 am until noon. Friday afternoon, when we return, I’ll be swamped catching up, doing the post with the outcome of the immigration office visit, and somehow manage to walk almost 4 miles,  6.4 km.

Some may say, “Give it a break! Take a day off!” But, I am doing this to save my life. There are no days off when that’s the objective.

His objective is to find a mate. Two “rolling” beetles, a male and a female, will roll and bury a ball of dung for food storage or to make a brood ball. The male is typically tasked with rolling the ball, with the female often hitching a ride on the ball. When they reach a soft spot in the soil, they bury the ball and mate underground. After preparing the ball, the female will lay eggs inside the ball. Some species will stay behind to safeguard their offspring; others will leave the eggs to hatch, with the larvae feeding on the dung

Otherwise, all is fine. Tomorrow morning at 9:00, I am going to Stoep Cafe for breakfast with Rita. At 11:00 pm, Tom and I have teeth cleaning appointments at the dental office next door to the cafe. Tom will arrive at that time, have his teeth cleaned, and then we’ll shop at the market and pharmacy.

On Friday night, friends Lynne and Mick, whom we haven’t seen since 2019, will meet the four of us for dinner at Jabula. We have no plans yet for Saturday night, but something will likely pop up.

Have a pleasant day and evening, wherever you may be.

Photo from one year ago today, February 9, 2021:

Bossy (before she was pregnant) and a friend, partaking of pellets. For more photos, please click here.