When does this ever happen?…

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We spotted this giraffe in the parking lot at the medical clinic when we stopped by for PRC tests required for us to travel tomorrow.

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There’s never a time we aren’t in awe of wildlife in Marloth Park and yesterday was no exception. We drove into the parking lot of the medical clinic for our PCR tests in the park, and lo and behold. A giraffe was in the parking lot. We couldn’t help but laugh when both of us said simultaneously, “When would you ever see a giraffe in the doctor’s office parking lot?”

We looked at one another, and Tom said, “Never before in my lifetime.”

We had our tests, and a short while later, when we exited the building, the giraffe was still there, munching on the treetops of what appeared to be lush and green. Giraffes’ food sources are more abundant during the dry winter months when they only have to share, instead of hundreds of herbivore animals living off green vegetation close to the ground.

Kudus, taller than most wildlife, can reach portions of greenery on trees within their reach, but in no time at all, those sources disappear during the dry winter months. At this point, we hardly see any options for the kudus, wildebeests, impalas, duikers, and others in the antelope family.

Warthogs love to eat grasses, indigenous plants, and bushes, and roots they dig up with their tusks and snouts. With the ground dry and hard-packed, the option to dig up roots is slim to none this time of year. No wonder they and the other grazers are frequently hovering around bush houses in hopes of human-provided sustenance in the way of pellets, sweet potatoes, vegetable scraps, carrots, apples, and bananas.

Warthogs are picky about vegetables. They never eat cabbage, lettuce, or other leafy greens and often turn up their noses when we offer them carrots. The other antelope will eat any of the fruits mentioned above and vegetables. Bushbucks and kudus particularly love cabbage, and we often buy a few giant heads to share with them.

Here’s a “Little” look-alike with two oxpeckers cleaning his ears. Very funny! He also looked as if he was in a trance.

Today, we’re packing and getting as much done as possible. While we’re away, Vusi and Zef will do a “spring cleaning” on the house. It will be spotless when we return on October 26th to begin our remaining 90 days in Marloth Park until we depart on January 23rd.

Knowing they would be doing the spring clean, along with defrosting the refrigerator, we washed towels and organized spaces to ensure there was less clutter than usual. Although we both are tidy, we often have our digital equipment, suitcases, and various items sitting out. We’re not exempt from having some clutter.

We’ve eaten most of the food in the refrigerator with only a small amount remaining in the freezer, which we’ll drop off to Louise later today to store in her big freezer.

Twice this morning, Tom headed to the carwashes for a total clean on the rental car for tomorrow’s return when we arrive at the Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport. There are two carwashes in Marloth Park, one of which was closed today and the other on both occasions, busy cleaning trucks and other vehicles. Tom would have had to wait for hours. Instead, we paid Vusi extra, over and above the tips we tendered for both of them, for him to do the thorough car cleaning.  He’s outside now wrapping it up. We do not doubt that he’ll do an exceptional job.

Are we excited about going to Zambia now that we aren’t doing the expensive cruise on the river? We are. The short flight is no longer than the drive to the airport. We already know about the quality of the hotel when we’ve stayed there twice in the past and feel good about returning. There are several restaurants we’ve enjoyed in the past which we’ll visit once again.

The oxpeckers went after Thick Neck also. He got a glazed look on his face when they started cleaning off his hide.

Once situated, we may decide on a few sightseeing venues we are looking into now. We’ve already experienced the significant events the area has to offer, but we may choose a few remaining highlights, depending on availability while we are there.

At the moment, Tom is checking us in on tomorrow’s flight. Soon, we’ll hear back on our PCR tests, and as the day progresses, we’ll wrap up our packing, which is minimal for this five-day trip.

We won’t be posting tomorrow until later in the day, once we’re situated at our hotel in Livingstone, Zambia. Thus, the post may appear four or five hours later than usual.

Have a super day!

Photo from one year ago today, October 20, 2020:

 This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #211. The Gold Dust Day Gecko’s full-body shot shows the colorful spots on her back and the cute little blue fingers. For more photos, please click here.

We made it through the 104F, 40C, day with ease…Today? The same…Six days and counting…

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Due to WiFi issues today, I am unable to post a caption under the main photo below. Instead, the caption is listed below in a paragraph. 

Caption for above photo: “Above is the photo we took this morning of Bad Eye. Her eyelid has improved tremendously without medical intervention. To see her immediately after the injury occurred, please click here.”

It was so hot last night when we went to bed; the pair of jeans I’d washed after dinner was dry this morning. Usually, it takes two to three days for jeans to dry indoors on the drying rack.

Sleeping was easy with the aircon on all night, and it was true, load shedding had ended for now. We both slept through the night without the aircon going off due to another power outage. Over these past eight or ten outages, oddly, we didn’t lose WiFi which was unusual. Power outages aren’t quite as dull when we have nothing to do but stare at the walls or play dumb offline games on our phones when we don’t have WiFi.

Starting Sunday, the temperatures will drop to a high of 69F, 21C, and a low of 59F, 14C. Go figure. Cloudy skies and much-needed rain may follow these low temps. The animals are hungry. This morning I cut up dozens of carrots and a half head of cabbage for the antelopes.

We took this photo of Bad Eye this morning. Her eye is doing so much better. See the photo and link before for the injury when it was new.

A short while ago, we had 14 antelopes in the garden, as shown in today’s photos, all at once, including a duiker, bushbucks, and impalas. It was apparent they were all hungry and thirsty. Many of them drink from the freshwater we put in the birdbath each day. We even ensure Frank has clean water in his little container each day, along with his separate container of seeds.

When checking the weather report, we see it is sweltering in Livingstone, Zambia, right now and will continue during our five-night trip. In a mere six days, we’ll be on our way to Zambia. Packing will be quick and easy, only bringing hot weather casual clothing. None of the restaurants or venues in Livingstone require anything other than very casual attire, although, like South Africa, it generally cools down by about 25 degrees after sunset.

I took a break from preparing this post when I noticed Bad Eye standing at the edge of the veranda.  It was the first time we saw her alone without her three female friends/family. She was never found and treated, or perhaps, the rangers felt she’d heal on her own, which she did. She almost looks like herself again with this injury, as shown in today’s main photo. Her eye has healed beautifully on its own without any medical intervention.

This adorable bushbuck Spikey was among the many visitors this morning.

These animals are tough. They get through the outrageously long barren months of winter with barely any vegetation they can consume available. They exist on the offerings of people like us who don’t hesitate to feed them freely. This must have been going well this winter since few of the wildlife look undernourished or scrawny.

Soon, the rains will come, the trees, bushes, and grasses will grow, and once again, the wildlife will flourish in their environment. We are thrilled this will occur while we prepare to leave, giving us a degree of comfort, knowing they will graze without our intervention.

Today, we do what we can to stay cool, and then tonight, we’ll head to Jabula at 5:00 pm for our usual Friday night social time and dinner. It’s always such fun chatting with the locals in an upbeat environment. It will be hot sitting inside at the bar or outside, but we’ll dress accordingly and be fine.

They were spread out in the garden, preventing us from taking a photo with all visitors.

A few minutes ago, I heard back from Chris (Chris Tours), the same reliable tour and transport guy we used the last two times we were in Zambia, and he did such an excellent job for us. The only inconvenience is that he requires cash payments, not credit cards, to visit an ATM on the drive from Livingstone Airport to our hotel. Easy peasy. He will also arrange and transport us should we decide to do any tours we haven’t already done.

So there it is folks, post #3343 as we rapidly approach our ninth anniversary of traveling the world.

Be well. Be safe. Be happy.

                     Photo from one year ago, October 15, 2020:

We posted this photo one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #206. This male lion was resting after a mating session in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. For more photos, please click here.

Another change in plans…Who did it???…

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This morning, while Tom was seated at the table on the veranda, an animal purposely tipped over the birdbath. See the photo below for the culprit.

We completed and submitted the necessary documents for the boat trip on the Chobe River in Botswana. We put the details on our online calendar. We booked hotel nights on either end and even called the hotel to inquire about getting a Covid-19 PRC test before we departed on October 26th to return to South Africa.

Louise spent hours going back and forth with the company to ensure all the pricing and details were correct. On the contract she submitted, copies of our passports and credit card information were included. We even received a copy of a confirmation.

Two days ago, on Tuesday, Louise received an email from the rep from the cruise company that they were raising the price on us since we were not South African citizens. At first, they required a 100% price increase but last night backed down to a lower amount. This doesn’t work for us.

Yep, it was The Imposter who tipped over the birdbath right before Tom’s eyes. Tom said he accidentally tipped it over when drinking. No worries, The Imposter. We aren’t mad at you!

We are not willing to pay US ZAR 3000 44627 for three nights on a houseboat, especially without WiFi. It’s just not worth it to us. We’ve already been on both the Chobe and Zambia Rivers on past trips to Zambia for visa stamps. The cruise would be a repeated experience, although a few days longer than in the past.

We told Louise to cancel. Fortunately, they had yet to charge our credit card, so we don’t have to deal with the hassle of getting a refund, nor will we have to have a total of five Covid-19 PCR tests. We’re fine. This morning we booked the three extra nights at the Protea Marriott in Livingstone, Zambia, and all we have left is to arrange transportation to and from the Livingstone Airport, which we will do today.

Once we arrive at the hotel, we’ll check out any other possible events we may want to see while there. Keeping in mind, we did most of the attractions in and around Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe while in Zambia twice in the past. We aren’t concerned. Instead, we’ll manage to enjoy ourselves as we always do.

Another handsome male impala in the garden.

At the hotel, we’ll have good WiFi and will still be able to post each day. Taxi fare is reasonable, and we’ll dine out each evening, except for the last night when we’ll dine at the hotel’s pleasant restaurant. We are particularly enthused to return to the popular Zambezi Cafe, where they serve delicious Portuguese food.

No, our photos won’t be as exciting as we’d hoped, seeing wildlife on the river. But we’ll do our best to include new images each day, including plenty of food photos from dining out.

Had we not had so many cruises upcoming in 2022, we may have considered the higher price of the houseboat tour. However, there was the fact we don’t care to have a venue suddenly raise prices on us when they determine we are Americans. We tend not to stand on principles stubbornly, but in this case, we feel differently.

Duiker’s diminutive size, at the bottom of the pecking order of antelopes, is shy and always the last to get pellets.

Since the onset of Covid-19, we’ve incurred thousands of extra dollars in lost charges and increased prices. We had to stand firm on this case with our intent to keep costs down to prepare for our exciting upcoming new cruises. It’s always a matter of checks and balances, ultimately what makes the most sense to us.

As soon as I’ve uploaded today’s post, I’ll get back to work on the corrections. At this point, I only have 29 more days of work, and then I’ll spend a week or two working on the four new detailed SEO (search engine optimization) posts requiring days to prepare. I should have all this extra work behind me by December 1st, and I can relax and enjoy the holiday season in the bush during our remaining time in Marloth Park, until January 23, 2022, when we’ll be on the move once again.

We are OK with all of this, especially after so many changes since the pandemic began. We’ve become more resilient and patient during this challenging time which has significantly impacted our travels in the past 20 months. Once we leave Florida in early 2022, we’ll begin to feel our journey has genuinely started again.

May you have a memorable day whatever you do.

                                     Photo from one year ago today, October 13, 2020:

This exquisite bloom which was the size of a soccer ball.
This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #204. This exquisite bloom was the size of a soccer ball. For more photos, please click here.

Whew!…Lots of paperwork to go on a boat…

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Once again, the male bushbuck in the background might be this baby’s dad since he is often with the mom, as shown at the forefront of this photo.

When we started booking the houseboat tour on the Chobe/Zambezi River, we expected a certain amount of paperwork. But, little did we realize how time-consuming it would be for both Louise and ultimately for us. With Covid-19 issues addressing entering into three countries on this one trip, it’s a paperwork nightmare, and bless her heart, Louise has done everything she can to make it as seamless as possible for us. We appreciate her hard work.

Then, we ran into the issue of payment. Not only is there a comprehensive contract for the three-night houseboat tour, but it was accompanied by a lengthy questionnaire we had to complete and submit. On the forms, they requested payment by bank transfer.

If you’ve been reading our posts over the past several years, you know we are adamantly opposed to bank transfers. But, as it turns out, our bank refuses to allow bank transfers to certain countries, including most of those on the African continent, due to excessive amounts of fraud. Thus, we always pay with credit cards. Plus, we get lots of points when we use certain cards.

Louise worked it out, and the company agreed to accept a credit card, although they are charging us a 4% fee of the total price, which resulted in a total cost for the boat of ZAR 31585, US $2114. However, transportation from our hotel in Zambia to the various borders and then returning to the hotel four days later is included. We paid a premium for that service, but undoubtedly, there is less risk of timing errors and confusion.

A one-month-old baby bushbuck is behind her mom in this photo. We tried for a better photo, but she was timid and wouldn’t stay still for a moment.

Also, the cost of the four Covid tests is included. We’ll need the only additional Covid test from the hotel on October 25th, when we return from the boat, to be used for our return entry into South Africa. Whew! What a lot of monkey business Covid has created for travel.

We run the risk that the entire thing could be called off at the last minute if new Covid restrictions are implemented or changed between now and then.

Our round-trip flight from Nelspruit to Livingstone, Zambia, is ZAR 19274, US $1289. In total, with tips, two nights’ meals when at the hotel;  the small amounts we paid for the two nights in the hotel, using our points; transportation to and from the airport, should be, at most ZAR 58809, US $4000.

Although this is expensive for a total of five nights away, it’s a whole lot less than it would have cost us to return to the US for three months, instead of living here in South Africa, where it cost so much less. At least we’ll get our visas stamped and can relax over the remaining three months we’ll spend here.

This morning, nine bushbucks stopped by. We gave them carrots, cabbage, and pellets.

Travel planning is always time-consuming in one way or another, as you travelers out there so well know. Planning one trip can take days, let alone planning for an entire life of world travel, such as we do. But, if we had a house and lived in one location, we’d be mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, painting and making repairs around the house, getting cars serviced, sending Christmas cards, decorating for Christmas, and other holidays, baking, cooking, house cleaning and more.

Life is filled with trade-offs. For us, the simplicity of those times allows us to kick back and relax without a care in the world, while at the same time, we’re embracing other cultures, other scenery, wildlife, oceans, mountains, plains, and savannahs, we couldn’t be more content. And…grateful.

May your bliss and ours continue.

Photo from one year ago today, October 7, 2020:

Oxpeckers can dig into the flesh of animals to extract parasites
This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #198. Oxpeckers can dig into the flesh of animals to extract parasites, ticks, and other insects that may burrow under their skin, as is the case of this kudu. Sadly once the insect is extracted, the oxpecker may continue to peck at the injured site, making matters worse. The photo was taken in Marloth Park, South Africa, in 2018. For more photos, please click here.

Further planning for trip to Zambia…

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This is Mom and Baby. They visit many times each day.
This tiny bushbuck is most likely only a few weeks old. Mom keeps her young hidden in the bush for a few weeks to protect them from predators. She visits her young daily to nurse and to eat her excrement to prevent predators from finding her. Once the baby is grown enough, she’ll be introduced to the wild, where she’ll learn to forage for food. Even a youngster such as this enjoys eating pellets but is very skittish around humans and other wildlife.

Louise, our dear friend, property manager, and travel and event planner, is busy getting us the best possible price for our exciting upcoming event once we arrive in Zambia on October 21st. By the end of today, we will have booked a three-night cruise on a fantastic upscale houseboat on the beautiful, wildlife-rich Chobe River.

We’ll stay in the familiar-to-us hotel on the first night, the Protea Hotel in Livingstone, and again on the last night on October 25th. We’ll return to South Africa the following day after our 5-night trip for our visa stamps.  The Chobe River is located in Botswana, a short distance from the hotel.

Today, we’re awaiting a quote from Chris, the same driver/tour company operator we used on our previous two trips to Zambia, to provide transportation to and from the Livingstone Airport and back and forth from the boat landing. Once again, we’ll embark on a small boat to get across the Zambezi River to our houseboat.

These three bushbucks visited together and shared pellets. Could this be Mom, Dad, and Baby? Dads don’t usually don’t participate in the raising of the young.

While making this crossing, we’ll be at what is called a quadripoint as indicated below:

A quadripoint is a point that touches the border of four distinct territories. Also known as the “four corners of Africa,” these four countries meet at the eastern end of the Caprivi Strip – Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. There are more than 150 tripoints in the world but only ONE international quadripoint.

I should mention the Chobe River runs into the Zambezi River, the largest river in Africa. However, based on where we can fly from Nelspruit, it makes sense for us to sail on the Chobe hundreds of miles (km) further upstream. Thus, we’ll experience this interesting scenario that fascinated us the last two times we visited this unique point on the river for the third time.

We are trying to keep our costs down and accomplish this goal of getting our visa stamps. Why not have a great adventure in the process?

Stringy, who arrived months ago with vines hanging from his horns, has become quite a regular, even responding to his name.

This morning Tom booked our hotel reservations on either end, two nights at the Protea Hotel in Livingstone, where we’d stayed previously. It is a lovely property, and the price includes a king-sized bed, free WiFi, and a lovely breakfast. We had two remaining free nights to use from Hotels.com (the link on our site) that covered most of the cost. We only had the pay the shortfall of about US $70, ZAR 1052 for both nights combined.

While we were in lockdown in India for ten months, we continued to use our free nights toward the bill, leaving us with a handful of free nights for the upscale hotel in Henderson, Nevada, in July when we used in part we visited the US. With only these two free nights left, we decided to use these now.

With this plan, we’re excited to travel for our visa stamps. There was no way either of us was willing to sit in a hotel room in Livingstone for five days and nights. Going on the water, which we always love to do, seemed to be the most exciting and adventurous for us when we’ll see plenty of many unique sites and take fascinating side trips on a smaller boat.

Wildebeests, who have small eyes and poor vision, love to hang out with zebras whose stripes tend to confuse predators and thus provide some protection for the gnu.

That’s all on that trip for now. We’re also busy planning our trip to Florida at the end of January. We both are very busy with all these plans. By the end of this month, after we return from Zambia, we’ve decided to prepare and post our new itinerary for the first time in a few years on the day of our ninth world travel anniversary on October 31, 2021.

Many of our readers have inquired about our itinerary, and as we’ve begun to book more and more into the future, we realize the time has come to put together this essential part of our world travels. Please stay tuned for more.

Be healthy. Be safe. Be content.

Photo from one year ago today, October 5, 2020:

We posted this photo one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #196. This appeared to be some horse far as we made our way to the Maasai Mara in Kenya in 2013. Look at the reflection of our plane on the ground! What a sight! I couldn’t believe we were inside that tiny thing! For more photos, please click here.

Short post today…Busy, busy, busy….

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Frank’s and The Misses’ chicks have come to call!

What a productive past 24 hours we’ve had! Yesterday, we changed our flight from Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger to Phoenix to Tampa, Florida, on January 23, 2022, the day we will have to leave South Africa. There were no charges or penalties, and as a matter of fact, we ended up with a credit with Delta Airlines for around US $250, ZAR 3726 that we’ll use sometime in the future.

As it turns out, we’re planning to spend time with friends Karen and Rich in Apollo Beach and then take off and visit many friends we have that have full-time or winter homes nearby. We’ve contacted some of those friends already and have received enthusiastic responses. Most have offered that we stay with them, but we’ll see how that all rolls out. We don’t expect to be invited to visit and are fully prepared to stay in nearby hotels.

This will be a real “road trip” for us, something we haven’t done much of during our almost nine years of world travel. On this occasion, with stops for a day or two, it won’t be constant driving. Tom just booked a car in Florida for 74 days at the cost of US $3638.68, ZAR 54409, which averages to about US $49, ZAR 733 per day. (Here in South Africa, we pay about 70% less for a similar car with no mileage restrictions).

There is a mileage limit of 5600 miles, but with time spent with Karen and Rich and not driving much, plus staying put for several days while visiting friends, we should be fine on the mileage restriction. We won’t worry about that now and will keep an eye on the mileage at the time.

The chicks are more colorful now. But I will look like Frank in the future.

In any case, we feel enthused about our new plan and look forward to the time we need to occupy while awaiting our upcoming cruise on April 8th.

As for today, Tom dropped me off at Louise’s parking lot to meet up with Kathy and Rita for the three of us to head to Stoep Cafe for “girl talk” and breakfast. Since I had an appointment to see Dr. Theo for my prescription refills (planned before we decided to stay here another three months), it was great to see the fine doctor who saved my life back in 2019 by discovering I had blocked arteries and would need open-heart surgery.

The warm hug from him, coupled with his diligent medical care, left me smiling on my way out the door. I sent Tom a text explaining he could pick me up at the lab across the street where I’d gone for a few blood tests Dr. Theo suggested. Afterward, Tom drove me to the pharmacy to drop off a six-month supply of my three low-dose prescription drugs. I told the pharmacist we’d be back in an hour to collect them.

Frank and The Misses, two chicks now know to come to the veranda for seeds and freshwater. So cute!

In the interim, we shopped at Spar with a revised grocery list that had significantly changed now that we aren’t leaving in a few weeks. We stocked up on every item on the grocery app on my phone, picked up the meds, and headed home. Once we put everything away, I knew that I would prefer to do a shorter post in time for our usual evening on the veranda with our animal friends before darkness falls. It has all worked out well.

Louise has been busy checking into options for our Zambia trip, for which we depart in 17 days. By tomorrow, we’ll have a plan in place and share what we’ve decided. We’re pretty excited about the options.

That’s the latest here, folks. Be well. Be safe and be happy.

Photo from one year ago today, October 4, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while in lockdown in a hotel in Mumbai, India, on day #195. Pretty scenery at Liliuokalani Gardens in 2014. For more, please click here.

Day #271 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…Where will we go for visa stamps while in South Africa?…

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“Puerto Madryn (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpweɾto ˈmaðɾin]; Welsh: Porth Madryn) is a city in the province of Chubut in Argentina, Patagonia. It is the capital of the Biedma Department and has about 93,995 inhabitants according to the last census in 2010.”

We toured the oceanfront village on foot on this date in 2017.

Today’s photos are from this date in 2017 while visiting the port of call, Puerto Madryn, while on a South America cruise nearing the end. For more details, please click here.

Unfortunately, as many of our long time readers are well aware, we can only stay in South Africa for 90 consecutive days. With our desire to stay in Marloth Park as long as possible over the next year, this will require that we leave the country and/or apply for an extension as often as three times.

Another abandoned seafaring boat on the beach in Puerto Madryn.

We have a cruise booked for next November, sailing out of Lisbon, Portugal, that sails along the western coast of Africa, ending in Cape Town, South Africa, enabling us to return to Marloth Park once again. Will this cruise be canceled? At this point, we have no idea.

If it is, we may want to stay in Africa longer, visiting other countries every three months for the visa stamp, allowing us to stay another 90-day segment at a time. Our three months on this upcoming trip for which we depart on January 12, 2021, arriving in Johannesburg before midnight, leaves us with the requirement of departing again by April 10, 2021, 89 days later. We leave a day earlier than the 90 days, in the event of a potential layover in Johannesburg that may take us into the 90th day.

This could have been a street in any beach town.

The tricky part about flying out of South Africa and avoiding the five to six-hour drive to the airport in Johannesburg, an area with a certain risk of carjackings and corrupt police, is to fly from Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger airport (an hour from Marloth Park), fly to Johannesburg and go anywhere in the world from there, often with multiple layovers.

Unfortunately, the tiny airport, which considers itself an “international” airport, actually only flies to two countries besides South Africa, including Zambia which we already visited twice in 2018 on two very enjoyable tours of Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia and also Mozambique (which borders SA and won’t provide us with a usable visa stamp). At this point, returning to Zambia to drive to other countries holds little appeal to either of us when we’ve already visited the sightseeing highlights of Chobe National Park, Chobe River, Victoria Falls from Zambia, and also the Zimbabwe sides, Zambezi River cruise, and more.

Statue at Puerto Madryn Beach.

No doubt, we enjoyed the two trips, but returning doesn’t make sense. We don’t look forward to flying to Johannesburg to go anywhere else. However, we have no choice but to do so. One of those three above-mentioned visa stamp requirements will most likely result in us applying for one extension during this period which we’d done once in 2018. It’s all tricky, costly, and time-consuming. Traveling to a country bordering South Africa doesn’t count as “leaving the country.”

But, for us, the monkey business (no pun intended) is worth it. With the low cost of living in Africa, compared to most other parts of the world, we can comfortably budget the added costs for these side trips. Plus, it gives us an opportunity to visit other countries and expand our horizons.

A whale carving at the beach.

In the past few days, being hopeful that we’ll be able to leave India in 24 days, we’ve been researching flights for possible countries in Africa we’d like to visit. A few considerations are Zanzibar, (Tanzania), Madagascar, Reunion Island, and more, all of which require flying out of Johannesburg, which we finally accept as the only way we make this work.

The island of Zanzibar in Tanzania is probably our first choice since we don’t want to embark on any 24-hour travel times. Now, we begin the process of searching as to what’s available in the way of hotels or holiday homes, depending on how long we may decide to stay, which is up in the air at this point. We’ve accumulated quite a few free hotel nights by using Hotels.com on our site which we can save for such a trip.

Typical apartment building in Puerto Madryn.

A few years ago, we were determined to see the gorillas in Rwanda or Uganda. However, after the diagnosis of severe cardiovascular disease, it doesn’t make sense for us to go to such a remote location, which requires a challenging mountain trek. Sure, my stamina has greatly improved walking so much for the past nine months, but it hasn’t reversed my condition and such an expedition might be foolhardy.

There’s still plenty of world left for us to see, traveling to locations that won’t be outrageously physically challenging. Walking, we can do. Steep mountain treks may be out of the question. We both accept this reality.

Protesters marching on the beach boulevard.

Once we get situated in South Africa, we’ll book our plans for April and be able to rest easy for the remaining days of our stay in Marloth Park, until again, we’ll hopefully be able to return.

There was a big party in the hotel last night with a DJ resulting in loud thumping music until 11:15 pm. It settled down shortly thereafter when finally, we were able to sleep barring the sounds of doors slamming next door to our room for several hours, Oh, well. Soon enough.

Stay healthy, safe, and content amid the madness that continues to rage throughout the world.

Photo from one year ago today, December 19, 2019:

 

Photo from this date in 2013 which was reposted one year ago today: Of the nine members of this warthog family, there were two moms; one with four babies and the other with three babies. From watching this family almost daily over a period of 18 days, we believe the mom shown above is the mom of the three babies, which if you look closely are all nursing. (It was hard to see the third piglet). Thus, the baby on which she is resting her chin belongs to the other mom who is nearby and seems comfortable with this situation. We couldn’t have laughed more when the fourth baby, whether hers or not, provided this neck resting spot. For more photos from this date, one year ago, please click here.

Two days and counting…Favorite photos from Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe…Chobe National Park, Victoria Falls,

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Alas, we arrived at the magical splendor of Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

Kudus is stopping by for a bit of breakfast.

Gosh, it’s hard to believe it was a year ago that we left South Africa for Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe for sightseeing and a possible visa extension. To get a visa extension, travelers must depart to a country that isn’t bordering South Africa at any point.  

In the shallow area of Victoria Falls, we were gifted with a rainbow, but this was the first of many we saw throughout the day.
Zambia was a perfect choice, and from there, we visited Zimbabwe and Botswana. We had the opportunity to see Victoria Falls from both Zambia and Zimbabwe, which were two entirely different scenarios. We enjoyed every moment of finally being able to see the famous waterfalls.
I was happy to see Tom safely return from climbing to the top of the wet slippery bridge he tackled without me.  I’m not reasonably as surefooted as he is. It was slick, the visibility was poor, and I wouldn’t have been able to take photos in the heavy mist, so I stayed behind with Alec while we awaited his return. I was getting worried when he’d been gone a long time. Seeing him in his yellow poncho made me sigh with relief.
From this site:  “While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, Victoria Falls is classified as the largest, based on its combined width of 1,708 meters (5,604 ft.) and height of 108 meters (354 ft.), resulting in the world’s largest sheet of falling water.”

Also, we’d heard so much about Chobe National Park and the Chobe River. For years, I’d longed to do a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River, and as it turned it, we did it all, thrilled we had an opportunity to see so much.
The sights and sounds of Victoria Falls from both the Zambia and Zimbabwe sides were unlike anything we’ve seen in the past.

We spent a week on these trips, details and more of which may be found in the archives beginning on May 12, 2018, and continuing for several days. Please check out the links for more exciting photos and adventures during this fantastic trip.

After this elephant dug a decent-sized mud hole, he decided to try to lay on his side. Digging the hole must have been exhausting for this big fellow in the heat of the sun.  Please click here and scroll down to the videos for four stunning videos of him swimming in the Chobe River.

As it turned out, once again, we needed a visa extension, and we returned in August for more exciting tours.  More on this later. In any case, it was fun to see other African countries. To date, we’ve been to nine countries on the African continent, which is nothing compared to its total of 54.  

There are no less than a dozen countries in Africa it’s unlikely we’ll ever visit, which present enormous risks for tourists. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed being in Africa but don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.  
The best snorkeling apparatus on the planet…his trunk. His huge feet were no longer touching the river bottom, and he was buoyant.

We’re often asked if we’ll return to Africa, and that’s definitely on our itinerary, especially when we’ve booked a cruise to Cape Town in two years. However, what will transpire at immigration in Johannesburg will determine when we’ll be allowed to re-enter the country. We’ll see how that goes and report back during our upcoming lengthy travel day.

During our sunset cruise on the Zambezi River, we spotted these bee-eaters making nests and burrows into holes they made in the river bank.

As for posting on our upcoming long travel day, Saturday, May 11th, we will upload a post in the morning before we depart for Nelspruit airport. We’ll arrive in Connemara on Sunday afternoon, and if time allows, we’ll upload a short post indicating we’ve arrived.  

Sunset on the Zambezi River.

If you don’t see a post on Sunday, it will be due to an arrival later than we’d expected, and we’ll wait until the following day. At that point, we’ll have been traveling for 24 hours or more and maybe too tired to do so.

Riding the ferry is free for people but not for vehicles between Zambia and Botswana but, to disembark requires removing one’s shoes and walking in the water.

I’m going from recuperating in a mostly lying-down position to a 24-hour travel day. I have no idea how well I’ll feel when we arrive. But, please rest assured that after some rest and one night’s sleep, we’ll be right back here writing to all of you.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said I was totally at ease in anticipation of this long travel day. My number one objective will be to walk every hour on the various flights except when fully reclined in my business class seat in the middle of the night.

Albert, our guide, prepared “tea time” before we entered the Chobe National Park.

Ah, let’s hope it all goes smoothly. There’s only a 90-minute layover in Johannesburg, and that’s where we’ll have to deal with immigration. If the process is lengthy, we could miss the flight. My being in a wheelchair will hopefully speed up the waiting time in the lines at immigration.

That’s it for today, folks. We’re hoping you all have a peaceful and stress-free day!

Note:  Due to a WiFi signal issue this morning, the line and paragraph spacing are “off,” preventing me from correcting the situation.

Photo from one year ago today, May 9, 2018:

An elephant taking a drink from the river. For more photos, please click here.

Part 3…2018, “Year in Review” with favorite photos…They’re back!!!…Six years ago today…Itinerary re-post from one year ago.

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We were so excited to see the kudus and other wildlife returning to our garden as the holiday crowds dissipated.  

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

One of our two favorite frogs took up residence in this cute little decorative basket near the pool on the veranda.

This morning, two bushbucks, one duiker, five zebras, and three warthogs stopped by simultaneously.Last night before the pelting rain began, 12 kudus and three warthogs stopped by for a snack. We couldn’t toss the pellets quickly enough.  

Notice the pellet crumbs on her nose.  Often, there are lots of crumbs in the enormous bags of pellets. Most wildlife is happy to lap up the crumbs if we place them on the tile steps. See more here at this link.

We’re so excited the animals have begun to return to our garden. After all, that’s why we’re here, the wildlife and the people. They’re all wonderful and have made this past year fly by in a flurry of activity.

We couldn’t believe our eyes when we spotted this elephant digging a hole to access water in the ground below. Please take a moment to watch our video at the top of the page. See this link here for more.

The now working aircon in our main floor bedroom provided us with a good night’s sleep along with the fact the power stayed on for the past 36 hours. Add the fact that today, for the first time in days, the temperature is cool and comfortable at 21C (70F) and surprisingly doesn’t feel as humid as it had over the past several days. What a welcomed relief!

Louise and Danie joined us for dinner that night at Kambaku, the popular restaurant at the golf course in Komatipoort, as we celebrated their belated birthdays. We couldn’t be more grateful for all they’ve done for us.  See this link here for more.

Today, we’ll complete this three-part series of 2018, “Year in Review,” and return tomorrow with our regular posts and all new photos as we see more and more wildlife each day as the holidaymakers have begun to drift away.

Our photo of the blood moon was taken on July 27, 2018.  See this link here for more.

Holiday times are different in South Africa than in many other countries. In the US, kids return to school the first day after New Year’s Day. But here, the return to school varies from public to private schools but maybe as late as the middle of January. This fact determines when many of the holidaymakers leave Marloth Park.

Not a night passes without an opportunity to watch these adorable bushbabies enjoy the yogurt we place on their little stand. See this link here for more.

However, as we’ve seen from the gradual return of the wildlife to our garden, many may have left right after New Year’s Day. At this point, we’ll see how it transpires over the next week or two.

What an animal!  We feel fortunate to have been able to get lion photos. See this link for more.

This morning when Tom was reviewing past posts, he mentioned it was precisely six years ago today that we boarded our first cruise. See here for the link. (At that time, we didn’t post many photos and didn’t post daily). In 80 days, we’ll be boarding our 24th cruise in Santiago, Chile, ending in San Diego, California.  

Mom and baby love.  See this link here for more.

It’s even hard for us to believe how many cruises we’ve experienced in this short period, and other than a four-day back-to-back cruise in 2013 in the Mediterranean, we’ve loved every one of them.  

Every piece of art at WayiWayi Art Studio & Gallery was representative of Zambian culture. See this link here for more.

The four-day cruise was during spring break and was crowded with highly inebriated, loud, demanding, and pushing and shoving passengers. It couldn’t have ended quickly enough for us.  

We were excited to get a view of the leopard’s face after waiting for a considerable period while Samson, our guide in Chobe National Paek in Botswana, kept moving the vehicle for better shots. Upon careful inspection of this photo, you can see the pads of the feet of her kill in the tree near her head. See this link here for more.

Below included in our “one year ago today” feature, we posted the itinerary we’d included on today’s date in 2018. Certain aspects of our itinerary have changed, including the first year that has since passed. As we add more bookings in the next few months, we’ll be updating the itinerary and posting it here.  

Based on our position in the line-up of vehicles in Kruger, our photo-taking advantage was limited. See this link here for more.

As the years have passed, we don’t feel the sense of urgency to fill in the blanks and extend the itinerary beyond two years. It’s less about being lazy and more about feeling comfortable that all of it will work out as we go along.

Stunning female lion – as a part of the Ridiculous Nine, we spotted in a game drive in Marloth Park with friends Lois and Tom, who visited for three weeks. See this link here for more.

Tonight, we’ll be visiting Rita and Gerhard at their second condo at Ngwenya where they’re staying until tomorrow. Then, much to their delight, they’re moving back to the Hornbill house where they lived the first month they were here and will stay until sometime in March when they’ll be leaving Marloth Park.

After a highly successful game drive in Kruger, Tom, Lois, Kerry (our guide), me, and Tom. See this link here for more.

We’re hoping to see them in the New Year when they’ll come to visit us in Ireland during our three-month stay beginning in May. We’re also looking forward to Kathy and Don visiting us in Ireland as well.  How fortunate we are to have made such fine friends.

We encountered this stunning scene of zebras and wildebeest from the fence at Marloth Park. One reason zebras and wildebeests hang out is that they love to eat the taller grass and wildebeest the shorter grass – it’s a type of symbiosis. There is no competition regarding food. Also, wildebeests have a better sense of hearing, while zebras can see very well. It’s always great to have an ally to warn of any impending danger.  Another reason is zebras and wildebeest prefer to be in the open savannahs…the concept of safety in numbers comes into play.  See this link here for more.

Then upcoming on January 14, friends Linda and Ken will stay here with us for a week. They arrive from Johannesburg on the day that we’re having a birthday dinner party for Rita. We are grateful to have such good friends.

We’ve so enjoyed spending time with new friends Rita and Gerhard who came to Marloth Park after reading our posts years ago. They found the holiday home they’ve rented through our site and found Louise to help them get situated. They’ll be here in Marloth until March.
We look forward to many more exciting times together.  See this link here for more.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow. 

 May you find your day to be fulfilling and meaningful!

Photo from one year ago today, January 3, 2018:

 One year ago today, we posted the upcoming itinerary that included a total of 852 days, which is now down to 486 days since the first year of this itinerary has passed. Since that date, we’ve had a few modifications which we’ll include next time we update and post the itinerary. For details, please click here.

 Location 
Days
  Dates 
 Buenos Aires, AR – Prodeo Hotel 
20
 1/2/2018 -1/23/2018 
 Ushuaia, AR – Ushuaia, AR – Antarctica Cruise 
16
 1/23/2018 – 2/8/2018 
 Buenos Aires, AR – Prodeo Hotel 
2
 2/8/2018 – 2/10/2018 
 Marloth Park, South Africa – Bush home selected
89
2/11/2018 – 5/11/2018
  Zambezi River Cruise – Victoria Falls 
8
5/11/2018 – 5/19/2018
 Marloth Park, South Africa – Rent a bush home
89
5/19/2018 – 8/16/2018
 Uganda – See gorillas and the “Cradle of Mankind.” 
7
8/16/2018 – 8/23/2018
 Marloth Park, South Africa – Rent a bush home
89
 8/23/2018 -11/20/2018 
 Mozambique, Africa (get visa stamped) 
1
 11/20/2018 -11/21/2018 
 Marloth Park, South Africa – Rent a bush home
89
 11/21/2019 – 2/17/2019 
 Valparaiso, Chile – Rent vacation home or hotel
36
 2/17/2019 – 3/24/2019 
 Cruise – San Antonio, Chile – San Diego 
14
 3/24/2019 – 4/8/2019 
 San Diego, CA – Fly to Minneapolis, MN – Family visit
13
 4/8/2019 – 4/21/2019 
 Cruise – Fort Lauderdale, FL- Dublin, Ire (1-day hotel stay) 
15
 4/21/2019 – 5/6/2019 
 Ireland – Rent country house – Research Tom’s ancestry 
90
 5/6/2019 – 8/1/2019 
 Amsterdam, NLD – Hotel stay 
11
 8/1/2019 – 8/11/2019 
 Cruise, Baltic – Amsterdam, NLD – Amsterdam, NLD 
12
 8/11/2019 – 8/23/2019 
 England – Rent country home
62
 8/23/2019 – 10/24/2019 
 Southampton, UK – Fort Lauderdale, FL
15
  10/24/2019 – 11/8/2019 
 Henderson/Las Vegas, NV – Los Angeles, CA -Scottsdale, AZ 
25
 11/8/2019 – 12/3/2019 
 Ecuador – Galapagos – Rent vacation homes on islands
89
 12/3/2019 – 3/1/2020 
 Peru – Machu Picchu – Rent vacation homes, visit site 
30
 3/1/2020 –  3/31/2020 
 The Pantanal/Amazon River Cruise – Brazil (2 cruises)
30
 3/31/2020 – 4/30/2020 
 Number of days  
852

Part 2…2018, “Year in Review” with favorite photos…An important decision has been made…

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Two female rhinos on the trail of a nearby male.  See this link here for more.

“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”

On Monday, we were hopeful when we had 13 kudus in the garden, thinking perhaps the traffic in Marloth Park was thinning out. Today, we’ve had several kudus, bushbucks, and the warthog mom and four babies.

Yesterday was another hot and humid day, leaving us soaked in sweat throughout the day. Today, it continues. Luckily, the power didn’t go out, and we slept in one of the upstairs bedrooms with a working aircon.

Linda, me and Kathy.  It was these two thoughtful friends that took me to lunch on my birthday four years ago. Now, we’ll all be together again to celebrate my 70th. Wow! See this link here for more.

We’re hopeful the repair guy will come today and repair the aircon in our main floor bedroom, where we have a dust-mite-free mattress, pillows, and covers. The bed upstairs is double, and although we’ve slept in double beds throughout the world, a queen-sized bed is much more comfortable, especially when we both tend to hog the center of the mattress.

Ken, Tom and Don making big faces for the camera!  See this link here for more.

We’re looking forward to aircon comfort in our main floor bedroom, hopefully, available by this evening. From there, we hope the power stays on as it has for the past 24 hours.

We’ll always remember this birthday as a special event for both of us; celebrated life, health, our experiences, and the fine friends we’ve made along the way. See this link here for more.

This morning, it rained. A nice soaking rain was needed in the bush at this point. We were discussing the frustration many holidaymakers felt after coming to the bush with lots of expectations, only to be sorely disappointed by some events that transpired.

While in Kruger, we spotted a rhino mom and her baby, born this season and still closely attached to the mother. See this link here for more.

It’s been boiling, humid and there have been more power outages than we can count.  Kruger National Park has been difficult to enter, with the crowds going as far as making reservations for a fee to enter. Once inside, they’ve had to deal with all the vehicles blocking the roads during a sighting.

This was a “tower” or “journey” of the eight giraffes who made their way to the only paved road in Marloth. Note the eighth giraffe is to the far right in this photo. See this link here for more.

On top of that, there has been less wildlife visiting the properties over the past several weeks due to the added number of people and vehicles in Marloth Park, certainly adding to the frustrations.

When “capturing” the Black Mamba, it is imperative to immobilize the head close to the ground and raise the tail. Tom managed to do this while desperately attempting to escape during his snake-handling experience at Snake School. The Black Mamba is the fastest snake on the planet. See this link here for more.

As we often drive around Marloth Park for two-hour periods, almost every day, we see few animals in the gardens of holiday homes, other than an occasional kudu or warthog.  

At a distance, they saw Dad coming their way.  The chick’s pace picked up the moment she spotted him. Look at the far end of the dirt road to see him coming!  His feathers are dark. See this link here for more.

We can only imagine the frustration of the holidaymakers dealing with these issues and property owners and managers dealing with the renter’s demands as a result of their frustrations.  It hasn’t been an easy situation. Some tourists have left earlier than they’d planned.

 I awoke Tom when this thing was walking on me.  With the light from my phone, I saw it and must admit, a little scream escaped my lips as I shooed it off my shoulder. Yucky! Look at those spiky legs! Tom captured it in this plastic container and released it outside.  See this link here for more.

Today, we continue on with Part 2…2018, “Year in Review.” In yesterday’s post, found here, we covered our cruise to Antarctica and the many stunning photos we captured along the way. It was exciting for us, once again, to review each post for favorite photos to share in the post.

This was a common sight in Marloth Park a holiday weekend in April. It’s packed with tourists sitting in the back of a “bakkie” which is Afrikaans for “pickup truck.” Very dangerous. See this link here for more.

Today, we’re including photos and links from the first half of the year up to and including June 2018. Tomorrow, we’ll add Part 3 which, with so many photos, we found to be necessary.

Adorable baby Danie with his loving and attentive mom, Okey Dokey, our friend and driver from 2013 when she and her husband and baby came to visit.  He never stopped smiling and laughing the entire time they were staying.  See this link here for more.

Of course, we want to “save” some favorite photos to share on the last few days of our one-year stay in Marloth Park, including all the year’s expenses which we’ll include on the previous day, February 14, 2019. On that date, we’ll depart the park to spend the night in a hotel in Nelspruit, close to the airport for our early morning flight to Kenya.

This gorgeous feta, onion, and lettuce salad served by dear friends Louise and Danie when they invited us for dinner were enhanced with edible flowers, indicative of the attention to detail and creativity these two fine hosts possess. See this link here for more.

We made a critical decision in the past few days. We will return to Capetown, South Africa, via a cruise on December 2, 2020. However, we’ll fly to Namibia from there to spend three months and then return to Marloth Park.  

Alas, we arrived in Zambia to see the magical splendor of Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Later that day we also went to Zimbabwe to see the falls from that country. See this link here for more.

By then, the holiday season in Marloth will have passed, and we can avoid or at least diminish some of our frustrations during the holiday season. No doubt, Namibia will have some challenges, but we’ll have an entirely different set of expectations of our own.

None of the six of us or our guide Alfred could believe our eyes as we watched this male elephant build his mud pool in Chobe National Park. We’ve seen a lot of elephants in Africa, but this was a rare sighting for us. See this link here for more.

As for yesterday and today’s photos, many of our long-term readers certainly have seen them in past posts. However, we always have a new influx of readers and encourage them to click on the links we’ve provided along the way.

Crocs can replace each of their 80 teeth up to 50 times in their 35 to 75-year lifespan. Check out those teeth on a croc we spotted while on the Zambezi River cruise. See this link here for more.

It’s been a fantastic year, as we mentioned in yesterday’s post, and we continued to smile when we reviewed the year’s posts and saw all that we’ve accomplished and experienced along the way.

The harsh realities of the bush; here is a Bovine Tuberculosis infected kudu we spotted only the day after we were educated on this dreadful disease impacting mainly kudus in Marloth Park. See this link here for more.

And, there’s so much more yet to come in the New Year. Please stay with us as we continue on our exciting world journey.

This video will remain as one of our favorites in years to come, clearly illustrating the intelligence of elephants during a human intervention in “their world.”  Watch and you’ll see why.  See this link here for more.


 Have a spectacular second day of the New Year!

Photo from one year ago today, January 2, 2018:

We set up the tripod to take this photo of us in Costa Rica on October 31, 2017, the fifth anniversary of our world travels, which was posted in Part 2, our 2017 “Year in Review.” For more, please click here.