Within 3 months we have been seeing 2 pairs of lions mating close to the road - first in mid October in Kafue National Park in Zambia and then the day before yesterday in Kruger National Park.
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| The 2 lions in Kruger National Oark |
But what have been doing since our last update on the blog?
Its 27th Dec. we are going to play golf. We take out Tina & Peters golfcart from the garage. What a luxury! The price is 120 Rand p.p. 18 holes - it's a fair price (80 DKK) - because we are member of SAGA and seniors
The condition of the course is not in the top condition. In fact 3 holes have adequate grass on the fairways. They have killed the weeds and have to plant grass after having removed the leftovers – a longer process. The greens are not too good, but you learn. They have got a new green keeper, so lets wait and see.There are many players over the X-mas days, and all are enjoying their time.
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| View from Hole no. 19 | |
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| Niels - what will you do now? |
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| On the course you see impalas, hippos, crocs and even a giraf. |
When not golfing we shop, prepare dinner on the terrace on the fabulous gas grill, and eat outside in the silk soft evening warmth.
How bad can it be?
And the days pass, new years eve arrives. Big bill boards with fireworks, dancing Champagne ….
Everything as it should be. Even in front of the local supermarket they had a jazz band
We reserved a table in the restaurant. We came early in order to hear the Queens New Years speech, but the internet was down. We went back as we were alone at that time. We had our drink at home and returned later. We had difficulty finding where we should be, but eventually we found it was in the normal restaurant, with a buffet in the adjourning room.
No lights, no decorations, no music, only a cook who behind the closed bar grilled beef, lamb and chicken. That was places in those big bowls with fire under hotels use. A little salad, roots vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes, and ketchup, HP sauce, mustard, olive oil and balsamico. There you are.....
We had ordered a good bottle of redwine and a bottle of still water. It arrived – one bottle in each hand – BANG in the middle of the table. Then we could start to open the bottles and poor the liquids.
It was a quite restaurant. No feast. No action. Medium food. All meat well done. Poor cook, what can he do? People slowly emerged, and so did we. The bar was still closed!
We got home and drank the new year in – we do not need a lot of people to enjoy it!
Happy New Year - and we were at bed at 10PM.
That was the day when I – Niels should have his annual cold. It happily only lasted 1 day. I could have been a little problem, as we had decided to go to Krüger Park for 2 nights, at Bateleur Bushweld Camp (you cater for yourself, you get cabin with kitchen, bed, bathroom and linen). It is up north in the park. Not famous for lots of wildlife, but more for birds and a scenic nature.
Driving in the park we saw lots of animals and birds. The nature – big with endless sights and deep gorges. After we checked in we took a evening drive on our own. In fact we made it all on our own, except the last evening drive where we went with the camps guide.
HOW LUCKY CAN YOU BE?Next morning we went out 5 am. The jungle was wakening. But slowly. We saw most after 7 am. We had a light breakfast at Shingwedzi camp and continued north. A car was parked. We pulled up behind, and looked. All of a sudden we saw a big male lion lying by a bush 100 m. from us. We starred, are there two, asked Anne. Then he slowly got up – he was huge. A lioness head appeared, she got up, and he entered her and mated with her. Then she moved away. He laid down, after some time he went over to her, and laid down. Again they got up, but she would not let him enter her, she went deeper into the jungle tail right up in the air, and he followed her into the shadow, where we could not follow them. We logged their position on the GPS. We went to a parallel road behind them to find them, but no success. We went back to the first position. We got a glimpse of them, but too far away. We left them alone, and went back to camp.
At 5 we went out with the guide, who also drove at night We had been all the right places. He found at night spotted hyena and Spring hare. The latter we did`nt know. It jumps as a kangaroo.
Next morning we started back, visited Letaba lodge and saw how little water the area has. The waterlevel should be 8 times higher. And we are in the rainy season!
Now we are sitting in the bar at the hotel - later we are going to the airport to change our vehivle because the air condition is not working well - BUT we love our little car. The have got a car from Nelspruit.
We have decided to shorten our stay 3 days here at Hans Merensky so Sunday we are leaving for Idube Game Lodge which was the first place where we experienced safari in 2000.
