Going Home

Our trip comes to an end, as we leave for the airport in half an hour. But the blog will go on: we have a lot of videos to sort through and hundreds of pictures to upload. I'll offer a quick recap of our last three days here.

In Kruger Park, we left Shingwedzi and moved to Sirheni Bushveld Camp for two nights. Much smaller accommodations, for sure, but pleasant and workable. Our patio had a view of a small lake, and the whole time we were there we had a lone buffalo and an egret across the way. We could hear Fish Eagles calling and hippos making some moans and grunts, but didn't see them. Barry did see the hippos when he walked further down the dam. Our first night there, we took a sunset drive with the ranger, and it was wonderful. It was only the five of us and the ranger. The weather was not too cold. We saw a large herd of buffalo and several beautiful kudu bucks. We didn't see a lot after sundown, except we saw a giant eagle owl very close to the road. Then, on the last bit of road before returning to camp, we came across seven lionesses in the road. I got some video of them as they got up, yawned, stretched, and sauntered off the road. After a quick supper, we went up to the common room of the staff compound to watch Spain v. Germany. I couldn't believe that Germany played so poorly.

The next day Barry, Gywen, and I went for a morning ride and didn't see much. We got back to the camp, and Peter and Marty were out on a ride of their own. Soon they returned to tell us they had seen a leopard, so we all jumped back in the car and rushed (as much as you can on the gravel roads in the park) 18 km back to the spot of the sighting. We were thrilled to discover that the leopard was still there, resting peacefully in a tree. We watched it for quite some time before returning to camp for lunch. We took another quiet drive that afternoon and had a wonderful braai that night.

Yesterday we got up early and drove north to the Punda Maria gate. Not much game sighted. Of course, we did see some, but the animals were sparse. We stopped for coffee before leaving the park, then had a long but very interesting drive through Limpopo province and Gauteng back to Joburg. The drive at first was slow, but fascinating (a lot of small villages). It was also beautiful, with nearby mountains, acres of banana trees, and a lot of orchards. Once we got on the N1 highway, things weren't as interesting, but we did pass right by the FIFA stadium in Polokwane. We made it back home about 6:30 and ordered pizza from Renato's before turning in early.

Today we went back to Rosebank to get a couple more items at the craft market, then had a great lunch at Fresh Earth, and packed up. OK - we're leaving in 5 minutes. Our flight leaves in 4 hours, then it's something like 15.5 hours on the plane to Atlanta. We will make it back home in time to see the World Cup final match between Netherlands and Spain. Who to root for???