25 May Woke up to another beautiful day and today we are going diving. We sorted out all of our gear; wetsuits, fins, masks and cameras then headed down to the dive shop – Diversity to see how they went this morning. We have decided to do the 11am dive slots as it is a much more civilized time as well as being the shallow dives opposed to the deep dives at 7.30am. We were told that they had a good dive and it wasn’t as bumpy going out today which is great news. We went to the site called Salon which was only 10 minutes off shore and was alive with life. We saw thousands of fish and it was a fabulous dive. Martin took the camera and has realized that his eye sight has deteriorated so badly that he couldn’t really see very well. We will have to get him a prescription mask once we get home. As we had only 12 litre tanks we only had a 30 minute dive. We will order the 15 litre tank for him tomorrow. We got back and had some lunch and then relaxed in the afternoon.
26 May Once again another beautiful day. We will go diving again today at 11am. The site was called Arena this time and took 20 minutes to get there. As it is around the corner and quite close to shore there is surge from the waves, but still a fantastic dive. Lots of crocodile fish, lion fish and the list goes on and on! Martin got a 15 litre tank today and we both had our weight correct so a more comfortable div e. I have written down our tank sizes and weights so that we remember for the next time. I had a 45 minute dive and Martin stayed down for about an hour this time. They had over filled his tank so he had plenty of air. We got back and had lunch, relaxed, read books and then went to Casa Barry to a talk on Manta Rays from Dr Andrea Marshall who runs a project here in Tofu. Very interesting and hopefully she will manage to get some of the areas protected so that these incredible animals will survive in this region. We then had dinner and made our way back to our lovely comfy bed!
I will try again to upload some photos, but will not hold my breath as it seems to be impossible to get any on! Hope all is well with you all, love and hugs xxx
Thursday 27 May 2010
Monday 24 May 2010
The roads out here so far have been shocking, especially from Xai Xai north which is the main road (highway) north. It was sand or should I say mud for around 60-80 kms and you really have to watch out for the buses and trucks as they don't move for anyone! Quite an experience and scary at times!
We had dinner at Casa de Comer which was lovely, there is an elderly French lady staying at Baia Sonambula as well so she joined us for dinner as she didn’t want to walk around after dark on her own.
24 May We woke up to a lovely morning, it seems as the rain may have finally departed and there are not so many white caps out on the water today. We had breakfast overlooking the ocean which is always so special. We then decided to check out the car and trailer since our very wet trip up! I have spent most of the morning drying out money (gives laundering money a whole new meaning)! The safe that we keep it all in had about 4 inches of water in it so I could literally wring out the bundles of money before towel drying it all. We also found that the bottom of the trailer had accumulated a bit of water as well, so had to sponge it all out. I know it is hard to imagine, but the rain was seriously so hard and heavy that I am surprised that the car and trailer are not completely flooded. We have just had lunch and now Martin has gone to check that the battery compartment in the trailer is not flooded as well. We have once again ordered our dinner in advance and are looking forward to this evening’s meal. The quality of seafood and fish is absolutely fabulous out here and Martin is in his element, while I am definitely taking advantage of all the fish! We are hoping to organize a mangrove walk at some stage which sounds like good fun, as well as some diving and fishing. For the most part we are relaxing and enjoying Tofo which is a fabulous relaxed, friendly little town.
Okay I will once again try and upload some photos for you all. Take care love and hugs to all xxx
We had dinner at Casa de Comer which was lovely, there is an elderly French lady staying at Baia Sonambula as well so she joined us for dinner as she didn’t want to walk around after dark on her own.
24 May We woke up to a lovely morning, it seems as the rain may have finally departed and there are not so many white caps out on the water today. We had breakfast overlooking the ocean which is always so special. We then decided to check out the car and trailer since our very wet trip up! I have spent most of the morning drying out money (gives laundering money a whole new meaning)! The safe that we keep it all in had about 4 inches of water in it so I could literally wring out the bundles of money before towel drying it all. We also found that the bottom of the trailer had accumulated a bit of water as well, so had to sponge it all out. I know it is hard to imagine, but the rain was seriously so hard and heavy that I am surprised that the car and trailer are not completely flooded. We have just had lunch and now Martin has gone to check that the battery compartment in the trailer is not flooded as well. We have once again ordered our dinner in advance and are looking forward to this evening’s meal. The quality of seafood and fish is absolutely fabulous out here and Martin is in his element, while I am definitely taking advantage of all the fish! We are hoping to organize a mangrove walk at some stage which sounds like good fun, as well as some diving and fishing. For the most part we are relaxing and enjoying Tofo which is a fabulous relaxed, friendly little town.
Okay I will once again try and upload some photos for you all. Take care love and hugs to all xxx
Sunday 23 May 2010
11 May Well we had a lovely relaxing morning, I managed to get some washing done and Martin had a wee nap! We went off for a game drive around 3pm and had a lovely time. The scenery once again up here is different again and there seems to be a lot of elephants around which is really cool.
12 May Up quite early this morning as we are making our way to the Giriyono border into Mozambique. Had a lovely drive through to the border and then crossed into Mozambique. They would only issue one month visas here so will have to try and get an extension once we get to Maputo. Driving through Limpopo National Park there is lots of evidence of elephants although we didn’t actually see any. We saw impala, steenbok and zebra. The road goes from good to slightly bad and we decided to stay at Campismo Aguia Pesqueria (Fish Eagle Camp) which was beautiful – stunning views over the lake which is made up from Massingir Dam. The birdlife around here is amazing and the sunset beautiful.
13-15 May We drove through to Xai Xai (pronounced Shy Shy) where we will stay until Kerry arrives back from his boat adventure. Kerry Butler is a good friend also from NZ who has been living and working here in Maputo for around 15-20 years I think. He has a company called Mozaic Travel which obviously deals with travel throughout mostly Mozambique, but also SA. We arrived at Xai Xai beach and tried to find a nice place to camp, but it seems that most of the places are now very run down so we opted for the Xai Xai Caravan and Camp which seemed to be the easiest to access. A young boy called Jack helped us choose a site (with power, although the power stopped that evening) and set up camp. He then went home to bring his curios for us to see, so we bought a fridge magnet and ashtray. There seemed to be an abundance of stray starving dogs around who all wanted to protect us! There were two in particular whom I decided to feed whilst there – very skinny and sad and I hate to see animals suffer. We ended up staying 3 nights here in Xai Xai and on our last night we had heard about a good place to eat from a missionary called Mike. It was at a SA run place further along the beach road called Chongoene Holiday Resort and the food was great. We also found a lovely bakery in Xai Xai town and a good market; there are also plenty of ATM’s and good fuel stations. We rang Kerry on Saturday evening and he arrived back home in Maputo on Friday so we will make our way there tomorrow.
16-19 May We got directions from Kerry on Sunday morning and started to make our way to his place at Costa da Sol. We also put Costa da Sol into the navigation system and it took us through the back way to his place instead; which Kerry informed us is the quicker of the two ways anyway. We arrived at out 2pm so had some lunch and a great catch up with him. He cooked prawns on the braai for dinner which Martin loved and I had boerwors instead. After talking with Kerry about where we should go and what we should do whilst in Mozambique, we decided to get him to make up an itinerary for us. It is a fantastic trip and is about 56 days. We had a fabulous time at Kerry’s place; had a dinner out at Zambi one night; I cooked dinner one night and then Kerry cooked up some beautiful beef on the braai one night. We also heard all about his dhow trip which he had just done from way up north towards Pemba, just south from Fernao Veloso and he jumped off at Quelimane and flew back. Sounded great fun, but also quite hard work as well, especially with all the little problems they encountered along the way.
20 May Today starts our big adventure through some of Mozambique and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of doing a little fishing along the way. I haven’t done any fishing since I left New Zealand so first thing in the morning we went off to GAME to big some rods and reels. We managed to find a couple of good rods and reels and other bits and pieces to get us started all with Kerry’s help who is an avid fisherman. We got to the check out also with some adapters for Mozambique as well and then the fun began! Firstly she kept telling me my card would not work, so I was trying to explain it was a chip and pin so she needed to put it in the machine differently; it is all so much hard work if they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Portuguese, but we got there in the end. Then Kerry had got a gaff for fishing which didn’t have a bar code on it so they were saying he couldn’t buy it, he told them it was on the shelf and therefore for sale so find the price now. Finally we got that all sorted and then one lay took one of our adapters and took off somewhere else in the store. We asked the other lady where she was as we wanted to leave and we had paid for it – we finally found her and got our adapter back, but have no idea what it was all about – AWA (Africa Wins Again)!
We got back to the house said our goodbyes and proceeded north towards Xai Xai again. We managed to get out the back way again, although at one stage Martin said this is wrong I’m going to turn around, but I said keep going as I trusted Kerry directions, we duly got to the tarmac road and were on our way. About 45kms north of Xai Xai we had our turnoff to the sand road (11kms) to Nascer do Sol which was right on the coast. We had a self catering chalet which was set above the restaurant overlooking the ocean – the view was amazing. We decided to eat in the restaurant the first night as all of our meat was frozen. We had a lovely meal and then an early night. Martin had to sleep in the lounge as the double bed had an end on it which made it tiny and he couldn’t lie flat.
21 May Got up and had breakfast and then went for a walk along the beach. It had been raining through the night and still looked threatening, but was a lovely walk. I decided to get out the rod and reel and try my luck at fishing. I found a guy who would show me where to fish, got me bait and also show me how to use my new toy. I had never used a reel like the one we got, but unfortunately neither had he. We went along the beach and he baited the hook and then cast, bang we got a fish – cool this is going to be great fun. I had a go at casting and apart from not casting as far as he had but did okay, got a wee bit of a birds nest, but all okay. Then I got a bite, but didn’t manage to get the fish. He then rebaited the hook and tried casting again, well he got a hell of a birds nest and then after an hour of putting it right cast again and you guessed it another bird’s nest! He put things right for me and said Mrs you try. So I cast and got it near perfect each time and caught another fish. I think he was a little put out that I could cast without messing up the reel so he kept trying and kept getting birds’ nests galore. Nevermind I was very excited about the two fish and was looking forward to fishing my way through Mozambique. As so happens with fishing, sea air and all I was knackered that night and we had a braai then went to bed.
22 May Today we are meant to be doing a couple of exploring days. Up just outside Quissico there is a 4x4 bush camp which Kerry told us to go and explore and camp there, so we started off and about half an hour to an hour into the journey the heavens opened up and the rain came down. If you have never experienced a tropical down pour it is hard to appreciate how much water falls so quickly. It turns roads into rivers and puddles into lakes at the blink of an eye! It was at this point we quickly realized our car leaks like a sieve! Not good. I was sitting in the passenger seat with my good thick waterproof from UK over me and still getting really wet. It started in one place and then spread throughout the car, although the driver’s seat managed to keep very dry. We got to our turnoff and made our way about 11kms through the coconut plantations over the bridge across the lagoon and to the campsite which appeared to be deserted. There was no way we could have made it on the road to the beach bar so we made the decision to turn around and go back to the main road and carry on to Tofo which was our next port of call. Well by this time the roads were definitely rivers and at least 6-8 inches deep, but in places up to a foot or more. It also meant that the edges of the road as it was sand was collapsing along the way and it seemed like the road was 6 inches lower than when we came in. At one stage a small truck (Tata) fill with people on the back came the other way and refused to back up. It was easier for him than us with a big trailer, but the guy obviously couldn’t drive properly and so after a lot of shouting on my part and getting even wetter (how is that possible) we eventually backed up and pulled over for him to pass us. At this stage there was 3 vehicles one way and 2 the other. We were scared that he was going to slip into us as he was a terrible, but with some good luck we managed to get by unscathed.
At this stage wet and cold and definitely with humour failure I just wanted to get somewhere dry with a hot shower. We drove onto Inhambane sometimes having to pull off the road as the rain was so hard you couldn’t see the road let alone anything crossing it or coming the other way. We phoned Kerry who informed us that it was a lovely sunny day there in Maputo and asked him to see if we could book into Baia Sonambula 2 days early. We found an ATM in Inhambane and made our way out towards Tofo. Kerry phoned back to say that it was fine and we made our way towards a lovely hot shower. Got a little lost in Tofo as we couldn’t find any signs for our accommodation, so phoned them and got directions. We finally arrived and unpacked in the rain to our lovely room. Martin went to turn the car around and got the trailer stuck so after a little encouragement and having to drive onto the beach we had it back in the parking spot ready for our 6 nights in Tofo. Hopefully the rain will stop so that we can get some diving and fishing done. Had a lovely shower and then went across the road to Casa Barry for dinner. We arrived at half time of the Bull v’s Crusaders game which we lost (boo hoo) and then also watched the Waratahs v’s Stormers game as well. A lovely meal and great game and then back for a well deserved sleep.
23 May Got up and had a lovely breakfast up on the balcony overlooking the ocean which was great. We met a South African couple who had been travelling since December up to Egypt and back. Very interesting hearing their tales and stories. It is not such a nice day again although the rain is not as heavy and very intermittent today. We went to the dive shop to ask about any advance weather reports and it seems that Wednesday the weather should improve – so hopefully we will get some diving done. We had a walk around town to find out where the best eating places are and ordered our dinner in advance so that you don’t have to wait for hours when you get there. We also had the best sandwiches in town at an internet café. We have just been watching from our verandah a family take their goat (yes I said goat) for a walk along the beach!
The roads out here so far have been shocking, especially from Xai Xai north which is the main road (highway) north. It was sand or should I say mud for around 60-80 kms and you really have to watch out for the buses and trucks as they don't move for anyone! Quite an experience and scary at times!
I will try and upload some photos, but are not holding out much hope.
Love, hugs and kisses to all xxx
12 May Up quite early this morning as we are making our way to the Giriyono border into Mozambique. Had a lovely drive through to the border and then crossed into Mozambique. They would only issue one month visas here so will have to try and get an extension once we get to Maputo. Driving through Limpopo National Park there is lots of evidence of elephants although we didn’t actually see any. We saw impala, steenbok and zebra. The road goes from good to slightly bad and we decided to stay at Campismo Aguia Pesqueria (Fish Eagle Camp) which was beautiful – stunning views over the lake which is made up from Massingir Dam. The birdlife around here is amazing and the sunset beautiful.
13-15 May We drove through to Xai Xai (pronounced Shy Shy) where we will stay until Kerry arrives back from his boat adventure. Kerry Butler is a good friend also from NZ who has been living and working here in Maputo for around 15-20 years I think. He has a company called Mozaic Travel which obviously deals with travel throughout mostly Mozambique, but also SA. We arrived at Xai Xai beach and tried to find a nice place to camp, but it seems that most of the places are now very run down so we opted for the Xai Xai Caravan and Camp which seemed to be the easiest to access. A young boy called Jack helped us choose a site (with power, although the power stopped that evening) and set up camp. He then went home to bring his curios for us to see, so we bought a fridge magnet and ashtray. There seemed to be an abundance of stray starving dogs around who all wanted to protect us! There were two in particular whom I decided to feed whilst there – very skinny and sad and I hate to see animals suffer. We ended up staying 3 nights here in Xai Xai and on our last night we had heard about a good place to eat from a missionary called Mike. It was at a SA run place further along the beach road called Chongoene Holiday Resort and the food was great. We also found a lovely bakery in Xai Xai town and a good market; there are also plenty of ATM’s and good fuel stations. We rang Kerry on Saturday evening and he arrived back home in Maputo on Friday so we will make our way there tomorrow.
16-19 May We got directions from Kerry on Sunday morning and started to make our way to his place at Costa da Sol. We also put Costa da Sol into the navigation system and it took us through the back way to his place instead; which Kerry informed us is the quicker of the two ways anyway. We arrived at out 2pm so had some lunch and a great catch up with him. He cooked prawns on the braai for dinner which Martin loved and I had boerwors instead. After talking with Kerry about where we should go and what we should do whilst in Mozambique, we decided to get him to make up an itinerary for us. It is a fantastic trip and is about 56 days. We had a fabulous time at Kerry’s place; had a dinner out at Zambi one night; I cooked dinner one night and then Kerry cooked up some beautiful beef on the braai one night. We also heard all about his dhow trip which he had just done from way up north towards Pemba, just south from Fernao Veloso and he jumped off at Quelimane and flew back. Sounded great fun, but also quite hard work as well, especially with all the little problems they encountered along the way.
20 May Today starts our big adventure through some of Mozambique and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of doing a little fishing along the way. I haven’t done any fishing since I left New Zealand so first thing in the morning we went off to GAME to big some rods and reels. We managed to find a couple of good rods and reels and other bits and pieces to get us started all with Kerry’s help who is an avid fisherman. We got to the check out also with some adapters for Mozambique as well and then the fun began! Firstly she kept telling me my card would not work, so I was trying to explain it was a chip and pin so she needed to put it in the machine differently; it is all so much hard work if they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Portuguese, but we got there in the end. Then Kerry had got a gaff for fishing which didn’t have a bar code on it so they were saying he couldn’t buy it, he told them it was on the shelf and therefore for sale so find the price now. Finally we got that all sorted and then one lay took one of our adapters and took off somewhere else in the store. We asked the other lady where she was as we wanted to leave and we had paid for it – we finally found her and got our adapter back, but have no idea what it was all about – AWA (Africa Wins Again)!
We got back to the house said our goodbyes and proceeded north towards Xai Xai again. We managed to get out the back way again, although at one stage Martin said this is wrong I’m going to turn around, but I said keep going as I trusted Kerry directions, we duly got to the tarmac road and were on our way. About 45kms north of Xai Xai we had our turnoff to the sand road (11kms) to Nascer do Sol which was right on the coast. We had a self catering chalet which was set above the restaurant overlooking the ocean – the view was amazing. We decided to eat in the restaurant the first night as all of our meat was frozen. We had a lovely meal and then an early night. Martin had to sleep in the lounge as the double bed had an end on it which made it tiny and he couldn’t lie flat.
21 May Got up and had breakfast and then went for a walk along the beach. It had been raining through the night and still looked threatening, but was a lovely walk. I decided to get out the rod and reel and try my luck at fishing. I found a guy who would show me where to fish, got me bait and also show me how to use my new toy. I had never used a reel like the one we got, but unfortunately neither had he. We went along the beach and he baited the hook and then cast, bang we got a fish – cool this is going to be great fun. I had a go at casting and apart from not casting as far as he had but did okay, got a wee bit of a birds nest, but all okay. Then I got a bite, but didn’t manage to get the fish. He then rebaited the hook and tried casting again, well he got a hell of a birds nest and then after an hour of putting it right cast again and you guessed it another bird’s nest! He put things right for me and said Mrs you try. So I cast and got it near perfect each time and caught another fish. I think he was a little put out that I could cast without messing up the reel so he kept trying and kept getting birds’ nests galore. Nevermind I was very excited about the two fish and was looking forward to fishing my way through Mozambique. As so happens with fishing, sea air and all I was knackered that night and we had a braai then went to bed.
22 May Today we are meant to be doing a couple of exploring days. Up just outside Quissico there is a 4x4 bush camp which Kerry told us to go and explore and camp there, so we started off and about half an hour to an hour into the journey the heavens opened up and the rain came down. If you have never experienced a tropical down pour it is hard to appreciate how much water falls so quickly. It turns roads into rivers and puddles into lakes at the blink of an eye! It was at this point we quickly realized our car leaks like a sieve! Not good. I was sitting in the passenger seat with my good thick waterproof from UK over me and still getting really wet. It started in one place and then spread throughout the car, although the driver’s seat managed to keep very dry. We got to our turnoff and made our way about 11kms through the coconut plantations over the bridge across the lagoon and to the campsite which appeared to be deserted. There was no way we could have made it on the road to the beach bar so we made the decision to turn around and go back to the main road and carry on to Tofo which was our next port of call. Well by this time the roads were definitely rivers and at least 6-8 inches deep, but in places up to a foot or more. It also meant that the edges of the road as it was sand was collapsing along the way and it seemed like the road was 6 inches lower than when we came in. At one stage a small truck (Tata) fill with people on the back came the other way and refused to back up. It was easier for him than us with a big trailer, but the guy obviously couldn’t drive properly and so after a lot of shouting on my part and getting even wetter (how is that possible) we eventually backed up and pulled over for him to pass us. At this stage there was 3 vehicles one way and 2 the other. We were scared that he was going to slip into us as he was a terrible, but with some good luck we managed to get by unscathed.
At this stage wet and cold and definitely with humour failure I just wanted to get somewhere dry with a hot shower. We drove onto Inhambane sometimes having to pull off the road as the rain was so hard you couldn’t see the road let alone anything crossing it or coming the other way. We phoned Kerry who informed us that it was a lovely sunny day there in Maputo and asked him to see if we could book into Baia Sonambula 2 days early. We found an ATM in Inhambane and made our way out towards Tofo. Kerry phoned back to say that it was fine and we made our way towards a lovely hot shower. Got a little lost in Tofo as we couldn’t find any signs for our accommodation, so phoned them and got directions. We finally arrived and unpacked in the rain to our lovely room. Martin went to turn the car around and got the trailer stuck so after a little encouragement and having to drive onto the beach we had it back in the parking spot ready for our 6 nights in Tofo. Hopefully the rain will stop so that we can get some diving and fishing done. Had a lovely shower and then went across the road to Casa Barry for dinner. We arrived at half time of the Bull v’s Crusaders game which we lost (boo hoo) and then also watched the Waratahs v’s Stormers game as well. A lovely meal and great game and then back for a well deserved sleep.
23 May Got up and had a lovely breakfast up on the balcony overlooking the ocean which was great. We met a South African couple who had been travelling since December up to Egypt and back. Very interesting hearing their tales and stories. It is not such a nice day again although the rain is not as heavy and very intermittent today. We went to the dive shop to ask about any advance weather reports and it seems that Wednesday the weather should improve – so hopefully we will get some diving done. We had a walk around town to find out where the best eating places are and ordered our dinner in advance so that you don’t have to wait for hours when you get there. We also had the best sandwiches in town at an internet café. We have just been watching from our verandah a family take their goat (yes I said goat) for a walk along the beach!
The roads out here so far have been shocking, especially from Xai Xai north which is the main road (highway) north. It was sand or should I say mud for around 60-80 kms and you really have to watch out for the buses and trucks as they don't move for anyone! Quite an experience and scary at times!
I will try and upload some photos, but are not holding out much hope.
Love, hugs and kisses to all xxx
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Thanks Kerri and Mary for the messages. Mary you would all get really sick of looking through all the photos, but lunch at our place sounds great!
We were thoroughly spoilt at Singita and now it is just back to Martin and I, so today we are not really doing much until this afternoon. We had a bit of a sleep in and got up around 7am, took a lovely cool shower and then had a leisurely breakfast. I managed to do some washing and Martin had a wee nap and is now reading. We will have lunch shortly and then leave for a game drive around 3pm.
I will try and attach a few more photos now. The photos seem to be taking forever to upload today so I will try again later tonight.
Hope everyone is fit snd well. Love and hugs to all xx
We were thoroughly spoilt at Singita and now it is just back to Martin and I, so today we are not really doing much until this afternoon. We had a bit of a sleep in and got up around 7am, took a lovely cool shower and then had a leisurely breakfast. I managed to do some washing and Martin had a wee nap and is now reading. We will have lunch shortly and then leave for a game drive around 3pm.
I will try and attach a few more photos now. The photos seem to be taking forever to upload today so I will try again later tonight.
Hope everyone is fit snd well. Love and hugs to all xx
4 May We started out nice and early for Kruger and stopped in Hazyview to pick up a few more supplies as well as fuel. We entered through Paul Kruger gate and not long after entering we encountered a big bull elephant which was rather cool. There seems to be a lot of wildlife around at the moment. We had a lovely drive up to Satara Rest camp where we will be staying two nights. We managed to see a leopard up a tree on the way as well as all the usual suspects; impala, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, wildebeest, baboons and some lovely birdlife as well. We arrived around 2pm and set up camp. We decided not to go for an afternoon game drive as the gates close at 5.30pm and after having some lunch and setting up it was getting close to 3pm already. So we had a lovely relaxing time in the campsite instead. We had a great dinner (Martin has got these fires sorted out these days) and an early night to be fresh for tomorrow.
5 May Up at 5.30am as gates open at 6pm, had a wash and coffee and then set out on a game drive. We had a fantastic morning spotting 4 lions; one large male, two females and a sub adult female. They were resting under bushes, but a herd of elephants were grazing towards them so we stayed to see what happens. Eventually a young bull ellie saw them and mock charged towards them making loads of noise, the lions all got up rather quickly and run away. The ellie herd changed direction as well – lovely to see! Got back to camp around 11am and had a lovely big brunch. I then did some washing and relaxed until around 3pm at which time we went out for another game drive. We saw hyeneas who seemed on a mission – running along the road towards us so we parked and they took the bush route around us and then back onto the road. Had dinner and once again had an early night.
6 May Got up and did another early morning game drive then got back to camp and packed up as today we are making our way to Singita Sweni Lodge. We had a lovely drive over to Sweni Lodge and arrived in time for lunch. What a beautiful setting and lodge Sweni is and the rooms are awesome. Not just one shower and toilet, but two toilets and three showers as well as a lovely huge big bath. All the rooms overlook the river and the bird life is stunning. We had Marlon as our ranger/guide and Themba as our tracker. Lorraine looked after us as far as drinks and meals were concerned.
6-10 May James thank you so much for arranging our stay at Sweni, we had a wonderful time. We had fabulous drives and walks with Marlon and Themba, dinner in a different location each night; (out by the pool, in dining room, wine cellar and in the boma), our third night there we got back from our game drive and the bathroom was filled with rose petals in the basins, the bath already filled with bubble bath and champagne on ice fantastic! James also thanks for the bottle of bubbles, we are saving it for a special time in Mozambique. The food was to die for, although you ate almost every two hours and I think we both put on a bit of weight while at Sweni! Our second night we had bush drinks which was lovely and also our third morning breakfast by the river. We both had massages at the spa which was magic and got some new clothes as well, mainly Martin. All in all we had a fabulous time and thank everyone at Sweni for making our time so special, hopefully we will be back.
10 May We were up at 5.30am for our last game drive/walk at Sweni which was brilliant. Got back to the lodge and had breakfast then went to pack and shower. We left Sweni at around 12.15 and made our way slowly to Letaba Rest camp. We arrived around 3.30pm set up camp and relaxed until dinner time. Today is really hot and a little on the humid side at 37 degrees. As we were travelling through the hottest part of the day to get to Letaba we didn’t see too much wildlife although we did see a lot of ellies. Letaba is very different from the camps down south, a lot more Mopani scrubland around which is nice to see. Had a lovely dinner and had an early night. We have had 7 mornings in a row of 5.30am wake up so decided to sleep in; unfortunately there is a baby camping next to us and he woke me twice in the night – around 3am and again at 5am, so much for a sleep in!
5 May Up at 5.30am as gates open at 6pm, had a wash and coffee and then set out on a game drive. We had a fantastic morning spotting 4 lions; one large male, two females and a sub adult female. They were resting under bushes, but a herd of elephants were grazing towards them so we stayed to see what happens. Eventually a young bull ellie saw them and mock charged towards them making loads of noise, the lions all got up rather quickly and run away. The ellie herd changed direction as well – lovely to see! Got back to camp around 11am and had a lovely big brunch. I then did some washing and relaxed until around 3pm at which time we went out for another game drive. We saw hyeneas who seemed on a mission – running along the road towards us so we parked and they took the bush route around us and then back onto the road. Had dinner and once again had an early night.
6 May Got up and did another early morning game drive then got back to camp and packed up as today we are making our way to Singita Sweni Lodge. We had a lovely drive over to Sweni Lodge and arrived in time for lunch. What a beautiful setting and lodge Sweni is and the rooms are awesome. Not just one shower and toilet, but two toilets and three showers as well as a lovely huge big bath. All the rooms overlook the river and the bird life is stunning. We had Marlon as our ranger/guide and Themba as our tracker. Lorraine looked after us as far as drinks and meals were concerned.
6-10 May James thank you so much for arranging our stay at Sweni, we had a wonderful time. We had fabulous drives and walks with Marlon and Themba, dinner in a different location each night; (out by the pool, in dining room, wine cellar and in the boma), our third night there we got back from our game drive and the bathroom was filled with rose petals in the basins, the bath already filled with bubble bath and champagne on ice fantastic! James also thanks for the bottle of bubbles, we are saving it for a special time in Mozambique. The food was to die for, although you ate almost every two hours and I think we both put on a bit of weight while at Sweni! Our second night we had bush drinks which was lovely and also our third morning breakfast by the river. We both had massages at the spa which was magic and got some new clothes as well, mainly Martin. All in all we had a fabulous time and thank everyone at Sweni for making our time so special, hopefully we will be back.
10 May We were up at 5.30am for our last game drive/walk at Sweni which was brilliant. Got back to the lodge and had breakfast then went to pack and shower. We left Sweni at around 12.15 and made our way slowly to Letaba Rest camp. We arrived around 3.30pm set up camp and relaxed until dinner time. Today is really hot and a little on the humid side at 37 degrees. As we were travelling through the hottest part of the day to get to Letaba we didn’t see too much wildlife although we did see a lot of ellies. Letaba is very different from the camps down south, a lot more Mopani scrubland around which is nice to see. Had a lovely dinner and had an early night. We have had 7 mornings in a row of 5.30am wake up so decided to sleep in; unfortunately there is a baby camping next to us and he woke me twice in the night – around 3am and again at 5am, so much for a sleep in!
Monday 3 May 2010
29 April – 1 May Started out after a good breakfast to Sabi Sands. The Newington Gate is about 60km away mostly on tarred roads, but the last 12km on dirt. We got to the gate and got our permit then headed off for Ulusaba (about 18km away) doing a slow game drive speed to see if we could spot anything along the way. Got to the Ulusaba airstrip around 12.30 and were greeted by champagne – very nice. Was lovely to see Trevor again and also Sam (he was our tracker last year as well).
Drove to camp and we were in River Room 4 which entailed crossing 4 swing bridges to get to it – very interesting walk home after a few drinks with dinner. Fortunately we are on our own in the game vehicle as Trevor was meant to be going on holidays on Friday, but has decided to stay until we leave now. Out for our afternoon game drive and I was not feeling so great, I think something disagreed with me at lunch! When we stopped for sundowners Trevor took a couple of photos of the two of us when I had ‘my moment’! Boy was I sick, very embarrassing, but my body wanted to purge out the bad stuff. Once we got back to camp I had a shower and crept into my lovely big bed – Martin had to go to dinner on his own that night.
The game drives in Ulusaba were fantastic as usual; it was great that there were a lot of cubs around this year. We were fortunate to see two different leopards that had two cubs each and got some great family photos of them all. Also there were three different sets of lion cubs, we managed to see two different lots and get photos – very cute! Unfortunately another couple arrived who insisted on having Trevor as their guide so we had them join us on Friday. We only managed to get in one game walk which was great, it’s always nice to be able to get out and stretch a bit and have a good walk instead of sitting in the vehicle all the time. Trevor as usual was teaching us how to use our cameras properly and especially Martins new one with the huge lens on it! We both got fabulous photos and I will attach a few for you all.
The food had improved 100% this year and we ended up having the late breakfast after game driving and then dinner only. On our last night there was a wine tasting evening, where a winemaker from Stellenbosch was there, quite a good evening and all the guests from Rock Lodge came down for it as well, so a full house that night. Trevor’s wife Taz managed to join us for dinner one night and also join us on a game drive so was lovely to catch up with her as well.
2 May Well we had a magic stay once again at Ulusaba and Trevor, Taz and Sam saw us off at the airport after lunch; the three of them will be going on holidays now for two weeks. We drove back out through the game reserve and made our way back to Merry Pebbles in Sabie. The trailer has worked perfectly and it seems as they have had no rain since we left which is great. We had a light dinner as we decided to have lunch at Ulusaba before we left.
3 May We got up at a sensible hour this morning, 7am instead of 5.30am which was nice and had breakfast before sitting down to work out the next week or two. Martin has decided that he would like to go and stay at one of the Singita Lodges that borders Kruger Sweni, so will phone James to find out how we go about this. James works for Singita and I am sure he will be pleased that we want to go and stay. Martin has taken the car to the Toyota garage in Sabie as an engine management light keeps coming on now and then and we lose power so will try and sort that out. Well it seems that the problem is the air filter, it appears to be full of fine dust which cannot be blown out and we are now waiting to see if we can get another filter. We have also booked two nights in the Kruger at Satara Rest camp and also 3 or 4 nights at Singita – Sweni Lodge. Just trying to get hold of Kerry now to see when he will be back in Maputo after Indaba and we will arrange our last few nights around that after we cross into Mozambique.
Love hugs and kisses to all and hope you are all well. xx
Drove to camp and we were in River Room 4 which entailed crossing 4 swing bridges to get to it – very interesting walk home after a few drinks with dinner. Fortunately we are on our own in the game vehicle as Trevor was meant to be going on holidays on Friday, but has decided to stay until we leave now. Out for our afternoon game drive and I was not feeling so great, I think something disagreed with me at lunch! When we stopped for sundowners Trevor took a couple of photos of the two of us when I had ‘my moment’! Boy was I sick, very embarrassing, but my body wanted to purge out the bad stuff. Once we got back to camp I had a shower and crept into my lovely big bed – Martin had to go to dinner on his own that night.
The game drives in Ulusaba were fantastic as usual; it was great that there were a lot of cubs around this year. We were fortunate to see two different leopards that had two cubs each and got some great family photos of them all. Also there were three different sets of lion cubs, we managed to see two different lots and get photos – very cute! Unfortunately another couple arrived who insisted on having Trevor as their guide so we had them join us on Friday. We only managed to get in one game walk which was great, it’s always nice to be able to get out and stretch a bit and have a good walk instead of sitting in the vehicle all the time. Trevor as usual was teaching us how to use our cameras properly and especially Martins new one with the huge lens on it! We both got fabulous photos and I will attach a few for you all.
The food had improved 100% this year and we ended up having the late breakfast after game driving and then dinner only. On our last night there was a wine tasting evening, where a winemaker from Stellenbosch was there, quite a good evening and all the guests from Rock Lodge came down for it as well, so a full house that night. Trevor’s wife Taz managed to join us for dinner one night and also join us on a game drive so was lovely to catch up with her as well.
2 May Well we had a magic stay once again at Ulusaba and Trevor, Taz and Sam saw us off at the airport after lunch; the three of them will be going on holidays now for two weeks. We drove back out through the game reserve and made our way back to Merry Pebbles in Sabie. The trailer has worked perfectly and it seems as they have had no rain since we left which is great. We had a light dinner as we decided to have lunch at Ulusaba before we left.
3 May We got up at a sensible hour this morning, 7am instead of 5.30am which was nice and had breakfast before sitting down to work out the next week or two. Martin has decided that he would like to go and stay at one of the Singita Lodges that borders Kruger Sweni, so will phone James to find out how we go about this. James works for Singita and I am sure he will be pleased that we want to go and stay. Martin has taken the car to the Toyota garage in Sabie as an engine management light keeps coming on now and then and we lose power so will try and sort that out. Well it seems that the problem is the air filter, it appears to be full of fine dust which cannot be blown out and we are now waiting to see if we can get another filter. We have also booked two nights in the Kruger at Satara Rest camp and also 3 or 4 nights at Singita – Sweni Lodge. Just trying to get hold of Kerry now to see when he will be back in Maputo after Indaba and we will arrange our last few nights around that after we cross into Mozambique.
Love hugs and kisses to all and hope you are all well. xx
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