Today is Mothers' Day.
We got up early again and started hunting.
We drove through 3 rivers, 2 being quite large, and saw a turtle. [My phone's camera was smudged or for whatever reason was taking funky looking photos that morning. So, I apologize for the lack of better photos.]
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| This was a place we passed while hunting. |
We ate lamb chops for dinner. So good!
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May 14, 2018
Something in South Africa--or maybe it's what is in the people--grabs your heart and refuses to let go. This is a beautiful, yet tragic country and we found some of the best people here.
J.L., H, their kids, the staff, trackers, skinners, drivers, all of them made this trip special.
People say you'll not want to leave or that you'll want to come back so badly. But for me personally, I don't feel that way about the land and country as much as how I feel towards the people. The friendships that grew in this few day span are ones I don't want to see end. I would love to come back to see and visit them.
I believe a little bit of all of us will be staying in South Africa and , to say the least, departing this lodge was an emotional time.
Today has been spent in the van as we moved from the first lodge to a bird hunting lodge about 4 hours from the previous one.
One the way here, we stopped at an elephant interaction place. It was rather chilly and rainy when we arrived, but we went on with our plans.
We listened to a man give an introduction to the interaction and list facts about their facility and elephants.
There were 5 adult elephants and 2 babies around 2 and 1 years old. : )
The grown ones impressed us by doing tricks and showing off their memories. The first one learned my name and two other ladies' as well. Then the handler told her (the elephant) by name who to point to with her trunk. She did well. Next, we moved around to different spots, stood, and took off one shoe. The handler gave her one shoe at a time and she handed it to the rightful owner.
The other elephants did tricks like shaking their heads, standing on hind legs, laying down, and kicking a ball. One let us touch its tongue and feel the bottom of the feet.
They would suction one's hand with their noses and one gave me a big kiss on the cheek with its trunk. : ) We got pictures taken with them and after all of that, got to ride them for a few minutes.
Two warthogs stuck around and ate leftover food and it was pretty cool to see them up close. They weren't wild for the most part.
When finished at the elephants, we girls came with P. (our van driver) to this new lodge. Dad and Big J. had met up with J.L. and S. to go check out some other sites while we girls did the elephants, and then met back up with us after dark.
There was a pet meerkat at that place and the owners have had him since he was 2 days old. He's now 7 years old, and friendly. And he took a quick liking to Little J.
This lodge is nice. I like the dining hall best of all. The ceilings are tall, the room large (as in long) and wide. On one end of the long room, there is a fireplace and sitting area with a waterbuck skin. It's an elegant, simple room.
A river flows directly beside the lodge and there's a swimming pool which overflows like a waterfall.
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| Sprite, mint leaves, and lemon |
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| Mom wasn't in this family selfie, since she was in the front seat. |
