Back from the bush.

Good evening all! We have been offline for a few days in the African bush.

I will try to summarise the last few days. Monday morning we woke excited for the coming trip to Lalibela for 0our Safari treat. When we come to South Africa we always try to go on Safari. 

Long story short, we have had super deals on our rate over the last few years, but this year the Safari Park increased our rate quite considerably. We still got a good rate, but it was quite a lot more than I had budgeted for. 

The private game reserve is past Port Elizabeth and being up early we would had some time to kill. We left Jackpot and drove directly to Moms place to check a few things. Mom had phoned youngest brother who lives somewhere past Australia to ask him to help her fix some things and coordinate with my niece to get her to help Granny.

We arrived at Mom's and began with the TV that she had told little brother was not working. I asked mom if her tv worked. Yes. Why? Checked the TV with the remote and we were sorted. Seeing that the TV worked, that meant that her internet modem was working. 2 for 2. Check!

Next was her banking app on her phone that was not working. Analytics and I tried the banking app with the new password and it kept thinking. No joy. Had mom punched in the wrong code? Another try time and still the phone was thinking. Settings > Wifi. Turn wifi on, banking app no longer searching. Access granted! 3 for 3.

I wrote the access code down and left it at an appropriate place and repeated about 3 times that she dare not write it on the piece of paper that she keeps in her phone pouch.

Lastly we were going to check her tank water system. It had rained quite a bit last week and her tanks were 3/4 full. I asked mom to switch over the system to tank water and it was evident that she had no clue what she was doing. I double checked with twin brother and we were 4 for 4!  All systems GO!

Thousand thanks from Mom and we said our goodbyes and proceeded to twin brothers house to pick up his telelens camera that he was going to lend us. We caught nephew and niece at home. Nephew would leave for Malawi for an undetermined time to go and work with other couzin.

Niece was going with twin and her Mom for her graduation on Wednesday and we had been phoned by twin to ask if we could sleep over on Wednesday night and babysit doggy Riley. Change of plans for us. We were planning to go back to CSF for wednesday and thursday before returning on Friday. Plans to follow.

We said goodbye to nephew and waved goodbye to niece and we pointed Dusty in the direction of Nanaga which is on the way to Lalibela. Nanaga used to be a small farmstall next to the National road and over the iyears has grown to be the place to stop if you are going out that way or coming back. 

Coffee to go for me and a new drink to try for Ingrid, a Red Cappuccino  this is a cappuccino made from Rooibos tea and cinnamon. She loved it. She also bought some thick walking socks.

We were on time for our check in at the Safari, or so we thought... at the junction they had altered the names (in the new south africa they are renaming the cities and towns. Makhanda did not ring a bell, so I took the other road).

This is a road I have travelled on many times in the past so I was not aware of the fact that we were going in the wrong direction. It all looked familiar, but something was not adding up. I finally asked Ingrid to check on google maps and google told us that we were definately going the wrong way, but we could turn off in about 5 kilometers and we would cut straight to our destination.

I said to Ingrid that I hoped that it would not be a dirt road as it was about 22km to destination. Great! Dirt road. We drove for about 10km on the road before we were told to turn right where the cows had just crossed. The farmer closed the gate behind him. No entry. 

The road had just not felt right from the beginning and we would now be an hour later than originally planned. Now it was backtrack to Nanaga and take the road with the funny name.

Thankfully we made it to Lalibela in 1 piece and although later than expected we were still on time to make it to the lodge on time before lunch.

Familiar territory for us as we stopped at reception. Hand over the car keys and sign that we won't sue you if we die. Next thing we were in the SUV and being driven to the lodge. Right at the get go we saw hippos at the dam and many Impala and a few Zebras and warthogs. We can not forget the Egyptian geese that infest most of the world.

I want to divulge the process, but that may spoil the experience for others. Later that day it was game drive and trying to find animals in the cruiser. Dinner and bed.

End of a wonderful day. More to follow...