Theme for the Day:The Little Five
Word for the Day:Braii
Braii is Afrikaans for barbecue or roast.
We were up and at 'em early at 5AM. It was Lizzie's Birthday. In honor of this she was served Hot Chocolate at our first breakfast.
"Masambene Baantu!"
We loaded onto the Safari Vehicles at 6:30 AM. We were off to track the Leopard. We had tried to find one the day before but were not successful in this. Frikkie had told us that some people come to the Kapama Reserve year after year trying to see the Leopard on Safari but never see one.
We had our hopes up though. Lizzie had had a facial the day before. One of her massage therapists had "the gift of sight". She had promised Lizzie that she would see a Leopard on her Birthday.
We had been out for a long while and had not found a Leopard. Off and on Frikkie was busy listening to the other guides on his CB Radio. Suddenly Frikkie got all excited and said that we were going to see an Aardvark. He was practically dancing in his seat. He sped toward the location of where the Aardvark was supposedly located. I was trying to figure out why he was so darn excited about seeing an Aardvark.
After a bit we pulled off the road a little ways into the bush. AND THERE HE WAS!!!!! The Leopard was sitting under a bush and hanging loose. Frikkie said that usually Leopards are sighted going from here to there but to see them stay in one spot is a rare circumstance. We watched him for over ten minutes. Frikkie pointed out that the Leopard was blind in his right eye. We were close enough that I could see this. He was so beautiful!!! Now if only Frikkie would have gone to move that branch out of the way so that we could see the Leopard's face clearly....NOT!!!!
Thank You Lizzie you were our Good Luck Charm to see the Leopard!!!! Happy Birthday!!!
After watching the Leopard we headed to the Lions Den for a break. For an extra fee you can stay in the Lions Den for the night. As you can see the bed is on the roof out in the open. The Lodge leaves a walkie talkie with you just in case. If John and I stayed here I think I would make it until midnight (that would be the longest).
After our break we went back to our Safari. Frikkie showed us a whole bunch of leaves and bushes that we could use to survive in the wilderness. The leaves on the tree shown below can used as TP.
Mid morning we headed back for our Second Breakfast in the Siyatia Lounge. After Breakfast we went to a presentation with reptile expert Don Strydom. He brought all kinds of critters to look at. Some of them we could hold and/or touch.
Here is a picture of John holding the Lizard!!!
Don told us that the Tarantula felt like velvet. "Trust me you'll like holding the Tarantula." "WHAT! No way am I holding the Tarantula!!!!! " But he talked me into it. "No, it will not bite or hurt you." OK, maybe, yes I'll hold the Tarantula. Eeeeeew-uh-ahhh he does feel like velvet!!!.
Wow I just held the Tarantula!!!! WOW I JUST HELD THE TARANTULA!!!
I was feeling a little bit better about the whole reptile thing until the snakes were brought out. How to make your Wife nervous? Have your Husband volunteer to pick up the snake and put him in the bin!!!
OK now it was our turn as a group to hold one of the snakes. WHAT I'm not holding the snake!!! Really I'm not holding the snake!!! NO! NO! NO!
Weeeeeeeelll yes I'm going to hold the snake. See I've been waiting to do this since I was four years old. In preschool we went to the zoo. My twin sister Annette loved holding the snake. I wouldn't do it. I've regreted it since then. By golly I had been given a second chance to the hold the snake and I had traveled over 10,000 miles to get here. I was not going home until I held the snake.
But I'm not completely sure about this. So I gave myself another pep talk.
I AM going to hold the snake.
Really I AM.
I am NOT getting back on the plane until I hold the snake.
So I held the snake. And I'm glad I did. After I got used to his head slithering around it was all OK. Now, on certain days, I am certain that I can speak parseltongue (NOT). Holding the snake has given me a lot of confidence. I have a list of things that I now want to do but before I was too scared to try. One of the things on the list includes zip lining in Costa Rica!!!!
"You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result. " Gandhi
Luckily the Monkey and Minnie were unharmed during the whole Reptile Presentation!!!!
After Lunch John and I went for our couples massage. This felt so good!!!!!
At 4 pm we went for a Survivor Seminar with the Survivor Man. We were joking with Tina and Craig that we "knew" that they were going to leave us out on the Reserve for the night and see who was left in the morning....
See this would be our lovely "room" accommodation complete with firepit.
We could use our snare to catch a protein for dinner. Ryan is showing us how the snare works for the animals.
And we would know how and where to dig for fresh water.
We would even have the delicacy of Worms at our fingertips. YUCK!!!
But of course we couldn't talk them into leaving us in the bush and well we just did not want to either.
Tina and Craig went back to the Lodge to work on some surprises for the farewell dinner. We went out to watch the sunset with the hippos in the foreground. John, Brenda and Rose all waited for the perferct photo op. This was when all three hippos came out of the water at one time and the sun was setting behind them. Beautiful!!!!!!
We headed back to the Lodge and went to our room to pick up our pin lanyards. Tina had asked us to wear them to the Farewell Dinner that evening. We all met back in the lobby. Tina and Craig gave a farewell speech and then the surprises started. From out by the pool area a dance troupe entered the lobby. Their entrance into and performance in the lobby practically took my breath away. Again it was like something straight out of a storybook. The dance troupe's entrance is one of my favorite memories of the entire trip. I still get chills up and down my spine when I think about this.
We followed the dance troupe to the Siyatla Lounge for our Farewell Dinner.
The Lodge (as usual) had made a scrumptious buffet.
While we ate the dance troupe performed several ensembles. This dance troupe was wonderful!! They reminded me of watching the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
Lizzie enjoyed her beautiful Birthday cake!!!
Near the end of the dance troupe's performance the dance troupe sang the South Africa National Anthem. This was really touching!!! A beautiful Anthem for such a beautiful country!! I was not homesick one bit until then. At that point it hit me how so very far we were from home.....
After a lovely dinner and watching a very talented dance troupe we pulled up our chairs in a half circle to watch the video that Tina and Craig had created. We all said our first round of goodbyes and then turned in for the evening.
We were off to Disney Dreams!!!
Next Up: Sala Kahle!
Disclaimer: This Blog is to be used for personal reasons only. This Blog can not be copied and sold for monetary gain. Our South Africa Adventure Family, Dis Board Friends and our Friends and Family at Large are welcome to read this site and also to copy photos (s)he sees fit for personal use. The pictures on this site may be used for personal reasons (such as scrapbooking, Facebook photo books, etc). Photos are not to be copied and then sold for monetary gain in any capacity. Please and Thank You!!! RMW
No comments:
Post a Comment