Hello!

We're back again, this time from the Kruger National Park! Matt and Chesa arrived on monday (with a hire car!) and we 'booked' into our mud huts for the week! Having left the foundation we decided to stay at the backpackers just 5 minutes down the road for our last week in Africa, partly swayed by the cool mud huts but also by the bar and restaurant we often frequented with the other volunteers from VMF. After a few (too many!) drinks with the VMF volunteers who had ventured down for the evening it was off to bed for an early night as we had to be up at 5am the next morning to go on Safari. Luckily our guide, Emille, is also the owner of the bar and backpackers and so we didn't have far to go to be picked up! After a 2 hour drive (and a stop-off for steaks for the braai) we reached Orpen Gate for the Kruger National Park, and from there it was off into the wild! We drove for about 2 hours at a time before stopping at food/toilet stops for 10 mins to refill and refresh. To begin with we saw lots of Impala, Kudu, and Zebra, but after the first 500 they began to all look the same! As the first day wore on and as the roads became more remote we began to see a lot more wildlife, including Elephant, Giraffe, Wildebeast, Warthogs, Dwarf Mongoose, Waterbuck and Buffalo. We also saw some more rare animals such as Sable Antelope and Rhino (including a baby!). At the end of the first day we headed to Talamati Camp, where we stayed in a very nice 'holiday home-style' lodge with ensuite bathrooms and real beds (when you've been sleeping in a tent for a month this can get you very excited!)! In the evening Emille cooked us all amazing steaks for tea using a braai (this is a South African BBQ and is very popular!), whilst Marney suffocated us all with Doom Bug Spray when trying to fend off the huge clouds of Mosquitos! On tuesday morrning we were up at 6 and off again in search of the Big 5! Having already seen Elephant, Rhino and Buffolo that left us with Lion and Leopard to find. To begin with we saw lots of animals from the previous day but by lunch we had seen Hippo's and Vultures, and shortly after stopping we finally saw some Lion. Emille somehow managed to spot an ear move in long grass about 30 metres from the road (whilst driving!!!) and with the help of binoculars we were able to see 2 female Lions. We also managed to drive into the middle of a herd of approximately 40-60 elephants which was really cool at first, until they began getting aggressive and we had to make a quick getaway! That night we stayed at Skukuzu camp (the biggest in Kruger) and spent the evening hippo watching (and beer drinking!) from the veranda of the bar, and eating steaks on the platform of the old train station! Thursday began with an early start as we left at 4am in an attempt to find Leopard. However we returned empty handed at 6am, although we did see hyena eating a baby impala just a metre from the car. Despite seeing crocodile and lots of baboons we were unable to find any Leopards and so left Kruger in the afternoon to head back to Half Human.

Friday began with a trip to the Foundation to show Marney and Chesa around and to say some goodbyes. Sadly the weather was pretty bad but we still managed to fit in a visit to the shops, the tea gardens and a laundrettes! In the evening everyone from the Foundation came down to the pub to say goodbye and have a few drinks and then it was off to bed! Saturday was our last day in Tzaneen and so we decided to visit the Elephant training facility nearby. However after eventually getting there and getting to feed and touch the elephants (I got sneezed on!) we realised we weren't going to be allowed to leave without paying (it was supposed to be free!) and ended up handing over 800 rand (thats a lot of money!). After leaving we decided (with disasterous consequences!) to try and find the largest Baobab tree in the world (that supposedly has a pub inside it!), but due to all the rain we'd had in the last few days the roads (more like tracks!) had turned to mud and it was nothing short of a miracle that we didn't crash or slide off into a ravine! It was only down to Marney's rally skills that we managed to avoid damaging the car! Having abandoned the idea of finding the tree we headed to a nearby Country Lodge for lunch before heading back to Half Human. In the evening we decided that, despite the rain and in true British style, we were going to have a Braai for our last night (much to the bemusement of the locals who thought we were crazy!). The next day it was into the car and off on a 5 hour drive to Pretoria where we stayed for 1 night prior to flying out to China. Having hopped in the pool and watched the final of South African Idol (Jody won and then her top fell off during her celebrations!) we went in search of food. Having found an Irish pub (and Deb's cutting her foot on glass and bleeding everywhere!) we settled down with a basket of chicken wings, chips, beef samosa's and cocktail sausages to listen to a gospel choir sing xmas carols! Then it was back to the hostel for our last nights sleep in South Africa before heading off to China!

P.S. I have decided that, after 6 weeks growth, to discard the razor and not shave again until we return to the UK at the end of March! However, this will be a sponsored 'beard-growth' with all the money raised going to the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa. Once i've been able to set up an online sponsoring facility i will post details here! So keep a look out!