5 July 2010 - African Sunrise

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love African sunrises and sunsets. There is something magical about them and something so special. This (very) special one was taken this morning from my patio - ain't it gorgeous!!!

June 2010 - Special flower

My father-in-law gave me a Gerbera for Mother's day last year. It is such a lovely plant and flowers beautifully. The other day I noticed a strange flower on it and discovered that it is growing a siamese flower. The stems are conjoined and it is flowering from both sides. It is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait for it to be opened properly. Really something special I think.

Hoedspruit (part 3) - The kids sure had fun

So the last two days in Hoedspruit were spent at the lodge sleeping, reading, swimming and talking - well by the adults at least. The kids had a BALL - they made dams, played in the veld and made a fire to bake some "stok-brood" (stick-bread) - such fun.

And then there was Easter. I have to admit none of us grown-ups had a concept of the days of the week and we actually forgot about Easter Sunday - needless to say we convinced the kids that Monday was in fact Sunday and no-one (under 6) was any the wiser. Marinda was clever enough to bring along some bunny masks and as soon as the kids' eyes were open the hunt began.

Hoedspruit - part 2 (visiting Jessica)

On the Sunday morning Marinda, Francois, myself and the 4 kids went to visit a very special hippo named Jessica. Jessica was born in March 2000 and was washed up along the bank of the Oliphants River when she was only about 8 hours old. She was found and has been raised in captivity since then. She is the friendliest animal - this despite being one of the most ferocious beasts in the animal kingdom - and I swear I actaully saw her smile :). We could feed her, stroke her face and even give her a kiss.

Hoedspruit : 2-5 April 2010 (Easter weekend) - Part 1

Ed and I have been talking about taking the kids to the Kruger National Park for a while now and the opportunity came along when our friends Francois and Marinda invited us to come with them to Hoedspruit (one of the "gateways" to both private game parks and the national Kruger Park) for the Easter weekend.

We left on Friday morning. The trip was better than I had anticipated (my kids are not good travellers) and it was only in the last 45 minutes of the 5 hour journey that they started getting on each other's (and my) nerves :).

The lodge we stayed at was absolutely gorgeous and we had our own "wing" with two en-suite bedrooms. There was another wing and a main house which contained a lounge and the kitchen. There was also an undercover braai area and an open fire area and (being very spoilt) a small splash-pool, which came in very handy in the heat of the bushveld.

On Saturday morning we left for the Kruger Park early morning (we were at the gate by 6h30). on the way to the gate we spotted a lioness and a troup of about 100 baboons - a start like this was a sure indication that we were in for a magnificant day indeed. At Orpen we all climbed onto a game-viewing vehicle and off we went. We ended up seeing a lot of great animals and our sightings included elephant, lion, giraffe, buffalo, kudu, nyala, hippo, impala and monkeys.

It was really a good trip and the kids thoroughlly enjoyed the park (as far as I can gather).

The lodge

A gorgeous sunset

Taking a break in Kruger

The larger animals

The bushveld

The smaller aninmals

A stick-insect

A dung beetle

The kids having fun