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

Special visit - 1 April 2010

My brother, Robert, (who lives in the UK) flew into Johannesburg this morning with his wife, Katherine (my SIL) and while she was busy in Johannesburg with her sister for stuff for her upcoming wedding my brother decided to come through to Pretoria for a few hours to see me and our grandmother.

A good friend of my brother's from NY happened to be in town today too and the 3 of us went out for lunch. Time was of the essence though as Robert had a flight to catch, but it was still a great meal and so nice to spend some time with two great blokes.

The farm 20-22 March 2010

21 March was a public holiday (Human Rights Day) and here in SA if the public holiday falls on a Sunday the Monday is also a public holiday, making it a nice long weekend. We decided to go to the farm for the weekend and yet once again the kids had a ball. Grampy (my FIL) is the hero and he spent a lot of time with the kids playing ball, driving on the quad-bike and of course fishing (for both fish and frogs).