16 January 2018

We left Berg en Dal just after 6:00 am yesterday morning. It is only a half hour drive to Malanane Gate where we would exit so we put on our seat belts and did not expect to see anything exciting on our way out. But The Kruger shows you what she want to show you and on this day she wanted to bid us farewell! The first sighting to raise our sober mood was a rhino. We could look back and see it well but didn’t take photographs as it was difficult to reverse with a caravan in tow.

Next up a really big bull elephant.

While were saying our goodbyes to Big El, Shan yelled – Hyaena!

He crossed the road behind us, clearly on a mission.

We arrived at Midmar Dam Nature Reserve at 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon and booked into a rustic cabin for the night. A little later today we will meet Lauren and Alan for breakfast and then I will go with them to take Shan to St John’s. Simon and Earl will go ahead to Kokstad.

What a privilege it was to have spent these two weeks with our grandchildren. There were things that freaked them out about us and things that freaked us out about them but we tolerated each others inadequacies with teasing, joking and laughing and it was awesome. It was an extraordinary bonding time that I feel has drawn us all closer to each other. They are well on their way to being grown up so having had this time before Gran and Grandpa are no longer fun to be with was really special.

At Supper I asked the kids what their holiday highlights were

Simon: (Who sat up front) Yelling ‘stop!’ when I saw something and my deaf Grandpa carried on driving so I had to hit him with Roger (the stuffed monkey) to get him to pay attention!

And Simon was the best spotter and got the most points – so it was important to stop when he saw something!!!

Shannon: The leopard and the hyaena sharing a meal – because everyone believes they’re mortal enemies and yet even though food is their number one priority they were prepared to share which means we as humans do not understand how animals think at all. If they can show tolerance then so should we.

Grandpa: Scaring the shit out of the kids when the elephant came toward us! No I’m joking it was just having them with us.

Gran: Bonding with the kids was awesome and like Shan I was really was blown away by the leopard and hyaena sharing the zebra kill.

My wish for all four of my grandchildren is that they will continue to enjoy the wild until they are old like us. Being in the bush is so good for the soul.