The first night both Jude and Sallyanne slept in their clothes. Being a former Girl Scout I took an extra blanket, folded it in half and put it between the sheets. I slept in between the blanket like a sleeping bag and was warm and toasty all night (until I had to get up at 5:30 AM). Next night I had to fix Ro’s bed the same way. I will admit that it was miserable getting up at 5:30 and getting dressed in a 40 degree tent. There was a light breakfast at 6:00 but I was afraid to drink too much coffee because there were no bathroom other than a bush in the bush. First morning out at dawn I realized that I did not have warm enough clothes. I had long underwear and gloves but should have brought ear muffs, a wool sweater and my hiking boots. Don’t believe them if they tell you Smart Wool socks keep your feet warm. First shop we found Sallyanne and I bought wool knitted caps. Talk about hat hair! We usually came back about 11:00 for brunch and out again on safari at 3:00 until dinner time. One afternoon we had a very interesting talk about poaching animals. There is a huge problem in Kruger with the poaching of rhinos by the Chinese who we learned are slowly buying up African land. The statistics on how many rhinos are been poached was staggering.

During our time at Kruger we saw the “Big Five” that includes the elephant, Cape buffalo, lion, leopard and the rhinoceros. Kruger was the only chance that we had to see the rhino as it was not located in any other park we were going to. We saw 6 rhinos. We also saw the elusive leopard but only with binoculars. Ndabu and our Buffalo Rock guides had eagle eyes locating these animals. They also found a lion sleeping next to Kudu that he had killed and gorged on. Very difficult to see other than the insides of the Kudu.

Our evenings at Buffalo Rock were around a huge campfire where we ate and listened to unknown animals in the back ground. Food was always buffet style and I tried everything even though I was not sure of what it was. One night we were treated to four African girls who entertained us with their lively singing and dancing. I am sure that you can guess who participated in the dancing, of course, Ro!

A fond farewell to Buffalo Rock in South Africa and on to Kwange National Park in Zimbabwe.