Briefly contemplated the healthy breakfast option this morning, but really who am I'm kidding, if a full English on the menu I'm having me some of that. This time though I ask for it sans-veg, there is absolutely no place for carrots or greens in my unhealthy breakfast!
Today we say goodbye to Swaziland and head for the South African border. But before we leave I feel it would be remiss to not mention that Swaziland is speed bump central. When approaching villages, schools or anywhere where people might congregate, the Swazis have put up speed bumps, usually in groups of threes, to slow cars down. This would be all well and good apart from the fact that a lot of them are not signed nor painted and so sneak up on you like a ninja! Not fun when you are going along at 80km/hr. Shiiiiit. Squeal of brakes, BAMN! "Sorry guys".
Arrived without incident at the border, and flew through in record time again. Kirsten in the 4x4 did get stopped briefly as we were leaving the car-park as the customs guy had to check to ensure there was no meat in her fridge, plus had a quick nose in the souvenir bags. To be fair all the Swazi candles were individually wrapped in opaque protective foam packages, and with scores of them in the bags they did look a wee bit suspect. When quizzed upon them all she had to do was mention Swazi Candles and the understanding nod came, she was merrily waved through.
We arrived just before noon to our camp for the night, Shayamoya Lodge in Pongola. One sign on the driveway warned us to 'BEWARE CHILDREN'. Priceless! To be fair children I can usually handle, but hopefully there are none here. I'm all about the chill on this trip and kids are not tranquil, especially when pretty pools and trampolines are involved. Both of which are available here I've noticed.
We had lunch on the restaurant deck overlooking Lake Jozini and the Lebombo Mountains. After lunch Pete was anxious to go Tiger fishing and so himself and Francois headed off to see what they could catch. The rest of us opted to go for a sunset cruise in Pongola Nature Reserve.
Turned out that we were all staying in absolutely gorgeous lodges with our own private verandas. They are air-conditioned, elegantly decorated with a thatched roof and wooden interior, plus they have an outdoor shower and a spacious en-suite with bathtub. Room was huge with flatscreen TV (not that that was going to be used, but still, nice!!)
Comically Geoff and Francois had managed to end up with the honeymoon suite - the only hut in the entire place that had one four-poster king-size bed instead of the standard twin beds pushed together to make a double. Being their closest neighbour and thus meaning minimal baggage disruption, I magnanimously offered to swap rooms with them in order to alleviate the awkwardness - I am nothing if not a saint!! (Now I had the ability to starfish to my heart's content - SUPERB!)
Had 90 mins to kill before we needed to leave for the park so I grabbed my swimmers and dashed to the pool for a quick dip. Water again was quite cold, but nothing compared to Malandela's. Did a few laps and relocated to the loungers to dry off. Phone alarm went off far sooner than I'd like, but still we had more wildlife viewing to do, so I reluctantly got up to leave. Spied the trampoline nestled in the corner, hmmm, I think I've got time to manage a sneaky few jumps. Let the inner child go wild! Weeeeeee!! Awesome!!!
Headed down to Pongola Nature Reserve in the lodge's pickup and hopped aboard a 10-seater boat with canopy. Great evening's viewing was had. Saw over twenty rhinos on the riverbank, one of which had the largest (and straightest) horn I've ever seen; it must have been at least two and a half foot long. Kirsten was agog at the numbers of rhino we saw, apparently that is quite unusual. We saw tons of warthogs, zebra, impala. Not to mention two different pods of hippos who treated us to spectacular sounds and yawning action. On the river we passed Pete and Francois, no joy with any catches, still, plenty of time for them yet.
Watched another beautiful sunset from the boat, which stunningly fell behind the mountains. As we headed back to shore there was a dip in the mountains and we caught a second sunset as the sun continued to make it's way to the horizon. Two sunsets in one day - how bad!!
Back at shore we again caught up with the guys, they had finally caught a Tiger fish. He wasn't a monster, bit of a tiddler to be honest - but still, they were happy out. No bragging rights though...
Driver tried to hustle us into the jeep, the park closed at 6pm and there would be a massive fine if we didn't exit in less than 7 mins (it had taken us well over 10 mins to get to the shore from the gate). Cue mad dash to the gates; plus everyone else in the park had the same idea, wheels spun and dust was flying in all directions as we all bombed along the dirt tracks at top speed (roadside limits were being blatantly ignored). 6:03pm and we just managed to sneak out of the park nestled in a long train of cars. The guard was at the gate smiling knowing full well of the panic that had been generated.
Had a lovely beef curry for dinner that was adorably served in cute little black potjie pots (round, cast iron, three-legged pot). Spent most of the night chatting to Jim, Geoff and Francois, and trying to identify terrible music being piped from the restaurant's sound system (think along the lines of Chinese-restaurant-style cover music and you're about there).
Returned to my room to discover that the staff had rolled down most of the outside mosqito-window flaps, leaving a pane on either side of the door open. After concluding that sunrise would occur from my balcony I opted to leave the remaining two blinds unfastened. I also had been given two little cookie sachets on my pillows, which I happily munched.
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