Our first weekend!

 

 

Debbie met us at King Shaka International Airport in 35 degree heat and we jumped into our "backie" to drop her back home and head on to Greytown where we were staying with great friends of Sarah in their idyllic rural home overlooking farmland and a dam.  After a welcome meal, we gratefully took to our beds for our first night!

 

 

In the morning we ventured into Pietermaritzburg to meet with Gael from First Step Right School and Tony who has supported the school over the last year.  It was lovely to finally put a face to a name as it was the first time we had been able to arrange to meet him.  Gael gave us a brief update, whetting our appetite for the visits ahead.  She is a passionate photographer and is instilling that into her Grade Four pupils.  Her latest plan is to run a project encouraging the pupils to photograph and learn all about the birdlife around the school.  She told us that there are twelve varieties of birds that are in the location of the school and the project will look at their feeding habits, their habitats and of course, their often vivid plumage!

After our coffee we popped to the shops to set ourselves up with provisions for our Sunday outing... and on the way back to Greytown we took a detour to pay our respects to Nelson Mandela at the breathtaking Capture Site Memorial near Howick.  This stunning sculpture took my breath away and I look forward to returning to experience it in sunshine rather than the drizzle we experienced on Saturday.

Sunday dawned with the sunshine peaking through a few fluffy clouds and we set off before 8 to go to Weenan for a Game Drive!  On the way we dodged goats and cattle on the roadside, marvelled at the multi-coloured rondavels which dotted the hill sides and saw the parched earth and dry riverbeds, interspersed with irrigated farmland full of maize and sugar cane.  The landscape is full of surprises and contradictions, bare dusty scrub gives way to rolling hills and densely forested stretches which are reminiscent of Scotland!  On entering the game park we were struck by the resemblance of the hanging weaver bird nests to the baubles on our Remembering Tree!

The next few hours were spent in awe and wonder as we toured the game park and were privileged to view countless Zebra & Giraffe , as well as Kudu, Eland, Warthogs and even a Blacktailed Jackal and an enormous tortoise!  We spent some time in one of the hides overlooking a dam and witnessed a herb of Zebra coming down to drink, a Monitor lizard skulking in the weeds waiting for lunch to come to him, a small family of Warthogs allowing Mum to drink while Dad stood guard and the hoglets played in the mud, all being overseen by a small group of Giraffe close by.  On leaving the hide we couldn't believe how closely we walked past a bull Giraffe, who watched us with curiosity!  It really was an amazing day and one never to be forgotten.  Sadly the rhino remained elusive, although there was plenty of evidence of their presence.....  Ah well, all the more reason to return.