South Africa #43.

This morning the alarm was set for 5 AM in order to take our final hike. It was actually more of a walk than a hike, no scrambling over boulders and taking giant steps up and down. This was more leisurely and enjoyable. It was also hot, not so much at 5 AM but most assuredly by 6. What an insane country, weather wise. 

Anyhow, we walked from our little beehive huts and within minutes the scenery was breathtaking. To me, this embodies Africa....a wildebeest between two umbrella acacia trees. Now, granted, there are over 200 different types of acacia trees Africa so these trees might be something else entirely, but, you know, my blog...my imagination, my story, my captions. 😊. In any case, it’s one of my favourite pictures. I had to kneel to get the right angle, and the damp, red African mud will likely never come out of my pants. It was pretty damp and marshy for the first part of this walk, little “streams” were emerging from the ground and I was glad I didn’t have sandals on.

Compared to the drought ridden areas that we had seen prior, this was beautiful and lush. We saw all sorts of antelopes; springbok, steenbok, oryx, roan, and the thousands of impala that are everywhere.

It just seems so bizarre to to see all these exotic (to me) animals just grazing and browsing on the side of the road, no fences or enclosures. 

This pretty girl is a nyala. Look at the size of her ears!

While walking down the road Janice saw what she thought was a crocodile, then she realized it was a log, so she said “Doesn’t that log look like a crocodile?” And we all looked, and, yes, you guessed it, a big old croc just laying off the side of the road....grinning slyly at us. Later we saw signs saying to stay away from the water and beware of crocodiles....too late. We did, however, obey the “No Swimming Here” signs.

The walk was only an hour or so, and when it was over we packed up to head back into South Africa for our final couple of days in Hazeyview. How can it be almost over? I’m not ready to go home yet.