What can I say ….Berg- en- dal certainly goes against the normal South African trend…in that people perceive things are gradually going down hill….not here in Berg-en-dal…..great chalet …woke up and had a superb shower lovely powerful hot water, my dearest husband made me coffee, then we sat outside eating fresh fruit salad and black cherry yogurt….the bird song and the vervet monkeys thumping on the thatched roof of the chalet along with the squirrels racing up and down near by trees kept us entertained.

As we wanted to head out into the bush we left the dishes from last night and breakfast in the sink. Our wonderful housekeeper had washed them all up and cleaned, made our beds and cleared out the ashes from yesterday’s braii, by the time we got back at midday…what great service.

For our morning drive we decided to head along the tar road and take the gravel road along where we had seen the leopard two nights previously. John got the first spot of the day ..a family of warthogs, digging in the mud for their breakfast…these really are lovely creatures many just call them pigs but their majestic gingery manes and fantastic curled up tusks makes them far more than “just pigs”. They always make me smile…I love the way they kneel down with their front lower legs tucked under them when they forage, very practical and a lesson for short people to follow🤣🤣

We had seen 99+ impalas before reaching the main road. Our drive consisted of seeing the usual array of wildlife. As we traversed the gravel road there was no sign of the leopard or its kill up the tree…however the bush decided to grace us with another spectacular sight. On the far banks of the river were 4 adult rhino and one youngster…WOW!!!! …we so rarely see rhino in the park because poaching has virtually eradicated them. The rangers have worked so hard to try and protect them, they are of course one of the species which is critically endangered . We were so excited, a couple of other cars pulled up and quickly moved on…obviously they didn’t understand the significance of seeing so many of these beautiful creatures all together…we sat along time in awe of these giants.

We continued our circular route around to Afsaal rest area and used the toilets and stretched our legs in the shop. We then drove back to Berg-en-Dal via the tar…suddenly we saw movement in the bushes and low and behold we viewed another large female rhino with her elder calf. This time these had been dehorned so they must have been part of the Parks breeding and protection project….what a great job the rangers are doing.

We got back to our chalet by 12,30 and John made us cheese rolls for lunch. We then had a couple of frustrating hours trying to get on the Internet…..we were not successful for long.

By 3 pm we were frustrated and decided to go for another drive. We stopped at the top of the hill outside the camp and “ping” we had internet…so we loaded some photos and uploaded yesterday’s blog…it was so speedy it took us all of 5 minutes. We drove along the Crocodile River for several kms before cutting up on a different track…again we saw some lovely sights…in particular a couple of giraffe who stood, in the middle of this quiet dirt track, looking at us as if to say “ what right do you have to drive on my track” …..eventually they moved and let us pass. We saw numerous elephants and some very cute youngsters. Our wildlife spotting count for the day was 99+ impala, 39 Elephant, 16 warthog, 4 vervet monkeys , 1 squirrel, 10 guinea fowl, 7 rhino, 6 kudu, 21 zebra, 3 wildebeest, 8 giraffe, 2 common duiker, 27 Chacma baboons, 1 dwarf mongoose, 1 ibis, 1 white backed vulture, 2 red-billed horn bill.

It was a cloudy cool, day with a moody sky which looked like rain clouds, so on returning to camp at 6.00 pm we decided to “ chicken out” of the braii and headed for the restaurant. John had venison pot pie with chips and I had half a grilled chicken and chips. We shared a piece of cake and a portion of ice cream for dessert…naughty but nice… This cost us £22 including our drinks …what a great place Berg- en -dal is.

Tomorrow we head to Lower Sabi Camp.