We had a full day driving around the Lower Sabi area. A leisurely breakfast took place on our veranda, watching, elephant, hippos and giraffe zig zag across the river munching on the reeds and grasses and cooling off in the water…..what a splendid view…how privileged we are to be able to experience the uninhibited bushlands where gods creatures roam free and all wildlife lives its natural life in its natural habitat.

Our chalet/hut was still delightful although the shower wasn’t quite as good as the previous days….very hot, hard to get cool enough and fairly low pressure…but it sufficed.

We headed up the tar road to Skakuza, because John had ear-wagged our neighbours saying there was a lion kill. We didn’t see any lions but we did see the buffalo carcass with numerous vultures and other raptures feeding on it..near by waiting patiently was a hungry crocodile.

We drove a few more kilometres further down the tar before turning back. We crossed the Sabi on the tar road to Tshokwane and took the first right hand dirt road which loops around.

From the low pontoon bridge we saw numerous hippos, some young, some showing that they needed the dentist, some grazing, some sleeping in large pods and some just wallowing in the water…A hippo can live for an average of 35 years in the wild. A male hippo can weigh up to 4500kg and a female 1600kg. They walk under water and can remain submerged for up to 5 minutes. It is responsible for the most human fatalities and injuries and is therefore known as the most dangerous mammal in Africa. We saw 99+ hippos throughout the day.

Our loop on the dirt road showed us 99+ impala, 20 WBV, 10 crocodile, 99+ elephant, 10 giraffe, 1 African Fish Eagle, 1 yellow-billed hornbill, 2 lilac breasted roller, 9 waterbuck, 55 Wildebeest, 31 zebra, 6 nyala, 3 kori bustard, 1 steenbok, 2 guinea fowl

We stopped at Mlondozi picnic and viewing point. It really is a lovely spot meticulously kept by Sipho who insisted we wrote in his compliments book when I went to thank him for doing such a great job.

We returned to Lower Sabi and ate our cheese sandwiches overlooking the waterhole just outside the camp gates…more hippos were floating around…some people call them a “thunder” of hippos but we prefer the collective noun “a pod of hippos”.

After a rest back at camp we made our way to the car park. We had booked a Parks Board Sunset Drive. It was in the big truck, a 24 seater. I must say we’ve had better drives…there was a group of 11 Finnish men and boys…….we have never been on a Safari truck with such loud, rude people. The youngest child of about 12years of age didn’t know how to talk and shouted the whole time…I shushed him several times. The men stood up most the time. I demanded that the two in front of me sat down stating quite clearly that we had all paid the same and all had the right to view…..grrrr …when one from the back decided to stand at the front I snapped “ sit down we can’t see” he proceeded to squat in the gang way. When he finally went back to his seat I sat sideways with my legs across the gangway so he couldn’t pass by. When we saw a herd of buffalo I stood up so he couldn’t pass or step over my legs…it was not a pleasant experience. We did see a beautiful male nyala I said stop to the driver who had missed it…unfortunately the chi,d decided to repeat my request and his shouting sent the poor bull scarpering, so no opportunity for a picture. Our driver and guide was quite apologetic when we said goodbye. We still tipped him because it wasn’t his fault these rude people had ruined the drive and he would not have been trained in how to deal with loud mouthed Finnish men.

We ate in the restaurant after our drive. It’s a Mug and Bean so John had a jalapeño big burger and I had buttermilk chicken burger…..another nice day ended with us playing cards on our veranda.