We had a slow start to the day, I’d had to take an antihistamine which knocks me for six and it takes a good long sleep for my brain to catch up with my body. It’s not unusual when we are away, my delicate skin doesn’t like detergents, at home we use one for babies🤣🤣 consequently after about a week I end up itching like a baboon🤣🤣🤣hence the necessity for anti histamines….anyway that aside we have also been doing a lot of driving so we decided to take it easy.

John made lunch and elevenses – rolls..I had marmite in one and cheese and marmite in another, he opted for just cheese. We had a couple of yogurt before we set off at around 10.30 am.

We headed down the tar to the Phalaborwa gate, as we wouldn’t be doing this route at any other time. It was a slow day for game. The plains are dry with nothing to eat for grazing wildlife. This area has always been strewn with huge anthills.

Time hasn’t changed this they were everywhere old and new, large and small standing out like the Egyptian pyramids as far as the eye could see, to the horizon and probably beyond.

These termite mounds are called Macrotermes mounds or heuweltjies as the locals call them ( means little hills in Afrikaans). They are inhabited by termites which build an underground network of tunnels and nests The mounds are made of a combination of soil, termite saliva and dung. The extensive tunnels and alleyways are used to control the temperature inside the mound. The heat is pushed up through the chimney type structure. Termite mounds usually last longer than the colonies of termites themselves. The disused mounds are often used by other species of animals. The warthog is particularly partial to digging a hole in the mound and reversing in blocking the entrance with its head so it can still look out. We always keep an eye out for the elusive aardvark and the, never seen by us, pangolin, both of whom enjoy feasting on termites.

After initially sighting a pair of giraffe and some Waterbuck we clocked up a lot of kilometres before seeing anything other than ant hills.

Eventually we came across a herd of huge tuskers at a water tower quickly followed by several giraffe.

At the gate we asked security if we could use the toilet. We parked inside the park gate and walked back to the loos the other side…wow it was mayhem…coaches trying to get in, cars queuing to get in, vehicles queueing to get out….we’ve never seen an entry gate like it…there were dozens of security checking vehicles, police organising the traffic, a few very shady characters loitering around….how things change over time, this used to be a very quiet sleepy gate with little or no traffic. We quickly used the loo and returned to the car.

We took the dirt road back, with the hope of seeing a little more. We did see a few impala, two zebra and another herd of elephant. Not long after this sighting a car coming towards us flashed us so we stopped….the lady looked like an honorary ranger and if she wasn’t one she should have been…her enthusiasm in sharing her recent sighting was infectious………”Take the next left track, then take the right one then 5 kms further there are two mating lions at the side of the road…it’s quite along way 36 kms further but this road is dead” she gushed at us….we said thank you and decided to follow her instructions…..about 15 kms further on another car stopped us the young man and his lady informed us “there are two mating male lions in about 15 kms”, we thanked them and continued…when we were well out of sight of these kind youngsters we had to chuckle with each other “ I don’t think we’ve ever seen two mating male lions”🤣. Our information was very correct to the exact kilometre we came across and lion and lioness mating…. I must admit the lion was a handsome fella with a lovely mane.

Just before reaching the lions the river is very visible. On the opposite bank was the body of a dead hippo and literally dozens of different raptors feasting. It was a strange sight. I had read a face book post a couple of days ago with a picture of a hippo floating down the river with a crocodile feasting on it. I had presumed it was photoshopped, but seeing the sight ourselves, it was probably the same hippo.

We continued our drive around another gravel loop where the young couple had said they had seen 7 lionesses, but we were not that fortunate.

We returned to camp on the tar road enjoying seeing some more wildlife in particular along the riverside and on the bridge.

Our number count for today was considerably lower than on previous days…99+ impala but it took us until 5.30 pm to reach this number, 1 squirrel, 18 waterbuck, 4 crocodile, 3 lilac breasted roller, 1 grey heron, 36 elephant, 8 giraffe, 5 zebra, 11 kudu, 1 yellow billed hornbill, 2 red billed hornbill, 2 spoonbill, 2 quail, 5 Spurfowl, 1 steenbok, 1 terrapin, 2 lion, 31 Chacma baboon, 30 WBV, 3 warthog, 4 guinea fowl, ……. It was still a day full of wonderful sightings even if it wasn’t as prolific as previous days.

We finished our viewing by driving on to a nearby bridge and photographing the sunset and its reflection.

We ate in the restaurant before retiring to our chalet for a game of cards and bed.