Hluhluwe

In our lodge in Hluhluwe, drinks and dinner were taken care of by a vibrant lady. She called all the ladies in our group ‘mama’ (while I was still getting used to auntie Elke at home) and she had asked ALMOST every man in our group to marry her. ALMOST every man, because she did not propose to Willem, the fact that she called him ‘boy’ may have had something to do with that :). When the deserts were being served, ‘the mama’ walked by our table and felt the need to put her arm around my shoulders. I still don’t know what was going on there and whether she was using that one hand to size up my breast (they were for sure smaller than hers) or whether the hand just happened to be there, but while I was wondering about this Annie just pushed Magda face down in her desert. And then with a guilty look on her face Annie started saying she was sorry, that she tried and that she did not do it the first time, but then when Magda smelled the desert a second time she just could not help it anymore and had to do it. I’m sure Magda was less amused than she acted to be.

One of the pro’s for the lodge in Hluhluwe was their toilet paper. Most of you may know that in addition to efficiency, I greatly value clean and decent toilets. I am happy to report that during our whole trip, I did not encounter one single toilet that was substandard, not even something that was perhaps not ideal but with some efforts and goodwill could be classified as acceptable. Maybe Thor and Louis know their bathrooms in SA, but all was good in the bathroom area, with the only thing that could be improved being the toilet paper. With the exception of our lodge in Hluhluwe, all toilet paper I have seen could barely be seen as it was all see-through. I know the world is facing bigger problems and that this is a ‘problem’ that can easily be overcome by just putting some more efforts in rolling down the paper and folding it. All I am saying is that double-layered toilet paper in Hluhluwe added to making my day.

The next day it was very warm, with temperatures reaching 38°C. Since my system stops working optimally above 25°C and tends to blatantly shut down above 30°C, this was a bit too much for me (although, fortunately this was the only day that was a bit too much for me, so for all you disbelievers making fun of me for going to Africa: it can be done! even by me). During our game drive, we drove to a camouflaged lookout point right next to a mud puddle in the park. I was initially not too happy about entering a wooden shelter at midday, but I think we could not have been there at a better time, as all kinds of different animals walked by to cool down in the mud all taking turns one after the other. I have to admit that I was a little but jealous of the animals so shamelessly rolling in the mud, but I could not get the kid to join me :p. Also the potential fear of predators looking for lunch held me back a little bit (although they did not get there while we were there, so a ‘big kill’ remained on our wish list).