A slow start but what trip later 13 july 2014

Good morning readers I am sat here all on my own in some stunning scenary with only the sound of the birds, the water pump and the occasional hippo.
As you can tell it was a slow relaxing morning, as usual a chat with others when they arrive, wonder why they only appear just before breakfast, then the full meal to prepare me for what was going to turn out to be a long busy day.
After spent time with other guests, its surprising the lives some have lead and how well they have coped with adversity but also seem to still have lots of plans for the future. Also discussed tablet computers and photography, before it was time for lunch,  oops forgot to say weather is getting milder and I should of been putting on sunscreen so not really sure why aftersun was used instead.
We set off for lunch at Boekenhout, no idea where it was, unfortunately my usual seat was taken so I ended up sat at the back corner seat in the other vehicle, which led to a much bumpier ride and more restrictive view. I forgot to say we all seemed better at dressing for the trips, it was a beautiful setting and there was a good choice of food, plus there was a river which was ideal for photos, then off on our drive. I found the people in this vehicle much quieter and they seemed to concentrate more on the photography.
As usual we saw a whole range of animals, by now wildebeest were plentiful so of no interest, in the distance I spotted  firstly an ostrich then a  girafffe, but it seemed we were after other animals, firstly we came across a crocodile sunbathing in the middle of the road the prescence of our selves and others did not seem to encourage it to move, so we had to reverse along the road for the next photo opportunity, this was a couple of small well maybe large lizards, but until they went past our vehicle due to the angle I was unable to see them.
Next that we saw, we were told was a very rare situation, firstly we came across what turned out to be 4 hippos, in the water, we stayed a while just taking photos as they raised their heads then suddenly one decided to venture out in front of us onto the grassed area, we had to move our vehicle because it seems getting in the way of a hippo  heading for the water is not the thing to do.GsDWqjE/U8v5JCy_zvI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/DvMiMctmGHg/s320/afternoon+evening+safari+saturday+(17)+(Small).JPG" />
Even better another came to join this one, that we were told is a once in a life time sight, they seemed happy to just graze, other vehicles had been alerted by radio,  so now there were a group of us also. I wonder what the hippos made of these strange creatures disturbing their meal. Well surprise surprise another hippo decided it was hungry or wanted to know what was missing, so it lumbered out of the water, to be quickly followed  by the last much smaller hippo. They seemed totally oblivious of all our cameras clicking, later we realized we had been there over half an hour. Eventually I think it was the younger one, became bored so had a little play with one of the others, then set off back into the water quickly followed by the others and our magic experience was over.
It was now getting late but ovet the radio came a message thay something else was going on so we decided to go and have a look delaying our trip back. It turned out to initially be a female lion, it was now very dark but the spotlight illuminated it in the fields, we spent a few minutes spoiling its peace and quiet before going searching elsewhere for what I did not know,  until we came across a huge male lion eating a huge piece of red meat. It was very inconsiderate in that it was in the middle of a field with poor lighting, I tried various settings and one could only obtain black and white which at the time seemed rather odd, but later I rembered I had not re set the camera after a previous session.

Finally we set off back to the lodge it got much colder and was a very bumpy ride, it also seemed to take for ever, we were very late back for the evening meal so I feel appreciated it much more than usual, then tried to catch up a little with FB and e mail before retiring to bed, luckily the next day was to be a relaxing slow start

What an exciting but long day 11 july 2014

Could not settle after waking about 2am kept nodding off then waking again after a brief sleep, finally I got up at 4 45 and started to get ready for our early start. Yet again no alarm call, we had been told to bring our spare blanket to help keep warm when out on safari, mine was enormous,  I joined some of the others and we had a coffee and a cake before starting out, by now on the trips out people had got used to which driver they preferred,  Dot the elderly lady who had sat in the front of our vehicle said she would prefer to sit further back with a better view so I suggested they use my blanket instead. Given, our ranger got her to go in the front so we wrapped her up in my blanket to keep warm and off we set, I had put extra clothes on but it was still very cold and dark when we started out, but soon brightened,  we saw again a range of animals as we travelled to the Legend Centre for breakfast,  it was far removed from where we were staying and had a world famous golf course, it was very luxurious, must check the costs of a stay there. Again a range of photo opportunities with the animals we saw along the way.
Next we went to visit the Cyclad centre where a young woman explained about the work that is being done to preserve these rare endangered species of plant from poachers.  It seems they are prized as giving good luck and power to those who possess them in the country, so by their rarity are worth much more to people. Until recently there was no law in force to protect the plants and even now the police are reluctant to take action to prosecute offenders,  it seems when disturbed the plants struggle to survive so are brought  to the project to revive them.
Back to Legend Centre for lunch, not sure why but it seemed a short time before we were off again, this time to the shop for sweets for the children at the community centre, when we reached the exit there was a barrier and the young woman would not let the vehicle through, our group decided to leave it behind and walk there, I said I would stay with it. A little later everyone came back with treats and off we set.
We arrived at a place where there were some local teenagers playing cricket but no sign of the rest of the children.  The leader explained that the other children were away as it was school holidays, this upset some of our group as they were looking forward to seeing the effect on the children when given gifts, my thoughts were that surely it was known in advance, the man also took the gifts of pens pencils notebooks etc, but said that they had shelves of them, so would sell them to the high school so they could purchase items on their own proper wish list.
He went on to say that they had written to Saga with this list but could not understand why we were still being given old information. He also explained that,  they are having problems with the present landowner where the school is, he srems to want to get rid of them so has cut off the electricity supply. Luckily Legend has donated a new plot of land and are supplying water and electricity to the site,  but obvioudly they now need more, money and resources.
I asked who was best to obtain the list of items needed, he said would get e mail address sent to me, so we could discuss and I could contact Saga about the matter,  Terrie one of the other people in our group also wanted to write in and discuss what would be helpful to the community centre,  layer rebievef do will gollow up on return from holiday.
Later when out again Given mentioned that there were 2 eagles, I said I could not see them, as the helicopter was distracting me, he kindly explained there was no helicopter it was the eagle's I could see soaring about, it has now become a standing joke with the others on that vehicle, jeffs credibility has gone again sob sob. As usual a range of interesting views of animals, and some beautiful scenary as we travelled back to the lodge, the temperature dropped quite rapidly.
Evening meal then a chance to relax and catch up with some of my e mails  as well as other sites and FB,  later back to the room and to write up this blog.

What a day its been 10 july 2014

The title says it all, maybe I should commence by saying it is 9 45pm its minus 2 outside and I am typing this in bed as its the most comfortable and warm place to be.
Maybe not, lets go back to the beginning of the day, I had one of the best nights sleep I have had for a long time, when I woke I looked at my watch thinking it must be early because I had not had my wake up call at 5am to prepare me for the trip, err umm, my watch said 5 30am so I had overslept.
I quickly sorted myself out and dressed, got all the important things together and rushed to the dining room. Its the fastest I have ever done it was 15 minutes, I met a couple others who informed me luckily they set their alarms for 5 but there were no staff about, we went inside and just then Even arrived, we explained so he went off to sort it all out after finding some rock cakes, for us to eat, which were,  plus we made ourselves a drink as slowly in drips and drabs people appeared,  finally everyone that was going was ready to depart.
It was dark and freezing cold as we set off,  I tried to take a couple of photos with no success, plus I struggled to keep warm despite all the extra layers of clothes.
Soon it brightened up and we could concentrate on looking for game. One of the things that confuses me is that we are told not to make a noise,  in case we frighten the animals, well the noise of the diesel engines must warn them plus the sound of the various walkie talkie that they use to communicate. But back to the story, we saw a range of animals as we moved about, the most interesting was a group of elephants on the mountain side, we saw them first by the branches of trees they were disturbing as they wandered along,  we only saw brief glimpses because they were across the valley, Given our ranger Givern said he had never seen this sight before with them.
Eventually we moved on and saw a range of animals, there was still a chill wind despite the sun shining, then back to the lodge for breakfast, never have I been so ready to eat and get into the warmth, we had a rest before setting off for our lunch at Figtrees, on the way seeing more animals in their native setting, including giraffe, rhino,  wildebeast, to mame just a few.
Figtrees was pleasant with tables and chairs and a pleasant selection of good food in a beautiful setting, also people seemed to join in the chat, more surprising was that there were toilets for us to use out there in the middle of nowhere. We had an unusual visitor namely an ostrich, it did not come to close but maybe ut was just checking us out.
After our meal we continued on in the the vehicle finding a range of more animals to take photos of and some beautiful scenery,  I must admit I was getting quite tired out and nodding off only to be awoken at the next rut in the road, in fact it seemed to get rougher and rougher until we reached a peak where we stopped to admire the view and had a chat with our ranger Given.
After this we made our way back to the lodge, to freshen up then have our evening meal, which was pleasant enough, then just before I was going to leave we heard the sound of drums and singing,  it was the staff putting on a display for us, it was pleasant enough,   after I went to the bar area to do some work on the Internet, but others wanted to chat about Tablets etc, after a while most had gone to bed so I made my apologies and left also, so here I am its now 10 30 so I think I will finish and hopefully have a good nights sleep ready for a very long day tomorrow.
I do hope I can solve the issue to do with photos on here