Sadly a setback for the trip

Well I was just sorting last minute paperwork out when during a visit to run through the vouchers Sue my travel agent informed me that Virgin had cancelled the flight home from Shanghai to Heathrow and my choices were to cancel and have a refund, come back a day earlier or maybe a day later but that I would need to pay extra for the costs involved myself. It did not seem to bother them and the effect on me when I am starting the trip next Monday.

It has taken nearly 12 months to get this package together so extra stress now is the last thing I need to cope with, plus having to sort out replacement accommodation and transport all adds to the pressure.

I have spoken to one of the solicitors at Which Legal services, she gave me some advice so I have contacted Virgin via e mail to see what response I now get, on her advice I will also contact my credit card and see what they have to say as it seems they maybe jointly liable, plus it also seems there may be some way through EC legislation to argue my case, which I have also put to them, but if not solved now, I will deal with on my return.

Also i have posted on Facebook both my profile and Chicos because its not right that a company such as Virgin that tells us how customer friendly it is, can just cancel flights I presume because they cannot fill the plane but then walk away without any responsibility to the public as far as they are concerned, whilstsomeone such as myself have to pick up the pieces and spend more time trying to re book elements of the trip with only a couple of days to go before I start on the holiday.

One more week to go 26 October 2014

It seems so long ago since my first chat with my son about a trip to the Grand Canyon, that developed into this marathon of 30 days away with over 60 hours in the sky, 5 countries and 10 destinations for me. Now there are three of us the latest addition is Gulliver Chico Glasser, see previous blog for more about him, dont forget to follow him on Facebook, he hashis own profile and will keep you up to date with his travels as well as photos with me.

They will be with me on my first leg to London that origionally was just a train trip, but thanks to you Maggie is now going to be an exciting adventure, with visits to the Poppy garden at the Tower, then a trip down the Thames by boat, a meal at the O2, then cable car across the river before a train trip to Docklands.  If I time it right it will then be a trip to Heathrow after rush hour to rest before the start of the real trip with our first adventure in New York.

So far it seems we are going to visit staten island ferry, the Statue of Liberty, the memorial to the Twin Towers and the Air Sea museum, but the first adventure there will be to find our hotel, as it involves a trip into the centre first.

After a few days there we travel to Vegas hopefully to visit the Grand Canyon, it came as a surprise that it gets cold in Vegas and the Canyon so it could affect our ability to get there and my sons planned bike ride on the Rim, but we will see. I am still hoping for the chance to meet up with my Buzzer friend Geri if her health is up to it. My son informs me we are having a look at casinos and the Strip is obviously going to be included, think may need to hire a scooter to help cope with distances.

My son then travels back home then its me and my new trusty friend Gulliver Chico Glasser for the rest of the journey. If you read back a little you will read about him, he is with me to promote ME Chronic Fatigue Syndrome awareness and promote our local group as well as encourage people to sponsor him on the groups behalf.

The next leg is to Auckland for a couple of days, then to Oz, Port Douglas, Ayres Rock, then Sydney. I have found a place there to stay where  whem I come in on the ferry there are spectacular views each day of the Opera House and Bridge at each destination it will be an adventure.

Then its onto Malaysia with a trip to visit my friend in Penang followed by a trip to Singapore and finally to Shanghai before returning back to London again for the last leg home.

Its thanks to Sue at Ace Travel2 that its all been possible,  thanks Sue for all your time and patience over the months in the planning and sorting out paperwork for the trip as well as encouragement with the mammoth task, I must stop making lists as my luggage will be overloaded with them.

My visas are in place,  Sue is coming this week to go through all my paperwork to make sure I have my E tickets transfer and hotel vouchers, my GP has sorted out my prescription and  I should have a letter from her, so there are no issues for the medication I will be carrying for pain relief. I have had all necessary inoculations and more recently my flu jabs and just to make sure, have travel insurance to cover the trip.

After I thought about the cold in New York and possibly Vegas and the Canyon, I have made sure that I will have sufficient clothing that will cope with the hot and cold weather, I have tried packing my case and everything I can think of is going in and it is still under weight,  sorry have not included yet all of Chicos clothes some kindly donated by Caroline and  Mandy, do another task for me. I have decided as I am travelling with Chico that this time I will not take my SLR camera rather, my tablet, compact camera and recently purchased camcorder to record what I see on my travels and also to copy onto my blog but also to keep copies to show when I get back home. They will take up less room and be more inconspicuous I hope as I travel around.

Although it is now so close I still have not sorted out the best way to deal with money in the various countries, despite advice from my friend Paul which has been helpful on the subject and other aspects of my trip. But will finally resolve this week, its so complicated with a range of currencies to deal with in particular when I first arrive at destinations in the different countries and the first few hours whilst I find my bearings, so different as a lone traveller than with an organised trip, but much more exciting I hope.

Well I will close for now, hope you enjoy the read and will continue to follow the adventure as it unfolds.

An update on the next trip

I thought I would give you readers an update on the big trip as it is getting quite near now. All the flights and hotels are booked, although there has been a slight change from Auckland to Cairns, seems that there is no longer a direct flight on the day I want to travel. It seems so wrong that they can just do this at short notice, but it just means I have an extra flight to cope with.
I have now sorted out mine and sons visas for US, application is in for trip to Oz and I am waiting to find out if I need a Chinese visa as will be there for just over the 72 hours that I would not need one.
Have booked sons flights from Ireland now and need to sort out train to London for us both and for my return at the end of the trip back home. We have decided to spend a little time in London on the first day as son has not visited there other than when working.
An extra issue now is with son, that he needs to carry equipment on board for his sleep apnoea, so I need to contact the airlines to make sure what we are best doing about the fact he needs to carry this in the cabin.
I am trying to organise all the paperwork for the trip and create a diary to remind me of things I need to do along the trip such as reminding self to contact airlines 48 hours in advance to re confirm flights, this seems a rather strange practice, surely once we have booked and paid for tickets that should be it.
Have a series of links to different websites to help with exploring the different cities along the way. With so many places its hard to know just what I can fit in given the limited time I have in each place, plus there is jetlag  and my ongoing health issues to cope with.
If you have read my last blog you will be aware that besides my son in US I now have an extra travelling companion namely Gulliver Chico Glasser, he seems to be a great success with people so far, in the groups of friends and family he has been introduced to as well as bringing a smile to people along the way, my problem may be keeping up with the Facebook profile I have created. I have not yet worked out how best to use him for fundraising for our Bury Bolton ME CFS group but I am sure in the weeks to come everything will fall in place and for me personally he will act as an icebreaker as I travel on my own.
At present it seems that I will be travelling by plane over a period of 30 days up to 70 hours in planes and waiting in airports for at least 30 hours, just as eell I have my lounge pass to gove me a chance to relax whilst waiting for flights. I have asked for assistance at airports due to my mobility issues do I am hoping this will make it easier for me getting from check in to the plane. It has only just occurred to me that I need to find out about the best way to obtain my boarding card for the various flights as I will not have access to a printer.
Well still lots to do I think son is excited about it but for me I am still working on the practicalities of the trip and it is getting quite near now, so will close but give an update nearer to the time of departure.

Gulliver Chico Glasser My Story 27 August 2014

Chapter One
Hello, my new travelling companion Jeff has asked me to tell you a little about myself, so its where to begin. I was born at an early age, people say I actually look much younger when I tell them how old I am,(whispers 21) but I think its having my 20 lots of fruit a day helps and until recently all the fresh air and good company. I do struggle that for some strange reason people will insist on feeding me bananas, I know they are good for me, lots of good things, but they do get boring, so now have found a whole new sort of foods that I enjoy much more. My birth sign is Leo so according to what I have read that makes me a lion, no that cant be right but on the other hand.

Chapter Two
Now what other words describe me, handsome, brave, arty, big hearted, inspirational and soon to be famous, yes me in a nutshell. I am very distantly related to one of my famous forbears, I believe he was also a traveller and I hope to visit a few of the places he went such as the Empire State Building, you may of heard of him Mr Kong, I just hope I don’t have the issues he did, don’t expect me to be exploited by Jeff in this way. It would be nice to meet up with a young female who could adapt to my life style but I am in no rush to settle down at present, far to many adventures to have first.

Chapter Three
I started life living with friends and family at a safari park, it was a pleasant place to grow up, plenty of food and company and a fairly constant stream of visitors, but they could get boring with their cameras so its just as well that we had a large fence to keep them out most of the time. As with most young monkeys I got fed up in my teens and decided to have a change and explore more of the world. So one day when nobody was watching I hitched a ride on a passing vehicle out of the gate, luckily nobody noticed and off I went.

Chapter Four
I had not realized though that food was not so easy to obtain on the streets and people laughed because I had no clothes on and did not speak their language. Being the monkey I am I quickly learnt to cope, previously I had watched videos of Curious George, Jungle Book and others so had no problems understanding how to fit in, it was just a problem of learning to speak this odd language. I must say my writing is quite poor but I am getting the hang of this voice recognition and operating a keyboard on the computer. It has been said I have to say that already, when I sent this to my so called friend Caroline (more of her later) that she has been criticizing my spelling and grammar WHAT I am a monkey and think I am doing a great job so far

Chapter Five
I tried a few jobs but found the pay was peanuts, so quickly moved on, I finally found my way to a place called Bury, there was a vacancy for a live in job at a place called Build A Bear Workshop, all I had to do was to sit, look my usual debonair self and let the people see me model clothes. The only problem was I had to share with a range of rather odd looking animals of all shapes and sizes, but it was warm, the staff were pleasant and during the day lots of people came to visit us. Oh again there were no wages just as much food as I could eat, I discovered a taste for strawberries and now cannot get rid of the smell, it’s quite embarrassing.

Chapter Six
Well time passed and I did wonder what the future held, then one wet Sunday three odd looking blokes came in, I listened and they were explaining to the staff they were looking for a pleasant travelling companion for one of them who was fed up of being on his own when he went on holiday, so he wanted a friend who would go on a long trip round the world with him later this year. Well I put on my most smiley face, but no he was looking at some rabbit that had caught his eye, but there seemed issues to do with the clothes he had for his holiday. Well I have a whole wardrobe available to me, so I waited and waited, well he chose a distant relative of mine first, but then found they were a little overweight, so at last it was me. Now as it happened all my clothes were hanging up to dry and they seemed in a rush to go some other place for a drink of coffee and some carrot cake.

Chapter Seven

The pleasant young assistant said no problem and sorted me out a spare outfit that was someone else’s, plus a pair of sunglasses to cope with the glare out on the street, they even mentioned I had proof of age in the shape of my birth certificate plus my passport. Well as quick as they could sort it out, I was off. I did notice money changing hands but who cared, a new adventure for me. An even bigger shock was to find he had decided to take the rabbit who I was not acquainted with also, I must stop ignoring him and find out what his plans are. Don’t want him upstaging me.

Chapter Eight
Already I have met some of Jeff’s friends and been introduced. Now we have a problem because for reasons I don’t understand he wanted to change my real name Chico to something else. WELL what a cheek, but if it gets me out and about who cares in the end. He has been running a name the monkey competition(cheeky so and so) for a week on Facebook, with some very odd names being put forward, wonder where they find these and how would they feel about being called these names themselves, and I was beginning to get worried that maybe this was not a good idea and that I should be making my way back to the Workshop. But finally he has chosen a rather posh name, but insists that I change my surname to his, so henceforth I will have to change my name by deed poll to Gulliver Glasser, at least it’s the name of another adventurer. I bet he has forgotten my passport needs changing to. He has agreed that I can keep Chico as my middle name.

Chapter Nine
Already I have been on a couple of short trips with him, and he is taking me to some famous place called Blackpool at the end of the month to meet some more people, so its all getting exciting. Even more so in that he is planning a round the world trip with me and initially some other person he is related to. He has explained that he is hoping that I will be willing to model for him at some of the sights (hope I get well rewarded for this) but at last a chance to see where my ancestor spent some time in New York, wonder if I can do some gambling in Vegas, not sure about the Grand Canyon though as I don’t have as good a head for heights these days, but then, a trip to Auckland, not sure whats there, but then the Great Barrier Reef, Ayres Rock and Sydney.

Chapter Ten
He tells me he wants me to meet a friend of his in Penang and show me the Christmas lights in Singapore(what for, I am 21 you know, but not sure if Santa will call if I don’t though), then on to some odd named place Shanghai, before travelling back. I hope he gets me good seats for when we travel to all these places and a suitable wardrobe of clothes, for the various climates, I did notice a pleasant young woman was passing on a posh dressing gown and spare top for me the other day when he explained all my clothes had shrunk in the wash.


Chapter Eleven
Oh dear there goes that Caroline again, she said I was to mention that they are expecting me to help them with fundraising for their local group that supports people with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia, emotionally and practically. Its called the Bury Bolton ME & CFS Support Group, seems soon it will be a charity so you can be sure it’s a real cause, I am told that Jeff has this so will enquire more at some point and pass onto you. They are setting up the fund that hopefully you will contribute to, but more of that soon when I have managed to sort out the practicalities.

Well I hope you don’t mind me telling my story, I hope some of you will become my friends on Facebook soon and enjoy hearing of my adventures as they unfold.

My Next Big Adventure 10 August 2014

10 August 2014

Hello folks, well now the safari is over, its time to tell you about the next adventure I have been planning for some time now, I made a passing reference to it in a previous blog, but now it is reality, I have booked the flights and hotels, now it’s the transfers and what to see when I go on the trip.

It t came about initially as a result of discussion with my son regarding a special event to celebrate his 40th birthday. He told me he had always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon, so was this possible, I said yes we could do this, but it would involve going to Lasd Vegas as a base, he was happy about this and to see some of the gambling casinos and the famous “Strip” unfortunately due to the cost I was going to be unable to involve the whole family in this trip, I did feel guilty but it will be a one off holiday that we will have the time to be together away from all the usual stuff for a time on this adventure. Whilst thinking about it I had another thought about whether we could include New York also as I had always said one day I would return, after some thought he was happy with this also.

Whilst looking at Google Earth I thought what about my extending my trip although I was aware that my son could only be away for up to two weeks and would be returning home. I considered Hawaii where my friend Sofi lives, I tried a number of times unsuccessfully to contact her so in the end discarded that. I had felt I would like to meet up with my long term friend from childhood Paul who now lives in Penang with his wife, something I had promised myself for a number of years. I t was not a difficult task to now think I could also visit Australia and finally get to Singapore as part of the trip. So the idea was born, my son said later on in the year was a good time for him, plus I later found out Vegas is less busy and a little cooler and I could see the Christmas lights in Singapore if the trip there was late on in the year.

So far so good, next task explore how to achieve it, I looked at recommended travel agents from Which and looked at what Flightbookers could do, I struggled with the hotels they had on offer, so then contacted another from Which Audley Travel, initially they were very good but for reasons I did not understand did not work on the routes I wanted with the airlines I wanted. I therefore went back to my friendly agent Sue at Ace Travel2, we sat down and looked at the options to do the trip, considering my health and mobility issues, she went away with my wish list. Well I could tell you in detail of all the time we spent trying to refine the trip, but in the end we had dates destinations and flights. Not quite the package I set out for but now with a couple of extra stops. Oh I forgot I must thank Gail my favourite physio for her suggestions about the trip, more of her later.

The trip was now to be to New York, then Las Vegas including a trip whilst there to the Grand Canyon, my son wants to go for a bike ride on the rim, so will have to sort this out soon, then he returns home and I then go to Auckland for a few days, then onto the great barrier reef staying at a place called Port Douglas, from there I travel to Ayres Rock for a night, then to Sydney for a few days. After this is a trip via Singapore to Penang to meet my friend for a few more days, then back to Singapore to explore the sites and lights, then a lst stop at Shanghai for a few more days then back to London, in total its 30 days away.

I spent a lot of time exploring Booking.com and Tripadvisor to find hotels that met my needs and budget and all being well they are now booked and suitable for me and the places I want to visit. Along the way I found that someone I know on the internet lives in Vegas so I have been in touch and am looking forward to meeting up whilst there if possible. Its only recently I have realized that after my so returns I have a further 20 days partly on my own apart from at Penang, so I am unsure how well that will work out, as I found on my recent trip to Africa the man next to me going was not good company and on the way back I sat alone. I have added up that I am flying for at least 60 hours and will be in airport lounges for over 20 hours at least(just as well I have bought a lounge pass for free access) it was invaluable on the last trip.


I have made sure travel insurance is in place for myself and son, he informed me recently that he now has been diagnosed with sleep apnea and needs to bring special equipment with him on board so another thing to deal with, fortunately its only a small item, oh forgot I need visas for three of the places I am going to so will sort these out soon, I am going to make sure that there is assistance for me at all of the airports due to their size and my problems walking long distances, I think if I am going to be in a long queue in USA then at least hopefully I will be sat down.

Back to my issue of travelling alone, those of you that know me are aware that I enjoy listening to others and occasionally saying a little to contribute to the conversation, okay then I am a chatterbox, so unsure how I will cope with my own company, made worse by the fact my hearing is poor these days, so far I have nobody interested in accompanying me unless I pay for them uuumm so I thought there must be a answer, well I may of found an answer but also a way to fundraise at the same time.

Today I met my travelling companion, at the local shopping centre, we hit it off at first sight, he seems a quiet sort of soul at first impressions seems to have a cheeky grin and hopefully a disposition to match, there is quite a complicated story to him which I will tell you of in the not to distant future, I introduced him to my friends Andy and Brian who felt it was a good match. My new friend is interested in fund raising for our local ME/CFS Fibro support group, so I have talked him into joining Facebook as part of this and my friends Caroline and Mandy are hopefully going to help me make it feasible, plus he will write his story of any trips he does before and including the big one, we are hoping that he will be able to establish his own profile on Facebook so you can follow his travels, I am anticipating a whole series of “Selfies” to show where he gets to on his travels.

I had better close for now but will give updates as things fall into place or any progress is made to do with the trip I hope you have enjoyed the read. Sorry so far no photos but promise to put some in soon.

Final thoughts now I am home

Its now a few days since I finally got home, the washing is all done, clothes put away, photos and video downloaded and at least the photos are sorted and listed, still need to work out how to sort out video, I have already found some of my deliberate mistakes with the times I forgot to switch off camera whilst travelling.
At the time I felt I had coped quite well with it all and particular the trip home which was getting on for 24 hours in total, but not sure now whether it is the heat and humidity here at present or at long last my body has had enough.
I am trying to catch up with programes I recorded whilst away, bad sign of my life when I think I did not miss TV whilst away.
People have said would I go again, well maybe not to the same place, as it would be trying to recreate what has gone and it will never be the same as those first viewings of the animals in their native situations and environment, it would be a mixture of different staff and other travellers. I would pack differently whatever time of the year it was, I would also pay extra for the better seats on the plane.
Some thoughts about the trip, I enjoyed meeting some of the people particularily Frank and Dot, who truly welcomed me and made the whole experience pleasanter, as well as Andy and Terrie, Andy if you ever read this you were the highlight of my trip, always willing to have a go at new experiances and what a spotter you were, as well as a great travelling companion, almost as good as Given, along the way there were others who I enjoyed the conversation with, Eve, thanks for the relationship advice I received from you, sadly not everyone was as kind pleasant or willing to chat in the way some were, but each to their own holiday I suppose.
Visiting the other lodgers gave a better idea of what sort of place I would like to visit in the future, something similar I feel. The animals, well I do feel for them having to put up with mus humans, they showed incredible patience at times whilst we were photographing them, wonder how we would feel if someone photographing me whilst I was eating our food or becoming friendly with our partner.
I have e mailed the foundation to see if there is anything that can be done that is more constructive to help the local children, when I get a response I intend to contact Saga for their comments, it was quite worrying about what the local landowner was putting the people through, a reminder that not everyone has a decent like, at times I was embarrassed at how much we had to spend and the waste of food, I do hope whatever we left went to people locally rather than in the bin. I must whilst I think thank Saffy for her advice and Maris for her encouragement, as well as Vicki for her support, and all of you who have taken the time to read my blogs, even more those of you who have taken the time to comment

The trip home 15 July 2014

I could not sleep, so got up early and finished most my packing, had a bath then went taking some photos before breakfast, it was unusual to have nothing to do, apart from sit around and chat, breakfast was, as usual, a pleasant experience, our ranger Evan I’d offered to let us have copies of his photos, whilst waiting for him to do mine. We chatted about photography, I had not realised that it was Evan the Rangers last day, but he was moving on to a new job after this day, some of these photos were quite stunning, after we had something to eat, then off we went after saying our goodbyes for the trip to Johannesburg, we had a short drive until we reached the transport to take us there. Interestingly, the ride in the vehicle was worse than the four-wheel drives, we were travelling around in during the Safari, it seemed a long trip with only a short break for the toilet and a snack, it took nearly 4 hours, part of which I slept through.

When we arrived at the airport it seem much more disorganised than Heathrow, with poor signage, eventually I found my way to the desk, but this time it seemed to take a long time in the queue, on the seem to be some problem with the conveyor. For reasons I do not understand I was told I could no longer have the seat I wanted, so was offered another one, on that particular row, it seemed that none of the three seats had been booked, so I could choose which was most convenient for me. I mentioned that I could cope without assistance at this airport but would need help at Heathrow, so this was logged, I then went through security and passport control, then up to the lounge to relax. There were problems with my card, but I was surprised at the lack of efficiency at this particular desk, I mentioned wanting a shower so was given three packets wrapped in polythene and pointed in the general direction, quite different to that at Heathrow. I had my shower, then relaxed in the lounge with a drink and snack, then went to board the plane.
There seemed to be a long disorganized queue waiting to board, eventually it was my turn, and I was directed to my seat, I now understood why the people did not want to see it in the seats, this was because they were immediately next to the toilets, I decided I would sit in the middle seat, which seemed to be the most spacious, when a flight attendant came along, he said he could move me to a better seat, which also would have more legroom, so I took advantage of this. Yet again I struggled with the sound system and then gave it up as a bad job and had a read of the paper. The evening meal was pleasant and afterwards I settled down to go to sleep, I slept for a while, but then found for the rest the flight I had brief periods of sleep and wakefulness.

Finally we arrived at Heathrow the rest of the passengers disembarked apart from those of those who needed assistance. They seem to have a crazy system to get us to the exit, it consisted of a wheelchair for part of the trip, then an electric vehicle to take me on the next leg of the trip, finally and another wheelchair through to the baggage hall, unfortunately at passport control, there was some sort of problem, at the two passport desks, there seemed to be some sort of difficulty. So we waited for nearly quarter of an hour before finally passing through, my case was ready for collection. So I set off to find the vehicle to take me home, it was a different driver and vehicle to on the way out, not quite so luxurious this time, but the driver was pleasant enough, it took about four hours to get back home, so in total. I’ve been travelling for over 20 hours, first task was empty the case and do some washing, then check my mail, yes the holiday was finally over.

Our Last Day 15 July 2014

Another early start, just for a change, we received no wake-up call, it seemed warmer this morning, I went for a walk round the grounds and took a few more photos whilst it was peaceful and quiet. Eventually other people arrived, and we went in for a drink, and cake before setting off, a few decided not to come on this last trip out. It was much pleasanter on the drive because it was so much warmer, as usual, there was a range of animals, in some ways it had reached a point where it was normal to see, wildebeest, zebra and certain other animals on a regular basis, we had never seen a more baboon since the first day when we arrived, nor did we see leopard.

Return for breakfast, then afterwards because the weather was much improved, we sat outside in the sun chatting, I explained to one of the others about Wi-Fi and how to connect to the Internet without using their own allowance, it was a relaxing morning. We had lunch at 1 o’clock, then later went for another Bush walk, we ended up high overlooking the valley. The scenery was absolutely stunning, the only amusing point, was that I and another person got into discussion about our hearing difficulties, not realizing everybody else could hear us, but waiting to move onto the next point of interest. On that subject, I suddenly realized that there is little hope for people who have hearing difficulties on the Safari’s maybe it’s worth a letter to saga about this.

Then it was back to the lodge for high tea, again it was a chance to chat to the other people on the holiday and to wind down, for our evening meal, we were served in style at the Lakeside Boma, after the first course, we were entertained by the staff by singing and dancing in a native style, we then finished the meal and spent the rest of the evening at the bar chatting, that night the weather seemed much milder, on my return to the room. I started all of my packing to make it easier for the following day.

Warm at last 14 july 2014

I woke up early and it seemed not so cold, checked outside and already it was warm at 8am to put a lighter shirt and shorts for the first time before venturing out for a wander before breakfast, then spent a little time catching up with e mails, how did I manage before free Wi Fi.

Then chatted to some of the other guests for a while. One of the things we had been warned about was to keep doors closed to avoid the monkeys getting into the rooms, well the nice couple next door to me had forgotten to lock their back door so a monkey had got into their room and stolen a packet containing insect repellent, before they got rid of it, just as well it was not needed.  We had breakfast then I went back to my room and there was a monkey outside the window, so got my camera and found a group of them around the rear of the properties, they seemed to be oblivious to mine and others presence as we took photos, later it appeared they had no problem opening doors if not locked, as another couple had fallen victim to their theft that morning.

It as a free morning so we sat chatting outside which made a refreshing change, after lunch off out to the wildlife centre,  by now on the holiday we seemed to of got into the habit of sticking with drivers, in my case it was Given and usually we tended to sit in certain seats, today our vehicle was full, obviously some had wanted a change so I ended up with Even as driver so i sat in the back row which unfortunately did not help my spine but also restricted what i could see due to my height. first we saw the rare white lions, they had been rescued when young and brought up in the reserve, they would be encouraged to mate but, it would be unsafe for them to be released back into the wild,  but that hopefully any young would be, they were beautiful beasts,  such a shame that people had hunted them, that now there are so few left alive and needed protection to survive.

We then visited the replica Pedi village and had an informative talk about the people explaing their background the strict rules how the village was run and oddly that the women of the village had been masters of poisin making, to use as punishment, we were offered a range of traditionsl dishes to drink and eat, I only tried a couple one was catapiller which was quite nutty. We then went to see the buffalo but they also now are very rare, but also we were warned that they were dangerous, well it may of bern the wrong day but they seemed quite laid back and oblivious to us taking their photos, we finished off by having high tea and looking at a range of birds including peacocks and parrots.

Then on with the drive,  a sighting of rhino was made so off we sped, it was a family of 4, it seemed that it was the day that the male was going to procreate with the female well I thought this is going to be exciting, but sadly not it seemed to go on and on with little real activity, he mounted the female a couple of times whilst we watched,  maybe it was us watching and recording with our cameras was what put him off.

Then a further drive it was now getting dark, eventually we reached Ranenside Lodge and our latest meal, then after we went into the Astro boma for a talk from Giiven on how to find south and some of the star formations,  before returning to our lodge, for a chat and a drink then off to bed, as we had a long day the next day, I forgot to say earlier the weather was much warmer so the room was not as cold as it had been previous nights.

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