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 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