March 9
Vacation starts in my home town with the visit to Hlane big
game park. It definitely wasn’t Krueger
Park, but had a lot more thrills in terms of being there among the lions. I thought the lions there would be caged in
fact, it just had a separate compound from the giraffes and rhinos. They came out of the bushes and it was indeed
exciting. The excitement stopped when they stared back at the car and started
walking real close, literally feet away.
Too close from my comfort! There
were many photo ops with that close of a view but I froze and will never forget
how I felt. I definitely think they were
scoping me out..or at least curious.
What’s to stop them from jumping into an open safari vehicle..They are
capable. Then again, it’s me and my
irrational fear. Lions have always been,
in the deep part of me, my worst feared creatures and they appear in my dream
so. What’s more, there was a vehicle
behind us, leaving us in a choke point (no escape)..I guess I felt
“claustrophobic.”
Today’s visit to Cradle of Life was a bit more relaxing and
ten times safer. The game drive took us
through the scenic beautiful backyard of giraffes and zebras with the backdrop
of the mountains, bonsai-like trees behind it..Just beautiful. We then visited the big cats in their cage as
the keepers were feeding it dead chickens.
Was a site and Alyssa enjoyed it more.
When it started raining, she had herself an afternoon of playing in the
rain. Now we are relaxed in a quiet
chalet, in the midst of nature. It’s
going to take a bit of time to relax and sleep here. This feels like camping! The hotel is expensive for a leaky roof,
non—functional toilet and barely any cable channels. Not even a telephone in the room and of course, no internet. Definitely back to the beginnings of life.Since I’ve been in SA, I have to say there are certain delights. One of them being the lunches for two top at 140 RAND or $14 max..That’s at a sit down restaurants. The last few sit-down restaurants had our meal in 10-15 min tops. Fast food, yet sit-down restaurant quality. Last but not least, every parking lot has a fellow to help you back out. Looking for tip..Most of the time, no. It’s just one of those things you never knew could be of so much help.
Our trip to Nelspruit was more adventurous this time. Last time, the only store we went to was
Makro and we had no more room to put things in the back. This time I discovered the mall center and
entertainment..It was so much fun and Alyssa thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s kind of like Chuck E Cheese but
everything is electronic, including the coins and tickets. You just use a card, charge it up and earn
tickets on it. Definitely better for the
environment..The best thing she liked was the bumper car. There were no kids there so mommy was her
playmate. We also bought coins and
couldn’t return them as I could not find the cancel button once I inserted the
bill. So we found a spot outside the
Mediterranean restaurant and she rode a London bus, horsey, school bus…and made a friend
in the process. Well, it was her
day. Last adventure day we decided to
take it easy. We were originally going
to visit the Reptile Park and Elephant Sanctuary to interact with the
animals..Things got hectic Tuesday night when mommy gave Alyssa aspirin to help
with her ankle and told myself..I have benedryl in case something happens. Apparently the Benedryl dosage was not
enough..Ended up in the Medi-Clinic, locked myself out of the car and me and
Alyssa didn’t get to sleep until midnight.
Adventure indeed. I’m just
grateful that it happened in a country that had adequately everything..Next day
our host went and got the batteries for my clicker at the Toyota dealer. What a relief..I thought the worst of having
to damage the car to get in! What’s
more, my car stayed safe at the Medi-Clinic.
Until next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment