Ghost Mountain Inn




Not as scary as it sounds!! Weekends at camp are time off for everyone and on our last Saturday we decided on a trip to Ghost Mountain Inn for some quality internet time!! GMI is a lovely fancy hotel about an hours drive from Thanda, near Lake Jozini (the south end of the lake we camped at when we went to Pongola, we camped at the North end). Some of us decided on one last boat cruise to start the day, and what a great trip it was! We saw the herd of ellies at the waters edge, lots of swimming & splashing about, and some very very cute babies!!

After the cruise it was back to the hotel for a bit of luxury in the form of a spa treatment, lunch and unlimited wifi!! And making the most of the facilities by sneaking in a quick shower in the spa, as I wasn't convinced my cabin would have any water by the time we got back to camp (I was right as it turned out!)
All week I had been thinking that I wasn't quite ready for my Great African Adventure to come to an end just yet, and after considering staying on at Thanda for 2 more weeks, but eventually deciding against that, I made the decision to go to Cape Town for a week or 2 before returning to the UK!! So I made best use of the wifi and changed my ticket for the following day so that I would be flying to CT instead of Jo'berg, with no great future plans after that!! I'd gotten in touch with an old CT friend to say I might be popping in to CT the next week if he was around for a drink and he very kindly (if not wisely) offered me the use of his spare room, since I had no actual plans of any kind!! woohoo, the adventure continues!! And I was sure it was the right decision, as about 20 minutes after I changed my internal flight, one of the other vols said had I heard about the Air France strike? Turns out that AF were planning a strike from the next Monday for 5 days, and that was the day I should be on my plane back to England! Seems like a trip to CT was meant to be!

Last Friday in camp




So after leaving the kids we had the luxury of going to the local pub for some lunch. This wasn't normal procedure but we were going to a local craft market in nearby Hluhluwe in the afternoon so it was quicker than going back to camp for some lunch. I was admiring my tan in the bathroom in the pub when I rolled my sock down a bit further and realised most of it was actually just muck. Hope the showers are working back in camp!!


We went off the the local market, which wasn't actually a market at all (though we did drive through a real market to get there!). It was really just a fancy curio shop, but they did have some nice stuff and it was made my the local people, so we all bought a few gifts for people back home. 


Back to camp for our last afternoon drive :(  but it was going to be a sundowner drive so that is always a good thing! Off we went in high spirits, beers hidden in backpacks, hoping they wouldn't get shook up too much on the drive. We spent about 15 minutes cheering on a dung beetle in his efforts to roll his dung house complete with wife sat in top, up a hill, and he finally made it despite several falls back down to the start! Dung beetles have the right of way in the reserves in Africa, so you have to stop if you see one in the road and wait for them to cross!


We then went on to look at the Thanda tented camp that was being rebuilt, really luxurious all with their own patios with jacuzzi's and days beds and fantastic views.

Maren and I were both admiring our tans in the back row of the vehicle, until I rubbed at mine and realised it was just more muck, we were both filthy from our mornings gardening at the creche and then the game drive, but after 2 weeks, we were quite used to this now and now even too bothered about getting a shower! Must be turning into a real bush girl!!


Then it was back to camp for the Friday night braai (bbq) in the boma. 

Boma

Good time had by all, lots of drinking and dancing to strange 80s Norwegion pop music, thanks to Kari's ipod!

The researchers and Anton

Martijn, Tasch, Cyndi, Me, Amanda & Kari. Can't remeber why Cyndi & I are hiding behind her scarf!

Sarah, Kari & Maren

A Zulu legend is born...




So, I haven't explained Mbob yet. When we were camping in Pongola, with the lovely John and Leticia, we were sat around camp listening to one of John's stories when he turned to Tom and said 'So, Bob, what line of work are you in?' (or some such question). Tom being the polite young man he is, said 'well, its Tom actually....', but after John stuck with Bob, there seemed little point in correcting him each time, so Tom became Bob. We all sniggered like little children from the back of Blue every time John said 'So, Bob..', and Tom soon got used to answering to calls of Bob from all of us. 


When we returned back to Thanda on Thursday and were out on our afternoon drive we were talking about the new male lion who would be arriving in Thanda shortly and wondering what name he would be given. Most of the animals are given a Zulu name, like Mpatha or Majimbos, and a lot of foreigners, like Tom, struggled with knowing how to pronounce the M, especially in names like Mpatha. 
Tom said we should give the new lion a good solid name like Bob, and then someone else piped up that we should make it a Zulu name and call him Mbob instead! And so that is how Tom became Mbob. Well, we found it funny, even if no one else did, guess you had to be there :)

The Kids are too cute!

Visit to the local creche 




Its our last proper days work at Thanda as we leave on Sunday and Saturday is a day off. Tom, Maren and I decide to spend some time with the community project and visit the local creche, Mama Grace. We head off at 8am (what a lie in!) driving through the bush for 45 mins to get there. The school is just one small room with a tin roof and no toilet or running water. Well, there is a toilet, but it was just a tin shack in the garden that hadn't been positioned properly over the hole, and so the kids just used the patch of grass outside the classroom instead!
When one of the community volunteers first arrived and asked why they didn't have a proper toilet at the school, she was told that the kids don't have one at home, so why would they have one at school? which makes sense, even if it is hard to comprehend!

The Mama Grace creche

The kids started the day learning the alphabet, with Clara, one of the volunteers leading the way. This involved lots of shouts of 'A is for apple' and pretending to chomp an apple to make it clear what an apple was! The kids range from 2-6 years and were all Zulu kids who don't speak English. The vols rely on the community liaison man, Sibu, who is from the local community and works at Thanda as a go-between, translating for the kids and the vols. 
After alphabet it was time for a snack. Most of the kids turn up for school with no food as their parents don't have any to give them, so Thanda have managed to arrange for some basic meals to be provided. The government should be doing that anyway, but TIA as we say - This Is Africa. You soon learn that very few things actually happen the way they are supposed to and there is usually a huge amount of red tape to get through too.


So we fed the kids some kind of weird porridgey/maizey kind of meal, doling out the little coloured plastic bowls to them. Some kids took it hungrily, some were more interested in pulling off their shoes or smacking the kid next to them, so the food didn't always go where it was supposed to!


It was then toilet and hand-washing time! So the kids all have to form a line, one for girls and one for boys, though that didn't always go to plan either, and then they were led outside to take care of business. There were a few kids straggling at the back of the class so I went over to collect them and get them to go outside and as I bent down to try and communicate to them what they needed to do, they all just grinned at me and flung themselves at me for a hug! Well, that was the first time I nearly cried, and not to be the last! They were just so damn cute!!


After 'business' was taken care of they all lined up again to wash their hands in one big bucket of soapy water that they all share. I had the job of handing out old bits of towel for them to dry their hands on, but again, this was a bit lost on them as some just stared at me, a few got the idea and dried their hands until I had to take the towels away, and a few just chewed on them! 

Lining up for handwashing

Handwashing

Tom in charge of hand drying while US Sarah looks on

The kids went back inside for more lessons and Tom, Maren & I had a tour of the facilities. They have a chicken project onsite so that they can sell the eggs to raise money, rather than just breeding the chickens and selling them for meat as they were before, as they had to wait for the chickens to reach a certain size before they could sell them, whereas there will be a constant supply of eggs so that they can keep making money. We had a look at the patch of grass that the community vols had been digging up to turn into a veggie plot, they had already done half the area and there was already some corn and cabbages planted. 

Some local goats

The school 'toilet'

The bit of land being cultivated

We then went back to the classroom where the kids were learning the months of the year. This was one of the things we had wanted to see as US Sarah who had been on the community project for a month, often regaled us with stories of how whenever they were teaching months of the year, for some reason the kids could only recite them while swinging one arm wildly in the air! And if they didn't, the kids just looked at them blankly. So we were looking forward to seeing Sarah standing in front singing 'January, February etc' while swinging her arms about like a mad woman!

Doing the months of the year. As you can see, not everyone was paying attention!

We then moved on to face painting, which was great fun. The kids are so polite and quiet and serious looking, they all formed little lines in front of each of us, watching intently to see what we were doing to the kid in front. Since we didn't have any mirrors, we took photos of the kids to show them what they looked like. You will see that the kids never smile in a posed photo, no idea why, they are normally smiley kids but put a camera in front of them and the smile goes away, until they see their photo that is!

2 of my attempts

My favourite kid

Colouring-in session

Tom doing some face painting

This little girl made me nearly cry for the 2nd time. She was fascinated by the camera and the pictures of her, and at one point pointed to the picture of her and then at her chest and said something to me in Zulu. Sibu was there and told me that she said that the picture would live in her heart forever! 

Sarah has to be painted too

Sarah, Sibu and the kids

After face painting it was time for some conservation work on the veggie plot. We turned the soil in the other half of the field, ready for planting to begin. We only worked for about 30 mins but it was nearing midday and very hot and dusty so we were soon all filthy.Nothing new there then.


It was then time to leave and all the kids were leaving too. Even though they are so young, they all walk themselves to school, and it won't just be from 5 mins around the corner! As they saw us all getting back into the vehicle, they all shouted 'byeeee' and waved madly, which made us all want to cry again!
Just too damn cute!!

Last day in Pongola

Off for our last morning drive in Pongola, a few sore heads along for the ride. Tom & I still hadn't seen a black rhino, the only 2 of the researchers so far not to have been lucky enough to spot one. They are much shyer and more nervous that the white rhino and so much harder to find.

Unfortunately I chose the wrong vehicle to go out in this morning, as Tom in Blue was lucky enough to see a black rhino, so that just leaves me yet to see one! Oh well, can't be too miffed about it as we did see 2 baby white rhino that were so gorgeous!

Then it was a quick stop at the main house to dump all our photos for John & Letitia to use for ID kits and then heading back home to Thanda.

Home sweet home

Had a great time in Pongola but really happy to be back at Thanda, knowing we only have a few more days left here as we leave on Sunday. I am now wishing I had booked for 4 weeks rather than 2!

Off for our 2nd last drive at 4pm, we didn't see much but it was a lot of fun. I think Anton really enjoys taking us 'off-roading' aka demolishing any kind of vegetation that stands in our way as we plow through the bush, and this drive in particular was very 'off-road', we had to get out at one point as Anton attempted to drive up a near vertical ditch! At least we didn't have to push!

 And even though it was still early, it was one of the worst spider sweeps yet! Sat on the back row with Bruce and Maren, there was always one of us that had to duck and dive to avoid a faceful of Golden Orb. We then played rollercoaster over some strange speedbumps that had appeared on one bit of road, all hands in the air as Anton flew over the bumps (and very nearly went flying out the vehicle myself!) 

The only real sighting we had was of Majimbos one of the bull ellies. He was quietly feeding in the bushes next to us, and then at one point, ever so slowly, he crossed the road right in front of us, giving us the eye the whole time, but not unhappy to see us. For some reason it seemed quite special, as if he was saying goodbye to us, though I'm sure thats just my human sentimentality that imagined that!  




I don't think I've explained that I'm writing this about 4 weeks after these events actually happened! The days events I described above were Thursday 2nd Feb, and it is now Sunday 4th March, so apologies but at the moment I am using a hotel computer and can't use my usb stick to attach any photos, I will have to do that another time!!