It's My Birthday

Back up before 5 am, we headed off to see what we could find. We started by going back to the place where we all enjoyed watching the baby hyenas. Some of them are fearless and walked right up to our Land Rover.

We drove around for awhile not finding much more than the bleak landscape. Then we found a hornless white rhino. The government has begun to remove the horns of rhinos to protect them from poachers. We followed the rhino for quite awhile. Then we stopped by a waterhole for tea. We all had cups of steaming tea in our hands when Phanny said a leopard had been sighted nearby and we should leave soon. So we dumped our tea, jumped into our vehicle and took off at a fast pace. We were rewarded with the sight of a mother and son leopard resting under a tree.

It wasn't long before the son walked away. Shortly after that the mother started off for a walk-about in the bush. We off-roaded behind her. We followed her for a long time until other groups showed up and we peeled off.

It was late by then so we headed back to camp. I was met with greetings of Happy Birthday from the staff here. We had just enough time to return to our room and make some French Press coffee.  I know!  We can make French Press in our room. I can't imagine what they haven't thought of here.

After brunch we had massages. There is only one masseuse in camp so we had to take turns. Gayle went for scalp, neck and feet. I wanted the hot stone massage. It was pure bliss. When I got back to my room I opened all the windows in the bathroom and took a bath. I think they are going to have to make me leave here by force.

The elephants were drinking from the swimming pool when we arrived for tea. A second herd arrived with several very young babies. They came running into our viewing area as if they were late for a meeting.

On our evening game drive we added a new passenger from New York City. We saw many, many animals we have seen before. Phanny was looking for monkeys but we never found any. However we did see the female leopard again that we followed this morning. She was sleeping in preparation for a night of hunting.

Back at the camp we headed for dinner. One of the entree choices for dinner was ostrich but I am not food adventurous. When it came time for dessert, five of the staff came out singing a traditional South African song in their native language and carrying a birthday cake. I was delighted. What an epic birthday I have had!

We bid farewell to our new made friends from Nova Scotia and headed for bed. We will get up at 4:45 am tomorrow and do it all again.