Welcome to April!

I thought about putting up an April Fool's blog post saying we'd been adopted by the locals, or had changed our minds and were continuing our trip around the world and would next be posting from India, but the connection is painfully slow and by the time I got my hoax all worked out....I'd be too tired/frustrated/irritated to continue with the real post.

So, on with the actual show...

On Monday the 31st, we drove back down through the sugar cane to a massive game reserve close by--Tala Game Reserve. Tala is 7000 acres of both traditional African thornveld (with the inimitable acacia trees) and wide-open grassland. We entered through the main gatehouse of heavy logs and thatched roof right onto the dirt road that we followed up to the main lodge. We did see animals on the way, notably the omnipresent impala and the intrepid wildebeest.

Game viewing wasn’t on our minds immediately…we were far more interested in lunch! Up to the main lodge we drove and were met with meticulously maintained gardens and the thatched roof of the restaurant. The outside had natural stone tables.

…but the inside was truly stunning--a superbly appointed dining room and bar filled with the treasures of Africa. We opted to eat on the terrace behind and ordered from a surprisingly gourmet menu. Once we got to the table, we realized exactly how gourmet it was! The food looked like art and tasted divine. I would wholeheartedly recommend Tala to anyone looking for a notable dining experience. We only got to see the accommodations in pictures, but if they were anything compared to the dining area, they would be breathtaking. At a top price of R2500 person/night, they ought to be!

After our lovely meal, we headed back to the car for the real reason for our visit…the animals! We saw several herds of zebras back in the acacias, but none that were really picture-worthy initially. After several minutes, we crested a hill to see some of the zebras standing right in the road. Creeping slowly up on them, we were splitting a herd that were on grass the one side of the road

…and in the acacia trees on the other.

We were all anxious to see the giraffes, who for all their tall height, can be surprisingly difficult to find. Cindy spotted the first one in the trees (and won the 25 cent prize set by Grant). After watching him for several minutes, we went on up the road and turned around to head back down and he was still there when we returned. This time, he’d apparently decided he had somewhere to go and waited until we’d stopped and walked right behind our car to cross over the road.

Just before he wandered off into the trees, he turned back around to peer at us, and made us wonder who was really watching whom.

After driving around for more than an hour, we spotted plenty of animals including in pictorial order: warthogs, who often eat from their knees



The stately kudu, whose spiral horns are unmistakable



Blesbok and baby (who were completely unconcerned with our presence and some even slept right on the side of the road, not moving when the car passed)



The rhinos were the big prize. Cindy was again the game spotter and saw them far up on a hill. Fortunately, we were able to find a game track that went relatively close to them and watched them from afar as our car climbed upwards. Turning around, however, we got a nice shot of the male silhouetted by the lake.



As we came back down the hill, the rhinos were slowly on the move and came up within a few yards of our car.



Even closer than that, the baby rhino crossed the road in front of us (apparently finding the grass greener over there)



There were some murmurings of concern that we were now between the baby rhino and the mama rhino, but she seemed uninterested in our car and continued to graze while we decided that discretion was the better part of valor and scooted down and away from coming between them. We left the reserve very satisfied with our visit and determined to return the following night for an anticipated excellent dinner.

--Doni