Tuesday

So we stayed in a lodge house for the first two nights. It was huge with a thatched roof. We had a braai with baboons running around hoping for a scrap or two of food.
First thing in the morning another coffee and a rusk to start the day off. Spotted loads of wildlife and my eldest son got to drive my uncles 4 wheel drive. As he is hoping to pass his driving test soon, it was good practice. However, he didn't realise what lay ahead of him and then things got really exciting!

This was the bull elephant that decided to take an instant dislike to us! My uncle had told us that if we came across an elephant on the side of the road, to always make sure that we were slightly ahead of it. Never let the elephant take control by being ahead of it and ready to pull away fast. My son forgot this information and let the elephant take control. It started flapping its ears, sniffing the air with its trunk and before we knew what was happening, he charged us from behind. My mum and I were screaming at my son to go but he was hesitating. My uncle put both hands on my sons shoulders and said firmly but quietly, 'go Taylor'. Off Taylor wheel spun away, leaving a cloud of dust behind us. The elephant had clipped the side of my uncles car with his tusk! A frightening but exhilarating experience.

Monday

We had an early night last night and packed our bags ready for our trip to the Kruger National Park. We were up early this morning, coffee and rusk and then off we drove. The drive took roughly half a day. We arrived at Kruger around lunchtime with plenty of time to go sighting wildlife. We were in luck, we saw a rhino, buffalo, impala, baboons, zebra, elephant and all sorts of exotic birds.

Sunday

Up early as my uncle rises at just after 5am every day!!! We start off by having a coffee and an Omars rusk. It's a bit like a very hard Farleys rusk that babies are given to chew on. You dip it into your coffee to stave off hunger and it means you can get going early for an adventurous day.

We started off by playing a game of tennis. Well, I haven't played tennis in years. Needless to say, I sweated buckets but it was a great laugh.

To round off the morning we had breakfast at my uncles friends cheese farm. Yummy!

Back home for a quick scrub up and rest and then onto Leopards Lodge for lunch.

Leaving there we sighted giraffe roaming the fields. At home we sight cows and sheep, maybe if we're lucky we get to see a horse!

Saturday

After the baboons, we went to see vultures at my uncles friends farm. They had put a horse carcus out and we just had to wait and watch the vultures circling until they felt it safe to swoop down and feed.

We then went to Montecasino near Johannesburg where we went to a bird of prey show and for lunch. 

Not long after this, we went to my cousins house for a braai which is the equivalent of a barbeque to celebrate my birthday. All in all a good end to the day.

travel to S.Africa

Well, we had to get two planes from Heathrow Airport. First one stopped at Doha after 6 hours and the second one at Johannesburg after 7 hours. My uncle collected us from there and we had an hour and a half drive to Hartbeesport, Pretoria. We arrived at my uncles house which is set high up on Magaliesberg mountain. Wow, the view was magnificent. It looks right out across Crocodile river and the dam. The first morning we awoke to the sound of baboons fighting on the mountain directly behind us. We caught sight of them chasing each other down the rock face. It was quite scary as they were pretty big and loud! My uncle says that they often come into his garden to steal food from the kitchen if the windows or door are open! Stuff that!