A full day at Sanbona

Such an early start, it was hard to remind myself that we were actually on holiday. The call from Alwyn came through a little late, so we only made it to the main area at just after 6am. Quick cup of tea and a biscuit (all that was on offer - where were the bacon rolls??) and then out to the vehicle. It was very cold, so we got the blankets out of the boxes on the car, and rugged up. For this drive it was just four of us and Alwyn. Beautiful sunrise.

First up was some zebras,

then a couple of elephants were walking around near a rhino.

We went up and over a large ridge (very bumpy road) and saw some hartebeests.

Beautiful views.

Another herd of zebra were down at a waterhole with some eland. There was a tiny zebra foal playing around that was really cute.

Onward, and a large male giraffe was wandering around near some male kudus that were practice fighting.

Then Alwyn got some advice on where the two male white lions were. We went down to the old dam, and were all looking around eagerly to see where the lions were. Alwyn happened to roll over a large stick, and after the large CRACK sound, two white furry heads popped up in the undergrowth right in front of us. When they saw it was just another silly vehicle, the heads popped right back down again, but I managed to snap two photos...

Back to Dwyka, and after a quick freshen up, we met up with Alwyn for breakfast. There was a buffet, and I had some muesli and fruit (very dull fruit selection, we had been spoiled on this holiday) .

Then we had the full hot option. Very entertaining with Alwyn, which made up for the fairly ordinary breakfast.
Back to our lovely tent (we did not need to go up for lunch, as the breakfast was very filling).

It was really hot, and SS headed out into the sun. I stayed in and read my book happily. It was so hot that even SS had to come in to cool down. I went out at 3pm for a bit of sun, and he was now tanning sitting with his feet in the plunge pool to keep cool. He still wasn't keen on having his photo taken however...

At 4:30pm we went back up to the main area, and had some sliced fruit and fruit juice before the drive. The 4 of us were joined by a group of 3 locals from Cape Town. I could not work out the relationship between them at all - the two women sat behind SS and I, and spent the entire game drive chatting in Afrikaans about clothes and shoes and giggling. They had no cameras and were completely uninterested in the game viewing. The man sat up the front with Alwyn, and at least had a tiny compact camera, but he wasn't really that interested either. Strange group.
So off we headed

Alwyn was very excited as during the day he had been out checking on a herd of elephants, and one of them happened to be giving birth. So we were off to find the herd and try to see the newborn. We got lucky, as the herd were on the move. They were nervous with the baby so we didn't spend long looking at them, but I got a couple of really sweet photos of the baby.

Then one of the other vehicles radioed that they had found the two white lionesses, and they had just eaten. We got our turn to have a look at them (they were lying right next to the track in undergrowth), both hugely fat and panting with the effort of trying to digest the huge amount of food they had eaten.

There was another grumpy rhino nearby as well.

We moved on and saw three female giraffes together (I love giraffes), and then went to see if we could get another better look at the male lions.

They were not co-operating, so we stopped nearby for our sundowners.

Alwyn made me my usual very strong G&T, so I was quite happy to volunteer to be lion bait and see if I could bring them out of the undergrowth.

Alwyn did consider it, but decided on balance that it might not be the best idea. So back to Dwyka again, passing another small herd of elephants, and then stopping by the hippo pool to see if he would yawn at us (which he did).

Back to Dwyka, with a beautiful sunset again...

We had a really nice pre dinner chat and drink with Beatrice and Johannes, then headed in to dinner (without high expectations, which was a good thing). I had pumpkin soup then herb risotto and more fruit. SS had vegetable samosas then beef, and fruit. My herb risotto must have been the driest thing I have ever eaten - it was like a big lump of sawdust. Very strange.
Dinner faded into insignificance however due to the entertainment behind me. A group of Australians had arrived at Dwyka that day - a middle aged couple, with her mother. Lets call them Norm and Charlene, and her mother Flo. They were seated at a larger table with their poor companions from the game drive, a Swiss couple, and their guide. Well, Norm and Charlene were holding forth about where they had been ("we've really DONE all of Europe, and well, the States - we've DONE those too..." etc). Then they moved on to Australia, and how "EVERYONE who goes to Australia just wants to live there forever, they never want to go home"...
SS and I were choking with enjoyment trying to stifle our laughs, and this got worse when the guide finally got a bit tired of listening to all this gumpf, and asked them straight out "What is so great about Australia?" We waited eagerly for the response, and Charlene came out with "The sun, the weather, the food, the wine, the freedom". Ah-ha. We really couldn't keep snorts of laughter down when the guide said "But, we have all of those things in South Africa?" Well, Charlene was dumbfounded, first time she lost words the whole evening. So Norm had to step in and start bumbling about how "yes, of course you do have those things, but the people are so much more... well, in Australia, we really like to... well, the food and the wine... well..." and he ran out of words too, and then Charlene came out with it - the phrase we had been waiting for:
"Well, I guess we just think Australia is the best country in the world!". That was it, we had to go to our tent before we started squealing with laughter, and SS was threatening to go over and join the conversation explaining his rationale for why Australia was perhaps not the Nirvana she was trying to say. And can I just reiterate, I liked living in Australia, and there are a lot of fantastic things about the country, but there are many other contenders for "best country in the world".