Meerkats hate water

The dreaded early start for the meerkats. We got ourselves up, out to the Sombrero, and finally found the meeting point for the alternate Meerkat Man who was called Devey. He had set up an operation as competition for the "real" Meerkat man, who is a guy called Gavin who is responsible for "Meerkat Manor" which is shown on the BBC. We had booked with Devey as it was simpler, less than half the price, and you could take photos.
Devey looked a bit like a South African Crocodile Dundee, with skinny jeans, check short sleeved shirts and an akubra style hat. He was a little negative even when we first met him, saying it looked like rain and "meerkats hate water". We agreed to give it a try anyway and followed his car along the road, through a non-descript farm gate, along a bumpy farm road, and then into a small siding off the track. Here we pulled up and Devey unpacked his tea and coffee gear, and furnished us with some really nasty strong coffee. Meerkats come out at dawn to eat every day, so that is the best time to see them (hence the early start), but Devey said that if there is even a whiff of rain, they don't come out until it is over. Yippee. SS was half asleep, and I was trying to be chatty but wasn't really, and then Devey started talking, and talking, and talking. It was cold, still dark (altho' getting light) and even I could see the rain clouds on the horizon. Hmmm.
Things got worse as we found out more about Devey. Let's summarise by saying that he was not particularly a meerkat expert - more of a fan shall we say. Not to say he couldn't find the meerkats or that we might have enjoyed the experience, but as it started drizzling (in the middle of Devey's fourth story of how life "done him wrong") we all agreed that the meerkats would not be out. Luckily there was no charge which was good of him, and we did not proffer any payment either. Instead we headed back to the B&B, got back in bed, and had a nice snooze for a couple of hours before heading to breakfast. At that point the whole thing seemed quite surreal.
We were happy to have saved the money however - now the issue was how to spend all that cash!
For breakfast, first we were delivered a bowl of fresh fruit

(similar to Akademie but not as much fruit choice) There was also a large buffet inside to pick from, and so I had muesli on my fruit (after clearing the melon out and giving it to SS - ugh).
Then we got to order from the cooked menu - SS had everything but egg as usual, I had bacon, egg, mushrooms and toast with tomatoes.

Margot's tomatoes were fantastic - apparently she marinades them overnight in balsamic vinegar and sugar, and then roasts them in the morning. I am definitely going to try that.
Wim came to chat whilst we were eating, and we asked for some suggestions for the day - he suggested Karusa winery out past the Cango Wildlife Farm, and Klein Karoo shop for me to get some ostrich eggs.
I certainly was not interested in ostrich farms - as the photo below shows, I have been there and done that when I was a lot smaller than now...


So we drove out in the Sombrero to Karusa, which was best described as up and coming rather than arrived. We did buy a bottle of Syrah which was the best of the bunch, but not really memorable.

We put the Sombrero in the "parkering" area, and walked through the vineyards to the tasting room, noting the wildlife nesting along the way...



Back through town, and we stopped at Checkers for me once again to look for dark chocolate BarOnes for my sister (no luck) but since I was in there anyway, I got SS some more dried fruit, my sister some Tempo bars and Mrs Balls Chutney crisps, and me some Niknaks. Plus more water. Back out to the car, and out to the Klein Karoo shop. No eggs (apart from nasty decoupage ones), and a general smell of disinfectant. Ugh. So no eggs, and back to Pictures for a rest. I had slept really badly the night before so I needed a nap before dinner. We spent a lovely afternoon reading books lying on the bed, snacking on provita, cheese, niknaks and green tea. Then showers and out to dinner at Kalinka.
The usual car guard type was outside, we ignored him and went in. Lovely place, a converted house and we sat at a table in one of the front rooms. Lovely tempting menu as well.

I had the rocket salad with strawberries, pumpkin seeds and feta to start. Lovely fresh ingredients - a bit too much coriander perhaps, and a bit salty.

Then I had the African trio, which was kudu, springbok and ostrich. The springbok was the best.

SS had the crocodile duet to start which was the dish of the night - there was crocodile fillet, smoked crocodile carpaccio with a stack of rice and tomato salsa.

Then he had the ostrich fillet. We shared a lovely bottle of 2005 Le Riche Cab Sav which was very nice.

We were then presented with the dessert menu and for once I was actually tempted - some very nice sounding things, and I went for the berries and ice cream. SS had a glass of De Waal Pinotage to keep me company.

It was a lovely dinner.
When we went out to the car, the little car guard was still there. SS gave him R2, which he seemed very grateful for - waiting over 2 hours for R2 really does not seem like a good use of your evening to me. It made me quite annoyed, when you see other black locals working really hard on the roads, or the other improvements around the place, seeing these few annoying people who are just going out to dinner to beg for coins in effect was very frustrating. Of course it is not much money, but every time you give them some change, you are creating an industry that should just not exist. That is my soapbox for now!
Back to the B&B, and a nice chat with Wim and Margot (and Wibo the dog - a collie that SS became very attached to), and then we dragged ourselves up to bed. We had an amarula each from the continuing Akademie stash, and watched Tom Cruise in Valkyrie on the DVD player. Actually better than I thought it would be. But a lot of poetic license was clearly taken with it. Earlyish start again to be on the road by 9:30am at the latest, to get to Sanbona by midday...