Zebula in March

Friday 26 March to Tuesday 30 March

Lockdown Day 365 to 369

We spent 6 nights at Hanlie and Andrew's place at Zebula, creating a social bubble in the Bush. We are blessed to have the opportunity for some "normal" time with friends.

Autumn weather is awesome in the Waterberg area; 30°c during the day and cool enough at night to sleep without aircon. Ahead of a possible ban on the sale of alcohol over the long weekend, Neil and Andrew went into Bela Bela on Monday to stock up. Into the second year of lockdown and we are feeling daunted by the prospect of facing many more months of limbo, with international travel bans and slow vaccine rollout. At least we are able to travel within South Africa and to some neighbouring countries. And we do love road-trips. Our new Cruiser has done nearly 30 000kms already- mostly racked up in the last 6 months.

A Year in Lockdown

Friday 26 March 2021

Lockdown Day 365

Wow! One whole year in lockdown. Who would have thought? How naive we were a year ago? It was almost exciting to plan for three weeks in one place. All the things I'll finally get done. Working out how Zoom works. Time to cook exotic recipes. Exercise classes online. And to be stuck in such a beautiful spot in greater Kruger! Hippo Cottage, Ximongwe, how lucky we were to find you? We are grateful we were in one of the best places in the world for lockdown. But a year on and here we are. Still in the midst of a world-wide Covid 19 pandemic. Millions dead. Many more millions infected. First waves. Second waves. Excess deaths. Health systems overwhelmed. Lockdowns. Masks. Social distancing. Quarentine. Travel bans. Variants.

Vaccines. Our world is forever changed. We look to the future with apprehension. There is still so much uncertainty. We are still unable to plan ahead. Day by day. Day by Day.

Sunday 21 to Thursday 25 March, Lockdown Day 360 to 364

We spent this time with the family in Johannesburg. Negative PCR tests and self-isolation meant we are as safe as we could ever be. There's anxiety around balancing spending time with love-ones and wanting to keep them safe from the virus. After a year of being so careful, it's silly to let one's guard down now.

Frustratingly, South Africa is very slow off the mark in terms of vaccine rollout and so we just have to be vigilant a little while longer.

2020.. a year ago...We dashed back to South Africa on 19 March 2020 on the second last flight from Singapore.

On the 23 March we arrived in the Kruger Park. We had planned to stay a few weeks. That night a three week Lockdown was announced for South Africa.

On 24 March it took me a few hours of research to find a place for us to sit this out - Greater Kruger, Big 5, with a river view and internet access...

On 25 March, we were almost the last car to leave the Kruger Park before they closed.

And we arrived at Ximongwe in Parsons-Balule.

The idea of staying in one place for three whole weeks seemed strange but exciting for us after being homeless travellers for the last 12 years.

Zambezi Mubala Tented Camp, Katima Mulilo, Namibia...and to SA

Wednesday 17 to Saturday 20 March

Lockdown Day 356 to 359

We came to Katima Mulilo to get our PCR tests done in order to be able to travel back into South Africa via Botswana. And then on to Zambezi Mubala to wait for the results. The camp is situated on the river with lovely shaded gardens and a pool.

The water level is very high at the moment which has helped to fill Lake Kariba. Victoria Falls is apparently superb at the moment and Moremi NP in the Okavango Delta is closed to tourists due to flooding.We chose another self catering option and spent the day catching up on some admin and dipping into the pool from time to time. In the afternoon we took another fishing trip. Fishing was slower but it was great to be out on the water and we did see lots of birds. Our bird list is up to 190 for the trip.

Friday became a waiting game for PCR results and by lunch time after chatting to the lab staff in Windhoek, we realised we would have to spend another night in Katima because the Ngoma border closes at 6pm. The results arrived at 5.30pm. By 6am on Saturday we were on the road. We did 2 sets of borders with an 8 hour drive through Botswana in between. By 6pm our braai fire was on the go at Klippan River Lodge. We are back in South Africa.