Kruger Park and Massingir Dam

It was the inaugural trip for the new off road caravan and we headed up to Mark and Andy's house in the Olifants Game Reserve for the first few nights. From there we went into Kruger and set up at Letaba Camp. That afternoon and evening we had elephants right next to the fence, only metres from our camp.
The game viewing and bird watching were stunning. Our sightings included lion, elephant,rhino,buffalo,hyena,jackal,giraffe, zebra and many species of buck. The large herds of elephant families are amazing to see. We had fun voting in South Africa's election at Mopane Camp in the Kruger National Park.
We crossed the border from Kruger into Mozambique into the Limpopo Trans-frontier Park.
From the border we had 4 hours of very rough off road driving to Fish Eagle Camp on Massingir Dam. The camp sites are set high up above the dam with gorgeous views over the water. It is a good place to spend a day doing nothing in the middle of nowhere!
Posted by gaildgreenfield at 9:34 AM

Easter at the Farm

We all had a great Easter long weekend at the farm! We had a big crowd; all the rooms and cottages were full. We did a little boating and tubing; walking and golf, but mostly, a lot of eating and drinking! Did you know that 30 people can eat half a sheep in one sitting? And we needed kilos ans kilos of sausage for enough boerewors rolls to feed everyone. Taking the cooking seriously, we were all divided into catering teams to share the work load. This is the life...

Sailing in Singapore

We were very lucky to spend our last 6 days in Singapore learning to sail on Rob and Trish's yacht; a very swish Leopard 40. We imported our instructor Ollie from Phuket for a week and we all sailed up to Tioman Island, Malaysia and back again. We all learnt a lot and Neil is now a qualified Coastal Day Skipper. I am sure you will be hearing more about his sailing aspirations for us when you next see him!

Ko Phangan

Last week we left Phuket and headed to Ko Phangan. We decided to do the backpacker thing and travel there by minibus and ferry. With all the waiting for busses and ferries a one way trip took 12 hours! Ko Phangan is famous for it's Full Moon parties, especially on Haad Rin beach. We missed the party and decided on a motorbike trip down there, that there are better beaches to spend your time between full moons. We met up with David and Lisa at Mae Haad beach, which has fantastic snorkelling, a nice beach and not much else. We stayed in a little bungalow on stilts in a coconut grove and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a few days. We discovered the Ko Phangan speciality on the menu - NoName - which is a cross between an Indian Vegetable Pakora and Japanese Tempura. We trundled across the island to Treehouse Lodge, which is an isolated beach resort accessed by 4x4 only. This is run by Stephan and Andrea's sister and she was very surprised when we just turned up for a few days. It is a relaxed place located on a private beach and although the bungalows are basic, they have wonderful seaviews and ours was perched on top of a big boulder looking out to sea. The food was fabulous, washed down with a few cocktails each night. More chilling and a lot of reading!