Kruger National Park, Sirheni : Lockdown Day 161 - Thursday 3 September

Yippee! We are in Kruger for 4 nights with Johan and Ronell. Tonight we are in Sirheni Bush Camp. It's a small camp with just 15 chalets along the banks of the river. We had just settled in, poured our wine and were relaxing on the verandah after the long drive when 2 or 3 impala raced past, followed close behind by a wild dog. Three or four more wild dogs scattered and ran down into the river bed. By the time we walked a few metres along the fence the dogs were already devouring the impala as more dogs ran in from the opposite bank.  We weren't able to get any photos so enjoy the elephant photos instead. We had delicious rump steak for dinner and a lot more wine and an early night.

Lockdown Day 160 - Wednesday 2 September

So it is 23 weeks since we arrived at Ximongwe. We had expected lockdown to last for 3 weeks but we are still here.

2020 has been the strangest year of my life. I'm glad I'm not much younger and missing out on living and working and fun and milestones. I'm glad I'm not much older and realising I might never get to make up for things I've missed out on. And I'm glad I haven't had to work throughout lockdown with all the challenges that has brought.

I have to decide soon when I will stop these daily posts. 160 days? 24 weeks? 6 months? Stage 2 ? Stage 1? Then I will have to continue weekly updates until life returns to normal. 

We went to Three Bridges for lunch with Roger and Liz. We were able to enjoy Sav Blanc instead of the usual "Peppermint Tea". And excellent pizzas.

Loadshedding Stage 4 meant an evening of darkness again but we have some excellent rechargable lamps and a gas stove.

This day in 2017 we were in Lesotho with Tracy, drinking Amarula hot chocolate and whisky at the Highest Pub in Africa at Sani Top.

Lockdown Day 159 - Tuesday 1 September

Happy Spring Day! Not quite so springy yet. Today's pic is from Denise.

We went into Hoedspruit. Congratulations Jessica on the opening of your new Salon! I had my nails done.

Neil went to the Licensing Department to renew his driver's license. The whole process took less than 2 hours. Not too bad by South African standards and everyone was wearing masks but social distancing does not come naturally to us gregarious Africans!

I used a very good What's App based service called ChatBack to renew all our vehicle licenses so we shouldn't need to deal with any governmental offices for a few years now. Next up will be visa applications for myself but I don't think the consulates are even open yet.

Loadshedding for the evening so I took the time to sort out fridges, groceries and wine a bit and cook a few things ahead of our trip into Kruger. If you hang an LED light around your neck while you work you can see whatever you are doing!

On this day in 2016 we were in Spain and visited Salvador Dali's Museum in Figueras. We've been there quite a few times; Neil is a real fan of Surrealism and in many ways 2020 is as surreal as any Dali picture could be!

Lockdown Day 158 - Monday 31 August

The weather stayed cold, cloudy and windy all day. It was an indoor day. It was a day for  playing cards and drinking wine and eating cheese.

 It was a day for taking a nap and reading a book. And playing around with Google photos. animals came and went as usual and the male Nyala hung around the house all day.