Today is my birthday - another year older, and what a year it has been. Vanessa’s 40th birthday party got a little out of control the other night but no harm was done – except to her head. There were tons of food (although no one admits to eating much), lots of booze and a giant bonfire.
We all were up early (Freedom Day) to spent time with the young cheetahs then after a late brunch we caravanned to Shingwedzi. Connie devised an algorithm to determine the travel time. T+5N+10V=3C. The usual travel time + 5 minutes extra for each additional person + 10 minutes for each additional vehicle + 3 minutes for each additional camera. We escorted 13 people in 3 cars with 18-20 cameras. You can do the math.
Gerard, Shingwedzi's mamager, arranged a short tour where we got to see the hippo out of the water. She quickly went in, submerged, swam our way and charged halfway up the bank. Who would have known they were so quick? Luckily no one was injured in the rush to get back on the safari vehicle.
The evening braai was a joint birthday celebration forAnn, Vanessa and me. It lasted until 10:00pm and after a look at the stars it was off to bed. We skipped the morning tour (been there, etc.) and met everyone for breakfast. The group was scheduled to drive to Madigwe, their next stop and Emmett wanted to hit the road early. But he failed to take Connie’s formula into consideration, so it was after 10:30am when we left.
It was nice to see everyone and Marsha and Louise were wonderful as always. I even got some presents. But we’re glad to be alone again, on our own schedule.
