Nothing much exciting has happened since our return from Dwalbroom (which means‘last tree’, the southernmost baobab) with Kellie and Deon. We worked at more tiling, grouting and cleaning. I took Parks’ kids, Carumbo and Caroline (even when I saw it written I couldn’t get my tongue around her Shawana name) to the Elephant Sanctuary, a gift to Parks and Eunice as much as to the kids. I think they enjoyed themselves but they were overwhelmed by the size of the elephants, especially 18 year old Caroline.
Our friend Mike from Colorado called the Lodge and booked a room for his niece Brooke and her friend Mark. They called from Kruger on Saturday to say they would be arriving in Johanneburg late Sunday and they were looking forward to visiting us at the Centre and staying at the Cheetah Lodge. So Alan, bless his Scottish heart, picked them up at “Backpackers Ritz” and delivered them here. We gladly stopped work, took them to lunch then showed them around DeWildt, especially the small cats, the new baby cheetahs, and the ostrich chick.
After dinner at the lodge they looked at every one of our photos, an impressive feat. They had been on the same tour as the group we met in the Delta and they finished up in Kruger. Their tour mirrored much of our Namibia/Botswana jaunt. They’re both interesting, expressive and nice kids. Brooke was inspired by Jane Goodall and is looking forward to a career in conservation.
They got up early for the cheetah feeding with Alan, their only chance to see all the animals as there were no tours today. After lunch at Izantaba we drove them to the airport in a heavy rain. Mark said Africa was crying because they were leaving. But instead of heading directly to the States they will detour to Norway for a couple of days – because they can. See why we like them?
