Mpandangare the Great carries on going, over flooded rivers, to Crocodile Bridge and back again. Poor us! From Kruger National Park to Xai-Xai (Shi-shi) Beach. What a drive! Twleve straight hours! My legs were soooo stiff. Mpandangare is getting really muddy. Mpandangare the Great Baboon of the Gomoo Refu Refu High Hills is living up to our expectations!
On the road out of Kruger, some white smoke started coming out of the front of the car. The engine went dead. Ralph and I looked at each other. Then we stared at where the smoke was coming from. I realised one does quite a lot of staring at times like this (is it just me). Anyway long story short, it was the aircon, steam not smoke, we started up again and headed for the Mozambican border fresh as daisies…yes we still have aircon (blush).
We got through the border easily, and passed through all but one roadblock. The smiling official asked us to pay a ‘fine’ with the opening words “I’m honest”. We were actually glad to hear it, as we knew at least we’d be able to get the cost down, which we did by half.
Holy moly there’s a lot of work to be done on the field guide with dozens of new birds, insects, and mammals spotted here at the Kruger Park, interspersed with the sighting of invisable friends in the bush “Meghan! Meghan!” and singing of Kimya Dawson songs out the window into the pouring rain.
We are camping in a tiny soulless campsite in Lower Sabie in the mud and torrential rain, still, there are weaver nests swinging in the howling gale and somehow, somehow, we are all still managing to stay cheerful. The girls have filled the wet hours by tending to their shongololos, dozens of them with names, personalities, strengths and weaknesses (e.g. not pooing on one’s hand is seen as a strength). Fun! Fun! (that one’s for you, Mary and Allyson!)
Today Mila and I went searching for shongololos. Shongololos are a kind of large centipede. They are black with either red, orange or yellow legs. It’s pretty easy to find them, and before long, we each had a small ball of frightened shongololo.
I am now doing Wordly Wise. My shongololo is scrambling on my book. What a laugh!
One week in and huge excitement builds as we’re now 60km from the border with Mozambique. We’re about to enter the Kruger Park via Malelane. Will sleep in SE corner of Kruger tonight at Crocodile River, then cross into Moz at sunrise via Komatipoort/Ressano Garcia. Plan is to head east on the N2 and then swing north to avoid Maputo. Aiming to sleep Tuesday in Xai-Xai.
We discovered the source of Dani’s magic when we stayed at her family’s trout farm near Machadodorp.
Time stood still for us at the farm – we loved it – we recharged and managed to have our first proper school day on the front stoep and went for an amazing swim in a river pool.
Somehow it was perfect even though I put Dani’s mom’s key on THE WRONG KEYRING in Cape Town, so no keys when we arrived in the DARK, and the other doors where locked anyway and the neighbour GAVIN was not in his house but we bumped into RICHARD who went to SLAAIHOEK to get LENA to open for us. Then we entered the wonderful house which we totally LOVED. And then we ran out of water but it was fine as we had water in the Landy and a river to bath in….
Yesterday we got stuck in Bloem getting the car ready for Mozambique and sorting out Lisa’s computer which has temporarily moved into another dimension. We slept near Kroonstad and arrived in JHB this morning early – breakfast with Dave Jammy. While Lisa was sorting out her computer (at the Rosebank Mall!) I took Bea and Mila past our old house on Glamorgan Rd. (where I spent the first 17 years of my life) plus my old schools.
38 years later: This is Bea and Mila standing in front of my Grade 1 classroom (Miss Woodhouse) at Rosebank Primary School.
This morning, on the road to Dani’s trout farm near Machadodorp, Lisa edited this lovely little film from the footage we shot in the Karoo:
Friday 13th in Bloemfontein began when I dropped my laptop in our hotel lobby and broke it. I called Ralph from the hotel phone, he was out doing the ‘last’ few bits of admin: ‘ring ring’ – ‘hullllllllo?’ – our only phone was answered by an Afrikaans lady, at the other end of Bloemfontein, where he’d left it. Broken computer, lost phone, I had to laugh – there is something wonderful about growing old together.
The huge challenge of this trip is managing our ‘stuff’ when we are constantly on the move, and everything is essential, either being taken out, used or put away. Everything has its right place. This has never been my way, god no, and as for the girls…. anyway I am quite enjoying this new regime, a kind of mindfulness. We are all pretty good at living in the moment, but it’s not necessarily bound to THIS time and place. The girls are certainly off in their own universes, and the dullness of the last two days seems to have consolidated their togetherness in a totally new and amazing way.
Anyway, one heartwarming aspect of breaking my Mac was that I made a few calls and found The Mac Guy of Bloemfontein, Shaul (yes, Shaul, go on, shay it!) who diagnosed the problem over the phone (bloody klutz, ja?) and told me how to sort it out, boring details… that took 2 days of standing around in local tech shops. I have found mac guys all one the world in my time, they are a special breed, pure altruists. I mean it. Someone should write a book.
Anyway the day ended spectacularly when we did a detour to ‘find’ these huge towers with posters of former ANC leaders to mark the 100th anniversary of the ANC’s formation.
