Four out of five ain’t bad.

Early start this morning to drive inland to the Botlierskop Game Reserve to go on a game drive. Weather hot and sunny, so ideal for spotting some of ‘The Big Five’ (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhinoceros).

Our game driver was Mandela. I wonder how many South African children born in the mid-1990s were given that name.

Anyway, off we went, driving over some of the roughest terrain we’ve ever come across, even worse than driving around pot-hole infested Derbyshire.

Far too many photos taken to share them all, but suffice to say we encountered four of the big five (unfortunately no leopards) which ain’t bad, to paraphrase Meatloaf. We also encountered loads of zebra (plain and mountain), wilderbeast, springbok, dik dik, impala, zebra and hippopotamus.

The hippo is the most dangerous land animal in Africa, in terms of killing humans, with over 3000 deaths per year. Luckily the ones we saw were just lazing in the mud, as were the rhinos we also came across.

All in all it was an amazing and moving experience to see these majestic animals in their natural habitat, although I think one or two of the discs in our back may take a while to recover.

Back at the game lodge we had a welcome drink and leisurely lunch before driving back to Wilderness.

The roads around here are generally well maintained (see pot-holes reference earlier) but that does mean that there can be a lot of roadworks to encounter. Each roadwork ‘team’ seems to consist of lots of high-viz jacket wearing people, some waving warning flags, some manning the stop/go signs, some on walkie-talkies, some moving signs around, lots of people stood round doing nothing and about two lads actually doing any work. A bit like the U.K. really (see earlier road references).

Anyway, back at base we managed a couple of hours on the sunlougers on the terrace before wandering down to the bar/microbrewery that’s become our ‘local’ here, The Blind Pig, for a couple of early doors pints in the sunshine (well, it is Friday). It’s a great little place, with a background soundtrack that’s all ‘60’s/‘70’s classic rock. Doors. Stones, Airplane, Free, Fleetwood Mac, Bowie, Boston, Steppenwolf. Could easily be my Spotify playlist. We’re on first name terms with the bar staff already, so they know our drinks and clearly value our custom. And with a decent pint of local IPA and a large G&T coming in at around £6 in total it’s hard to knock it. Very dog friendly too, judging from this friendly customer.

Then back to base for a baked potato with chilli and cheese on the balcony, washed down with a £3 bottle of surprising decent red from the supermarket, followed by Corrie. Living it large!

There’s a Harley Davidson convention in town this weekend so I thought it might be a bit lively, with a few bikers around the place. Most of them seem to be old lags like ourselves though, so it’s actually quite quiet. Perhaps they’re also Corrie fans. Well, who isn’t?

Tomorrow we’ll be driving along The Garden Route, so hopefully another good day in store.