Baby elephant in the pool and a wild story...week 3 in wildest Africa

Week 3 and its been great having a rental car! We went exploring over the weekend to see the wall and it was quite a sight to behold. The vast amount of water dammed up by this (relatively small) wall is crazy. 

We are still quite limited financially because we haven't managed to get local cash sorted. Spending on our SA cards comes at a huge cost with bank rates being significantly lower than the going rate. So patience is still very necessary at this point. The benefit of it is that we're left with lots to look forward to. We can now drive to the places we want to visit, but cant afford to go in yet! 


Wild story: There is a village called mahombekombe which is right below the viewpoint for the wall, about 10km from where we are staying. 3 years ago there was a female lion with 2 adolescent cubs that started to hunt people by pouncing out from behind bushes along the paths that they frequently walked. 

Obviously something had to be done about it because they had tasted human blood. A team was sent in to get the job done, they dragged a goat carcass in as bait and then waited in ambush. A back up team waited higher up the hill. The lioness jumped out and gave the men waiting such a fright that they started shouting and running around, the team higher up opened fire but to no avail. A couple of stray bullets wounded the lower team, and the lions escaped unscathed. 

The next night a more sensible plan was made, and a single gunman successfully annihilated the man eaters. The saddest part about this story is that the reason the lioness had resorted to hunting humans was because she had got caught in a snare and injured her back leg, so as a result, she was unable to teach her cubs to hunt normally.

Feeling HOT HOT HOT! With daily temperatures now reaching 38, its no wonder the elephants are coming to steal the swimming pool water at 'warthogs' next door! It is an amazing spot, we have visited twice and both times the elephants and hippos have provided entertainment for us.


Elephants blocking the road home one evening.



.

The kids are starting to settle down and we have got into a bit more of a routine. Have I mentioned that the pool is a complete life saver yet? 

Meet Faith. My extra arms and legs. Lily has taken to her quickly and its been a huge help to have her around. Plus, anyone who has grown up in Africa knows that this is how its done. Faith was laughing because Louie made himself a seat and table.

Becky (13) and Rowena (9) live 2km up the road and they come around to swim with us at every chance they get. They are very sweet to have around my kids enjoy seeing them.

We also met some other locals (Hennie and Antoinette) who had us over for dinner. Hennie fixes boats and Antoinette runs a little school. Their kids are 12,14 and 17 and my kids were thrilled to meet their pet bush baby! What a sweet little creature with such soft feet.


Last night we had dinner at warthogs with Elephants and Hippo's in the background. We took a moment to just appreciate this experience and all the beauty that surrounds us. It is easy to get swept up in all the frustrations, but how many people around the world long to be in the bush like this and cant be.





As I was writing now, the kids came to call me because there were zebra's in our garden! 


Comments

  1. Unknown1 October 2020 at 06:13

    Rach, what a beautiful time in your life. Treasure this adventure. Xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lauren Newcombe Bond1 October 2020 at 08:41

    Loving the updates. What an amazing adventure xxx

    ReplyDelete

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