We woke up early again for one last morning drive to find the elusive male lion. We were close yesterday and our luck throughout to find what we were looking for or something rare has been good so we were confident. We set out early in the morning again into the African winter, Matthews and Raymond circled an area known to be the male lions territory looking for tracks. We spent about a half hour looking when we heard over the radio one of the other vehicles had spotted lions. We rushed to the location thinking we had checked off one of the final things on our list. What we got wasn’t a male lion, but a pride of female lionesses and cubs! We found them at a watering hole enjoying a drink!
We followed them for a while and enjoyed some great opportunities to snap photos. We then gave way to another truck that also wanted some photo opportunities. We moved to find a termite hill as Raymond and Matthews wanted to show us what termites taste like. We’d been seeing massive termite hill structures all throughout our drives and being able to open one up and see them flow out was gross and fascinating at the same time! A cool thing about them was that if you put your hand outside of a hole you make in the hill, you can feel the warmth flow out of it. The insulation within the hill is quite good and it tends to store the heat from the sun quite well. Next came the moment of truth. Using a vine tied to a branch, Raymond poked it down the opening and surfacing several clinging to the branch. Both Raymond and Matthews each had one (to show us they weren’t playing with us tourists) and then offered us some, not many took them up on the offer but one or two along with muscles and I did try! It tasted a bit like a bitter mushroom and it was very crunchy but I’m not sure if it’d be at the top of any of my cravings lists.
The rest of our drive wasn’t very eventful and sadly this meant that we never ended up spotting that male lion. I guess this means another Safari sometime in the future is in order. We returned to the lodge for breakfast before getting back on the road again for our return trip to Soeki’s.
It was a long drive with a few stops for the restroom, most of us tended to enjoy the scenery in quiet.
We stopped for lunch at a place called Dullstrom known for its fly fishing in South Africa, we ate at a restaurant called Rose Cottage Restaurant. I had the trout plate given it seems to be the meal of choice for this town. I also had a homemade ginger beer.
We got back on the road again and made our way to Soeki’s. We arrived and the welcome was as warm as the first time. It was nice to relax a little after a packed few days. We got to settle down and had another opportunity to sit down and have a simple dinner with the group (our last one together). We would be splitting from the group and making our way to the emirates the next day so it was a good time for us to reminisce on the time we shared in South Africa together. One of the things I love about travelling is the cool new people you cross paths with along the way. Sharing experiences like this with them is something the group will always have for the rest of our lives. We all retired to our rooms to pack and get ready for the next day.
Unfortunately, I woke up and didn’t feel too well and I remember telling muscles this before scrambling to the bathroom to throw up a few times. I’ve had this feeling before and I knew I had picked up a case of food poisoning. My suspicion is that it may have been from the trout the day before, but at this point it really didn’t matter, I wasn’t really feeling all that great. I was thankful that our plan for the day was to spend the day at the Johannesburg airport before flying out in the early evening. It would be a restful travel day and I am thankful for Gimpy and Muscles for carrying me through the day letting me rest and keeping an eye out for me while I recovered. By the time we boarded the flight to Abu Dhabi I was feeling a bit better and I was looking forward to resting on the flight and feeling better after the long flight.
