This morning we had to get prepared in a hurry as we had to be at the Ocean Safari office by 0910hrs. We were all excited about seeing dolphins including me although I must have seen thousands when I was at sea.

As soon as I had finished breakfast I had Adrian on the stool for his first haircut by his father. He was a difficult customer as he kept shifting his head around and at one time I thought I had nipped his ear as he said “you hurt me Daddy”.

This morning it was still drizzling on and off slightly when we woke up. Alison had cooked breakfast, French toast, by the time I got down from the tent. As I was enjoying the breakfast she pestered me to put the tent down which irritated me a little and I told her so.

The party of 4X4s left at 0630hrs and as I was already up I managed to speak to of the drivers who confirmed that they were going up Sani Pass.

Although it was perfectly dry in the tent the ground was soaking wet this morning. After awhile the sun started to peek out and we were hoping for a nice day after the rain last night. This morning we saw more of the beauty of Central Drakensberg.

On leaving Melmoth, Alison had charted a course to Dundee and then heading south to Durban. I had read about the battlefields of the Anglo Boer War last night and was attracted to Spioenkop which was located beyond Dundee and Ladysmith.

Alison had spotted the Dumazulu Village just beyond the turn off to the Isinkwe Bushcamp and we decided to go there after breakfast. As it turned out Jan and Yvonne who were in a rented camper van next to us were also keen to go as they had missed the Shakaland (which was created for the set of telemovie Shaka Zulu) a couple of days ago.

As was the original intention, we headed for the Malendela’s Farmhouse to make use of the internet facilities immediately after breakfast. Alison went on the net first while I entertained Adrian.

This morning as we were driving out of Piet Retief, Alison spotted a tourist info office and we stopped by to see what we could pick up. That was when I asked why we didn’t plan to go to Swaziland.

I knew I had to check the tire this morning but to get to the tools was asking too much of me. So I asked the driver of the Funky Monkey safari truck if he had a spanner for the wheel handy and to my surprise he couldn’t find it.

When I woke up this morning I was quite surprise to see a tent no too far away from us and three other tents on the far side of the toilet facilities, and I thought we were the only ones camped there. The four guys in the tent next to us were building a swimming pool somewhere nearby.

The campsite dog was waiting for us to get up I am sure as no sooner that Alison put her legs out to get down the ladder, he was there at the bottom. He must have been starving. I gave him the end slices of the bread we were eating laced with a bit of milk and that went down very quickly.

As usual all good things must come to an end and so too was our pleasant stay at Green Tree Lodge. Yesterday evening Hector had brought a neighbor’s kid to the lodge, a little girl Amanda, about the same age as Adrian.

As Adrian being the last one to wake up, started climbing down the ladder from the tent, a few drops of rain was felt. I thought it would be better if I got the tent down before the heavens open.

Adrian woke everyone up at 0530hrs but I managed to get back to sleep. Unfortunately Alison didn’t and that got her in a mood and of course I stayed clear to avoid her picking on me if not the boy.  I didn’t get out of bed until 0800hrs and by the time I got down breakfast was ready.

I was woken up at about 0230hrs as Alison could hear thunder in the distance and fearing that it would rain wanted to take the washing in, not that it mattered as the clothes were still wet in any case. At 0300 hrs it belted down until about 0600hrs as I was just waking up.

I was beginning to like Lukwe Campsite with the nice shower besides the fact that it was a steep climb to get to it, its eco toilets and the fantastic view it offered. But all good things must come to an end and we had to say farewell to Bruce. John and Lauren was going to make a quick visit to Livingstonia before proceeding south and we said goodbye to them too.

I really had a good sleep last night although it was a wee bit hot earlier in the evening. I got up in a good mood and ready for the safari which we needed to find out about. But before that Alison wanted to take Adrian to the snake park down the road from Tan- Swiss. So off we went after breakfast with me waiting outside the park while Alison took Adrian in.