A month or 2 ago, Sanjay and I decided to buy some bicycles. It was my idea – I decided that my exercise is going nowhere, as I am just not that motivated. So, the idea is, I can cycle to work, which (a) has a purpose (b) makes me do the exercise, as I HAVE to get to work and (c) saves money on petrol/bus trips.

I opted for a comfort bike, rather than a road bike. That means that it is a hybrid, sort of the build of a mountain bike, but road-bike like tyres. And a comfy seat. It’s a bit heavier than a road bike, but lighter than a mountain bike. This is mine:

Rheanna's Apollo Altura bicycle

Now, I’m not crazy, I have small plans. Cycle to work one day, back the next. Once a week, then build up to 2 and maybe 3 times a week. Easy.

First of all, what I did not realise, was that I live 13.6km from work, and also there are many ups and downs along the way (more ups I’m sure).

Well, I’ve done this 5 times now, cycling to work. Once a week, as planned, cycle to work one day, back the next (or the next). Today, for the first time, I cycled TO and FROM work in ONE day. Ok, ok, I know it’s not THAT big a deal, but you just don’t understand how much of a cyclist I am NOT! Me and cycling, we’re not friends. I’ve cycled very little in my life, I’m not very confident on the bike, and those damn hills kill me! I think my ‘comfort’ bike might not be that great for those hills either, I probably work harder than most to get up the hills.

But, I’m proud of me today. 27km in one day. I’m happy.

Now, we just have to convince Sanjay to get out there and cycle to work too!

You can always tell if there is an interesting animal on the side of the road in the Kruger park as there is a queue of cars waiting. It’s actually usually very civilised. People pull up, take their photo’s, and move on for the next person. So we stood in the queue and then moved in the prime position just infront of the Lions (ok, so we were on the wrong side of the road which is not etiquette, but who cares).

The Lions were lying of the side of the road. One male and one female. A bit odd that they were not with a pride, but it didn’t matter to us. We sat and we watched and watched. and took a photo each time they moved. And there was no way Sanjay was going to give up THIS position, so all other cars just had to come and go as they wanted, we were not moving.

After about half an hour the female lion gets up and stares at us, and starts moving toward us. We get a bit nervous and roll the windows up slightly.

She walks toward the car and then walks right up agains the back of the car and crosses the road. The male jumps up and follows her across. Once on the other side of the road, they simply just lie down again. We’re still in prime position, because the cars of the other side of the road park very nicely so that we have a great view. Many cars came and went, often stopping in-front of us to take photo’s and apologising most profusely, but it was fine.

We stayed there for 2 and a half hours!! Sanjay said he would stay till the lions left, or the camp gate was going to close (5:30pm). It was only about 1:30! Eventually. the only reason we left was because Sanjay needed the toilet! We went  back to camp and had lunch, and left again within an hour.

We headed straight to the Lions again. They were still there, they had just changed position. We stayed there until we had to leave for the camp because the gates would be closing (You get a fine if you are not in on time). It was hard to pull Sanjay away,  but his wife is such a nag! We got to the camp with 2 minutes to spare – which Sanjay was quite disgusted with as that could have been 2 minutes more with the Lions.

Kruger Park - Female Lion showing her teeth	Kruger Park - Male Lion
Kruger Park - Female Lion getting comfy	Kruger Park - Male Lion finding some shade

Kruger Park - Male Lion crossing the road	Kruger Park - Female Lion getting up to cross the road
Kruger Park - Female Lion not looking happy	Kruger Park - Female Lion big yawn

Kruger Park - Female Lion	Kruger Park - Male Lion
Kruger Park - Male Lion

On Wednesday we had booked to go on a morning game walk, and Rheanna’s parents had been booked on a morning game drive. The start was even earlier than the previous days, as we could leave before the gate opened. We drove almost an hour to the place where we were going to walk. It is a bit off the beaten track so that there are no other tourists or vehicles around to disturb the animals.

Luckily we were only on the walk with one other couple (from Montreal), and 2 guides who were armed with rifles and a magazine of bullets. Obviosuly they will only shoot as a last resort (at the animals we think!).

We tracked a Black Rhino for a while, and were shown tracks for Lions that had been through, and also elephants. We studied dung from the black and white rhino’s, (which were fresh) and also elephants.

Black rhino are ‘browsers’which mean they eat leaves etc, whereas white rhino are ‘grazers’ which mean they eat grass. This means that their dung is quite different. We also learnt about the white rhino’s ‘midden’. This is basically their toilet. They have a number of these ‘toilets’ around their territory and they always do their business in one of these – as a means of marking their territory. For another rhino to use one of these, would be a challenge for the territory.

Black Rhinos are also aggressive animals, so you don’t want to be found downwind from them as they will attack.

It is also a slightly nervy feeling walking through thick reeds and bushes, knowing that a predator such as a Leopard or Lion may be greeting you at your next step. When I was walking last, I made sure I kept turning around to watch my back often!

Unfortunately though, other than tracks and dung, the only thing we saw on the walk was baboons and Impala. It was very interesting though, and we learnt alot.

Kruger park - morning walk	Kruger park - Rhino midden (toilet)

We then decided that time was running out and we really needed to find some Lions. Sanjay really wanted to see Lions (during the day). So as soon as we got home we went with Rheanna’s mom for a ‘short’ drive. As soon as we left Skukuza, Sanjay saw another leopard. Unfortunately it walked into the bush, and we lost sight within minutes. We also saw  giraffe, ground hornbill, and a chameleon crossing the raod! He was so slow. He picks up his leg, pushes forward about 3 times to get momentum to take the step. It was painful to watch!

We then came across 2 kudu. They looked like they were about to start mating so we stopped and were taking photo’s, and video. Isn’t it kind of weird how we find this so cool, yet the human version is best left alone! Meanwhile a car drove up to us and says there are Lions 2km down the road, they are lying in the road! So in a huge rush, we left the Kudu to do their business and we were off to find Lions!

Kruger Park - Giraffe	Kruger park - chameleon crossing the road
Kruger park - Ground hornbill	Kruger Park - Kudu trying to 'get it on'

Kruger park - Leopard

On Monday we woke up early and were at the gates by 5.50am for the 6am opening.

We drove around for a few hours searching for animals. We saw: Vervet monkeys, Bushbuck, Hippo, giraffe, Steenbok, Baboons, Elephant, Warthog, Buffalo and even Wild Dog (and a few other things)

Then we went back to Skukuza to check out and then made our way to Lower Sabie rest camp. The road between Skukuza and Lower Sabie follows the Sabie river and is supposed to be one of the best for game viewing. The  43km distance took us nearly 4 hours, with all the stopping and taking photo’s and so on. It was great, but a long day.

We checked in at Lower Sabie, and only had a short time before our night drive. The night drive from Lower Sabie leaves earlier than the one the previous night at skukuza, not sure why that is. We had a female guide this time, who was awesome. She talked about the animals, and found many animals. We were busy driving along a dirt road, seeing a few animals, when she gets a call on the radio from the other guide. We can’t understand what they are talking about, but she says to us we have to rush a bit, she will stop if we want, but there is something we have to see. We drive and drive, by now the light is fading. We see a herd of Buffalo. We stop to take photo’s, and then the guide says, we can come back, there is something just around the corner. Around the corner we find a big tree, with an Impala (dead) in the tree, and lo and behold – a leopard!

We spent a while at the leopard, since it was getting darker, you could not see alot, but we did see it feeding on the Impala. We then went back to the Buffalo, and then we caught a glimplse of a pride of Lions walking through the bush. The guide followed them, and even went down a path that she was not allowed to go through just so that we could get some photo’s. It was great. All in all, we managed to  see the Big 5 (Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Buffalo and Elephant) in that one night drive – now that is a worthwhile drive!

Kruger Park - Buffalo (nice pose)	Kruger Park - Wild Dog
Kruger park - Hippo	Kruger Park - Bush buck

Kruger Park - Elephant at a watering hole	Kruger Park - Lioness
Play Spot the Leopard - can you see the Impala?	There IS a leopard - look closer

When your work sends you to Cairns 2 weeks before your big trip oversees, it comes with mixed emotions. On one hand, there is so much to do, and I really can’t afford a week away from home with so much left to do, and on the other hand, I get to spend a week in Cairns (where I haven’t been before).

Since it’s work, I didn’t really get an option, I had to go. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to test our our new Canon 500D SLR camera. Since the camera is still new to us, and we haven’t had much opportunity to use it yet, this seemed like a good opportunity.

I stayed at Cairns Central Plaza Apartments. I chose an apartment bacause I was there for a week. This gives me access to a kitchen, fridge, washing machine and space.

Cairns Central Plaza ApartmentsCairns View from Balcony

I arrived Sunday just after lunch, and decided to go for a walk to explore the area. I walked down to the esplanade, and came across the Lagoon. Unfortunately it was a very overcast day, but the pool still seemed very full. This was also the last day it was open, as it was closing on Monday for renovations.

Cairns Lagoon

 I was unfortunately not left with much spare time in Cairns, as I was working all 5 days, Monday to Friday. So the only time for exploring was in the evening, and most of the time I was really tired. On the first day, the class I was teaching were telling me how dangerous Cairns is to walk around, and were telling me not to walk by myself – my problem was – what was I supposed to do then? I was required to walk to find dinner. Nothing happened, and I wonder how much people over react. But I also like to believe that I am aware of what goes on around me, so if I see a potential strange situation, I walk somewhere else. I do that everywhere, so it was no different in Cairns. Actually, I felt less safe when I was in Darwin a couple of weeks prior to this.

I made it down to the Esplanade one evening befor it was completely dark to take a couple of pictures, and play with the settings on the camera.

Cairns Sunset

Then I wondered over to the Marina. It was actually starting to get quite dark, and I was very impressed that I could make it look like daylight by changing the camera settings!

Cairns Marina

I had dinner at a couple of interesting restaurants whilst in Cairns. One night I went to Bushfire Flame Grill. Their speciality is a Brazillian BBQ, which is an all you can eat dinner. The waiters come around with different meats, on long skewers and cut it onto your plate. This reminded me alot of Carnivore in South Africa, where they have the meat on swords, and it’s wild game meat too. I also went to the Waterbar & Grill restaurant at the Pier in Cairns. This place is South African owned I was told, and I was very impressed to find that they had Boerewors on the menu. I had to go with the ribs of course. It was very much like any ribs you will have in South Africa. Divine. They also give you a bib type of thing to stick onto your shirt so you don’t mess, and some wet wipes to clean yourself up with afterward. The one thing that confused me was that on many of their dishes they had a “Lekker sauce” and the word “Lekker” had a trademark symbol after it. How can you trademark the word Lekker? Lekker, means nice. How can you trademark nice?

Unfortunately I did not get to explore around Cairns, or do any day trips, as I had to leave on friday evening. But all in all, Cairns looked like a good spot, but I think I would definately head to the reef or something if I get up that way again.

Cairns at Night