Day 14, Year 6 Zebras, Friends, and Grandbabies
Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010
Weather: Sunny, Winds SE 10-15
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa
Our day started with a walk through the Enseleni Nature Reserve, not far from Richards Bay. And our first sighting was five zebra grazing on the hillside. I think these zebra are always grazing at this spot, but for us it was really exciting-our first sighting of wild animals in South Africa. We didn’t know until today that there is more than one kind of zebra. Actually there are three kinds in southern Africa and the ones we saw this morning were Burchell’s zebra (Equus burchelli). They are differentiated from other zebras by the ‘shadow’ strips between the heavy broad black stripes on the hind quarters and they have very light stripes on their legs where other species have very dark stripes. We did the hippo walk which took us close to the river, but we didn’t see hippos or crocodiles. We did see hippo scat (droppings) and hippo spoor (tracks) but on the heavily wooded river path, the only other animal we spotted was a Red Duiker, much like a small deer.
Later in the afternoon we talked on Skype with video to Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah. Jonah delighted in singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” while rocking on the rocking dragon and Sam built and displayed a long-bed Lego truck that was delivering water and grass to cows on a dairy farm. Jonah was quite curious about seeing us on the computer screen and gave the monitor a couple of kisses. He can now say “I wuv you” which was very cute. It was great fun to watch both boys play, but unfortunately something happened to our connection before we could say our goodbyes. Later in the evening we talked to Justin, Jo, and Ziggy and the connection was fine again. We’re not sure what happened earlier. Ziggy has had a stomach virus the past few days and wasn’t quite as perky as usual. But Jo said he was definitely feeling better today. Ziggy threw us a kiss but wasn’t so interested in playing as it was time for a nap. Justin and Jo were headed to Albuquerque for the afternoon and were hoping Ziggy could take his nap on the way, so we said our goodbyes and will call again next weekend to see Ziggy in a longer play session.
Peppe and Bob of Far Niente dropped by late in the day. They are hoping to move off the wall and into the marina in the next couple of days and we were able to share information we have gathered over the past two weeks with them. We will meet them on the dock at 8 am and hope we can get them connected with the management here so they can secure a spot. And just about the time I was starting to fix dinner, we got a call from Bruce Tedder (of Bruce, Nadine, and daughter Tristen) that we met in Madagascar. They live in Cape Town but Bruce was in Richards Bay for the night to help a client have his new Lagoon 48 taken out of the water in the morning. Then we will fly back to Cape Town, but we had time to go pick him up and have dinner together. Nadine sent a book for me to read called The Elephant Whisperer. It is the true story of South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony and how he tamed a herd of ‘rogue’ wild elephants on his Thula Thula Game Reserve here in Zululand. I can’t wait to start reading it. The timing is perfect as tomorrow we prepare for our trip to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve which is just north of Thula Thula.
 |
| 101107 Day 14 South Africa 3–Enseleni Nature Reserve |
