Summer Vacay - Day 9 - 11

July 31, 2013

DISCLAIMER:
I must add - the photos are from either my iPhone, Nikon - point and shoot or David Nash's point and shoot.  We are waiting to get together with The Thathiah's and get our hands on HIS photos, taken with his larger format digital Nikon camera. I know he has magnificent photos and can't wait to make our 'book' from most of his photos.  Still, these aren't half bad!

The phone rings at 6 a.m. for our wake up call and by 6:25 we are out the door to head down from our room #8 – Mountain Lodge!  We meet up with the group….enjoy some coffee and goodies, then back on board with Sebu and Menzi for another adventure – let’s see what awaits us today!

I mean, WHO is THIS happy on a Wednesday afternoon??
WE ARE!!!

Afternoon tea!

From this time forward and for our entire time at Phinda, everything was outstanding.  We saw all of the Big 5, along with hyenas, hippos and all the prey – enalas, wildabeasts, wart hogs, zebras, giraffes, kudo…..so many beautiful animals in such an amazing part of our world.

I’m grouping our days at Phinda together since it is hard to remember one day from the next!! Each day we had fantastic weather.  The temperatures were cold in the mornings and evenings – 50 degrees and warm in the daytime – around 75 degrees.  We would rise each day at 6 a.m. with our wake up call, then off on a safari until 9:30.  A big breakfast would follow and then a mid day break back to our rooms for rest from about 11:30 – 2:30 –  at that time, we would meet back at the main lodge for a late lunch or tea – then off again for safari from 3:00 – 6:30 or 7.  In between each safari trip, we would usually meet up with the other jeep and the ‘happy hour’ table would come out.  One morning, an extra special breakfast occurred where the red and white-checkered tablecloth came out, mimosa’s were served, along with extra special crumpets and muffins.  

Check out Richard doing his MOVES!! HAHAHA

Upon return, there would always be the dining room table loaded with fresh fruits, cheeses and such…..

In the evening we enjoyed dinner either in the ‘Survivor’ setting or inside and dinner which usually lasted until 9:30 – 10:00 pm when we would head to our rooms for the night.  Again, always by escort since the wild animals might be lurking about!!

The TRAP DOOR SPIDER!!
He is opening the door with his knife.

One afternoon, I asked to see the 7 ecosystems available at Phinda....so, our guide took us to a known 'trap door spider'!! We opened the door, but she wasn't home to grab the door and pull it closed. It was still very cool though!! 

By now the inside jokes and other expressions were running HIGH!  We spend most of our days laughing and carrying on as if we were on a vacation 12,000 miles from home! Oh wait – we WERE!!!  At Phinda everyone was able to relax and just immerse themselves in the surroundings.  The staff was so nice and always willing to answer any question and assist in any way.

Another favorite - sharpening of the claws!!

Just babies!!

Other highlights from our experiences at Phinda included seeing lions eating after a kill, the male inyala’s having a face to face challenge to see which one was dominant for an area, the leopard that moved at us and roared after we found him on a night Safari and shined our light on him, the black rhinos we saw, the heyena den we discovered, and then all the wonderful pictures we took to back up our experience of a lifetime!!

One of my all time favs
Taken on the morning safari of our last day.
Cheetahs

Definitely the KING of the forest!

Gotta love the elephants!

During our afternoon safari’s, they would last until after sunset and at that time, we learned about the night sky!  It took Taylor the longest time to ‘SEE’ what we were seeing but eventually he saw the light!!  Venus was always the earliest and brightest and then as night grew darker we made out the ‘Southern Cross”, Scorpio and the Milky Way.  Some of these we never see since we live above the equator in the Northern hemisphere.  All of it was exceptional and we feel so blessed to be here to see all of the beauty.

Our 'roommates'! Always waiting for us to return in the afternoon.
Peeking inside!! hahaha!

Just a final note before leaving Phinda…. we had such a marvelous time with our Nash family, but it really made the trip to be with David and Vasi and all of his beautiful Aunts, Uncle Larry and Talia and Ashley.  David T (aka Elvis by his family) is truly one in a million and he is soooo loved by everyone he meets.  Our team of Sebu and Minzy just had grins from ear to ear when Elvis was around and he truly made each trip so very special.  They later told us that to them, it felt as if THEY were on vacation!! They also shared that we won the prize for the ‘FUNNEST group of the year!!”  

So now we leave Phinda to head back to Durban.  Much more of beautiful scenery on our drive and after 3 hours, we are back at Julian’s.  One high note on our way back is that we stopped at the roadside and gave away a couple of bag lunches that Phinda packed for us to a teenaged Zulu boy….he was so happy and said, “God Bless You” in perfect English!  We were surprised and felt good to help this young man.  We pray for so many of these needy people.  Like any society, there are givers and takers….our hearts are saddened to see the ones trying in a place on our Earth that makes living so difficult.