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Newsletter March 2010. |  |
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| Here the first newsletter of the new year from the bush. | |||
| The new year is already in it's third month. | |||
| When I write this (2 March) it is exactly 100 days untill the World Cup starts. | |||
| South Africa is slowly getting under the spell of this event. | |||
| On the route to Nelspruit and other host cities big footballs have been placed on the signposts. | |||
| On TV we now regularly see something about the World Cup and the newspapers are filled with it. | |||
| Off course our lodge will be decorated in June with lots of orange, Dutch and South African flags, T-shirts etc. | |||
| For 30 days football will be number 1 and that is something I am looking forward to! | |||
| There has been a lot of controverse about this World Cup, the first to be held in an African country, and even now | |||
| some people still doubt if everything wil be ready in time. | |||
| We are confident that not only things will be ready but that South Africa will prove that it is capable of hosting such | |||
| a big event! |
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| Not just South Africa is under the spell of the World Cup. | |||
| At Amukela we already had some "orange fever". | |||
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| Our bar is already decorated with a "kuduzela" (blowhorn), | |||
| South African flags, a poster of the national teams of South | |||
| Africa and the Netherlands and an orange beanie on a | |||
| soccerball. | |||
| Niels is also ready for it! | |||
| top | In January and February we regularly saw elephants and buffalo at our watering holes. | ||
| It was great to be in the swimmingpool with friends when an elephant came to drink. | |||
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| In the evenings we also regularly heard the breaking of | |||
| branches. | |||
| The elephants were here for the fruits of the marula-trees | |||
| that are ripe in these months. | |||
| From this fruit they also make the famous Amarula liquer. | |||
| The buffalo's, 3 big bulls, liked to stay in our dry riverbed | |||
| and came to drink at one of our wateringholes in the late | |||
| afternoons. | |||
| The bush is green and lush now. This rainseason, normally from November till March, we had quite good rains. | |||
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We have had 376 mm so far, where an avarage of 400 mm | ||
| is the norm. | |||
| Lets hope that we get some more so that the grass will stay | |||
| green longer and there will be enough food for the animals | |||
| for the dry winter months. | |||
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When it rains it can really pour! One time we had 130 mm |
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| in two days, that is about 1 third of the avarage for a year. | |||
| top | When this happens the dry riverbed becomes a river. | ||
| The downside of these heavy rains is that the topsoil (with the seeds in it) washes away. | |||
| For the underground water this is great and all the reservoirs are filled. | |||
| Everything is well with Niels and Dennis. | |||
| Dennis started walking just after his birthday and he is getting more and more aware of his surroundings. | |||
| He loves it when we see a giraffe and then starts to wave his little arms and make excited noises. | |||
| Niels had a special morning at school in February when they |
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| had a Froggy-gala. The children of the pre-school classes | |||
| and their parents had to do all sorts of games in the schools | |||
| swimming pool. After a difficult start Niels enjoyed it very | |||
| much and at the end didn't want to get out of the water. | |||
| There was a piggy-back race, where the parents had to swim | |||
| to the other side with their child on the back and also a | |||
| "marsh mellow race", which was a big hit although it was not | |||
| easy to convince the children not to eat the marshmellow | |||
| immediately! | |||
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Traditional November till half of January is a very busy period. |
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| Reason for us to spend two days in a lodge near Graskop at the end of January. | |||
| We stayed in the Thaba Tsweni Lodge, a beautiful place at walking distance of the Berlin waterfall. | |||
| We know the owners of this lodge from when they worked for Tshukudu lodge. | |||
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Wendel was a guide who did the gamedrives and walks with | |
| the lioncub, while Patsy worked at the reception. | |||
| They are very nice and hospitable people and this lodge is | |||
| good base to explore Graskop, the panaromaroute and the | |||
| waterfall route. | |||
| This is a childfriendly lodge where you can choose either | |||
| selfcatering or breakfast and dinner . | |||
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The children had a great time on the thick grass and the |
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| playarea with trampline, slide and swing. | |||
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In the same weekend we visited friends in Hazyview, which is only half an hour drive from Graskop. |
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t was a nice weekend out. Our neighbour Steve looked after the dogs for us. |
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Begining of this year we also had 2 happy events. |
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| Our friend Linda became mother of Nathan, a healthy boy | |||
| of 3,3 kg, and Tinyiko got a babygirl: Thubelihle, which | |||
| means ‘nice chance’. | |||
| So we had 2 maternety visits in February. | |||
| Begining of May Tinyiko will return with us, something Niels | |||
| is very happy with. | |||
| When we called her he always wanted to talk with her and | |||
| top | told her, "Tito, we miss you". | ||
| From Balule: Salani Gahle (goodbye) ! | |||
