DAY 118---TRIP TO CAPE TOWN TO REJOIN MARINER

        My featured animal today is this African Buffalo.  I called it a Cape Buffalo but one of the trackers said it was a African Buffalo.  Internet calls them Cape Buffalos.

LAST EVENING

        We left the lodge at 3pm for our last game drive.  Lucky asked what we wanted to see so I said a better photo of the African Buffalo.  So we headed out.

        After about 30 minutes we came upon these buffalos out in the open.  Lucky said they are very fast and you would not want to be out walking with them around.  We were fine in the vehicle but Jane was nervous as they were eyeing her.

                                                     Next we came upon the wildebeast

                                                              Baby one lying in the road.

        Viewing spot looking for animals.  They spotted two lions in the distance on other side of the water.  So we headed down and followed the water to find them.

                                                   Two photos of the speckled bill stork.

full moon

Rhino

 It's a tree that looks like a cactus.  It's called a euphoria.

                                                       A heard of buffalo with babies.

                                                                           Full moon

        Our other vehicle.  After seeing them we headed back to the lodge as it was getting dark and I wanted to be back to the lodge at 6pm.  We wanted to get showered and for me to add this to the blog before dinner.  We were back at 6:00.  Cocktail hour now.

                   Lovely dinner with both of our guides, Lucky and Holly.  Amazing dinner.

                                                                 Pureed vegetable soup.

                                    I had the salmon with vegetable risotto.  VERY yummy.

                                                                       Chocolate cake

LAST EVENING

   Cocktail hour.

                             Moon taken from the roof.  There is a place to dine up there.

                                                                        Dinner table

                                                                  Vegetable cream soup

                                                            I had to salmon with risotto.

                                                                     Chocolate cake

TODAY

        Friday morning and time to leave the Rock Lodge.  Breakfast at 7:30 and our van was to load while we were at breakfast.  Departure time was 8:30 for our 4 hour drive to Durban for our 2:05pm flight to Cape Town.

                                                                 Our group at breakfast.

        There was a BBC film crew who came to our lodge that morning.  It was weird as they were filming sweeping up some money do-do that they had placed on the deck.

My huge omelet.  I could eat half.

        We departed the lodge at 8:35.  They loaded the luggage in the van's trailer while we had breakfast.  This is the staff saying goodbye to us.

        As we were on our 4 hour ride to the Durban airport there were several of these signs along the highway warning about cattle.

        There were several small herds dining on the grass along the highway with a man tending them.  Good for the cattle owner as free grass.  Good for the highway department as free mowing and free fertilizer.

        Between the lodge and Richards Bay there were many trucks carrying coal to the port in Richards Bay.  This slowed us down some while trying to pass them.  At the exit to the port there was a long line of trucks waiting their turn to get on the road to the port.  I would estimate at least 200 of the large trucks.  There was a lane for them so this did not slow us down much.  After that we smooth sailing on to Durban.

                                                     Until this!!  Then we had a flat tire.

        Charlie helped the driver change it.  Problem was the traffic did not move over to the other lane and buzzed past them when changing it.

We waited.  I had set our pickup time a half hour before what the lodge suggested.  Glad I did as this was a 30 minute delay.  Just before this flat the driver said we would be there said it would be noon when we arrived at the airport.  We still arrived at the airport by 12:30.

        Sorry I did not get photos of our airport experience and flight.  We were booked on a Cemair regional jet to depart at 2:05.  Check in went smoothly and the agent was very nice.  The Durban airport was a large international airport.  I forgot to mention the lodge had packed lunch bags for us so after getting to the gate we tasted a chicken wrap which was good but we did not eat much.  There were other goodies in the bag.  

        When the driver unloaded the luggage in the trailer Marge discovered her back pack had been left behind and it had her medical stuff in it.  She called Samantha to have her check on how she was to get it.  Well, Karen at the lodge discovered it was left so they sent it in another van right away so it was on the road behind us.  We had to be transported from the gate to the plane and got on the plane and no Marge.  Turns out her bag had arrived and the check in people called the gate.  She went to get the bag and a car delivered Marge and the back pack to the plane a few minutes before departure.  Whew!!   The plane departed right on time at 2:05.

        It was a nice flight the plane was full.  Our seats were close to the front.  Lots of leg room and drinks were free.  We landed at 4:05 and were bused to the terminal again.  After our checked luggage came out we headed to meet our driver.  Sure enough he had a sign and was waiting for us.  Jane & Melissa had a separate driver as they were going to a hotel and will fly out on Sunday back to Dallas.

        Our van also was pulling a trailer for our luggage and was a very nice one.  The driver was great and had us at the cruise terminal by 5pm.  It was nice to be "home" but we ALL had a great time during our safari.  Phinda Rock Lodge and the staff were fantastic.  Game drives all great as we saw all of the Big 5 and many more animals.