I thought I would give you a little report back on the holiday I took last week. As many of you know, holidays come far to infrequently around here and so it was a very special treat to be able to go away for the week of my birthday!I love the African bush and wanted to share that with my kids so we went up to the Kruger National Park.
The photo above is a view from the Long Tom Pass, the area is largely used for the cultivation of pine.
We stayed at a little resort called Aan de Vliet, a family run establishment that was very hospitable and who have lovely staff.
We rented a small chalet that lies along a river and took two day trips into the park. We spent the rest of the time just hanging out by the pool and being together.
Here are some pics of what we got up to.
Matthew and Ruthi were the first to spot an animal in the Park, in fact it was not one but a herd of about 100 Cape water buffalo - one of Africa's Big Five.
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| Jerome just loved everything about the holiday. He sat right up front when we were driving through the park, and honestly, chatted and chatted until I thought I would go crazy! |
We spent the evening the night before making little foam hats from a kit we got for Christmas, the kids had fun and used as many sticky bits as they could to fill them up.
Little Ruthi scraped her big toe and it bled a little. True to her dramatic nature she made quite an effort to let me know just how bad it was. She covered the toe with a wet wipe, grabbed her bottle, threw her arm over her head and then... dozed off!
Elephants were in abundance and we saw a lot of great things. In one incident three young bulls were rough housing right next to the road and very nearly smacked into some nearby vehicles who had stopped to watch the herd. We were just too late to capture it because they all dashed off into the bush.
The temperature in that area was 38.7 degrees Celscius in the shade! And the humidity was very high too so poor little Ruthi got a heat rash on her face. In this picture you can just about see the rash. Here Matthew had told her she had a beautiful double chin and that she should show it off!
Thank you to everyone for seeing us through to this new year. We pray it is a better one than last and ask for God's blessing on all of your lives.
Love you all
Pippa
Pippa, I am glad you could have such a fine celebration on your birthday with your little family! God is so good! All our love from the frozen humidity land settling in at only -10 C today, up from our -30 and -40 in the area earlier. Love you with all our hearts!
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