Hluhluwe National Park, iSimangaliso National Park and St. Lucia

Surprisingly, I felt physically good today. So I took the wheel for our onward journey. We had almost five hours of driving ahead of us. The next few days are all about safari and much more. But first, we need to survive the drive.

At the resort, we asked again which of the three suggested routes was the safest. We decided on that one.

The first 90 km was on a country road. Of course, with many potholes. I hardly had the opportunity to enjoy the scenery. We drove through mini villages, where there were about 30 huts and nothing else. Daniela asked if I would go into a shop there. No, we don't have to.

Then we came across a small town and I was lucky that I didn't have to stop at the traffic lights. There were lots of boys standing there with drinks or snacks to sell to the drivers. The town was cute. Since there was no car behind me, I drove slowly in second gear. Many locals sat outside the shops and braided the children's hair. We also saw a Spar supermarket. There were really nice houses on one side, all secured with high fences.

Then came the N3 motorway. We drove almost 300 km on it. I had to laugh because there was a sign at every construction site with a man folding his hands and the sign said "Please don't kill us". It took me a while to understand... Daniela just said, okay, and please don't kill us either!!!

Another sign that surprised us on the motorway was: Watch out for pedestrians! Ah, on the motorway, you would immediately be breaking news on the radio, but here it's normal. We saw many people walking on the highway. The speed limit on the motorways is 120 km/h.

Then suddenly a cow appeared on the opposite side of the road. The cow herders were standing with their animals right next to the motorway, and one animal ran onto the road. It was an exciting ride.

Finally, we reached our exit to the bush lodge. The condition of the road was adventurous. Gravel and sandy roads alternated. But we arrived safely. I was very proud of myself because I'm getting better at coping with driving on the left. The indicator was only confused with the windshield wiper twice.

At the bush lodge, there was a short briefing on behavior towards the animals, etc. We naturally wanted to go straight out to look for giraffes, zebras, etc. that are said to roam here as well. But all I saw was droppings on the ground! Hm, was that a good sign? Apparently, because our eagle-eyed DANIELA spotted two zebras in the bush. Oh, I'm still freaking out. That was a great moment. Unfortunately, it started getting dark, so we had to go for dinner.

Here, the next highlight awaited us. They have created a small platform for the bush babies and feed the animals with fruit during dinner. Three of these cute "babies" came and stuffed their bellies. Oh, it was so cute to watch.

Now we're sitting in front of our bush lodge, listening to the sounds around us. It's a bit spooky, J!

Tomorrow, we're going on a safari in a great national park at 5:30 a.m.!!!

Best regards from the two of us

I have to add this. I'm already in bed and there are always animals running around on our terrace or on the roof, pretty crazy. They're monkeys and these bush babies. HOPEFULLY :-)

Wishing you a calm and relaxing night!!!