Karla Karma: July 2013

Sunday, July 28, 2013

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Swaziland: Parts 3 & 4

So after in country travel and a little rest, off to Mozambique.....crossing the border from Botswana to South Africa for the 4th time, we, Jan and I and all the people crossing at the same time, had an unprecedented 31/2 hour delay! We were told that the staff was exercising a 'work stoppage because they didn't get water that morning'.......but I digress. First stop, Maputo, the capital....

At the crafts market

These look like aliens to me

On to Tofo and Fatima's on the beautiful Indian Ocean

Humpbacks in the sea but couldn't get a good pic.

On a dowhl,

we visit two very different islands and on the way see flamingos and a plethora of sea stars

The King, Chief and I negotiate the terms for me to become wife number three, 20 Euros....no internet, no toilet in the house that would have been mine, no deal!

Pansy Island with a multitude of shells and itty bitty crabs

From Mozambique to The Kingdom of Swaziland

Lidwala Lodge

Traditional dancers

Hot Damn!!

Talk about a woody!

Execution rock where the convicted were 'encouraged to jump'

Thursday, July 25, 2013

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Swaziland: Parts 1 & 2

First stop, Tuli Block! Tried to find the lodge that offers hot air ballooning over this particular part of Botswana, central east, but no go. But Karla Karma holds and the lodge we, Jan and me, book, has the best food I've eaten in Botswana - Terrafou Lodge.

On the Limpopo River

The owner, chef, Rachel Els, was simply wonderful. She not only did all the cooking of the most delicious cuisine, she also picked us up and delivered us to bus stops to and from the lodge!

Beautiful views, my first thought upon reaching the lodge was this is a place to have a honeymoon.

If there was any disappointment, it was the limited wildlife we saw on the walks and drives. Having written this, I am reminded of what we did see - Stembok (who I startled in the bush), ostrich, marabou stork, impala, elephant, jackal, monkeys, baboons, banded roller, warthog, zebra, kingfishers, kudu, guinea fowl and hornbills.

Stork

Stembok

See the baby?

Stembok in bush

ostrich

Zebra, when you hear hoof beats here, think zebra!

guinea fowl

hornbill

Then there was the flora. We saw the tree that produces the flowers used to make bush tea, another that makes a kind of ibuprofen and of course, the tree of life, the baobab.