This morning breakfast was hosted by Cathy and Alec. They enjoyed the ‘original Early breakfast’ and wanted to see if they could get it right. Well, of course they made their own tweaks to it and it was delicious. The Earl is now scheming how to improve his recipe even more!

It was laundry and house cleaning day today. After a week on the road our clothes and caravans needed some attention. I popped my load into the machine. It took my three five rand coins but then didn’t switch on! Some staff were about and they quickly called the techie guys and it was sorted within minutes. The weather being hot and breezy meant we could hang it all out in the hanging yard and it was dry very quickly.

Living in a small space means that cleaning up is done in a jiffy. After a good sweep, wipe and tidy up I went off to the pool for a swim and then toddled off to the bird hide. It was the middle of the day so I did not expect much activity at the pond. There were not birds but the dragonflies were so pretty so I spent some time trying to photograph the hyper-active little creatures.

Yesterday Cathy and I had seen the malachite kingfisher but neither of us got the portrait. I willed one to appear and as I snapped a dragonfly something bright and orange caught my eye. He made a brief appearance, posed beautifully and then flew off as if to say, “I hope you’re happy now. I came her specially to say hello.”

I then walked around the lawns where, like yesterday, there was quite a bit of bird activity. The sparrows, starlings, bulbuls and doves were very active. Then I saw something slightly different. A glossy starling? I wondered. But no – It has a long decurved bill – a scimitarbill! I spent ages watching him digging in the bark of a tree looking for insects.

Back at camp the greedy African Pied Wagtail came peeping by hoping for a crumb or two.

In the afternoon we all went for a drive and visited some more view points. We also saw some creatures!

Sadly it was our last day. We braaied chicken drumsticks and pork chops for dinner.

A couple from Somerset West arrived late as they got a little lost. Before setting up they said they would go to the restaurant for dinner. They had no defrosted food to braai. Well with the restaurant being closed that would not work. We all started making suggestions. Cathy and Alec have a microwave, perhaps they could defrost something. Maybe they could do bacon and eggs? NO! Not good enough. Hang on, I said, I still have left-over lamb curry from last night. I went over and offered our new friends some braaied chicken drumsticks and lamb curry. Come over when you’re ready, I said. They were most grateful. Cathy warmed to curry in her microwave and also had some left over rice. After they set up Louise and Francis came over. That’s what campers do – pay it forward. We now have two new friends who I am sure we will run into again in the future.