4:30 wake up call, or I should say knock on the door!  We’re almost ready anyway, last game drive – as we figured no bush walk today.  The 6 intrepid travelers hop on the vehicle for the last time and Kieran takes us out into the Reserve.

Because of the rain, there isn’t much out this morning.  We get a good view of a black headed hawk of some sort (I forgot the name), and then impala. Of course, impala. 

There is a black back jackal in the grass a ways off, but too far for any significant pictures.

Our coffee stop today is right in the middle of the road – it’s too soggy to go anywhere else apparently.  And while Kieran makes the coffee, we all entertain ourselves by watching a giant millipede crawl about the road.  Doesn’t take much to make Team Nolga happy.

After coffee, we drive around, flushing out a dazzle of zebra, then head to another part of the reserve, ostensibly trying to find a caracal that has been seen in the area.  We can see something way back in the weeds, but we can’t see anything clearly. Just a beige shape walking back and forth out there.  Oh well, it was worth going to investigate.

Until we leave that is, and guess what?  We’ve got a flat!  No way.  I knew I’d cause problems by opening the umbrella in the room to let it dry.  Sigh.  And of course, we have no jack.  Excitement in the bush!  What to do? Nothing, just hang out until we are rescued by the other ranger (the one I call Draco because he has that sly, snide sort of smile like Draco and was giving Kieran a hard time the other day).  Draco aside, he’s quite funny and drives like a banshee, getting us back to the lodge in plenty of time to get our bags packed and outside the door at 10am.

Bye Bye Mongena.  This was a great 2 ½ days – really fun and lovely place to spend our Christmas holiday!

We are all on the bus and out of the reserve at 11am and on our way to Pretoria for a quick city tour. Because it is Boxing Day, nothing is open – no museums, no stores, no nothing. Colleen is having to improvise to find things to occupy us with until she drops us at the airport.  So off to Pretoria (Marching to Pretoria….) we go.

Once in the city, Colleen regales us with the history – Pretoria is the capital of South Africa, although the Parliament only spends 6 months here and another 6 months in Cape Town.  The city is called Jacaranda City because there are 16,000 Jacaranda trees planted up and down the streets – we’ve just missed the blooms which Colleen says are a riot of color and gorgeous when at their peak.

Our first stop is the Union building, built in 1910 after the great South African War.  Here a statue of Nelson Mandela was unveiled on the Day of Reconciliation, December 16, 2013.  This date was significant not only for Reconciliation Day, but also because it marked the end of the 10 day official mourning period after Mandela died on December 6. 

We get to stretch our legs here a bit, and walk around the park, snapping pictures of the buildings and the 30 foot tall statue looming over us.  Unfortunately, due to protests, we can’t get into the Parliament property, but have to remain in the park, behind a large chain link fence in front of the buildings. 

Next we drive through town, looking at the historic buildings.  Around a circle where there is a statue of Paul Kruger surrounded by government buildings. And the cutest little girl sitting in the midst of all these pigeons on the lawn. The joy on her face.

Then we are on our way to our lunch stop – at a rest stop of the interstate where there are some restaurants and a convenience store for us to purchase and eat our lunches.  We know we have a long day ahead of ourselves, and a full dinner on the plane, so we just pick up some boerewors and an excellent smoked kielbasa sort of sausage and sit outside to munch on them while we wait for people to return to the bus.

We end up at the airport at 3:30, which is way too early for us. Our flight isn’t until 10:50, so check in probably wouldn’t even be available.  Colleen has suggested that we come to the airport hotel with her and the 5 of the group who are going on to Victoria Falls (you can guess who they are!  Yes, Team Nolga – none of the Stevies would ever dream of doing that).  Sounds like a plan to us.  As is turns out, the hotel is a lovely Radisson Blu with a great bar and snack food – and we were able to get a day room really cheaply, so we have somewhere to just hang out, relax and take a shower before we head back to the airport.

Which is exactly what we do, after we hit the bar for a little more sustenance in the way of some chips, samosas and chicken strips. And beer and wine of course – one of which we take up to the room with us to finish as we hang out, catching up on emails and watching Kim’s Convenience!  An excellent way to waste 4 or 5 hours until we need to be on the shuttle to the airport.

At the airport, check in is a breeze, we spend an enjoyable couple of hours in the lounge, then make our way to our DeltaOne suites.  Yes, we splurged.  We figured on an 18 hour flight, we might as well go in comfort – and we did!  The seats aren’t really “suites” per se, but they are comfortable, lie flat beds with doors that give you a little more privacy than usual. 

The amenities are great – plus the food!  Restaurant quality, 100%. There were special South African options we could pre-order, which we did – Kingclip for Ed and Ostrich for me.  Both were incredibly delicious, the only problem being that my ostrich had to cook for so long, by the time they brought it to me I could barely eat it – it was so late, and I was so tired.  But that was my problem, not theirs – because that piece of ostrich was absolutely fantastically good.  Both Ed and I only wish we could have finished it.

I watched Barbie while I waited and then ate, and then it was bedie-bye for the both of us. I slept something like 8 hours. Ed slept 5 or 6. It was heavenly!

At some point in time we had a mid-flight snack that was quite good, and then breakfast of course and seriously, before we knew it, we were landing.  Amazing.