Back out into nature, we pass a family of warthogs with these little tiny babies – now they are adorable, even if we know they will grow up to be ugly…

…and finally find the giraffes! Up ahead, 8 of them, coming right for us.  They are so elegant, walking with that loping gait, using both feet on one side in unison as they walk.  A herd of zebra is alongside them, for protection.  Because the giraffes can see and anticipate danger earlier than most animals out here, the zebras stay with them as an “early alert system,” if you will. 

Moving on to the other side of the park, we end up at the quarantine section, where any new animal is introduced to the park. They stay here for a number of weeks or months until the owners feel they are ready to be introduced in the general population. And it is here that we find the young male lion who was abandoned by his mother after he was born.  The Beans took the baby in and basically hand-reared him.  He is now 4 years old and they are trying to re-introduce him to the wild.  He has had a female companion introduced and has been good with her, but he needs to be more suited to be out in the main park.  He’s really cute, like a frolicky little kid.  He hears us coming and jumps up from the shade of the bush, hopping over to us to examine us, then deciding we aren’t of interest and wandering back to his shade.  Just like a 4 year old!

In another area of the park we find 3 hippos moving around in the water. They are really quite active for this time of day, submerging and reappearing, with the top of their heads and eyeballs out of the water.  Some of the best submerged hippo sightings we’ve seen.

Then there is more beautiful scenery, lots of little trails that lead us further out into the bush, finding a Cape Buffalo under a tree, far off from the trail – which is fine by all of us – they are the meanest and most dangerous of the Big 5, so we’d prefer he stay exactly where he is.

We pass the bones and skull of one of the poached White Rhinos – the head is enormous, but those teeth!  A little further on there are more bones of this guy’s mate, also poached.  They were called Bonnie and Clyde. 

More driving, more peacefulness, more zebras all in a row. Another lagoon and the Black Rhinos that remain here are snoozing away in mud.  They are massive, and if you didn’t know they were so dangerous, they could almost be cute – in an ugly sort of way, if you know what I mean!

Next we find a herd of Red Hartebeest and a couple Sable Buck, the largest antelope in S. Africa.  The Hartebeest has the most fascinating face – with those curvy antlers and the black colored stripe.       

We find another giraffe chewing on its cud and more toilet seat antelope watering at the lagoon outside the Lapa as we pass by.  Obviously the crocodile has moved!

As we head toward the park gate – we see a Secretary bird way out in the distance. They mostly walk, although they can fly, with the long legs and a weird gait.  They also plunge their long beaks into the ground to catch snakes, then fly up in the sky and throw the snakes down to their death before eating them. 

And we are done.  Finished with the game drive – and way later than we had expected.  As Alan had told us, he doesn’t look at his watch during a drive, he just goes to find the animals! Which is wonderful, we have extra time but had told Riaan we only wanted a half day tour so we weren’t rushed with Azamazing evening.  So this is perfect for us.  As we leave, we buy 2 jars of honey to support the Rhinos, and Ed finds a great replacement hat for his blue cap that needs to be trashed – then we hit the road, heading to A Taste of Africa restaurant for a late lunch.

On the side of the road, attached to a gas station and a Spar Express, this place is the best!  Great, quirky, wood and memorabilia filled open interior with a fabulous garden area – where we sit – and a menu of awesome S. African dishes as well as Burgers and Pizza.  Plus you have to fall in love with them just for the first line of their menu:  we may be a little rough around the edges, but what we lack in polish we make up in heart. We’re sold.  Ed has his heart set on a burger – so he orders a smash burger, how can you go wrong?  I’m torn between the Vampire Repellent pizza (100% guarantee no vampires will attack with fresh garlic, mozzarella, onion, salami and streaky bacon!), but in the end go with the Bobotie, which I absolutely adore.  Alan sticks with me and has one himself.  The meals are fantastic.  That Bobotie was excellent – and Alan concurred, so it must have been good.  And Ed’s burger?  Ay yi yi!  Monstrous and good and perfect fries on the side.  Excellent all around.

Plus, I ordered a glass of the house wine, which was called “Unbelievable.”  Really good.  Alan explains that it is an unlabeled wine and basically a blend of all the left over wines in the vineyard. They just throw them all together and sell them really inexpensively.  They have both a red and a white that he says fly off the shelves. Everyone here loves it. 

As we were leaving I had asked if we could run into the Spar really quickly to grab some candy for our fav crew aboard, to which Alan says, I’ll take to you a better one.  Ok!  And he does – in town to a Super Spar where we can buy tons of stuff, and if he weren’t waiting in the car, we’d have also hit the Tops liquor store!  As it was, we were already 2 hours past our half day tour time!  He was so sweet – kept telling us, he didn’t have anything else to do except hang out at Riaan’s house and he was happy to keep us in the preserve longer and have lunch and take us to the store.  Such a great guy. And a totally fantastic tour!

Eventually we did go back to the ship, around 4:30!  Ran to the gym really quickly, freshened up, hit the buffet in Discoveries for Salad only, then made our way down to wait on Deck 4 to be called for our bus to the Feather Market for Azamazing.  What a CF!  We stood down there and watched a whole slew of people getting off who were not on Deck 8 (the first deck to be called!).  And they weren’t in a group with people from Deck 8 either.  Complete chaos.  We ended up just walking off with them and we were on bus 6!  Sheesh. 

Once at the venue, it was a sort of controlled chaos. There were a lot of people stuffed into the lobby area watching all the different performers in the upcoming show model their makeup and attire.  It was really crowded, very hot and no alcohol.  Um. What?  There was alcohol last time. What’s up with that?  We know the answer…..so we grab 2 bottles of water and head toward the entrance to the performance area only to be stuck in a bottle neck there as well because they aren’t ready for us.  Finally, after about 10 minutes they allow us in – but a big sign painted on the doorframe says no glassware.  Huh?  That’s all they were serving were glass bottles of water and glasses for your juice.  Ugh. So we left the bottles of water on a table and rushed inside with everyone else to get seats, lucking out on the last row of the first section on the end….right next to the fan!  Yes!  We are so lucky – coz it is roasting in here!

Beyond that mess, the show is excellent, different than the previous one we saw 2 years ago, but still showcasing all the different tribes, their costumes and their dance and music styles.  The drummers were amazing.  Dancers fantastic.  Music great.  A fun and lively performance over all. 

Getting back to the ship was far easier, as it was all done by our already established bus number.  We headed straight to the Living Room for night time snacks – some great pizza, chicken wings and pigs in a blanket.  We stay for only a little bit as it is Karaoke night.  No one is singing at first, with just music playing, which was quite enjoyable. Until the first singer begins and it is none other than Abba!  Ack! No!  We run out of there so fast, we know Lomou (the new bartender up there) will be asking us where we went tomorrow!

So peaceful balcony and almost full moon it is for the rest of the evening.