We leave Lower Sabie at 6:30am ….. driving out of the park for our last game drive for next 2-3 hours.

Martial eagle ripping apart breaky, black-shouldered kite, a sole white rhino,

Large pack of hyenas watching for the chance to take the lion’s kill… a male and female lioness but I could not spot them…. too far away. Hyenas are opportunists. Three more spotted heading ….following the scent of kill

2.5 metres wing span on lappet-faced vulture….. very large.

Vervet monkeys, family of warthogs,

Brian says this is not a job, it’s a passion….wants to share his knowledge with everyone that is interested. As a child every chance he could he would go with uncles ( he had 5 uncles that were all game guides…. one being a boss and organizing) on flight game drives or trucks as a child… if there was a vacant spot . Learned lots before going to college.

Leaving the park about 9:30 at Crocodile Bridge …. got coffees… I’m the last one to get one so it’s the hottest… I’m in the back of the truck where it’s the bumpiest…. speed up one out my coffee spills over me and everything. Hot, hot, hot.

They were growing sugar cane as we left the park.

Crossed into Swaziland somewhere between 11& noon. No pictures whatsoever of border guards or police.

Oh my…what a difference to ZA. It’s very mountainous…. reminds one of Austria/Switzerland or the Kootenays of BC. Terraces! So many plantations of pine and eucalyptus …. logging and e one mills…big rigs….B trains. Would you have imagined???

1271 metres above sea level. It so beautiful…. the air is fresh…..We/I hiked in the mountains for close to 3 hrs. 6-7 kms…14,000 steps according to one of the gals. I was the one Chandle drove the “red elephant” to pick up. J didn’t go at all cuz she is still coughing. I was so exhausted after that.. … and burnt…. and wind burnt.

On the way back up the hill Brian explained all the schooling that he took before being allowed to be a guide.

The place we stayed the night Hawane Lodge, was all built in the traditional way with thatched roofs on “chalets”….. gardens were lovely with huge aloe plants and tiny irises, etc.. The restaurant and reception was a large round building with a open fireplace built in the centre.