Win a weekend for two at Umkhumbi Lodge! Your prize includes dinner, bed and breakfast, a half day game drive in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve and a 2.5 hour guided kayak on the St Lucia Estuary. See below for more information!
Our Environmental Awareness Course with Mid Kent College is now featured in an educational catalogue!
A round up of all the fantastic pictures that have made it onto the facebook page of our lodge in South Africa.
Every day we put a new photo on our Facebook page, we’ve put a selection of them here!
Our state of the art hatching facility (a drawer in the garage desk) has once more produced some babies for us this year.
This time it is the babies of our two lovely adult iguanas.
Imagine our delight when a quick peek at the eggs this morning showed us a little head
Peek-a-boo
Gently replacing the lid we left the little guy to do his stuff and break free from his former home.
How on earth does it fit in such a little egg!
He kept on going then he was free and jumped out of the box straight into my hand!
Ta da! One baby iguana, complete with a blob of yoghurt on its nose 
It started off as just a normal drive...
Spot the rhino, its there in the background
...closer....
....closer....
...then the rhinos came closer...
...surely they won't get much closer....
...oh, ok then...
Steph and Adrian peek through the bushes at the Rhino mother (and large) Calf
We had a feast last night, everything must go! Due to laws in Swaziland you are not allowed to take any food products into the country so we ate and drank until we were fit to burst!
Armed with coffee fresh from the percolator (Antons travel companion who was greatly admired by Adrian) we woke ourselves from sleep and Stephanie ate Stephanies concuction of Pineapple and fruit Yoghurt
We all crossed the border without a hitch and proceeded to our breakfast stop in Swaziland overlooking a small lake. Little crocodile and BIG fish! Not to mention a teeny tiny water monitor who was basking on the frame work below the veranda.
It's a hard life for a little monitor
This redbishop was building a nest nearby to the restaurant.
Leopard! On the night drive last night Stephanie and Adrian saw a Leopard! They saw lots of animals, but I can’t tell you what they were as all they kept saying was “Leopard!!”.
Breakfast this morning brought us a handful of guests to the table, namely the Warthog family.
The baby warthogs are cheeky as their mum tries to steal our food
Mmmmmmm foooooood....
Mummy warthog eyes our lunch hungrily
Out on the boat again today, but disaster stuck. No sooner had we pulled away from the dock than one of the valves snapped on the steering system causing a fountain of pink fluid.
We were covered in hydraulic fluid, but Adrian and Anton were in
heaven as they tried to fix the boat!
After borrowing some tools from a nearby work crew the boys battled with the boat.
Stephanie and I decided that it would be unfair if we let the boys do all the hard work, so we hooked the bait on the lines and opened a couple of beers to keep us hydrated as we fished.
We were going for big catches, namely Hippo and Crocodile (or at least that is what Stephanie and I told anyone that asked)!
After a while the boys decided that the boat could wait as they could see Tigerfish from the boat where it was moored.
Adrian Catches a Tigerfish on his second Cast!
Steph plays with Antons little Catfish
No Hippos, but we did catch our Crocodile!
Another s*#t day in Africa....
Dragon fly radio
The worst bit about any trip is the travelling to get there and then once you are there travelling around in-country.
A quick lunch with Meera the birthday girl and then it is off on the next leg
Unexpected lunch guest
Whilst the journey times from our base in Hluhluwe are not too long, we like to mix it up a bit, so the next leg of our journey is by boat.
On the way down everyone is silently thankful that they don't have to walk back up the hill again!
Better than aircon!
Steph makes herself right at home!
Soon sitting back up for the elephants
What a shame it just happens to be on a really good fishing spot too!
Sundowners on the boat with the elephants nearby
I'm sure Steph is in here somewhere...
Boo!
Armed with our mask and snorkels (no flippers/fins needed at this reef!) We crossed the estuary feeling the alternating hot and cold currents swirling around us.
Because every holiday needs one of these pictures!
The beauty of the snorkelling at Kosi Bay is that you swim across a channel and walk up on to the sand bank that runs parralel to the reef, walk along the sand bank, and lower yourself once more into the balmy waters of Kosi Bay Mouth.
But now is where the hard work comes… Ok, only joking – all you
need to do now is float with the current, cameras at the ready.
There were fish of all sizes and colours hiding on the reef
Swim with the fishes
Oooooh! lion fish!
Steph saw it swim by, but it was in its hole by the time I caught up
The honeycomb eel was playing peek-a-boo with Adrian
Effort free snorkelling gave us plenty of energy for posing under the water and playing with our cameras.
Steph poses for the camera
"taken the picture yet?"
Cheesy grins are hard underwater!
A beach day at Kosi bay!
Stephanie was more than a little happy at this prospect, although in truth we all were. It is hot, and the mere thought of swimming was making us all eager to get to the beach.
Even Tommy was eager to get to the water!
Tommy was all set for his day at the beach
The visit to the fishtraps is first. this sustainable fishing method is as much a part of conserving the area as preserving the traditional Tsonga culture.
Elmon explained how the fish trap worked to us and gave us spear fishing lessons to show us how hard it is, then it was time to walk/splash out to the fishtraps to take a look for ourselves.
Elmon shows us how it's done
Run away!
Elmon leads us into the trap
Adrian shows that leaf who is boss!
We were in luck, one of Elmons fishtraps had bream, grunter, mullet and even kingfish! So we got to test our wits against that of the fish and try our hand at spearing dinner.
Looking for fish at one of Elmons traps
Fighting over who will be first to spear
Stephanie speared her fish on the first try… Sleep with one eye open Adrian…!
Steph shows us all how it is done on the first throw of her spear
Adrian teaches the fish a lesson
We all emerged from the handmade cage triumphant. We would have a feast tonight!
But no time for smugly posing with our catches…
…oh, ok then just a little…
Mr and Mrs Crusoe won't be hungry tonight!
Adrian plays the man card and pretends he caught them all
What now? Snorkelling!
So, after an extremely long flight from Toronto to Vancouver, to Johannesburg, to Durban and then a 3 hour drive to Umkhumbi Lodge, Stephanie and Adrian were finally with us (and I thought my 18 hour flights were bad)!
After a shower and a quick nap for Stephanie (she made the mistake of lying down – ‘for just a second’) it was dinner and then straight to bed!
Today the tour began with a short commute to Amangwane Kosi Bay, an interpretive walk with Tommy around the area of Kosi Bay including a stop at the viewpoint.
This little agama was waiting outside Steph and Adrians reed chalet at Kosi bay
Viewpoint over Kosi Estuary and Mouth
"Want to try the custard apple...?"
....nope, doesn't look that appetising!
Then back to camp to refuel our tired, hot bodies.
Nothing recharges the weary traveller like an African sunset
Except may be a glass of wine as you relax…
Glass of wine, but still no relaxing for Stephanie, not just yet anyway!
But there is no time for relaxing as Stephanie swaps camera tips with Meera, another guest we have staying with us as Adrian wanders around camp to find a different sunset view from the rest of us.
Finally! Time to relax over Tommys awesome cooking!
As always we had lots of fun with our group of 11 Kiboko guests. There wasn’t a quiet moment!
Roars of laughter are frequent from the Kiboko table
Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip everyone!
