On our journey through the Kruger, we have had great braai's, super precooked meals from Liz & Carols kitchen and the odd luxury of pancakes or a brunch from Mugg & Bean, who have the franchise for the larger camps at Kruger. Our fridges still had salad ingredients, cheese and cold meat and our freezers were still full of braai meat and cooked food. There was however a little hitch when we arrived at our final camp - Terry's one car battery which keeps the extra freezer in our car going, had given up the ghost. Kruger came to the rescue with their communal camp freezers so we were sorted for next 5 days. Trailer power was 100% - no hassles with that fridge/freezer. Still had plenty of icebut it must be said that the management of solar power is a top priority when one undertakes to stay in bush camps where no power is supplied. Following the sun with the solar panels is tricky when you have a shady camping site!

This rustic bush camp was advertised as 'the camp with a no noise policy' . Did this mean we would be surrounded by a much older band of bush whackers! The Kelly's and Emmanuel's were not quite yet in the geriatrics bracket nor were we known to be as 'quiet as church mice'!

Kruger's second satellite camp is attached to Mopani Rest Camp and TK had done his homework on the best two adjacent spots, thanks to Ultimate Overland for this tip. So with planning done months ahead, we were booked into 26 & 27 - and they proved to be large shady campsites near the communal kitchens and ablutions and more spacious and wilder than Balule. The area was teeming with huge herds of buffalo and enough Elephants to keep us on guard but⌛️time was running out to spot lion.

Sipping G&T's back in camp, we watched as our new neighbours arrived - no roof top tent and no caravan - just their Discovery Land Rover. Happily for them, no soft sand to plough through on Kruger dirt roads so no rescue would be needed by the trusted Toyota LC!! They proceeded to set up their tent and by the time it was erected it looked like a long shongololo - how many were in this party? Did we imagine it or was that a baby crying? Not possible - must be a wild cat!! Nobody in their right mind would bring young kids, certainly not babies into a malaria area or a camp which advocated 'no noise'! The owner of the Land Rover came over and introduced himself as good campers usually do, just in case one needed to borrow a match or some mechanical gadget . Seeing what a friendly bunch we were, James then enlightened us about his background, family and workplace. We were in awe of this young family who were on holiday from Mauritius and yes there was a baby girl of 5 months, and two boys aged 10 and 3. Mum was a pretty Afrikaans poppie and Dad was a French chopper pilot for Mauritian Airlines and kids spoke fluent English, Afrikaans and French!
They said there was no malaria at this time of year so none of them were on prophylactics and they saw no problem with a 5 month child in a 'quiet zone' campsite!
You certainly get to meet interesting people if you make the effort.

There we four were religiously taking our Malanil which had side effects - our dreams were escalated into nightmares - but after our dear friend Rod's experience of a recent bout of cerebral malaria caught while on holiday in neighbouring Mozambique, we were not taking any chances.

The Tsendwe bush camps 'dark' policy after 9pm means that all communal ablution solar lights go out and when moving around one definitely needs a torch or headlamp . Before hitting the sack, TK accompanied me to the ablutions with his bright headlamp to guide us. The loo was in pitch darkness but I felt my way around having left my torch back in our tent. Ablutions done, I headed out to TK's blinding headlamp and looked up to see the star studded sky that we city dwellers just never experience. But the headlamp was spoiling it so I asked TK to switch it off so we could get the ambience of this warm, romantic "African sky". As I was about to take his arm, a lady appeared at my side and suddenly a deep husky voice whispered in my ear "I thought I was about to get lucky". Then only did Terry appear behind the stranger! Well I got the giggles and so did my audience - boy was I happy for darkness as my cheeks were glowing red! Bush life was not only making me forgetful but turning me into easy prey!!

What did I say about a 'quiet spot'? Just as the whole camp were in dreamland , a screeching high pitch sound broke the stillness and it was not a lion or hyena but from the direction of our Mauritian neighbours' tent ! Yes the 5 month old baby girl let us know she was awake and hungry! Poor Mum had to endure 30 minutes of hysterical crying . In a deep slumber in the early hours, our camp was awake once again, this time it was the mating cries of 2 lions - so much for a quiet 'no noise' camp!!

Our game drives over the five days were rewarding but still the elusive lions were heard but not seen. We went out early the next morning and 15 mins into our drive there on the road some 50 meters away were three slinky animals? Too thin for lions - definitely not impalas so maybe leopards ? Terry slowed down while I clambered to get binocs and camera ready, with one face turned towards us and thru the binocs I saw the definite markings - three cheetahs. Such a great sighting and Lizzie got the hurried snap but as quick as a flash they disappeared into Mopani bush and were instantly invisible amongst the dappled autumn foliage.

Our evenings were spent around the campfire discussing a wide range of topics from poaching to politics and planning future bush holidays. Quality time with no social media as a distraction is rare in our busy lives and we have been so fortunate to find like minded traveling companions and friends who enjoy the bush, camping vibe and share similar interests and humour . Our banter started before we left home and was still going strong !

CopK had disappeared on this trip but Lizzie had taken over. I had unwillingly changed the visit to Swaziland as detailed in a previous blog and now that Terry & Peter had figured out that our fly sheet was too small for our tent and needed replacing, we decided to make a stopover in Roodepoort before heading home to Knysna. It just made sense to spend our last night closer to the South of the park and wasn't this where most of the lions hung out? So FOMO Lizzie shortened our stay at Tsendwe.

So off to Mopani we drove to amend our booking and secure accommodation in Satara - not a campsite as we don't unpack our trailers for one night stops. We got the last 2 bed roomed bungalow and took the opportunity to have a Mugg & Bean breakfast !

Remember the communal camp freezers I spoke about -well forget about being raided by baboons - how about by a human being who very early one morning rummaged through all the campers frozen meat and helped himself to choice pieces to restock his coffers - we were missing 8 Woolies chops. Hope he choked on his stolen food!

Our trip to Satara early on Wednesday was rewarded with a sighting, albeit in the distance, of a male lion. It helps to have others do the spotting and then the rest tag on and benefit from the sighting! Too far for a pic so thank goodness for the Leica binocs. The consensus amongst us four was that quality binocs was the number one piece of equipment you take to the bush, second your quality cameras and thirdly, a good torch and headlamp each! So only a leopard sighting was still on the bucket list!