Day 21 Hoedspruit, Sept 17

Day 21: Hoedspruit, Sept 17

QOTD:

Somebody tell me what's the word?

What’s the word: Johannesburg!

Happy B’day M!!!

The patio where we dine for breakfast and dinner

Weather: Great in morning getting hotter and hotter until THB hit the wall and finally got a dip in the pool

A stroll down the road to the cafe to get a stronger wifi signal, accompanied by our two new best friends.

Breakfast outside in the garden: yogurt and fruit, coffee and toast, included. D has brought b’day cards from home, some perfect for the setting (painted zebras!). A few text messages (how 2014!) and a e-mail from C of a picture of a card.

D planned ahead

Somehow, wifi on Chromebook is working in garden, not closer to or inside the house.

Set off around 10 to reach Jessica the hippo. Semi-tame, the hippo has been raised by a local couple for 10 years and swims in the river with other wild hippos and then comes most days to be fed sweet potatoes and two large pitchers full of sweet warm tea. 

M and DB get to give Jessica a bottle of tea, D and THB get to give the hippo a foot massage (our feet, Jessica’s back) and we all get to feed Jessica. $30 for the four us and THB can’t imagine a more unusual b’day event (anyone can have a clown or magician, not everyone gets to kiss a semi-wild hippo!)

Jessica gives M a BIG Happy B'day smooch

Hey, it's not DB's b'day!

Did that help get the jungle rot off the bottom of THB's feet?

Lunch nearby at the Baobab restaurant for pancakes (crepe-like), three savory and one sweet (for M, hey, it’s her b’day, she can have whatever she likes for lunch), two lemonades, one passionfruit and one ginger beer, another $30, and for the most part we have the place to ourselves.

Drive around to see if we can take various tours, and since this is the off-season (sort of) both places we try won’t have a tour starting until 3pm, so instead of nature tours we do what every b’day girl wants to do: shop!

Something tells THB that this is not the only day that's hazy

Budget's finest

THB thinks something must have happened because how else could a spa and silk store be out in the absolute middle of nowhere...maybe the gigantic hotel was torn down leaving just the upscale stores and a cafe specializing in (per their sign) “great coffee” (just the treat when temps are in the high 90s).

B’day girl gets a nice scarf, DB does a bit of recreational shopping, and we head back to Blue Cottages for ice tea and smoked trout pate followed by a dip in the pool and some animal and bird listings.

Around 5pm, more of D and T’s family show up to say hello to the visiting Brits. More b’day greetings and best wishes.

D&M give us a Thank You For Coming on the Trip gift. Whoa, THB and DB gave M a gift for her b’day earlier in the day. Good news: neither of us wrapped the gifts. Things are going well among the four of us, though we did explain to T&T that we haven’t got to point of sharing a room or anything like that (the four of us, it appears that the couples are also okay with still sharing a room).

The six of us have a very nice dinner at the Hat and Creek restaurant in downtown Hoedspruit (well, it was dark, THB assumes it was downtown). We all fit in the Budget rental car, D figured out how to flip up the “way in the back” seats.

THB thinks that says: The Hat & Creek

M with T

Springbok carpaccio

T, M, D, and T

THB's third choice: Oxtail stew...excellent

Open veranda, lots of tables, maybe 15 people total ate there tonight, some sort of soccer thing going the entire time on about 5 TVs spread around. THB’s first and second choices n/a to he settles for oxtail stew in some sort of heavy pot along with giant bowl of white rice. Damn, even Plan C’s are working out on the trip!! And, THB ordered springbok carpaccio for the table to share, excellent. And only four of us tried it, DB and M passed.

THB had a g&t cocktail to honor M, that’s her cocktail of choice. Not bad….sweet and a little bubbly. Several bottles of wine, a non-alcoholic beer, some sodas, and 3 desserts (THB passed on dessert, nothing caught his fancy).

D treated in honor of M’s b’day and thanks to T&T for having them as guests (THB and DB are paying guests, we’re in a very nice cottage rather than staying in the main house) and for THB and DB being such great travel companions (THB made up this last part, unlike the rest of the blog which is otherwise 100% true; only made up the part about the reason for treating, we are great travel companions. D thought we shouldn’t be treating T&T too).