Out on the town

Hippo Lakes is far from ANYTHING. The closest town is about an hour on the bumpiest dirt roads you have ever seen. The washboard effect is amazing! But to get supplies, take children to school, get vehicles repaired, and so many other things, the staff at HIppo Lakes has to negotiate those roads whether they like it or not. We had to rattle along them as well — coming, going and going to the other game parks. But on this day we did it voluntarily. Barb and I were excited to go with Paula, one of the managers at the lodge, to buy Christmas gifts of school supplies for the children of the staff.

Since no trip out should be wasted we took general manager Anton along and dropped him off in Valwater where he collected a just-repaired vehicle. Our errand was in Modimollie so we drove on for another hour. We actually enjoyed getting to see more of life in the towns.

We treated ourselves to a lovely lunch in this outside cafe before we went to the mall and made our purchases. We appreciated the good attitude of the women who spent about a half hour checking out our hundreds of items!

On the way home we stopped and bought oranges and avos from one of the many roadside vendors and, of course, enjoyed the local insects.

Next morning I got up with the birds and hippos and enjoyed sunrise from the causeway just before the entrance to Hippo Lakes.

And thus began another interesting day of animals, friends and amazing stories from around the world.