iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa

Heather and I skipped the morning game drive at Stone Camp as we'd already seen everything we wanted to see in park (the baby black rhino yesterday was the last item on the list), plus I wanted to be rested for driving.

A family of nyalas wandered right by our lodge again and a couple younger males were playing around butting heads.

Breakfast was at 8am and we were loaded up in the safari vehicle by 9am for the drive to the park gate.

A little delay at the secure parking lot because the ranger forgot the key to the lot; he called on his cell and someone drove up on a motorcycle 10 minutes later and we were off.

Next stop was iSimangaliso Wetland Park in South Africa, a three hour drive. Half way through we crossed the border. Another attempt at bribes entering South Africa (the border official said we needed a permit to bring masks into the country) but I just played it dumb and eventually he gave up and waved us through.

The GPS was accurate this time (we've been going to a lot of address-less places reached by dirt roads, which Garmin had trouble with).

At the park gate I asked how to pronounce iSimangaliso, so now I could at least say where we where going. (It's phonetic but I wasn't putting the stress on the right syllable).

The drive into Makakatana was like driving into a cottage. The trees created a tunnel around the single-lane sand road. There was a slight decline to get to the lodge, and I was worried about eventually driving out uphill in sand. But that was for another day.

The staff was waiting to greet us at reception. There's only eight lodges at Makakatana and on the day we arrived the was only one other lodge occupied.

We sorted out the luggage by room, and I parked the car in the shaded carport. I still find reversing strange, as you have to look over your left shoulder.

We had a welcome drink and the manager went through our program for the next couple days. Game drive this evening; full day boat safari tomorrow; and an early morning game drive on our last day.

We had arrived with enough time to shower before the evening game drive. It was an outdoor shower, one of the best I've seen. (We didn't want to shower after the game drive in case of bugs at night). We took our soap and shampoo back into the lodge to keep away from vervet monkeys and bushbabies.

We met our ranger, Michael, and then headed out. Michael was one of our favourite rangers we've had. He was really knowledgeable, providing new facts and info that other rangers hadn't.

I had booked Makakatana for the wetlands safari, but they also have decent grasslands game too. Saw lots of giraffes, including seven eating from the same tree.

The sundowner was right by the lake, with a group of hippos about 30m away, and the sun at the perfect angle. At first the hippos had to establish their dominance by some fake charges. Once they started ignoring us, Michael set up a small table with snacks and we got out of the safari vehicle for our sundowner. It was our favourite sundowner location to date.

Michael used the hippo tracks as a guide to get back to the dirt roads. Back at Makakatana, we quickly washed up and then met at the boma for dinner. The setting was really nice - a central fire pit, hip lighting around the perimeter. We enjoyed our 4-course dinner and then crashed for the night. It was hard to believe our day had started at Stone Camp in Swaziland.