We have thoroughly enjoyed our time at Thanda Safari and Game Park and the exceptional accommodation. We enjoyed lunch, but skipped High Tea served out on the area overlooking the water features and ponds, with various animals in attendance. Our group departs at 3.30pm on 28th April, 2017 for our last Safari and we are hoping to see leopard, black rhino and elephants. This is another superb warm sunny afternoon, but there are thunder showers in the distance.

Our Safari commences spectacularly because after 2 miles we come across the elephant herd of 25 elephants and Several elephant bulls. They are grazing on bushes and walking to a water hole. We have them walk right up to us and several Pass by almost touched our jeep. We then make an effort to circle around them, so that we see them circling around and through the Forrest before crossing another track.

This is quite amazing as we see them crashing through dense undergrowth and then several come right up to our vehicle, then Pass immediately beside us. They are just so close.

We then take another cross country detour to again get in front of them We can only comment that they are amazing in size , strength and surprisingly quick.

Finally, we depart wanting to try to find their small group of black rhinos, but we drive around for almost 20 minutes up and around various tracks, without any luck. But we to cone across many animals, suddenly out of nowhere comes a group of 8 Giraffes and we watch them for quite sometime, including two males who are fighting wanting to display their dominance. They swing their long necks from side to side against the head and necks of another male giraffe trying to get the other giraffe to acquiesce and acknowledge the dominance of that other aggressive giraffe. Quite unusual and fascinating to watch.

Our travel then takes us across to another water hole, where we see many zebras and impala and many wlderbeast. We laughed we enjoyed Wilderbeast fillets for lunch.

The chase to find both leopard and black rhinos continued, without any sightings although we again see the cheetah down near one of the boundaries. But we continue to see Giraffes, Water Buffalo, Zebras and impala of all darts of variety.

At 5.45pm after surveying several water holes it is time for our nightly "sundowners " and we watch a beautiful sunset.

At 6.10pm we again start to circle and we again see elephants, zebras, water buffalo, impala, Giraffes, but no lions, black rhino or leopards. Willard our guide suggests that we are expected back do perhaps it is just bad luck tonight. We drive around in the dark with our search light blazing seeking further animals, but after some 25 minutes he advises we are going back via an alternative way. We drive for 10 minutes until we come to a raised cleared area and beyond that is a small valley , where we can see about 4 bonfires and about 30 kerosine lanterns, and behind are several tables beautifully presented for our "bush" dinner with Zulu dancers entertaining our group. Today there were 3 jeeps with trackers supporting the guide and up to 6 /7 guests.

We are initially greeted with warm towels, then a celebratory glass of champagne, followed by other drinks before dinner is served from the outside buffet.

In each corner of the area is a large bonfire, with a larger central bonfire in the middle area of the tables.

Dinner consists of local African ingredients, with a beautiful soup, then BBQ fillets of Wilderbeast followed by warthog curry, vegetables (hot) and salad. We are enjoying outstanding Wines from Stellenbosch area.

Deserts followed and it was a cake of sort ( sponge pudding with butterscotch pudding) and we were entertained by 9 Zulu dancers who used the central bonfire as a prop through and around which they danced several different Zululand dances of special significance. As our guide, Wellard, commented you see first hand the major impact of the feudal Zululand culture upon the broader community. Jeanette and I really enjoyed the whole evening, a touch of Zulu mystery, wonderful environment of shimmering lights and smoke, no wind and no insects.

We were driven back to the lodge and the central lounge where we all said our goodbyes. Thanked, Willard, our guide and his brilliant tracker, Thuba, before being escorted to Villa 7 for the last occasion. But there is another surprise awaiting as our room is showered in red rose petals, with our 4 poster bed behind the mosquito netting forming a pattern saying "I love you" inside a large heart. Then there was 2 chilled glasses and a small champagne. There were further rose petals on the bath mat in front of both the bath and shower and in the lounge area a tray with further rise petals.

We can say that this has been another wonderful tasteful decorating process to make another memorable moment of our amazing stay.

We sleep soundly but 6.00am wake up call comes quickly. We finish packing and shower and dress and at 6.50am our luggage is collected and taken to the jeep at reception. We pay our account and there is a breakfast bag for each of us as we drive the 95 minutes from Thanda Game Park to Richards Bay. It is a smooth drive on the N2 a major highway.

Checkin goes well following dropping off the car at Bivest Car rental.

We board our prop jet plane at 10.00am with Jeanette seated in 5D and Ken in 5C. We depart 5 minutes early and land 25 minutes ahead of schedule after a very quick flight.

Our luggage is quickly delivered to the luggage carousel and we then have a 300 hundred metre walk to the City Lodge Hotel. We hope to check in ahead of the scheduled 2.00pm check in official time . Yes we have a room straight away. We quickly reshuffle and repack our cases and ring Berndt and Elly, who are collecting our hard cases, advising that we are in our room and will be available earlier to meet with them and have a drink. We change our arrangements from 3.00pm back to 2.30pm.

They arrive at 2.35pm and we are all excited. We them go to the lounge bar for drinks, then enjoy the catch up for the next 2 hours.

We have now repacked all of our gear and they collect the cases and we look forward to seeing them in about 8 days when we go to Kruger with them.

A terrific couple of days, hope you enjoy the photos.