"Everyone I know in Joburg" Reunited

January 15, 2014

After a nearly 7-month hiatus, S came back to Joburg. Even if only for a few days, it was nice to have him back in the city, and was a nice way to kick off 2014!

The four original members of the "Everyone I know in Joburg" WhatsApp group.

Older and newer: a moderately adventurous night out in Bramfontein with S and some of our "new" SA friends. 

"Crazy Golf" and an unfortunate walk sharing a pair of shoes…turns out, the sun makes the pavement hot…

While S didn't have a lot of spare time when he was here, we did manage to sneak away for a night to Limpopo to the Monate Game Lodge (about two hours from Joburg) for a mini bush break.

Doesn't it look like the ostrich on the left is taking his "skirt" off? Naked ostrich bum.

While not a "Big 5" game reserve, Monate does have rhinos. Seeing these amazing beasts never gets old.

Can you see the little birds on the rhino's hump? These guys help to pick parasites off off the rhino's skin. I think it make for an interesting photo: huge rugged beast with tiny pretty feathery friends.

Sundowners at the hippo pond.

Despite not having lions or elephants, Monate still had a fair amount of wildlife to be seen. 

Sunset over the hippo-hole.

Early morning game drives = cat-naps on the cliffs.

Searching for San rock art on an early morning walk = a lot of yawning.

On our way back to Joburg we stopped in Bela-Bela to visit the Warmbaths Hydro Spa. My visions of hot springs, rocks and natural waterfalls came crashing down when we walked into a somewhat run-down and very kitsch water park. The guys took it as an opportunity to have a race on the water slide: clearly I was too close to the pool…(I think half of the water in the pool ended up over me when they landed). For the record, it looks like M won. Sorry S, next time!