I arrived back home yesterday afternoon and I’m glad to be back as I have really missed my double-sized bed…

My aunt, younger cousins and I arrived at Mount Amanzi Lodge on the 22nd and arrived back home yesterday. The lodge is a very nice place; the chalet we stayed in has a view of the mountain and river which is just several meters from the chalet itself. At night time all you hear is the sounds of frogs, crickets and the running water. Its very relaxing…

The week we spent there was really nice. We had some of my aunt’s family come to visit us at our chalet during the first few days as day visitors and had a really good time. We had braais with good food, we swam and sun bathed while sipping on a Don Pedro as we watched my cousins and their cousins swim…

On Sunday morning we went to the Welwitschia Country Market which is up the road from Mount Amanzi Lodge and had a look around the flea market where I bought my mother and sisters a pair of earrings. We also looked at the motorcycles of the bikers of the “Sunday Run” that have their breakfast at Pick-a-Pancake where we had lunch on Tuesday afternoon. The place was extremely quiet on Tuesday compared to the place being pack the Sunday before, which was nice as it was really hot that day. Before we went to have pancakes for lunch, we went to the strawberry farm where you could pick your own strawberries and buy them. Unfortunately when we arrived there, no one was around except two workers at a near by field so we were unable to get some strawberries to enjoy with sweet, freshly whipped cream.

On Wednesday we went to a small aquarium and animal park which was nice but I really did not like it as much as I thought I would have. The place is really dirty and looks like the animals have been neglected as their divisions are really dirty, such as the dark green water with a thick top layer of leaves and litter in the mongooses division. It really was not a good sight.

On Thursday morning we went on a day tour to some of the places in the area. We first went to the Van Gaalen Kaasmakerij Dutch Cheese Farm where we learnt how they make their cheese and had some cheese tasting done. They only make Gouda and have their Gouda not only plain but with different ingredients too. I almost gagged when tasting the cheese with nuts in, it tastes horrible. I really liked the one with sun dried tomatoes, I bought a wedge to bring back home and have been munching on crackers with the cheese on.

We then went to crocodile farm down the road from Mount Amanzi Lodge and was taken on a tour of the farm where we also had lunch. I was very happy when the guide said that the burgers were beef and not crocodile. At that farm they only breed male Nile crocodiles, the Nile crocodile is the one and only African crocodile. I asked the guide what they do with the female hatchlings and he said that they don’t breed them. He said that they put the eggs in an incubator at about 31 degrees Celsius and if the temperature is decreased or increased, female hatchlings are born. I found this interesting. I was able to touch one of the young crocodiles in the nursery, the guide held the crocodile’s mouth shut as I felt it’s skin, it’s a weird feeling and the body is soft. They slaughter an average of four thousand two-year old crocodiles every year at that farm, most of the meat is sold to Korea and the rest stays for the locals here that enjoy the crocodile meat, apparently the taste is between chicken and fish but I don’t want to find out for myself. The feet are used for back scratchers; the skin for bags, belts, key chains and shoes. There was a ninety-two year old, toothless male crocodile there, he’s huge.

After the crocodile farm we went on an open-back 4×4 game drive. We only got to see various bucks, two ostriches and a few squirrels during the drive, I would have liked to see the other animals but they were not in sight. There were times during the drive that I thought that the vehicle was going to flip over or we would fall out as we were being taken over ditches, huge rocks and down and up the mountains…

We were taken back to Mount Amanzi Lodge just after five that afternoon and I was just so tired from holding on so tight with one arm during the game drive as my new camera was in my other hand.

On the 21st I got a new camera as an early present for birthday. It’s nothing fancy, just an upgrade from my previous piece of shit. It’s a Canon PowerShot A430 and I like it, it is definitely better. I also got a 128MB MP3 player that I still owe my dad money for, its also nothing grand but is nice.

Monday is my birthday! I still don’t know what I’ll be doing; hopefully my brother comes over to visit at least.

You should now head over to NotSoLushMB.net

EDIT: I have uploaded some of the photos that I had taken during this holiday and will maybe upload the rest this week.