We always ate our breakfasts and
lunches out--literally--out of doors in the various areas that the park has made
for picnics. We had some lunches in Letaba Camp because we wanted to see
the elephant museum there. But our favorite spot is Masorini. The
picnic spot is at the base of a koppie which you can see for miles before you
get there.
There is a nice thatched ramada there for
shade. We were lucky that all our days were overcast so it wasn't as hot
as it might have been.
Erika and Tony go all out for every meal--no
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a paper plate here. You can see the
beautifully set table and the nice picnic basket they have. In the
background the two little rondavels are the always clean and nice restrooms
found at every picnic spot.
While Tony and Erika
fixed the lunch we went with an armed ranger up the koppie to see the ancient
iron age village that had been located there. The rifle was in case we met
the resident leopard or the lions that had passed through earlier.
The little huts were snuggled into the hillside
and from a distance looked just like more big boulders like those covering the
koppie. As you can imagine, they had a commanding view of the area from up
there. There were living huts, storage huts, and the larger smelter hut
where they made the iron. This would have been several centuries BC
When we came back the champagne breakfast was ready.
We ate at several other nice places too.
The one on the left overlooked the river. At the table to the left of us,
which doesn't show, the man went to get some coffee at the stand and as soon as
he left a baboon jumped into his chair and grabbed the fruit off the
table. He would have taken more but the lady screamed. It was a big
baboon and looked very dangerous right there next to her. In fact he could
be dangerous so she was lucky he ran off. Some of the park staff chased
him so he wouldn't come back.
In the right hand picture Tony is opening
the lunch wine. Marge is off petting the resident bush bok and I am taking
pictures of weavers which you'll see in the next letter.
None of these wonderful meals would
have been possible without the great planning and work by Erika and Tony.
Here they are--Erika making her famous salads and Tony cooking his famous braai
breakfasts.