Day 3 Afternoon with Ouma
Have you had your pills?
Tea?
Have you got your back pillow?
Glasses?
Warm top?
Yes? Then my ouma is rough and ready!
My ouma and I were excited to get in Phabeni gate for a short afternoon drive! Now my ouma prefers short drives on account of her back,so the plan was to just go down the S1, then H11 out Paul Kruger gate. We only had to average like 15km/hour to make it in time

From the sniff of fresh air as the boom opened at Phabeni I gathered the sense that this was going to be a good drive!
So I said to my ouma:
"Ouma, ek kan aanvoel dat ons lekker dierie gaan sien"
(Gran, I can sense that we are going to see nice animals)
"Ag dit sal lekker wees my kind, maar ons het al gister mooi diere gesien"
(That will be nice my child, but we have already seen nice animals yesterday)
"Ja maar dit was gister Oums. Vandag soek ons vir 'n luiperd!"
(That was yesterday Gran. Today we seek a lazy horse!)
"Jinne dit sal te lekker wees. Maar hulle is maar baie skaars in die wildtuin ... Ek het nog nooit een gesien nie"
(Geez but that will be so nice. But they are very rare in the game park ... I have never seen one)
I was just about to make a promise based on nothing but a feeling, when we encountered a couple of regular fisherman at Phabeni Bridge!
Old hammer was watching on with interest!
And the part time business of this egret also being done there! His feet look diseased!
We rolled along with my ever so controversial open window! I came to learn in great intricacy the intentions of my ouma to bring a beanie to cover her ears from the cold. I can even tell you exactly who should have done what, and why the didn't, but to cut a long story short – there was a distinct lack of beanie of my ouma's head! This meant I got to open my window at opportune moments … like when I spotted this Buff Fellow! I couldn't help but imagine he was alone because of his acne … shallow cows!

It is not a long walk to Frederick from here! I could just see the kiddies cartoon of the two unlikely friends in my head! A buffalo and a hyena hanging out for starters. Like the Kruger version of Whinnie the Pooh!
From lonely hearts, to best friends (or perhaps more than friends

)

Then there is always that third party who comes to break up the public affection!
Then these Zebcelebs started posing like girls on a night out!
The resemblance was astounding!
Just like giggly posing girls!
The girls were enjoying the camera too much! So I went to the young stripes!
And nothing wrong with this strong specimen of a Zebaleb!
From a striped horse, to a camel horse!
Time was moving on as we chilled with this Oil Fountain!
As we approached the last kms of the trip in the fading light, my ouma and I were chatting about what a lekker drive we had in Paul's Plaas. My ouma's thoughts were elsewhere … asking me about what I'm going to braai and debating with herself what she is going to put in the salad when I pulled up behind a car and pointed to the left.
“what do you say about the Lazy Horse over there?”
My ouma was soooo happy with her first leopard!!
“haai kan jy dit glo? Daar le 'n luiperd in die boom!”
It was a magical moment!

Do you remember your first leopard? What an experience to relive that excitement through my ouma next to me!
