Day 6: Hilltop and Back to Durban

Hilltop is humanity. Wren is 100% happy here. We have learned that an important feature of humanity is a building which does not have holes by which nature can enter. Down at Munyaweni the floorboards had up to half cm gaps which is how the scorpions and spiders wandered in. The eves were also open which is how the bats and snake came in and the walls in some parts of the house were only slatted bamboo. Even the doors were more conceptual - without locks or fastenings beyond a piece of wood which rested in a shallow depression.

As Lanny reflected after seeing the lion run away on the day walk iions don’t want to come into human places. Now hyenas are another matter.

Anyway, Hilltop camp has nearly sealed rooms. The floors are tile and the eaves are sealed.  We slept wonderfully and only a line of ants carrying a dead beetle disturbed our sanctuary.

Morning Stroll at Hilltop

On our morning walk in Hilltop we saw a crushed scorpion in the road which ants were eating.  Wren was interested but didn’t want me to take it home and draw it.  Monkeys were out eating in the fruiting trees and flying across the gaps in the canopy with noisy scrambling landings.

We enjoyed a buffet breakfast with many sausages.  Wren likes South African breakfasts because, unlike the US, there are many meats.  On the buffet was pork sausage, chicken sausage, thick rasher bacon, eggs, tomatoes, spreads (Marmite, Bovril, tomato sauce, peri-peri and two mustards) and toast.

The German tourists were upset because they had to queue to make their own toast. They felt this was inefficient and complained.  There was sometimes a gap in toast-manufacture when the person in front of the line waited for their toast to appear but didn’t anticipate the toast-needs of the person behind them.

Fetching the Hikers

At lunch we fetched the hikers from the Trails Camp near Mpila.  They had had a great 3 day hike - being surrounded by lions in the darkness, by elephant and being semi-stormed by a bull elephant.  The Adams shareholders were red-faced, slightly burnt and thrilled by the experience.

We stopped at the Litchi Orchard Delish Sisters near home and had more food.  The litchis are still not ripe and the monkeys are stealing them, green or not!

It was good to be home. Nobody wanted dinner.

BBC News is only talking about the Paris bombings and the Mali Hostages.  It is so repetitive that we decided not to watch anything.