Arriving At Mashatu

Wednesday, 9/16

Susan and Doug decided to walk over to Victoria Falls to take more pictures....I decided I would enjoy their pictures, and sit at a shady table in the open-air dining area with my netbook, checking email and playing at Pete's Pond. It happened to be easier at the Zambezi Sun because it is also a conference center, so wireless was available there. It was a good thing, too, because access to the internet wasn't readily available in the next few days. Our flight back to Jo'burg was uneventful, and we knew by then where to find the hotel shuttle, so checking back in and retrieving Traveling Stick and friends was no problem. It was late afternoon, but when Susan called Housekeeping to see if they could manage to wash some of our clothes in time for us to pack them that night, we got a resounding yes. The service at the hotel was excellent, but this was above and beyond the call of duty, and we were very impressed. We had a drink and a meal and then I went to sleep, as we needed to be up and running at 4 AM to catch our flight to Polokwane Airport.

Thursday, 9/17:

At Polokwane Airport, we were met by a driver who drove us through part of northern South Africa to the Pontdrift border post. We went through customs there, and waved goodbye to our South African driver and hello to Rex, one of the Rangers from Mashatu, who was there to take us to Main Camp. And then the adventure really began!

http://www.mashatu.com/

We checked in, got unpacked and organized, and watched several impala and a bushbuck browsing right outside our window.  The room was enormous,  the furnishings comfortable and charming, and there were two bathrooms, one of them as big as most hotel rooms, with a huge walk-in shower and a separate tub.  Susan and I, of course, immediately commandeered that bathroom!  Photographs of Mashatu animals were on every wall. There was a folder on a table that contained all sorts of information for us...times of game drives and mealtimes and other information that was enormously helpful.

When I read this part  , I knew we were in the right place, and that our stay here would be magical:

"Please do not leave the confines of your room after you have been walked back after dinner.  The wall around the camp is not totally impermeable to some of the larger predators, which may enter once everybody has retired and all is quiet.  There is a fog horn in your room which may be used during a night time emergency to summon the night watchman.  Please be advised that an animal on your terrace, or roof, does not constitute an emergency.  An animal inside your room does."

We never needed the fog horn.  Although we had some delightful visitors like lizards and bushbuck and impalas and various birds who occasionally dropped by, they courteously stayed outside our windows, where we could watch them to our hearts' content.

Doug decided to set up his tripod and cameras on the terrace near the dining room & bar, which overlooks the waterhole. In a little while, Susan and I joined him, and met Michael and Gary, Australians who now live in Hong Kong. They both turned out to have a great sense of humor and were delightful company, so we were very pleased to share meals, game drives and lots of laughs with them.