Rosebank & Back to Chrissiesmeer

This visit to our home in Rosebank was rather uneventful. We spent Sunday watching the broadcast of the funeral proceedings. Monday was washing and other chores. Tuesday saw my stitches removed, followed by shopping. Wednesday Suzi got a much needed wash and vacuum before we started the return trip to Chrissiesmeer.

Shortly after we left Jo’burg we encountered heavy rain which stayed with us all the way until we got very close to the turnoff to the Nooitgedacht farm where Ufudu and the trailer stayed while we were away. The storm was however still approaching the farm and now it was a race against time. We got there, parked, Roger off-loaded and while off-loading the storm got to us. It rained heavily and once the worst was over it continued raining for the rest of the night. Ursula invited us for tea and we had a long chat, getting much advice of what to do in and around Chrissiesmeer. Thanks again to Ursula and Hessel for being so accommodating.

Chrissiesmeer village is situated in Mpumalanga and is at the centre of the Chrissie Pans IBA, often referred to as the ‘Lake District’ of South Africa. It is an important wetland area and Lake Chrissie, one of 320 lakes and pans in the immediate vicinity, is South Africa’s largest fresh water lake. For more information about the area, Key Bird Species and current threats to the system visit http://www.birdlife.org.za/conservation/iba/iba-directory/321-chrissiepans .

After leaving the farm we had breakfast at the Frog Coffee Shop and a chat to Oom Ben who knows everything there is to know about the town and surrounds. Then we went on a birding drive for the rest of the day. We were in Ufudu and that actually does not work well because his size and sound often scare the birds off. The area is beautiful with green pastures, livestock, wild flowers and birds galore.

After the drive we stopped in at the Florence Guest Farm where Roger made arrangements with Nico to use their landing strip and also to park there for a few days. Nico and his wife Ané were most accommodating and he even had the strip prepared by cutting the grass.

We spent the night at the Genesaret Caravan Park. It is situated right next to Lake Chrissie and needless to say there were many fishermen amongst the campers.

The first person to come and chat after we parked was a guy from Nelspruit. What luck! Roger had been fretting about the logistics of getting to Nelspruit to fetch Buzz because I am not yet able to drive after my foot op. Problem solved! Stephan was there with his son Rico and Rico’s friend Derek and they were going back to Nelspruit the next day. He was quite willing to give Roger a lift and of course Roger offered to take the two boys for a flip when they got there.

They left the next day at 12h30 after we took our ‘train’ to Florence Guest Farm where we would be spending the next few days, and where Roger would return to after fetching Buzz from Nelspruit.

The trip to Nelspruit turned out to be rather eventful! Stephan knew a shortcut and off they went. Not long after leaving me, snugly cuddled up in Ufudu with a book, disaster struck! There was a huge puddle of water in the dirt road and they got stuck! Badly! They had nothing besides a jack and very few rocks around. It took them an hour to get out of the mess (literally). But all is well that ends well and at least there was enough time to still take the boys for a flip before Roger had to head back in order to get here before dark.

The flight back was great, just one hour with a tail wind, and he was on the ground at 18h30. Buzz was safely tethered for the night and we got inside as quickly as possible because it was very chilly out!