It was still cloudy, but not raining- a good sign.

Up early & met with Shepard and the others at 6am. Brendan & I sat in the back of the safari vehicle while David was a princess and sat in the covered front area.

We were wrapped in blankets as it was cold. The drive to Matobo NP took around 45 minutes. We were surprised we didn’t see many animals.

We paid $USD 15 for the entry each plus $USD10 each for the guide/ scouts to enter the park (the tour was also $USD 55)

We saw amazing rock formations – boulders balancing on top of each other!

Shepard drove around for a bit before talking with a scout (Anti-poaching ranger, armed with an AK47 machine gun, who guard the rhinos 24/7), rhinos hadn’t long been past, but were moving fast, so we also moved on. We found another guide who hoped into the vehicle with us & went for a further km or so, stopping every so often for them to look for tracks. We eventually came across an area where the male/ bull rhino had dug up the ground, to mark his territory. We now would proceed on foot. It was only about 10 minutes into our walk in the African bush that we came across 2 white rhinos (they are brothers)- there are black rhinos in the park but they are more solitary & aggressive. We got within 2 meters of the giant softies- they are very docile and not skittish of us being there- of course you still had to be careful.

They were quite happy with us viewing them, after they had grazed and moved around a bit, they lay. down and rested – not a graceful move, one of them had a problem with his wind pipe, but had been checked out by a vet… he made noises I am very familiar with – sounds just like David snoring! we took a million photos and video – was a once in a lifetime and absolute treat to be able to be so close to rhinos in the wild.

Back to the lodge for breakfast- which is more like brunch as it is 10.30, fruit salad, cereal, toast, bacon eggs, sausages, tomatoes etc.

The British guys left and we had the place to ourselves. Yay the sun has come out

We found rainbow coloured lizards lazing around soaking up the rays (I nicknamed them the skittles lizards)

We went on a large walk over the cliff face and down into the valley- didn’t see anything though.

In the afternoon, as the sun was out and it was actually quite warm, we sat around the pool area for a bit.