Unexpected visitors

On a Thursday in March, about lunchtime, our friends Kim and Sander called if they could stop by. Kim was just back from the Netherlands and had drop for us and some Dutch magazines. When you live in a different country these things are always most welcome! An hour later we sat on our terrace and their dog Nero was playing with our dog Willow. Willow is our enthusiastic White Shepard. Nero is the pup
that Remco and Marianne found on the road, when they looked after our lodge during our holiday in October. They took him with and looked after him and when he was healthy again they found a home for him with our friends Sander and Kim.  During the three weeks he was here he was very close with Willow. Nero is not so small anymore but he and Willow are still good friends.

At the end of a very nice afternoon a big elephant appeared. He drank at our waterhole and ate some of the reeds. Although we are all used to having elephants around (Sander and Kim also live in Balule), it is always special. The lodge is suddenly different with an elephant in the backyard. We took some pictures and after a while the elephant walked down the dry riverbed to eat some more of the trees there. While we said goodbye he disappeared in the bush just as quietly as he came.

These kind of unexpected visits, both the human and animal kind, make it so special for me to live here. Nothing bad about the Netherlands, but life there is so much more structured and often so busy that there is no time for surprises anymore. Not to mention the fact that you don’t get an elephant in the backyard there.

Regards from the bush
Miriam