Drakensberg 2

This morning....drizzled a little bit....but not too bad....off we went for breakfast and after that we would decide whether we would go for a small hike....buffet (of course-but the breakfast buffet I actually enjoy). Then it was time for a hike, let's do the Duiker trail, its about 1/2 hour each way.....and you can go and come back different ways and apparently you have a great view from the little damn.....and yes, the view was beautiful.......

 On the way up
 Duiker Damn
View from the top

After that the march down...again, the scenery is just beautiful.....it had little rivers, tiny waterfalls, very very nice....
On the way down

Once we reached the bottom again, the drizzle got quite heavy, so Kim said he wanted to see the reptile park, as we arrived there the guide told us, it is a tour and the one at 12:00 is full, we could however put our name down for the 14:00 one.....hmmmmm.....ok why not.......before, some lunch, we saw a sign for an artisan bakery, so that sounded like a good plan.....wow....packed, buzzing, finally we got a table, but I am not going to go into details, the service was soooooo disappointing, first of all we didn't receive the menu, then after 15 minutes finally someone came, so we tried to order straight away....guess what an hour later, we still had no drinks and no food (and yes, we had mentioned it a few times but they just said, sorry we are busy it will come soon). When tables that arrived after us started eating I was getting quite upset, we mentioned it AGAIN to the manager and this time she listened, the food was average at best, for being a bakery, the bread was disappointing, the crunchie cookies were divine but that was about it, sadly, the open sandwich that Kim ordered was more lettuce than anything else....anyway...moving on...

The reptile guide tour was so interesting...wow....the area belongs to the guide and he even lives there on the property. He had a passion for all his animals, it was incredible.  What I loved was the fact that every reptile, that was not poisonous, he took out of its terrarium and we got to hold and touch them....amazing, an aligator, different snakes, spiders (those I definitely skipped) and lizards....and the various snakes all have different skins, they don't all feel the same, really amazing. Let me share some pics....
 Kim & Aligator
 Kim and me 
 Mom
 Kim and me (30kg snake)
Me with Custard (20kg), an albino snake

As you see from the two pics above, we even got to touch the really big ones right at the end, incredible, I was actually amazed at myself for being able to hold all these retiles, quite proud of myself :-)

Dinner time....buffet....AGAIN :-), this time there was roast chicken and gammon, and lamb curry....so guess what....I had the gammon, and wow...it was incredible, really really delicious, I have never had such a good one, I had to go back for seconds. I had that with some beans and spinach salad....starters...incredible garlic snails, I must say very good food.  So, we all went to happy with happy tummies.....tomorrow just a drive home and celebrate New Year.  

I know when I post this it is already New Year, so I am going to say....Happy New Year to everyone, all the best for 2015, may it be everything you have wished for.......and more :-)

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