h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My sister Maryke, her husband Jakobus, and their boy Christiaan came for another visit this weekend.

They arrived yesterday morning just before noon. We went shopping and Maryke helped me with the paying of some bills.

The afternoon we went to the Pietersburg Game Reserve - the first time Christiaan's been there. Unfortunately we drove with my sister's Mini Cooper ... and the roads weren't the best! It got scratched a bit, when she had to drive around a pool of mud through some thorny bushes. I felt a bit bad about that! She's really keen on her car. Next time we'll either take my car or we'll go on an 'official' tour with one of the reserve's big sightseeing four-by-four vehicles.

The trip itself was quite exciting though. I have one of my bird books to Christiaan and each time we had a nice bird sighting I showed him where the bird was in the book. The best bird sighting we had was of a couple of Crimsonbreasted Shrikes battling a small snake! They were pecking at it, it was striking at them, and we could see them fending the strikes off with their wings. Later the snake went into denser bush and we don't know what happened further.

We saw other birds too, including three big male ostriches! And also some tiny cisticolas (warblers). So we saw the biggest and also some of the smallest birds in the entire country, in one trip. What also was nice was seeing a little woodpecker peering out of a hole excavated in a tall aloe.

We saw quite a few animals also: impalas, zebras, tsessebes, blue wildebeests, red hartebeests, and a warthog. We also saw what might have been a little duiker (small antelope) running away.

We went in rather late, and the sun was already going down when we got out again. Next time we'll plan for a bit more time.

The evening we went out to a restaurant. I told some stories to Christiaan and read some Garfield jokes to him ... not really nice reading matter ... but it got him to sleep! I chatted with Maryke a bit until she was tired and went to bed.

This morning Christiaan played the game 'Spore' a bit - he now knows how to wage war on enemy cities! He won the game, mostly on his own. I chatted a bit more with Maryke and Jakobus, and they went back a while ago.

Anyways it was an enjoyable visit, I'm just feeling bad about the damage to my sister's car!

What a great visit. I love hearing about all the birds and animals.

Best wishes to them all. I hope Maryke wasn't too annoyed about her car.

Hi Willem!

Willem, what a lovely time you had. I do you having all that exotic wildlife around you. Christiaan is very lucky too, to have an uncle so informed.

It is a shame about her car, but she will know next time. I am sure it can be put right.

Do you feel lonely when they have gone, or pleased to have the house to yourself again? I have a mixture of both feelings when welcome visitors leave



Websailor

Hi folks! Dmitri, I actually forgot to mention - we also saw a few giraffes! And we saw lots of rhino poo ... but no rhinos, sad to say.

Hi Ellen!

Websailor, I feel a bit pleased to be alone again, yes ... these visits are very exciting, a bit *too* exciting ... it's hard to get 'down' again and get back to my normal schedule! I don't really feel lonely ... well, *sometimes*.

I would like to find a girlfriend ...

I'm glad you had such a great time, Willem.
And I'm sure you'll find a girl friend at some point.

Gosh, your sister is probably relieved that no rhinos appeared. They could have done MAJOR damage to her car.

about all the animals and birds.