a night in the bush... with all of them!!!

I was not so excited about this trip.... But as Michelle put it, "what else are we going to do?" and "it'll be another thing we can cross off the list...

On Tuesday(Independence Day) we packed up the truck yet again and headed across the border to Botsalano Game Reserve in South Africa... It was about a 2 hour drive to the Ramatlabamba border post and then about another 20 minutes to the campsite...
The campsite(as is with most campsites around here) was rugged but had all the amenities.....Braai area, fire pit, bush shower(which I highly recommend), a toilet(which I highly don't recommend) and running water...cost us about 40$

We got there around 2:30 and started to set up camp.... The twins, needless to say, did not cooperate.... As it took Michelle and I 2 hours to set up this ridiculous tent, Jude and Franny decided they wanted to explore.... Explore the bush, everything we brought with us, matches, a toilet full of bees, the inside of the truck,all electrical equipment, the firepit, the list goes on and on. .. and while we would gain ground in setting up the tent, Jude and Frances would do their best to destroy all the work we had just done... Once we got our camp set up(around 5) we headed out for a game drive... This place had no predators, but it did have a ton of giraffe, white rhino, hyena and a ton of different types of antelope... The older kids got on top of the truck while Michelle and I wrestled with the twins to keep them from jumping out the window.... Needless to say, they did a good job working on our patience most of that afternoon...It was a worthwhile game drive as we came across several rhino and giraffe at the watering hole near our campsite...

Fixing dinner...... This was also alot of fun with the twins... Jude and Frances found this to be an opportune time to trip over the tent, rip up all the styrofoam cups we brought, and try to play with a huge fire and the propane stove we used for cooking...
once we sat them down to eat, the bugs literally covered the sausage and bread we made to eat... But they didn't seem to mind(the twins)..... Maura asked if animals knew what their names were, Michelle laid the twins down for the night, and we had some about 2 hours of peace and quiet under a star filled sky. The kids made smores... or as they call it here, Digestives... sounds like a version of alka seltzer to me....

Amazingly enough, we all slept in one tent and the twins slept all night... It was great... Unfortunately, I can't sleep when camping and sat there listening to hyenas and jackals laugh nearby, as well as other little critters that ate Jude's scraps that were left on the ground during dinner... I have yet to feel fully comfortable in the African bush... This time it was not about lions invading our territory, it was just a worry that one of these huge rhino that left huge amounts of pooh around our campsite, might get really angry with us and decide to trounce us...

Nonetheless, the kids slept well and had alot of fun sleeping in the tent....
We got up the next day, took another game drive, had breakfast and kept Jude and Frances from destroying themselves and everything else in the surrounding area...

Photos inlcude my man jude chillin', the border post...a garbage can and toilets in the distance at the BP gas station in Ramatlabamba, Michelle who gets no webtime... thought i'd sneak one in there for you..

One note... the border crossing... It can be a pain in the butt, where you wait for an hour of so to stamp your passports, etc.. and when we walk into these small builiding with 7 in our party, we get greeted with a huff and puff and a look like..."ok, give me your passports...this is going to take me a while"

You have to go through.. 1. the Botswana post and then drive through and 2. the south african side.... with all 5 kids.. and for some reason, our kids are the only ones who feel it necessary to run around the building as if it was their duty to ake mom and dad look like idiots... It is a bit nerve racking...

But the trip was fun and it did allow us to check off one other goal we had... To camp with all 5 of them... Another camping trip like that will have to be put on hold for when we return home...

Today, the kids head back to school for 2 days... Jacob has a softball game today at the Baobab school.. We will win!!!

All for now.