Monday, June 23, 2025

We went to breakfast when it opened at 7. It was weird because there was a buffet set up, but we were instructed sternly that we could not touch it. We were only allowed to help ourselves to coffee. One woman was trying to take orders for everyone. We thought that breakfast was included, but we had to pay for it. She cleared the coffee cups if you weren’t careful. I ordered an omelette with mushrooms, onion, and cheese. It took a long time for the food to come. John complained to management about the check-in process and they gave all of us our breakfast for free.

We quickly packed up and headed out. We drove a couple of hours to get to Emaweni Game Lodge where we were going to leave the van and take a safari vehicle the last 10km to Zingela. The road to Emaweni was interesting. We went through a poor African village and then we headed into a bumpy dirt road filled with cows and goats. It took us a long time to get to Emaweni. When we got there, we met Angela and Mark. They let us use the restroom and take pictures of the view.

We loaded our luggage onto the trailer behind the Land Rover. The sun was warm, but when we got going, the wind was cold. We drove for an hour going up and down mountains. 

We made it to Zingela. We met Renée and Laird and Heidi and Jamie. There were different accommodations. Some people stayed in tents near the main camp. Tammy’s parents and Kelvin and Sandra were in the Badlands (rondavels) partway up the hill. Tammy and I, Andy’s family, and Ruth and Aidan were staying at House on the Hill, which was quite a hike from the main camp. Tammy and I had an authentic rondavel with three beds. Cora and Lila didn’t want to share a bed so Cora took our extra bed. We did have an attached bathroom (no shower). The glass in the window was cracked, probably from birds hitting it. Our sink didn’t drain so that wasn’t the greatest. 

We had lunch shortly after we arrived. I can’t remember what we had a way, but the food was nice. Zingela staff prepared it at the lodge down the road and carried it to us in baskets on their heads.

After lunch, we went for a hike. The vegetation at Zingela was very different than what we had seen anywhere else. There were lots of aloes that grew quite tall (up to 10-12 feet) and many acacia trees with thorns, as well as invasive prickly pear cactus. We saw some giraffes while we were walking! We walked about two miles.

When we got back, the sun was starting to set and it was getting cool. I decided that I wouldn’t wash my hair because it would be too cold. We hiked up our hill and put on more layers. We sat around the campfire and talked. The Zingela ladies brought us baskets of chips with cheese cubes mixed in. We snacked while we waited for dinner. We were served dinner a little after 7 at the picnic tables in the shelter. It seemed so late! We had oxtail, which was better than it sounded. There were other good things to eat. They served us malva pudding around the campfire for dessert. We went up our hill soon after dessert. The nice thing about a ten minute uphill hike to get to bed is that it warmed us up. We had electric blankets on our bed and the housekeeper had turned them on. We turned them up to high while we got ready. We read for a bit and tried to get warm. We used our camping blankets, as well as the many blankets that were already on our beds. We were thrilled that Renée had suggested meeting for coffee at 8:15 when the sun was by the river.