After some light showers overnight, Chuck got all raucous from about 5am. Stoney obtained some permission for us to to do a bit of riding in the reserve. They don't allow anyone to ride around with their own vehicles and I think they thought we would only do a short distance. We left before 7 and was only back after 1pm...
About two years ago one of Prince Torki's daughters said she wanted a tree house. One phone call later and with their next visit there was a 5-star tree lodge for a princess. When I come and visit again, THIS is where I want to stay - electricity, yet remote from anything. You are in radio contact with the lodge management, and when you want to do your game drive or boat ride, you just radio them and they come a galloping to your service. Apparantly.
You are right on the Limpopo, with Botswana on the other side of the river.
We wanted to come back later and find a spot to get the bikes into the current dry river bed, but ran out of time. We did find it important enough though to quickly dash across the river without passports and make phone calls, take pics, water the vegetation... why...? ??? Zeal promptly pulled a muscle in the process, just to make a foreign statement...
From there we did a fantastic ride, seeing lots of game, very big birds of prey (apart from the ostrich. Faster in black.) Just awesome, following the border and later turning inside. There are a couple of lodges, available to the public when the prince and his entourage aren't there. We stopped at the one that is for his exclusive use - looks like a little mini resort! Four boats, Unimog, Land Cruisers, swimming pools, various dining areas, and so on.
As one lives when you are a prince, of course...
'I have a farm in Africa...'
Then we visited some of the other lodges and found ourselves on the koppie while we were still looking for it, passing a dancing snake - I was just told I passed it, never saw it, otherwise I would have tested Percy's crash bars. Stoney also promptly showed us the clever KLR flickers - you can just pop them right back in after a sidestand incident...
We were on the 4x4 trail now, and the other side of the koppie was quite slippery going down. After some debate on whether the engine must be on or off -
'...but Jan Staal says...!' - we all made it down without another incident. As usual, the photos do no justice as to how steep it was.
Some other stuff seen along the way...
Lastly, just before the KLR's electrics packed up, we passed a dam and I had to play a bit...
So then, to spare some embarrassment and not dwell on the subject, time was spent exploring the Kawa's electrics, burning up a few fuses in the process. Long story short, KLR was pulled in (got to practice my towing) and is still there. Stoney is investigating 800GS options at the moment... :mwink:
It was now in the afternoon, and after having had so much fun in such a short time, I decided to join Chuck and Zeal in going straight home - too late to explore more North and then still find a place to sleep - another beautiful ride through Vaalwater even if along the tar.
Thank you gentlemen, it was an honour.
ps. Two days later, Zeal started up the Dakar and the electrics suddenly created smoke and flames. He managed to put out the fire, starting with the dogs bowl, but a very dead Dakar is now standing at a very holiday-closed Bavarian. :'( It's a sad day when only the 800's can survive a trip! 
