Next stop, Otter's Den

     Originally I had hoped to go home from South Africa with a stop in Kenya.  I so wanted to see the Sheldrick Foundation Elephant Sanctuary near Nairobi.  I wanted to see Mutara, the orphan baby elephant my group of friends had adopted a couple years ago, and of course, the scores of other baby elephants who have been orphaned primarily as a result of poaching in Kenya.  However, it turned out I couldn't go to Kenya--or perhaps I should say I SHOULDN'T go to Kenya, because they were in the midst of elections at the time, which I gather is a very dicey time.
     I didn't want to go straight home from Moholoholo so searched the internet for someplace that would be good to visit for a couple of days.  I happened across the Otter's Den, very near the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, so made my reservations for three nights.  It was really a pretty arbitrary choice.  I am an otter fanatic, so "Otter's Den" sounded good.  
     Talk about fortuitous choices.  I knew I was in for a treat while still at Moholoholo.  My friend Kate told me she was friends with the owners of Otters Den and that they were the son and daughter-in-law of Jamie Uys.  I was well aware of Jamie Uys because he directed two of my favorite movies, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Parts 1 and 2.  I also had some friends who knew Mr. Uys.  What a small world!  So I went to Otters Den prepared to be intrigued by the director's family.
     So, Kate drove me there, and I thought we were lost.  We took a dirt road off another dirt road off another road, etc. etc. and ended up at a little turnaround in the middle of the woods.  We walked down a little path through the woods, down, down, and more down, and then we came to this:

 

Bridge Across the River Blyde!!  And a long bridge it was, and it lurched and swung as we walked across, and it made me wonder about all those crocodiles and hippos I heard about in the Blyde River.  But is was so very lovely, I marched across with hardly a second thought.

     And this is what I found at the end of the bridge, a sneak peek at the lodge itself together with a comfortable outdoor lounge overlooking the river, and oh my!  I had no idea how tired I was from the hard work and long hours at Moholoholo until I came to this haven in the jungle.  Before I knew it, I was installed in a cozy chair, glass of cool dry white South African sauvignon blanc in hand (had I mentioned that no alcohol was permitted at Moholoholo?), looking out at the river from the profound shade of giant trees . . . 

 and here was my companion:

                                                                                                                                                                                                 Jack!  who spoke a universally-understood language that transcends all time and all distance, and that emanates a generosity of spirit that tolerates any imagineable difference-- that language being "yellow lab."      Yup, I was in my element!