The weather between East London and Durban was said to be very bad. We didn't really see a point trying to push our luck getting to Durban where we originally had planned to meet up with George, one of the guys we had met at Grundy's at the very beginning of our trip.

Instead we headed inland, towards Bloemfontain, which turned out to be a good decission. The weather was quickly clearing up and not too long after we had left Port Elizabeth we had mostly blue sky around us. With no clouds we now had the option of going over Lesothos fairly high terrain, so we rerouted to Bethlehem.

The air traffic controller in Lesotho didn't really deserve that name. She was in no control whatsoever. I'm convinced it was her first day on the job.

Bethlehem is a pretty remote airport. Maybe that's the reason one doesn't have to pay any landing fees here. Actually South Africa in general is quite good in that respect. Even an airport like Cape Town charges less than a tiny unmanned dirt strip in Botswana.

There was no food at the airport so we had to walk all the way to the nearest truck stop where had a good burger for lunch. Back we hitched.

The weather was deteriorating again. Interestingly enough Bethlehem airport accommodates a weather research station. It's not really ment for the 'public', but you can knock on their door and ask for help. We got a good look at the weather radar and decided not to go as much further as we initially had planned, in order to get as close to the Barberton Valley Airfield as possible.

Linda and I discussed different options as to where to spend the last night of our tour. There was a strip not that far away with an adjacent golf course. I didn't mind finishing the day with 9 holes before sunset. But then, when we refueled just before take-off we noticed a pick-up truck that just was being loaded with aviation fuel drums. It read 'Lions Rest' on the side of the car, which definitely cought our interest. Since they were loading Avgas we concluded they must have a landing strip. With the slim chance that this 'Lions Rest' also was located somewhere along our route I asked the guys standing around the truck where the lodge is and if they had any vacancies that night. Well, they did have space for us, it was fairly cheap and only about 50 miles (1/2 hour) to the north of Bethlehem - it couldn't be much more perfect. They couldn't provide us with any coordinates but explained us how to get there: "Follow the main road, behind the third town you'll see some chicken stables (look like hangars) and to the right of them there is an airstrip with an orange windsock. We'll let them know you'll be coming. What do you want for dinner?" :-)

The lodge turned out to be really cool. We were the only guests and were treated like royals. But not just us - CRO as well. Our plane also got a roof over its wings, which was very good indeed as it later turned out to be a very stormy night.

Right at the entrance to the lodge they had a bunch of cubs. We were allowed to go inside the pen and pet them. Oh man - the cutest animals alive! We would have loved to smuggle one of them with us back home. Years from now, when scientist have found out how to manipulate their genes in such a way that they stay cubs forever I predict that there will be a huge market for such pets ;-)

Before dinner Tays, the manager, showed us around the farm.

The lodge itself is the latest add-on to the owners list of businesses. The main income still originates from eggs which thousands and thousands of hens lay every day.

Those poor animals. At home we usually buy biological eggs. As of today I certainly will no longer even consider the cheap eggs out of so- called laying batteries. What a terrible sight. Four hens penned up in a tiny cage of maybe 25 by 25 centimeters.

Tays then took us on a game drive. There are of course full grown lions as well, but they are fenced in a fairly small area. We were told that they at some point will be released out to the rest of the game (springbok, gemsbok, zebras, black wilderbeast, ostrich, etc.), which also is fenced, but on a much larger scale - I would guess something like 300 hectars. Even then it will still be a bit of a zoo. Powerlines, some abandoned houses, windmills and a town visible in the distance. I can't immagine one would ever feel like in the wilderness here.

Our room was of the huge and comfortable type, but we didn't use it much. The indoor swimmingpool, from which you can watch TV (all movie channels) on a big screen was much more to our taste ... especially because we had our own servant who brought us coffee and stuff while preparing an excellent dinner.

As mentioned earlier we had a thunderstorm come through that night, and what a storm it was! It bucketed down. In fact most of the lodge got flodded (which doesn't really matter when you are in the pool watching "Sugar & Spice" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" :-). For the finale the gods presented us with hail, which we really hadn't expected in Africa. The guard dog also seemed to find this white stuff pretty interesting. Had CRO been outside, I would have been pretty nervous for its health.