Hippo Hunting

Sunday morning and we woke up to sunshine.  I managed to sleep for about 10 hours- Frank on the other hand was up for large chunks of the night. We had to wake the girls in order to make our 8:15 breakfast.  Anne and Alex had a deluxe spread for us- fruit salad, hot items, cake, cheers and so much more- we were stuffed.  With food in our belly we decided to take a drive up to Cape Vidal, the entrance to this park is 5 minutes for our place- so off we headed.  We paid our R220 to gain access and right inside the gate we saw a huge herd of zebra.  The animal sightings continued down the 30km drive to Cape Vidal point- we saw lots of Kudu, Zebra, Monkeys, Guinea Fowl, Monkeys, A Buffalo, birds, monkeys and some Springbok, little Duikers and so much greenery.  We ended up at this gorgeous, white, wide open beach.  Lots of families were camping and many fishermen were casting off the beach (catching Shad).  We walked down the beach, dipped our toes in the Indian Ocean- which was pretty warm.  After a little walk we were back in the car and on our way to Mission Rocks.  A much rockier, equally stunning beach.  The waves were thrashing against the rocks- and even the fishermen were getting hammered. We watched crabs in the rocks pools and saw so many interesting flowers growing right in the rocks.  After a few hours of this we were back on the road out- we think we saw a pair of Rhino- Far, Far Away.  But so many animals so see and yet we still haven't seen a hippo- which is what St Lucia is know for- the biggest population on hippos in Africa.
We made it back to town and drove down to the Ski Club as Alex said the food was good- we sat at an outside table overlooking the lake - just gorgeous.  We did see one hippo, but it was under water and walking away from us.  Apparently they stay in the water all day as they have no sweat glands, and cannot handle the heat, then at night they walk around and eat their fill.
After a good lunch (I had a lamb curry that was pretty delicious), we took a walk on the boardwalk along the water- despite the huge "beware of crocodiles" sign we persevered.  It was a lovely walk along the water- we did see crocs, but on the other side of the estuary.  We ended up on the beach- another huge, amazing beach.  After a brief stay we headed back and back to the house for a nap for Frank.  After a little rest, the girls braved the pool and we went for a coffee to perk us up.  The town is very nice- so many cute stores, but I better not spend all my money on one spot.
Getting back to the house- we decided to get in the car and go hippo hunting, they apparently wander all over town.  We went down the road back to the ski club and boom there was a huge one on the road munching on some trees.  It was huge- and we didn't linger too long as it was so close.  We came across another huge guys near the water- just munching away oblivious to us.  After about 30 minutes we figured that was all we were going to see. So we headed home and earlyish to bed.