After 24 long hours we’ve made it to South Africa and our lodge at the game park. Last night’s flight left Singapore at 1.30am; again, I had an empty seat on one side. I watched two more movies – Birdman (quirky, a bit dark, well acted) and The Imitation Game (really like this one). That’s four movies in total – more than I usually watch in a whole year.

I managed to fold myself up in the two seats and have a bit of a nap. When I woke up and looked out the window into the dark night I thought, “oh, how cool, there’s a big storm happening out there. Look at that lightning; there’s so much of it. It’s quite regular. Actually it’s very regular.” Then I realised it wasn’t a storm at all – it was the flashing lights on the wings. Then I crawled over Gibbo and went to the toilet and had a moment of panic when I thought I’d locked myself in. Clearly, I need to get out more.

Customs was easy; our bags were the last two to come onto the carousel (of course). Our friends were waiting for us and we drove from Johannesburg, through Pretoria and then on to Bakubung Lodge in Pilanesberg National Park where, just before the entrance, we glimpsed our very first African Animal.

This could be a novel way of replacing the regular weather site that Gibbo spends so much time checking.

Our room is just to the left of picture.