M + Z May writing

Elephants at Hluhluwe

Margot’s May writing

3/05 Ushaka Marine World.

On Friday last week, we stopped at Durban for an hour and a half before granny had to catch her plane at the airport. Granny wanted to take us (Me, Zara, Mum and Dad) to the aquarium. A man warned us that the aquarium wasn’t like we thought it would be. We did a really nice walk along the beach to get there. When we arrived, we certainly agreed with what the man said! It was soooo different. There were 2 main parts; Wet n’ Wild which was the swimming part and Sea World which was the aquarium part of it. The main place was called Ushaka marine world. It was quite a lot of money so Granny said that she would wait outside. The Sea World would close soon so we only did Wetn’Wild. We also managed to persuade Granny to come inside and in the end she did.

It was so much fun because first you go down a water slide, then it spits you into a stream and you go past big tanks with sharks and fish and you go under bridges and through an old wreck. We were very sad when it came to the end of the day.

a Cassava

Cashew nut trees

17/05 Our visit to the Cashew nut farm

Last week on Friday, Mum took Zara, Wentzel, Annalou and I to the Coastal Cashew nut Farm located on the road to Mabibi.

We drove to the front door of the factory and went to sit in an office to hear the history of the cashew nut farm. We sat for ages listening and in the end, we got fidgety. The lady offered to take us on a tour of the farm and we shouted “Yes!”. The farm was really big so we had to take the man’s car. It was quite squishy because it was a Bucky and the lady was a “big Mama”. They also grew pineapples and an underground, long potato called “cassava”.

We bought some cashew and we are now doing a project on them. It will be fun!

24/05 Lions at Hluhluwe

On Saturday, Andrew and Maddy invited us to Hluhluwe Game Reserve to stay with one of the game ranger in a bush hut in the middle of nowhere. There were lots of other people there, at least 14 of us! The hut was very small. It only had a stove, a fridge that didn’t work and some mattresses. The mattresses were piled on top of each other length-ways and me and Zara made some hiding places underneath them.

When night fell, we had a “spag bol” (Spaghetti Bolognaise) heated on the fire (braii). Everyone slept on the deck outside but me and Zara slept inside because there were hyenas next to the hut.

The next morning, Mum woke us up for sunrise. It was really beautiful with all the different shades of red, orange and yellow. Later in the morning, we went on a game drive. First, we drove past four white rhinos grazing the grass with their big flat mouths.

They were a bit like lawn mowers and they were so fat! A bit further on there were some more but they had very pointy horns because they were females and male’s horns are blunt because they fight a lot. We watched the rhinos until another car came behind us. We were only a few meters down from the rhinos where we spotted some big orange figures in the bush, some ears twitching and heard some moaning noises. Then, something started moving towards us and we saw that they were actually lions! When they stood up, they looked 10 times bigger than they did when they were lying down. They were almost the same colour as the sunrise! It was a mun and dad and they sparkled in the morning dew. The only thing we didn’t see in the big five were leopards!

27/5/10

Distance learning

I like being home-schooled, partly because we have a game reserve a few kilometers down the road from here. It is also nice to have such a “laid-back” mum, except mum gets really stressed-out when Zara (my little sister) gets all the attention.

Sometimes, we go on special outings to game reserves and end up making projects on African animals. I have also done a project on cashew nuts and pineapple ice-cream.

We also love to receive big parcels from our correspondence school teacher in NZ. We enjoy opening them and finding surprises in them!

We usually do some exercise before we start school. Then, we recite or choose a poem to read aloud to our friends. We normally only have about 4-5hours of school every day, unless we are being lazy! We start at 8:00 and finish at 12:00.

Home schooling is fun!

Margot

Zara’s May writing

5/5 My Taddpolls (tadpoles)

I cort (caught) ten taddpoll’s in a pond. Dad came with me. I broght (brought) them home. Ther (there) were little wons (ones) and big wons! I love them to bits. They sound like pigs when they crock (croak) when they are adollet (adult) frogs.

11/5 The ant and the elephant

The elephant was trumpeting all down the street,

And the ant was chattering with his fleet.

The ant steped on his feet,

And the elephant ran away with a big Eeck!

18/5

It is Uju’s birthday and we are invited there. Uju is my best friend. I love birthdays. She is terning (turning) four years old. I am making a card for her. Her present (present) is my bicke (bike) because it is too small for me.

12/5

We fond (found) 4 kittins (kittens) with 1 mum. (They are verry (vey) wiled (wild). They live under my house. We feed them every day. They have got a siknes (sickness). I wold (would) love to have one. I wold have the black and white one. The end.

20/5

I have only got four pages to go in my book. I am going to do two pages. When I have finished this book I will get a new one. The end!

Zara