October in Marloth Park
October just might be my favorite month in Marloth Park.
It’s hard to believe we visited Marloth Park for the first time a year ago. I fell in love with watching the dry season—trees bare of leaves and the grazing grasses mostly dormant and dried up—turn into the rainy summer season. Lush grazing grasses and branches full of leaves start hiding the bird nests and their baby birds calling for someone to bring them some snacks.
The rains seemed to arrive a bit earlier this time around than last year. With the rains, come babies! Some animals have babies any time of year, but some tend to time their births with the rains when there will be plenty of food for them. Specifically, the impalas wait until a few weeks into the rainy season to start dropping babies. Interestingly, impalas are one of the few animals that give birth around the same time every year. Almost all impalas are born within a three to four-week period and impalas can delay giving birth for up to a month to ensure that their babies are born after the rains start when grazing conditions are best.
What does that have to do with October being my favorite month in Marloth (so far)? I love seeing all the babies—itty bitty babies everywhere!
After my mom and Kel left to go back to the states, we got back into our usual routine of workers at the house fixing things (because that is what happens when you own a house again: there is always something that needs attention), morning walks, braais and social time with friends, baking treats, working out in the gym, and a trip to Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park.
Here is our month in pictures (with a separate post on Victoria Falls and Hwange coming soon!).
We finished the month on safari in Hwange National Park after a few day visiting one of the seven natural wonders of the world: Victoria Falls. I'll leave that for my next post though. It's worthy of a travel journal entry all it's own.