31 December 2004     to       02 January 2005

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A great ending for a year, that's what Mateke was for us! Situated in pristine bush many kilometres away from civilization, this was the ideal spot to celebrate new year. The two huts on stilts gave us a nice feeling of being up in the trees in nature. Just below a small stream runs past with some rock pools for swimming which we used quite a lot as this area gets very hot and humid at this time of the year.

Silvia playing mermaid in the stream.

Fooling around on Friday afternoon.

Celebrating New Year!

Sue (Tender Hiker) and Aileen (Granny Puff Puff) putting on a brave face next morning after the previous night.

Next morning some of us decided to sweat out the previous nights alcohol and went for a hike. The area has had some good rain and was looking very green. This flower belongs to one of the Acacia type trees.

Savouring the Stamvrug. A very sour fruit best left to baboons!

The suspension bridge that leads over the stream to our huts.

Cooling off in the stream.

Tim with that sinking feeling!

On Sunday morning we went for a walk very early and discovered three enormous mushrooms. This one was over half a meter in diameter between its widest points. Here's Rob hungrily trying to devour it!

A fine specimen!

Some Naboom.

We got back to base just before the heat really started getting bad and had brunch after which most of the group started heading back home again.