Our alarm goes off at 5:15. On my birthday. Voluntarily.

The reason for the early morning hour is the plan to have breakfast at sunrise on the farm's local mountain. Stefan drives us to the previously set area and leaves us there alone. Once again we look out over the vastness of the savannah and listen to the birds while the two of us have a very romantic breakfast in the middle of nowhere. This is how my birthday in Africa begins.

After we were able to enjoy this togetherness for over two hours, we were picked up again and finally driven to Okambara Lodge. There, Lisa, the owner's daughter, had booked us in for a game drive, i.e. a safari, in the morning. Some wild animals have been resettled on Okambara, so these trips promise many sightings.

Although Okambara has a few guests, Tina and I get an exclusive tour with Michael, a very experienced guide. We start in an open safari jeep and go in search of the animals.

First we spot some of the "usual suspects" such as impala, kudu, oryx and warthogs. But Michael is ambitious, because the morning drive failed to spot the area's elephants. He is determined to change that and climbs up all kinds of lookouts to spot the pachyderms.

And luck is on our side: we are first able to observe a young bull elephant and a little later a small herd with a two-month-old calf up close. It is an uplifting feeling when you are only a few meters away from these giants - in an open car. On top of that, we later spot a rhinoceros, which makes our hunting luck perfect.

After this experience, we head back and can take a short break. Then we pack our bags and have a late lunch on the farm and then we head towards the airport. The approaching clouds don't bother us at first and the processing at Hosea Kutako Airport is quick and problem-free.

Until we board, everything looks like the departure will be on time. But our bus, the first, is also supposed to be the last: the storm hits and doesn't change its position, so we only have a few passengers on board. The boarding process only continues two hours late.

We missed our planned connecting flight, but we reached Munich on the next flight a good hour later. We had to really accelerate in Frankfurt to get there, but we arrived in Munich with relatively little delay. The state capital greeted us in the snow and with that I ended this part of the blog.

Thank you to everyone who has read along so far!