April 2, Day 4 of our Safari          

We had a 5:00am wake up call again.  Since this is our last drive I jumped up.  I can’t believe how much I am enjoying this.  And except for the adult male leopard walking past me and opening his mouth to yawn I have been pretty good as far as not being petrified!  We are almost all packed.  We will go out on our drive today we are going at 6:00am instead of 6:30 and we will return around 9am.  We will then have breakfast and freshen up and we leave for the airport at 10:45.  It is the prettiest little airport  one gate for arrivals and one for departures.  They do have a really nice gift shop.

We are all anxious to see our last animals in the wild.  We are driving around for quite awhile and not seeing anything.  Enoch is still trying to find the lions without much luck.  I am sitting here thinking this isn’t good I want to see something.  I would love to see more elephants since they are my absolute favorite.  Not long after thinking this we see an elephant ahead.  As we get closer we realize it is a whole herd and there are two babies. The older elephants got all around the babies to protect them from running out into the road in front of us.  Enoch said one of the babies was only a month old.  As with all kids.  One of the larger babies starts pushing the little one and the little one starts pushing the big one until Mama elephant comes over and with her trunk she just smacks both of them.  We are now all hysterial cause it just proves it doesn’t matter if you are human or animal when the kids act up mama is gonna smack you!  We are now stopped and surrounded by animals front, back and sides.  I am enjoying watching these little ones they are adorable.  The bigger of the two is having trouble getting over a tree that is lying on the ground and it was so cute watching it trying and trying to get up and over and finally he did it.  We all wanted to clap for it.  We sat here for a really long time and then we started to drive the elephants were all around us but got off the road so that we could pass.  Enoch said they will not bother you if you are sitting the jeep but if you get out they will attack.  Thank you very much I do not need to get out.

We head back to the Lodge.  We did see more Antelope, Kudo’s, and birds.  I can’t believe that it is over and that we are heading home to the ship.  We will arrive in Cape Town at 2 the ship was not suppose to arrive in Cape Town till 6 so we have a 3 hour tour scheduled.  The ship will be in town earlier as there was a bad storm and they tried to get into Port Elizabeth and were not able to!  Tomorrow on our full day tour our friend Gaye and her husband Graham will pick us up and take us around!  So looking forward to it.  It makes it easier to leave here!

I can’t even begin to put in words what these last 4 days have been like.  I keep pinching myself and asking if it is real!!!!  We are so blessed!

More of this once in a lifetime adventure still to come.

These two little ones were horsing around they were so cute!

I want to bring one home until I was told they eat 500 lbs of food a day and poop just as much!!!!!!

Cape Buffalo about 6 months old.  All that was left after the Lions got a hold of it

April 1, 2015

Day 3, Our Safari

Okay I don’t know if it is the air or the bouncing around in the Land Rover but I am sleeping like a baby!  5:00am wake call comes and I don’t want to get out of this bed.  All Bill says is Elephants, Giraffes and more and up I jump.  After a quick shower and a couple of sips of tea we are headed back out!

What will we find today.  We are driving around for a while and nothing this can’t be there has to be some animal out there.  After about 20 minutes of not seeing anything because we all know how patient I am.  I am ready to start yelling “Come out Come out wherever you are”  and Enoch stops the car and says listen.  Of course I don’t hear anything but before long I see a herd of Cape Buffalos.  They are noisy when they all walk together.  Two males were trying to eat off the same plant and they had a show down it was quite interesting to see.  One snorted and did something with his paw and backed off in disgust!  Noel our tracker said to look to the left and there was a herd of Rhinos.  These are the White Rhinos.  Now I always thought a white rhino would be white.  Wrong it is a special species because of the number of bumps( I am calling it bumps as I can’t remember the correct terminology and if anyone wants to test me too bad!)

They are really big.  We saw a few more giraffes and a hyena boy are they ugly.  The first night at the Boma(barnfire) the hyena ran up to get some food from the buffet and they chased it so all we saw was the back end running away.  Don’t want to meet one of them!!!!  We have seen a warthog and mongoose but they both ran off before I could get the camera pointed!  Before long we see another leopard this one walks right along the side of the jeep  now all that is between me and it is this flimsy door.  The others are raised I am ground level I have my camera ready and it yawns now if there was no stick shift in the middle I would have been in Enoch’s lap.  He says don’t hide take the picture I said I can’t I’m too scared.  My hands were shaking so unfortunately I did not get that picture but I will see if someone else did!  We were all laughing and Mike said no worries it will eat Noel first as he sits outside the car and Enoch came back with “Nah they only eat white meat!  We were hysterical!

We are not allowed to walk back to our lodges alone after dinner.  We are ok in the am but not at night and I see along the path to the front door that there is elephant dung on the side and I ask about this.  Apparently the elephants will sometimes wonder right across your pathway.  We have been warned that they are not the cute domesticated ones and they will attack a person if they are out of the jeep~  thanks something else I have to worry about.

Except that there are no Tigers in Africa I keep saying “Lions and Tigers and Bears of my”  I feel just like the cowardly lion.

This afternoon both 4x4s were taken down to the river to see the Hippos.  Apparently more people are killed by Hippos in Africa than any other animal.  Do Not Go in their water!!!!!  All 13 of us with our two guides carrying their guns and the two trackers carrying their machetes walk down to the river’s edge!  Did you know that a hippo can hold his breath and head under the water for almost 5 minutes nah I didn’t either.  They are really really big and they look so cute.  Luke and Chris if you are ready this all I could think of was the game we use to play Hungry Hungry Hippos!  Cute but apparently very dangerous animals.  Wow  we have seen Lions, Elephants, Rhinos, Leopard, Cape Buffalo all the big 5 plus, Zebras, Giraffes and Antelopes, Hyenas, Kudos plus a snake and a few lizzards!  Dozens of birds but the one thing we have not seen (Thank God) is mosquitos.  We are on anti-malaria medicine as this is considered a hot spot for malaria but we have not seen one mosquitos and believe me there could be 5000 people and one mosquito and it would bite me!

Tonight we went out hunting for the rest of the lions apparently there were three the other day who had taken down a cape buffalo and ate the whole thing and this is why they are sleeping they are so full!  we made roads where none were it was an awesome experience but no lion.  as we were heading on a road we see a mother and cub leopard.  They look at us and just keep doing what they do.  We follow them and Enoch calls the other ranger and they meet up with us.  We must have followed them for an hour until they gave us a final look at headed into the bushes.  I think they hear the jeeps and say “Oh Crap more of those stupid tourists, we have to put on a show for them”

We never saw the lions but I sat up on top to see the perspective from there.  I think you get bounced around much more but you can see the animals a little better.

We stop in the clearing for sundowners (cocktails) they have canapés also and we spend a little while here.  I tell Lois she can have her seat back I am not climbing up there.  I can’t believe that we are on our last full day.  This Safari is almost over!  We head back and we are taken to a beautiful clearing in the bush where they built a lovely deck and it is all lit up with torches and they have the long tables set up with the tablecloths and they have a special dinner for us tonight.  They had fresh fish, beef, chicken and antelope.  Veggies and salads.  The food has been great.  They also have a roaring barn fire and we are each given wooden spears to toast marshmallows and they have chocolate sauce to dip them in!

Heaven I’m in heaven!!!!!

Another wonderful day.  What a wonderful world. 

You can see how close this leopard was he was walking away from the other jeep headed to us!

He is right beside me!

Two male Cape Buffalos at a standoff.

Us in the Jeep excuse me it was a Land Rover

No explanation needed  he was ugly

Me with Enoch our guide, Bill with Noel our tracker for morning coffee in the bush!

He smiled for the camera

Did you know that more people are killed by Hippos then any other wild animal!

Only time the guns came out were when we went down to the river to see the Hippos or Enoch and Noel went into the bush looking for the lions

Bill and I with the trackers!

Day 2 of our Safari March 31, 2015 

We had a 5:00am wakeup call.  Between the traveling, the running through the airport and the excitement of seeing elephants and the lion I slept like a log.  Bill answered the wake up call and woke me up.  After a quick shower we went into our living room and opened our little door and there was coffee, tea and muffins. The house was set up there was a huge door and when you went inside there was an outdoor courtyard with two huge rooms off of it.  The Bathroom and bedroom were off to the left, living room to the right and straight ahead was our private pool.  We were right on the Sabi River.  I was headed back to the bathroom and looked out at the river and what do I see  A RHINO!!!!!!  I quick run and get my camera and take a picture of it drinking. We were told to meet at the reception at 6:00am so we had to head to reception but as we were walking  away two more came out to the water’s edge!

We headed out of the lodge and we were driving for a little while and our tracker Noel said something to Enoch our guide in African.  Enoch turns off the road and we are going along and all of a sudden a Leopard is walking towards us.  Now I am sitting in the front seat next to Enoch the driver.  Everyone else is raised higher.  The only thing between me and the leopard is the door of our 4x4.  I am now holding my breath but really appreciating the beauty of this animal.  Of course my first thought was what a beautiful coat this would make.  Then I smacked myself and told me to get politically correct and not think of things like that!  We followed this leopard for quite awhile I even got a picture of him on top of a fallen tree.  All of a sudden he went into the brush and they tried to find him but it was impossible to see him in the brush!  Then the skys opened up and we were all given rain ponchos.  Noel got off his front seat to get mine and since we were 7 on her with Mary and not six there were not enough so poor Enoch was getting drenched.  It was a COLD Rain!  We meet up with the other group and they had an extra poncho !To be honest I don’t know who was more excited about seeing the leopard  Enoch or us!  I do know people who have gone on 2+ safarais and had not seen the leopard so to see him on our 2^nd drive was fabulous.  We are now driving on the other side of where we were and it is not raining.  All of a sudden I look out to the right and far away I yell I see a Giraffe!  It kind of  reminded me of the game we use to play on long car trips  “I Spy”  Enoch drives towards the Giraffes and I must say he does not stay on the roads.  Going over trees and bushes to get where we want to go.  I need one of these Land Rovers they would be great to just mow down all these snow birds who don’t know where they are going.  Oh sorry I degress. We  come up to about 4 Giraffes.  Now I have seen them in the zoo but out in the open man are these guys big.  They were happily eating the leaves off the tall trees!  They are just so graceful when they walk.  I want to take one home!  Now on the left side Enoch tells us to look through the brush and what is coming out but an elephant.  This one is traveling alone as it is the male. And it is huge! The females travel in packs not the males.  He was quite close to the car and he was just lovely.  I am in heaven.  I had asked Enoch last night if we would see Zebras.  His answer was ‘they are around they are just hard to find as they like open spaces”  So I was not expecting to see any when we came to this clearing and there were a couple of Zebras.  Okay pinch me now.  Lion, Rhino,Leopard, Elephant, Giraffes, Zebra.  We have seen 4 of the big 5 on only our 2^nd drive.  We get back to the lodge and we have time to freshen up before breakfast!  It is raining in part of the jungle so  we do not do our Bush walk and since this is Easter week the school is closed.  So we head back to our house to relax.  Lunch is at 1:30, tea at 4: and another drive at 4:30.

Our 3^rd drive we are driving through the jungle and we are looking for Cape Buffalo to fill out the big 5 and also Rhinos as only Bill and I and Lois and Mike who have the lodge right next to ours saw the Rhinos this am!  We came upon a different leopard.  Yesterday the leopard was a young male this was the father.  It was bigger and fuller.  Okay 2 leopards in 2 days wow!  he was just walking down the path so we just followed close behind for quite awhile.  We saw every species of Antelope there is including Kudos who are quite large.  We even saw them mating!

We saw a few more elephants and we were trying to find the lion again.

Last night they had dinner in an area where they had all torches lit and they set up a Buffet.  It looked lovely.  Tonight dinner was where we have breakfast and lunch on the mahagoney deck and you ordered off the menu.  It was also lit up with torches and looked beautiful.  The food is great.  Last night they had venison as one of the choices tonight they had impala as one!

I am closing with, today would have been my dad’s 93^rd birthday and even though he died at only 43 he is looking down from heaven and smiling at me as he would have loved this and he is so proud that we are able to do this!  Happy Birthday Daddy!

March 30  African Safari Day 1

We had to meet in the Hollywood theater this morning no later than 7:45. There are 6 couples and Mary Leja is our escort.  Everyone was on time and we went out and was greeted by a guide and in the van on our way to theDurban airport by 8 am.  The guide had our tickets and got us all checked in. He walked us to security and could go no further.  We had to change planes in Johannesberg and another guide was to meet us there.  We had a little time before our flight so we all just sat and talked.  It was a great flight and although we left over 20 minutes late we arrived on time.  We headed to baggae claim and of course all the bags came out but men. Finally we got mine but where is the guide????  We waited for 15 minutes and Mary tried to reach the tour operator to no avail.  We needed to get to the Federal terminal per the I formation given to Mary.  As the tour people never showed up with our van Mary had us pile I to cabs and she told them she would pay.  We get to the Federal terminal and find out that is wrong I formstion we need to go back to the main terminal.  Back in the cabs we go. Get to the terminal a porter is running us and all our luggage (1 33 lb bag per person) up to the counter.  This is after 1 and the flight is 1:30. The woman at the counter says sorry that flight is closed you will have to wait till tomorrow!  Now we are suppose to land near the lodge and have our first drive. Mary is beside herself and nicely explains this to this women who didn't care.  Mary even asked if she could call the gate and the woman refused she was a real Witch.  One of the other girls asked her why she wouldn't call the gate to see if we could get on and she said "because I said no".  We would not leave the counter and all 13 of us where discussing how to get there the taxi driver said it was about a 4 hr drive and we could rent a "party bus" that sits 15. Back and for we went and the other woman called the gate and they said they were waiting for us to being us down.  So this nice lady as opposed to the witch took us through security for crew and we were running down 2 escalators and then we had to take a bus to the gate.  We had to walk outside. When we boarded this small jet no one was on. That is why they waited for us.  One other person arrived right after we got on.  It was a safe flight and  the airport was beautiful for a little airport especially   We were met by the two guides Mike and Enock in the 4x4s we would go out in and the two trackers were in the pickup truck with the luggage. We arrived at the lodge in about 25 minutes and we checked in and were taken to our rooms.  Unbelievable. I will post pictures.  We were told that lunch would Be served at 4 pm today.  Our luggage was already in our room and it was almost 4 so we headed to lunch.  It was outside and they had a lovely buffet. We were told to be careful about leaving our doors open as the monkeys open the mini bars. As we were sitting there I could see the monkeys watching us and I told someone here comes the monkey sure enough it swooped down and stole a piece of bread and ran away,   It did it two more times!  Okay not happy about monkeys being over my head!!!!!!

After lunch we had our first drive and it was awesome. The first thing we see are elephants.  They are great and I am so excited they are my favorite.  We see a Kudo and all types of antelope.  We are driving around and it is getting dark and what do we happen upon but a lioness.  The ranger said that three of the lions just had a kill a couple of days ago they killed a Cape buffalo and ate it so they are really full and lazy.  She was just lying there and everyonce in awhile she would roar. It was fabulous.  We headed back to camp and they had a wonderful dinner outside with a roaring boma (fire) the Rangers (guides ate with us.). We are not allowed to walk at night alone we were taken back to our houses and were so tired we called it a night. We have a 5 am wake up call. I can't believe we are here and we saw a lion so close!  Somebody pinch me so I know I am not dreaming!

He actually roared for us.  I have a video.  

March 29 Richard's Bay So. Africa

After speaking with the doctor on board who is from South Africa he wrote us a prescription for Malaria medicine.  So our chore for today was to find a pharmacy.  I decided to save time so yesterday I asked Sergio the consignie where the nearest pharmacy is,  as luck would have it it was right in the mall where the shuttle stops. Nit was a lovely mall with upscale stores.  We asked about the center of town and were told the mall was it.  We found the pharmacy and it was huge got my prescription nd a few things we needed.  We headed out to the mall.  We tried to get safari pants and shirts in Az and no one had them so there was a store there and we got what we needed and great prices.  We also bought a suitcase as we have too much crap as usual and still more than a month to go.

After our shopping we took the shuttle bus back to the ship and packed for our overland.  We have to meet I. The Hollywood theater tomorrow at 7:30 am.  So looking forward to this!

Stay tuned folks.