South African Safari!

We are having a wonderful time in South Africa. The people and the land are wonderful.

We do two safari's each day. One from 8am-11am and another from 3pm to 6pm. I wrote a bit yesterday before we went on the second trip and man....how does one describe seeing animals you are used to seeing at a zoo in real life?

We saw these giraffe - amazingly large! As we were heading back they were moving against the sunset in sillouette. Picture perfect! We also saw the white rhino, elephants and so much more. It is truly mind boggling.

This morning was such a treat. We came upon a group of elephant. There was a young male that charged our jeep. He made these growling noises and he was headed to the front of the jeep. Greg was in the front seat and once this "naughty" male started charging the larger male started approaching our jeep so the guide quickly reversed the jeep and got us to safety. They were blocking us from getting out of the area and so we just sat awhile observing. They felt safe enough with us there that the large female of the group actually went down on the ground and was playing with the two young ones. It was absolutely amazing. John, our guide, says its rare to see this behaviour.

We saw monkeys today. So cute.

We saw some Kudu which tend to be very shy. That was really neat. There was a group of warthogs at the same watering hole as the Kudu - a "whole pig pile" as Renee' commented.

We also spotted Leopard tracks but John says they are very shy and so we doubt we will see any Leopard here.

This afternoon we are off to the Cougar Rehabilitation Center. We've heard really good things about it. They feed the animals at 4:30 and after feeding you can go into their enclosure - no petting but you can get pretty close. We will be stopping by this village to also look at their crafts.

I'm a bit overwhelmed by all we have seen and in their natural state, observing their natural behaviour. It is truly a gift.

As usual I went to sleep missing my boys. I know Jamie is taking good care of them and that I need not worry but I always miss them at bedtime. Jamie and Chris better be giving them extra hugs and kisses when they put them in their kennel. Tell them that mommy and daddy miss them!

I will try and post some photos. I don't know if I can. There really isn't much spare time between safari, meals and downloading/organizing photos. The only time I have had to knit was on the travel to get here.

Another day has passed and it is going by in a flash!