Safari Photos -- Day Two, Morning Edition

6:00 am sunrise

Whoa.

Kudus are kewl.

The females aren't quite as interesting.

Green parrots on a bird morning.

Zazu!

Hornbill Highway.

Wild beast, or wildebeest?

Wildebeest, Zebra, and Impala

The rare two-headed, butt-melded wildebeest

This orange-footed Bateleur eagle is very talon-ted.

As fast as its namesake, the leopard turtle

also drags its kill up a tree to eat.

Our Ranger was always Just-in time

with his interesting animal info.

An old African legend is that zebra butts are brown

because, well, they aren't real good with Charmin

Birds on the hoof.

Two zebras are nothing to sneeze at.

It's pronounced "zaay-brah" not "zee-bruh"

Where's Waldo?  Look closely, there's a monkey there.

Pumba, but no Timon.

It's not a statue.  This impala is real.

This eagle has a white head, tail, and looks like a

Bald Eagle.  But isn't.  It's the African Fish Eagle.

Julia's Last Day. With Us. In South Africa. So, It's Not Quite As Dramatic As The First Sentence Suggested! Or Even the Second Sentence!

Returning from Sabi Sabi (a post still to be written), I thought about all the things we wanted to accomplish before returning with Julia to the MV Explorer so they could sail off to locations unknown (actually Ghana) the next day.

We wanted to take her to Table Mountain. Up Signal Hill.  To a grocery store.  To Green Square Market. To lunch.  Back to the hotel to get her stuff.  Then to the docks in the middle of nowhere (of the port) to say our farewells.  Then Carol and I had dinner plans well outside of city centre.  Then, of course, we had to get back to the hotel from dinner.  Thinking about all the cabs we needed literally gave me a headache (actually figuratively, not literally, but since "literally" literally no longer means literally, why not overuse it?).

So I had an inspired idea -- hire a car and driver for the day.  I got the idea from another dad on the parent trip who hired a car on their first day in town.   The hotel was great and set it up even though it was probably 6pm (or even later).

It was supposed to rain all day, but the weather report proved to be wrong.  We had to have breakfast inside because of the rain, but it stopped before 9 am, when we got picked up by Raeese, our driver.  He took us up to Table Mountain.  It was a bit cloudy up top, so the views were definitely muted, but it was still great being up there.  Most importantly, Julia enjoyed it.

We saw a whole bunch of Dassies.  They were leaping from rock to rock, or just hanging out, staring at us, daring us to try and come after them (we would slip and fall to our deaths, but it was still tempting -- Dassies are like overweight Tribbles, but less trouble.)

The rain had left big puddles which we found our way through, going up, down, and around the top.  Being socked in forced us to look at the table top -- I shouted down the gorge for the echo at one point.

After we came down Table Mountain, we headed over to Signal Hill. While Table Mountain was shrouded in clouds, the lower elevations were clear.  We had great views from Signal Hill, including the Twelve Apostles, Cape Town, Robbins Island, our hotel and the World Cup soccer stadium that is considered by many to be Cape Town's anchor because of the cost of it.  Apparently it has only sold out twice since -- for both U2 and Justin Bieber (essentially the same musicians).

After Signal Hill, we went grocery shopping for Julia.  Well, she picked everything out, as we helpfully gave advice.  They are not allowed to bring vegetables, fruit, or meat on board the ship (understandable).  So, she got things like cookies, nutella (of course -- the girls are nutty over nutella), a bag of chips, and other packaged foods.

From there it was on to the Greenmarket Square (aka Green Square Market, but from the website the former is the official name, for those of you care, which has to number in something less than single digits), which if you click on this link you will get an idea of what it is.  We careened from stall to stall.  Interestingly, some of the vendors tried to pitch us to buy stuff, while others sat there silently, wisely figuring that we would stop if we wanted something.  Not surprisingly, Carol and Julia lasted longer than I did!  They bought a bunch of small things.

We then went back to the V&A for lunch, stopping at a restaurant for Julia's last good meal for a while.  Not surprisingly, it was a meat place.  I decided to get the warthog, which was the most underwhelming meat I had in South Africa. What have we learned from this?  Ostrich is the best, while wildebeest, impala, and kudu all get kudos.  Springbok was tougher than I expected, but warthog is without doubt the worst of the wilds.

A quick pop back to the hotel to get Julia's bag (she had to check out earlier, but left her bag in our hotel room), and we headed back to the docks.  Even having been there once, it was quite confusing, so we had to guess where the turn-in was.  Our driver got it wrong the first time, but not by much.

On board the ship (boarding was easy -- the hordes of students looking to reboard would not be till later), we first went to Julia's room so she could drop her stuff.  We hung there until the shipboard announcement called for voyagers and parents to come to the lounge for the farewell reception.  Moments later, the disembodied voice clarified that the reception was just for voyagers whose parents had been on the parent trip!  Pretty funny, as we imagined a number of other students showing up for free food in the nice lounge that only faculty and life-long learners are allowed to use.

The reception was nice -- Nelson Mandela's great grandson gave an excellent talk to us all.  More on him in a future post.  We also had a great view of Cape Town and the mountains, because the lounge was on the 6th floor and at the front of the boat.  I had to run back to Julia's stateroom ("stateroom" is catchier than the more fitting "closet") to do a conference call.

We got kicked off the ship around 5pm.  On the way to La Colombe I had another conference call, so I missed most of the drive to the outer suburbs.

Day Three Photos -- Journey to the Bottom of Africa

Beach #3 and many of the Twelve Apostles

The Sentinel of Hout Bay

Hout Bay

I think I ate this guy at some point on the trip.  Very

tasty -- next time I will have it with a nice Chianti.

At Cape Point

A scenic beach

It only seems like the bottom point

of Africa, but it actually is not.

Our world traveler, far from home.

And far from Singapore.

Behind us is north along False Bay.

The failed lighthouse at the end of the world.

And, the actual lighthouse that

works at the end of the world.

In case we got lost. . .

I know, there's another section of photos

devoted solely to penguins, but honestly,

is there ever such a thing as too many photos

of penguins?  I agree with you -- no way!

Legitimate way to earn extra money, or child abuse?

Discuss.  (Actual discussion in a post to be written.)

The Wild Dogs, Part Deux

The night we went to the Cape of Good Hope (a name much better for tourism than say, The Pit of Despair!) we had dinner reservations at Carne, which was recommended by a friend who grew up in Cape Town and lives in the NYC area now.  He checked with friends for restaurant recommendations, and this was one they suggested.

The restaurant is located in an old house/small business at the end of a short dead street in City Centre.  The food was incredible.  The setting was post-industrial modern.  We got there at 7pm, and it was maybe one quarter full.  More and more people came in, and by 8 pm, the place was packed.

There were a couple of highlights.  First, the wine list was great, and included our favorite South African wine -- Thelema, a Cab from the Cape Winelands area. So, of course we ordered it.  Thelema is our favorite because we went to a Thelema wine dinner with our friends the Laportas at Restaurant Eve in Old Town Alexandria.  It was a great evening -- maybe 12 people, plus the wine maker and the rep.  Gene and I ended up sitting next to the winemaker.  We bombarded him with questions, but at least they were interesting questions.

Another highlight was the presentation of the menu.  Well, actually the meat platter.  The waiter brought a large baking flat full of the different cuts of meat (well, what did you expect from a restaurant named "Carne"?).  Julia choose the filet (I think, if my memory is wrong, I will fix this post), Carol had the lamb loin, and I had the lamb T-bone.  I won!  It was one of the best pieces of lamb I've ever had, and I've had a lot of lamb in my life.

The third highlight was the cab ride over.  I asked the black cabbie (reminder -- the terms in South Africa are black, coloured, and white, with white being both English and Afrikaners.  Coloureds, before you pillory me as a racist, refers to people of East Asian descent, who generally came to SA hundreds of years ago as slaves) how many languages he spoke.  Four -- English, Afrikans, and two African languages.  Then I asked him about Cape Town.

His life story poured out -- and it was quite fascinating.  He grew up in the Congo, right near the border with Sudan.  His city fell under control of the rebels, and he could not find a job or travel to leave.  However, he had applied for a scholarship in Switzerland (slightly different winter weather) on a lark.  Much to his surprise, he got it.  But, he didn't have a passport, and the rebels were not in the business of issuing papers.

The cabbie then fled to Zambia, where he was sent to a camp for foreigners, far out in the bush.  He was again not allowed to work in a town.  Eventually, he bribed a camp bureaucrat to smuggle him into South Africa.  When he got near the border, he and another refugee got into the first trailer of a two trailer truck.  The border guards simply inspected the second trailer, and they made it through.  He called a friend in Cape Town, who came and picked him (our cabbie, in case you are lost in this story), and brought him there, where he started by parking cars.

He wasn't completely happy in Cape Town -- he felt that after twelve years, he should be further along in life than he was, but he also was happier than if he had stayed in the Congo.  He charged us R63 for the cab ride over (about $6.00), and then we paid a different cabbie R80 for the ride back.  (Not sure how that worked, but I wasn't going to argue with the second guy -- we are talking about a $1.70 difference.)

Anyhow, great dinner, preceded by a very interesting cab ride.

Riffs on South Africa

Many years ago, Leon Uris wrote a book about Ireland entitled "A Terrible Beauty."  That would also be an apt name for a book about South Africa.  The land is beautiful, the people are wonderful, but there are hosts of problems, and an underlying tension that will not be easy to solve.

Maybe I over read it, but Carol and I both noticed numerous instances of white Afrikaners being rude to blacks.  Maybe people are very brusque there, but there was not a lot of the natural courtesy we are used to.  Although, one South African man noted that he thought Americans are too polite, so maybe it is cultural and not racial.

There is certainly hope for the country -- it's a beautiful land, with opportunity and hope for the future.  The example set by Nelson Mandela has kept the country from falling into a cauldron of revenge and anger.  At the same time, the townships, the education system, and the racial splits suggest the country has a long way to go.  The biggest problem facing the country, however, is the corruption among the politicians, which is evidenced in many ways, including the current housing scandals.

On less serious topics:

Stop signs appear to be optional -- sort of like suggestions.  The drivers pay attention to stoplights, but apparently "stop" means go south of the equator in this part of the world.

The food was fabulous everywhere we ate.  We chose a couple of well-regarded restaurants, but even excluding those places we ate well.

Rugby is the major world sport I don't get.  I've been taught cricket, but have never gotten rugby.  It's certainly a huge sport among whites in South Africa.  Basketball appears to be making in-roads in the country, and the NBA will be happy to hear I saw a bunch of official merchandise being both worn and sold.  Of course, I also saw some unofficial merchandise, with the NY Yankees hat that had "Yankees" in purple being most memorable.  Note to MLB: Send your lawyers to South Africa!

There are reasons everyone raves about Cape Town.  It's a neat city, but more importantly, between the Cape of Good Hope and Winelands, it's a short drive to a variety of beauty and nature.  We did not go on the Garden Route, and nor did we do any of the adventures, such as shark cage diving (on my list for next time) or bungee jumping (not on my list!).  I'd also like to hike up Table Mountain some time -- we didn't really have time this trip.

I Bless the Rains Down in Africa

Day Two of the Safari: we were up early, even for us -- I got up at 5am, and the knock at the door came at 5:30.  After a quick pre-drive breakfast snack, we hit the road for our second safari drive at 6 am.  It had stormed the night before, but we were so tired we slept right through it.

We started the drive wearing rain ponchos, as it was a light rain, but it cleared pretty early into the drive.  It is a nice set-up that they keep the same people in the same vehicles with the same rangers and trackers. That way they tried to expand the animals that you saw, plus we all got to know each other.

The morning drive was definitely a bird morning.  We saw numerous birds, including two different types of eagles, as well many more impalas.

Our favorites for the morning were definitely the Kudus. The horns of the male Kudus deserve major kudos. They are quite impressive.  We also enjoyed seeing zebra (pronounced with the British "Zed" not the American Z) and wildebeests.  In fact, at one point we saw a herd of Impalas (the animals, not the Chevys) handing with two zebras and two wildebeests.  Luckily, there was no stampede of wildebeests.

At one point we saw a leopard turtle -- which you can see why it is named that from the link.  Justin stopped the vehicle, hopped out, and he told us all about it.  He noted that we could clearly why it is called the leopard turtle, to which I quipped,"because it runs about the same speed?"  Justin, thinking quickly, noted that I was wrong, and that the leopard turtle also dragged its kill into trees.  It was a pretty quick-witted response, and I gave him due props.

We also saw more elephants, more rhinos, some monkeys in a tree, some dwarf mongoose, and countless other animals.  The sight of a rhino relieving itself (both #1 and #2, as my beloved Nana used to delicately put it) is certainly something we will never forget.  There was also the pride of the impalas.  One male impala was standing near the road, not moving one muscle.  It looked like a very buff statue.

As noted before, birds were everywhere.

I think I mentioned it before, but this is definitely terrain is definitely not the Lion King savannah.  The South African Lower Veld is different than we expected -- lots of low scrub, solitary trees, even woodland, and plenty of water (streams, watering holes, etc.).  It made spotting animals difficult sometimes, but the landscape is beautiful.  We did see some large boulders, but we did not see Pride Rock.

After the drive, we returned to Earth Lodge for breakfast at Sabi Sabi.  Not sure I mentioned, but the place was even nicer than we hoped for.  While we only saw elephants there the first day, the setting remained magnificent.  The food was excellent.

Next on the agenda was a bush walk.  Nine of us went with two rangers and a tracker (Justin was one of the rangers, and Petro was the tracker).  Both rangers were carrying a gun, and they gave us explicit instructions for being out on foot.  We did not see a single animal (doesn't mean they were not seeing us!), but we learned a lot in our 45 minute walk, including tasting some berries, learning about elephant scat (more interesting in person than I can write about), and I learned how to fashion a toothbrush from the branch of a small tree.

We also learned about animal paths, and saw a mangled leopard turtle shell.  Petro believes that the leopard turtle served as a snack for a hungry lion, because there were tooth holes through the shell, and it was ripped about in half overall.

The walk was cut short (it was supposed to be 90 minutes) because a storm was blowing in.  While it was off in the distance, it was visible, and the wind shift announced that it was on its way.  We managed to beat the storm back to the Lodge.  It rained hard for a brief time, but ended relatively quickly.

Carol and I had a couples massage in the spa (I'm still trying to figure out the economic logic of a spa at a 12 room resort), and then lunch.  After doing some work, it was time for the evening drive.  The weather kept clearing, so it was a great evening to go out.

The highlight of the afternoon drive was seeing the Cape Buffalo, which got us to four of the so-called "Big Five."    We missed out on leopard (more on that for Day 3).  In addition, Carol and I would have liked to have seen a male lion, a cheetah (even if they never prosper), and giraffes.  Well,we will just have to go on another safari!

We also all met up as the Earth Lodge group (four vehicles) for the sundowners.  That was fun, and I'd love to post the group photos, so hopefully my hard drive didn't fry!  On the drive back in the dark, we saw some smaller animals, and several owls that were hanging out on the road.

Dinner was fabulous again.  We really enjoyed eating on the lawn (tables were set up) under the stars (which were big and bright, even though we weren't deep in the heart of Texas).  We had another fun table, and the food and wine flowed freely.  Dinner finished at close to 10 pm, and it was right to bed -- for an early rise the next morning!

A Note on Technology

As you probably figured from the delay in updating the blog, I had a major technology meltdown.  Not only was the touchpad acting up, but suddenly, on the flight back from Johannesburg to Cape Town after the safari at Sabi Sabi, my laptop just stopped working.  The screen went black.

Hopefully it is just a video card problem, although my bigger fear is that the hard drive fried, which would mean all my pictures up to this point are gone.  We'll find out.

So, there won't be any more safari pictures posted, because it will take a while to get them if the hard drive did not fry.  Now, back to writing -- and there will be other photos.

More First Day Safari Photos

The back of the injured rhino.  Click on the photo

to enlarge, and you can see his wounds pretty easily.

The wounded part between his legs shows "he"

is definitely a "he!"

The front of the wounded rhino.  Yes, we WERE close!

Profile shot of a baby elephant on the first drive.

Impala on the run.  South Africans are amused

by the fact that there is an American car

named the "Impala."  It's by Chevy, so "car"

is an arguable description.

I could say this is a dramatic roar,

but that would be untrue.  Yawn.

But the cat was cool, and she

never said a mumbling word.

Lions insist on stretching before doing cardio.

Or going back to sleep -- either way.

Sundowner time!  Justin and Petro man the bar.

Julia (the pants aren't Zubaz, they are from India!) and

Carol chat with Claire and Dan.

Sunset, and our vehicle.

Group photo.

I Seek To Cure What's Deep Inside -- A Need for Penguins!

I know the blog is jumping around a bit here, but you really don’t want to read three straight posts of the safari, because you will just be jealous. So, I’m going back a few days to our trip along the Cape of Good Hope.

We hit the road early.  With two busses, there was plenty of room to spare.  Doing a big bus trip is not ideal – you don’t get to stop where you want, and you never have enough time, but we did enjoy the stops we had quite a bit.

We wound our way through the suburban beach towns along the western Atlantic coast side.  It is reminiscent of coastal California – beautiful beaches and expensive homes stacked along hillsides.  The real estate costs less here in the Capetown area than Laguna Niguel or Malibu!  Our first stop was along the western Atlantic coast overlooking the beautiful beaches of ? (look up name).  We also had a great view of the 12 Apostles looming right above us.  It was a traditional large bus photo op – off the bus for a few minutes, snap pictures, and back on the bus.  I’ve never felt more Asian in my life.

(All kidding aside, it WAS fun doing the trip with a large group of people – especially on the safari.  And, our guide for much of the trip, Carol, did a great job of keeping us engaged with her historical and cultural briefings as we traveled.)

We then continued along the western Atlantic coastline (where the water is very cold – no one goes swimming – just surfing).  We drove up the windy cliffs of Chapman’s Mountain, and stopped for tremendous views of Hoets Bay and the Sentinel.  Then we wound our way down to the bottom of the Cape of Good Hope – past mountains, and beautiful views that are a cross between California and the Amalfi Coast.  We drove passed a large ostrich farm.  We saw a bontebok off in a field.  The national parkland is stunningly beautiful – reminding me of Australia or the starkness of Ireland.

Once we got to end, we disembarked the bus.  Some people hiked to the top, while we took the funicular.  The views at the point were stunning – beaches, ocean, mountains all around.  We hiked up to the pointless lighthouse (built in the 1800s, it is high up and gets shrouded in clouds, so ships could not always see the light.  After one shipwreck, they built a better one much lower down on the point.

It was very cool to be there – not only were the views amazing, but the sense of history and adventure is palpable.  The bravery of the first sailors to round the cape is inestimable.

Julia and I hiked all the way to as close as you can get to the lower lighthouse and the very physical end of the Cape.  Carol joined us for much of the hike, but turned around in the hot sun.  We all saw two Dassies sunning themselves on the rocks above us (see the pictures in the penguin photos already on the blog).  We smartly hiked back so as not to miss the bus (although, this wasn’t the Robben Island tour where people would be left behind!  Btw, those people who were left behind were not part of the SAS group.)  I worked up a good sweat on the hike, smelling a bit ripe.

We headed back towards Boulders Beach, which houses the only on-shore colony of African Penguins in, well Africa.  The rest live on islands offshore.  The penguins came ashore in 1985, transforming a sleepy little beach town into a tourist mecca.  We parked in the bus parking, and walked an easy ten minutes through residential neighborhoods.  I pity the people who live here now – their quiet beachtown is no more, and the beach itself is now off limits.

(On the drive to Boulders Bay, we could see Seal Island across False Bay.  Seal Island is famous as the spot for nature programs to go and shoot footage of great white sharks leaping out of the water to eat -- or miss catching -- seals.  No doubt you've seen the footage.)

As an aside, there are a couple of groups of younger (9-12 years old, I guess) black kids singing and dancing wearing African clothes/jewelry, markings, as well as the usual folks showing off their wares for sale by the individual car parking lot.

The penguins were so cool to see.  We walked down boardwalks that weave through the sand dunes, and the penguins were on either side – sometimes crossing under the boardwalks.  Some were lying there – in fact I saw one on a nest scoot down over an egg.  Others were walking around.  When we got to the beach, there were a number of penguins on the rocks (sounds like a British drink – “I’ll have a Penguin on the Rocks, please!”), some on the beach, and some on the water.  It seemed like some were showing off for us – walking towards us, while others nonchalantly ignored everything.  It was neat to watch them swim – alternating between diving under the water, or swimming on top, looking almost like ducks.

African penguins are not as big as your typical penguin in the Antarctic, but they sure are cute little guys and gals. I’m guessing probably saw around 50 penguins in the colony, although I did not take a survey.

After the penguins, which was hard to top, we reboarded the bus and headed to our last stop, the town of Fish Hoek.  We were pretty tuckered out from the combination of hiking and riding a bus, so we grabbed lunch at a little Bistro.  Service was slow, so we did not have time to shop or walk around.  We decided to go back to the hotel and relax, rather than go to the Botanical Gardens and rush around to get to dinner.

The Cape is an invigorating land -- stark windswept beauty, interesting animals, beautiful resort towns and beaches, and some towns where people are having a rough financial go of things.

Sabi Sabi Safari -- First Day Photos

Carol and Julia at the Sabi Sabi airstrip

Impalas are the deer of South  Africa -- they are

everywhere in the bush.

Elephants at the Earth Lodge

Another proud Republican

This elephant is right by the entrace to Julia's room

The view from our room of the veld.

The Wild Dogs Cry Out In the Night

Sorry for the delay in blogging – between being on the go, and having some laptop issues, I’ve gotten a couple days behind.  So, I will skip right to the safari and then go back to our amazing day on the Cape of Good Hope in a future posting.

We got up early in Cape Town, checked out, and all gathered in the lobby to leave by 6:30 am.  The buses took us right away through the rains down in Africa to the airport.  We had an easy two hour flight to Johannesburg (Carol and I will be in the airport four times this trip!).  We all gathered as a group and marched off through the airport.  At least we weren’t all wearing the same shirts or hats or anything!

By the time we got to the charter flight building, which was off the airport, it was pouring.  I think that actually delayed some of the charter flights.  We sat around in the big chairs waiting for our 18 person plane to be called.  It was one of those flights you could see right into the cockpit – one seat on each side, the co-pilot gave the safety briefing, and they had a cooler with water and a box with snacks – that no one got up to help themselves to.

The clouds were amazing to fly just above as we took the one hour flight to the African bush.  They went way above us in puffy elevators up to heaven.  The pilots avoided the clouds as much as possible.  Upon arrival in the savannah, we did landed on a paved strip, which has been the last pavement we see until our departure.

Once we rinsed off with a nicely fresh cold facecloth, we boarded modified Highlands – four rows with three seats per row (except the front row had space for only two) and drove to the Earth Lodge at Sabi Sabi.

The lodge is built into the side of a hill, so it is VERY unobtrusive.  It was so unobtrusive that there were elephants roaming nearby upon our arrival.  Including one younger elephant who was hanging out right outside of what turned out to be Julia’s room.  That was a pretty amazing sighting immediately upon our arrival.

We had a very pleasant, and very late lunch before our first 4:30 safari drive.  We quickly changed in the rooms, which are amazingly private, unobtrusive, and quite large.  Each has its own plunge pool, and is a large suite overlooking the savannah.

For the three hour safari drive, we headed out with Justin our guide/driver, Petro, our tracker, and two families of two each.  We were to stay together for the entire trip – four drives.  We really enjoyed our time with Len, Claire, Keira, and Brina  – as well as Justin and Petro.  I had a great tie cracking Justin (and others in the vehicle) up with my one liners, some of which I will share with you in these posts.

Within three minutes of leaving the lodge, we watched some elephants, including an incredibly cute baby elephant.  Then, we went no more than three more minutes, and saw a rhino up close.

The rhino had been badly wounded, presumably in a battle with another rhino.  His, uh, manhood was out and was bloodied (makes low blows in boxing seem tame), and his butt had big open wounds on them.  The fight had clearly been recent, and the defeated rhino seemed to be moping about.  As that great American philosopher, Kenny Rogers, once sang, “every hands a winner, and every hands a loser, and the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.”

As we were pulling away, we were talking about the rhino, uh, extended, bloody man-parts.  It was a mess.  I quipped, well, I think after four hours of that, you are supposed to call your doctor.  Some laughed, others didn’t get it – until I noted, well, that’s what they tell us on the TV commercials.  (The quip was funnier at the time.)

We then immediately saw a herd of Impala – including the male with his impressive horns.  There were at least a dozen watching us as they ate and chewed their cud.

We drove around, and Justin filled us in on the various beautiful birds we saw, including colorful African parrots.  We actually saw the most birds the next day, during the morning drive.  The hornbills are my personal favorite, primarily because I, like the whole family, love the Lion King movie, and the part of Zazu was played by a hornbill (I know, not an actual hornbill!).

While you think it would be hard to top the elephants and the wounded rhino, but we did when we came to a pride of eight female lions in the grass.  (Someone said, “Look at them lying there.”  I quipped, “hence the name” – man I crack myself up sometimes.)

We stayed there quite sometime – just a few feet from them, watch them sleep (mostly), stretch, walk lazily and plop down, yawn (my, what big teeth you have), and even sneeze one time.  I was very impressed, because Justin called the sneeze right before it happened, just like a great play-by-play announced will predict a play right before it is run.

I brought three camera lenses – ended up taking 410 photos here at Sabi Sabi.  I gotta think two or three worked out!   I brought a standard 18-55 lens, the go-to 55-250 lens, and then the newest member – the huge 150-600 Tamron lens.  I also brought a portable tripod, but since we are not allowed to get out of the car, the tripod proved to be essentially pointless.

After watching the lions for quite some time, we had to leave to allow another safari vehicle to move in close.  We drove some more, marveling at what we had seen, and the beautiful lower velt (pronounced “felt”) landscape and vegetation.  We crashed through streams, and took dirt paths that seemed near impossible.  Finally, we pulled off the track to enjoy the sunset, and have a sundowner.  Justin and Petro smartly set up a small table connected to the grill of the vehicle, and served us our choice of beverages and snacks.  Very civilized.  Sundowners should become a staple of life.

Then, after reloading into the vehicle, we drove around for an hour plus in the dark, as Petro shone his light around to try and spot eyes in the black night.  All we (and by “we” I mean him) spotted were two chameleons, both turned green to blend into the plants they were on.  Carol and some others saw a shooting star, while we also marveled at the Southern Cross, the Milky Way, Orion, and a far-off lightning storm.

Upon returning from the safari, we had to be escorted back to our rooms.  They do not allow guests to walk to/from the rooms in the dark, in case of predators.  So, once we were ready, we had to call and ask for a ranger to come collect us.  The funny part is, it is one person coming to get two – if a predator strikes whilst the ranger is by himself, I’m guessing that would end badly, and be more likely to happen than a strike on two people.  But, we followed the rules.

We had a drink in the incredible bar before dinner.  The Pinotage was nice, but the carved wood of the bar is unlike any I’ve seen.  The wooden benches and chairs here at Sabi Sabi are works of art.

Dinner was in the boma, which is an outdoor area for gatherings.  The five course meal was delicious, and we had a great time talking with the others at our table.  After dinner, which finished late, we were all exhausted and went to bed.  Wake-up call was set for 5:30, with the morning safari to start at 6am.