Thursday, August 16, 2012

South Africa: Safari

Usually what Jaisa and I write about falls into either the "homey" or "hungry" categories and I struggled a bit to make this fit into our usual repertoire.  However, the posts I do sharing pictures of my trip to South Africa aren't really either (though I guess "hungry" fits more if you factor in all of the "circle of life"-esque animal encounters we witnessed).  Stick with me.  I'll get back to crafting soon enough.

I'll start with the safari we did in The Kruger National Park.  We went with a guide from Nhongo Safaris and it was amazing.  We had interesting commentary on all of the animals we saw, plus park history, safety tips, and much more. 

I'll start with the hardest to see animal, since pretty much everything else we saw was up close and personal.  I spy a leopard...


Speaking of big cats, check out these cheetahs that walked right in front of our safari van (and the cars of some other park visitors) on our first night...


We stayed in these tents at the park.  My friend called it "glamping" and I guess that's what it was.  Each tent was equipped with two beds, a desk, a reading area, and a large bathroom.  It was amazing.


One of my favorite parts was elephants, up close and personal.  Adult elephants, baby elephants, and (eventually) angry elephants.  Once they started stomping their feet and raising their ears, we were advised to put down our cameras and sit quietly until they calmed down. 




Here are two in a collection of photos Jesse took of me taking photos.  Cape buffalo and giraffes...



And since I mentioned the CIRCLE OF LIFE, here I am at 6 AM (it was like 30 degrees), wearing my glasses to better see the carnage that was this wild dog eating an impala it had just caught.  My head is blocking the poor impala.  Can you tell I am about to puke?


Enough photos of me.  There were some hungry, hungry hippos...


...dueling warthogs...


...and rhino, who are in big trouble because poachers are going after their horns


There's only room & time this morning for so many pictures, but I wanted to share with you some of my favorites.  The safari was definitley one of the highlights of our trip and though we didn't see one lion (shocking, since we seemed to see Pride Rock about 90 times), I am SO glad we took 3 days out of our trip to head to Kruger.  Heading on another safari is definitely top of our list for when we return!  Many thanks to Nhongo Safaris!

2 comments:

  1. Jesse's a great photographer! But actually, looks like a fabulous trip!

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  2. I was waiting to hear more about your trip! This is so exciting. I especially love the picture of the hippos (see the name of my blog?). LOL Thank you for sharing.

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