South Africa

So, I've been back from South Africa for a week and a half now and haven't blogged a bit of it. I wish I had taken my laptop with me so I could have written each day. Now, I've forgotten so much of the good stuff. But, here's a short recap. June 9, I flew all night to London and met Dave, my brother, Joyce, my sister, and my nieces Kendra, Karin, and Abby.

We had a layover for a few hours and then we flew all night again to Capetown, S.A. My parents (who were just finishing their mission) met us at the airport and we went to the mission home to shower (badly needed!) and change clothes. We then went immediately back to the airport and flew to Port Elizabeth. We stayed in a lovely 5 star hotel right on the Indian Ocean. It was gorgeous.

This is us eating breakfast in the hotel dining room.

The first night we were in P.E., we went out for Chinese food. That's pretty funny, huh? You'd think that in Africa we might eat African food.......

This is Karin, Mom, Dave, Dad, me, Abby, and Joyce. It was our first night together in over 21 months. It was wonderful!

The next day we got up and went on a Pumba Day Safari. It was amazing.

Dave, Dad, Mom, Abby, Kendra, Karin, me, and Joyce

We all got into a jeep just like the jeeps you ride in at Disneyland on the Indiana Jones ride. Our guide was fantastic and he drove like a maniac. If we didn't hold on, we would have bounced right out.

That's Karin, me, and Joyce in the front, Kendra, Abby, and Dave in the middle and Mom and dad in the back. (You can't see Dad. Maybe he took the picture?)

We saw every possible animal. We were close enough to the giraffes that I thought I could reach out and pet one. The highlight of the safari was when our guide got the jeep high-centered on a termite mound about five feet from a white lion eating an impala that the lioness had just brought him. Eek!


This lion was actually pretty bored with us. Our guide said that the animals see the jeeps so often that they consider them like other animals. BUT, if you get out of the jeep, it changes things completely. So, we are high-centered, the jeep won't move, the lion is watching us, and we can't get out of the jeep. What do we do?????

Finally, the lion picked up the carcass and walked around to the other side of the bush. Our guide then put us on high alert to watch for his movements and also for the lioness (we didn't know where she was) and he quickly got out of the jeep and jacked up the front tires so we could get some traction and get out of there. As soon as we were free from the termite mound, the guide drove right up to the lion again so we could watch him finish his dinner.

Speaking of food, Pumba fed us an amazing lunch. It was out in the middle of the reserve and was authentic African food and was delish and such a fun experience. We felt completely pampered.

Karin, Abby, Zoolani (our guide), Mom, Dave, Dad, me, Joyce, and Kendra.

After lunch, we got up close and personal with many more animals. During the day we saw, a leopard, elephants, hippos, giraffes, cape buffalo, lots of wildebeests, lots of warthogs (they are pretty cute), and lots of impala. I'm sure there was more, but that's all I can remember right now.

That night we went on a night game drive. I'll write about that in my next post.

Michele