Siankaba, notebooks and The U Foundation

We found out about Islands of Siankaba via some friends who visited last year. They had told us about the school there and about how the kids at the school could really use some basic school supplies, especially notebooks. I knew immediately that we would be taking notebooks. As we got closer to our departure date, I asked friends to donate notebooks. I had no idea I would get such a strong response. Within a couple of weeks, I had already acquired close to 80 lbs of notebooks, pencils and erasers. As fantastic as this was, I realized that, although we had a large luggage allowance on our long haul flight, our flight from Jo’burg to Zambia only allowed us one bag each of no more than 44 lbs. I looked into shipping, talked to the airlines talked to other agencies and had no luck in finding a way to get these items over. I finally found out that Siankaba works with a foundation in the UK called the U FOUNDATION http://www.theufoundation.org/ and I immediately contacted them. Knowing we were going to stop in London, I was hoping there would be a way to get these items to them so they could be included in any large shipments. Sarah responded to me saying someone would meet us at the hotel to pick up the items from us! Ahh relief! This would be a 100 mile drive for them, but it seemed to be no problem. The next day, Jay, from the U foundation emailed to let us know that the morning we arrive in London, he would be at the airport to greet a friend of theirs and would pick the items up from us there! Can you believe the luck??? Jay was so kind, offering to arrange transportation for us to and from London and anything else he could , would be no problem! Jay and Carol were there to greet us when we arrived in London. We sat down with them to have some coffee and to chat about Zambia and the new nursery school at Siankaba. This school that had just been built was a very forward thinking addition that would get kids in school at the age of three instead of them having to wait until they were 6 or 7. This new school was funded by the U Foundation. Jay collected the notebooks, which he and Sarah will be taking over at Christmas time, and he put us in our car bound for the city of London.

Fast forward a few days to our first night in Zambia at the Islands of Siankaba hotel. The 4 other guests, our hosts Sarah and Malindi and Eddie and I shared dinner together. We had some great (and very informative) conversations about Zambia and soon found out that Malindi was the brave soul taking on 80 preschoolers from several villages at the new nursery school and we set up our visit to the school for the next morning. We could already tell that Malindi was very passionate about teaching these little ones and very excited about the new school. We managed to pack up a few bags of candy as well as about 20 notebooks and some other school supplies. We were excited to see the kids and Malindi in action, but it was Saturday. Malindi told us he would arrange to have a “few” kids there.
Malindi met us at 10:00 in the morning and we began our walk to the village. Each village is comprised of an entire family and the village of Sinakaba has about 60 residents. They have some cows, chickens and their own gardens, so they produce the majority of their own food. Each house is made from mud with grass for a roof. It rains quite a bit during the rainy season, so these house need to be restructured at the end of each season. Our lodge, employs about 40 people from the village.
Our first stop was the village store where residents can buy items that don’t grow. You just walk right up to the window and make your purchase. To our surprise, the chef from the lodge was working at the store. Our next stop was the current preschool. I don’t even really know how to describe this school. A tiny, open structure that had a leaky grass roof, a couple of tables and a small little chalkboard that Malindi would have to hold when using because there was no true wall. On our way to the new school, we ran into a little girl in her school uniform , walking with her Mom. She was not so sure about us. She had just turned 3 and today was to be her first (unofficial) day of school. We arrived at the school thinking that we would see a few kids. Because, it was Saturday and what kid would want to go to school on a Saturday??? There were about 30 kids there and 10 parents!! All of the kids were sitting onthe front porch of this beautiful new, 3 room building that is the new nursery school. Thetwo rooms on the end were to be for classrooms and the middle room was for storage and office space. The U Foundation shipped over hundreds of books that completely filled the room. The parents had put up some shelves for the books and were painting them when we got there. Most books are for the kids, but there will also be a section where the parents can check out books in hopes to promote literacy amongst the adults in the village.
Malindi moved all of the kids into the classroom and did a little teaching. One of the goals is to teach the kids English as this is what they speak in primary school. The older kids showed us how they have learned to greet each other with a handshake and phrases like:” Hello my name is…” “nice to meet you.” And, “Where are you from?” They sang a few songs and then, Malindi lined them up, so they could get some “sweeties”. This was yet another opportunity for Malindi to teach. I got to give them the candy and Malindi would have them say “thank you.” They were absolutely adorable! Malindi then showed them their new school supplies, which they weren’t too excited about. I think they were just too young to understand. They sure did enjoy their sweeties, though! Malindi’s energy and passion was incredible! Those kids obviously adored him and they LOVE school! Kids as young as three walk several miles every day to and from school. Oh-and by the way-Jay, from the U Foundation, sent Malindi to college, so that Malindi could do this. Remember the little girl we saw on the way to the school? She did great! Her Dad, Lugasi, who works at the restaurant at the hotel, came to watch her and help. We saw him as we were leaving on Monday, which was her official first day and he told us that his heart was heavy, because she is his oldest. I guess some things are just universal.
From there, Richard, who drives the pontoon boat, took us on the rest of the tour. He walked us through the village and introduced us to his wife. He showed us his house and the paintings on the outside that his wife did. We were very impressed! Then, we moved into another village where they had the primary school and the new clinic (also established by the U foundation). Richard taught us to do a small little clap, when you greet elders, to show respect. It was getting hot, so we ended our tour on the beach of the Zambezi, at the end of the village. We were greeted with two, ice cold, DELICIOUS Mosi’s, that we enjoyed there and then hopped in a Mokoro (wooden, dugout canoe) for a nice, 20 minute cruise down the Zambezi.
The village walk was such an amazing experience! We learned so much about the rich Zambian culture. We are really impressed with how the lodge and the U Foundation are trying to make life a little better for the surrounding villages. The average life expectancy of a Zambian is 37 years. This is in part because of the poor water conditions. People lug water for miles from the Zambezi and too often children get sick from the water. There was a boho (sp?) near the clinic and primary school and the lodge is trying to install one in the village of Siankaba. The boho allows the villagers to pull fresh, clean drinking water from the ground. If you ever get a chance to visit this place, you should! It’s beautiful and eye opening. A lot of you asked how I heard about the school or how you could get your supplies there and I'm glad to say that I now have an answer:U Foundation! Check them out and see all of the great things that they are doing:http://www.theufoundation.org/

Mosi-O-Tunya

We were picked up from our hotel by a company called “Bushtracks” for our Livingstone Island/Victoria Falls trip. It was a 45 minute drive and the highlight of it was when the driver, after finding out we were from California, asked us “who’s next after the Governator?”
We were dropped off at a hotel that was a 5 minute boat ride away from Livingstone island. The falls are low this time of year, but we could already see the spray coming up from them. We got in the boat and fought the currents and low water that led to the island. We walked across the tiny island to the edge where we caught our first glimpse of the falls and it was spectacular!!! It’s no wonder this is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. After taking a few hundred pictures, we moved to the other end of the island to begin the adventure I was ecstatic about and Eddie was not at all excited about: Devils Pool! We balanced across rocks to get there, handed our cameras over to the guides and received our instructions: Don’t swim in this current and swim slightly against this current and then stop at that rock. This would not fly in the U.S.! we made it across to where Devil’s Pool was and received our next set of instructions: Jump into the pool here, don’t swim in that current or you’ll go over the falls and if the fish biting your feet bother you, then keep them moving. Did I mention that Devil’s Pool is a small pool that is, literally, at the edge of the falls? Our options were to jump in or slide in and sliding in looked much easier and less intimidating. The person who went first was chosen by whoever’s camera was held up. The first guy went up and the guide asked “are you sliding in or jumping?” He jumped. The next lady slid in, and the next couple of people declined to go in at all. Finally, our camera was held up and I popped up first, with full intentions of sliding in, when asked my preference. I go up on the rock an here is how the conversation went:
Guide: You are jumping In.
Me: I am?
Guide: Yes. 1,2,3 go!
And so I did. It wasn’t too scary, but then again, I closed my eyes so that I couldn’t see over the falls. I made it to the edge of the pool, overlooking the falls, and held on for dear life. To my surprise, Eddie jumped in right behind me! They told us that “little” fish would “give you a pedicure.” I swear one of those fish had my entire big toe in his mouth! We weren’t in the pool long before it was time to head back. We negotiated our way around currents and made it back to the island where we had afternoon tea (I opted for wine) under a tent with a beautiful view of the falls. It was fun to chat with all of the people visiting from all over the world. We made it back to the mainland and enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the drive home. I told Eddie that I was surprised that he jumped into the falls instead of sliding in and he told me there was no way he could have slid after I jumped - Oh- and he loved it!

more Moz

Our last day in Mozambique was very relaxing. We hung out by the beach and pool and did some reading and sleeping.

The village in Mozambique is a fishing village. The men go out on their dow boats and fish from the boats, or get out with nets on the sand bars. When their boats are full, they come in, leave their catch in baskets on the beach and then the women come out, collect the fish and carry it up to the village. It's and interesting site and I finally got up the nerve to go ask a couple of the ladies if I could take pictures of them. They agreed to let me do so. There was quite a language barrier, so we communicated with gestures. They worked and I took pics. They both had very small babies on their backs. They loved it when I would show them the pictures I took. One of them looked up at me and said "What is your name, sister?" Their names were Julia and Monica. I wish I would have taken more pictures of them!

That night, we did a sunset cruise around the bay on a dow boat. Very nice and relaxing. We were joined by the only other two guests at the resort, who happen to be deaf. They were great at reading lips, so it was fun chatting with them!

The day we left, a big storm came in. There was a lot of juggling going on to figure out how to get us back on the mainland for our flight. The boat isn't covered, the grass landing strip was too wet to be landed on and it was too windy for helicopter. It looked like we were going to have to get soaked on the boat, but the wind died down and we were able to go by helicopter! It was awesome!! It felt so strange taking off. I had to resist blurting out a "holy shit!" because there were three other passengers on the plane and we all had headsets on for communication.

As we were waiting at the, very tiny, Vilanculous International airport, we noticed that their one firetruck took off racing down the tarmac with sirens blaring. We could see that it was chasing after an animal that was on the tarmac. It turned out to be a goat! One of the guys got out of the truck and chased him back into the village that surrounds the airport.

Off to our final flight home! More updates and pics, soon!

Stunning Mozambique

We arrived in Mozambique a few nights ago. From Kruger, we flew on an 18 person plane for about 1.5 hours, to Vilanculous. From there, we were supposed to be transferred by boat to the island of Benguerra. Because of weather and much to my dismay, we were told we would be making the trip by small plane. It really wasn´t that bad. It was only 10 minutes and the view was amazing!

We landed on a grass "runway" and as soon as we landed, some kids came running out to check out the people getting out of the plane. We got in the car to our lodge and had a very entertaining conversation with our driver. As usual, we were asked about the governator. Adolfo told us that Arnold is scary in his movies and I told him he´s even scarier as Governor. He also told us that Bon Jovi is his favorite musician and that people from Texas talk a lot. So funny!

The official language of Mozambique is Portuguese. Weird, huh!? I don´t know how to describe the water here...it´s clear, blue and warm. The sand is the softest, whitest sand I have ever seen. It is HOT here! And, extremely humid! For the last few days, Eddie and I have been two of four guests here.

The day we got here, we slept for a few hours and then went to dinner and back to bed. The next morning we walked down the beach and didn´t see a single soul. It was a really relaxing day topped off with a beautiful sunset and a private, lantern lit dinner on the beach in front of our chalet. Yesterday, we went snorkeling at two mile reef, which was the best snorkeling we have ever done. On the way back to the lodge, we stopped off at Pansy Island, which is a tidal island where all of the Pansy shells (sand dollars) live. It was easily the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The rest of the day we relaxed and read.

Today is our last full day. We may kayak later. We are going to to a dow boat cruise later this evening. Tomorrow afternoon we leave here for our long journey home. It´s bitter sweet. I'm ready to be home and see friends and family...and Lincoln who we miss terribly! However, it will be tough to leave paradise!

Leopard Hills wrap up

On our last full day, our morning game drive started out with a great sighting. A pride of lion had stolen a kill from a leopard and was enjoying it on an open field. There were four lioness and two male lions. We pulled up to a lioness savoring the last few pieces of her share of the small impala. We could here her tearing into the bone and ripping off the meat. Another lioness had finished her snack and was slowly moving towards the lioness who was still eating. She gave the approaching lioness a low, rumbling growl, which made her lay down and wait. Another lioness and a male lion approached and they all waited for her to finish. She left nothing for the others. A few minutes later, we heard some roaring in the distance. It was the one male lion missing from the pride. All of the lions got up and started roaring back to him. It was VERY cool!

We left the lions to go find some giraffe. We searched for them for a looong time. Gary and Ronny got out on foot to look, and we finally found them...doing what they are always doing...eating. We also saw tons of rhinos with lots of babies. They are funny to watch, too. When you pull up to them, they just look up at you with grass hanging out of their mouths.

I´ve never thought of myself as a bird person, but there are a lot of beautiful birds in Africa. One of them is a weaver bird. Very small yellow bird. The males make nests, out of grass, that hang from tree branches. The goal is to impress a female with the nest, so that she will come lay her eggs there. It´s a lot of pressure, because if the female does not like the nest, she will tear it down and the male has to start all over again!

When we finished up our morning drive, Gary told us that he had a surprise for us that evening. We spent the afternoon resting up and it was so hot, I soaked in the plunge pool for a while.

Our evening game drive began with a drive to the far corner of the reserve. Gary had told us that there was a cheetah sighting. We spent about an hour trying to find her, but never did. There was a call on the radio that there was a leopard close to our lodge. It turns out that she is the leopard who was on our patio the day before. We got to her as the sun was going down and a storm was blowing in. The wind picked up, which is good for leopards. It makes it more difficult for the impala to smell or hear them. There were a few unsuspecting impala very close to her.

Less than a mile away from the leopard was a male and female lion. They were from the pride we had seen earlier. They were even closer to the impala, but didn´t seem interested. It got pretty dark and a huge lightening storm was overhead, so we were trying to take pictures of it (with the two lions right behind us). Eddie had been keeping his eyes on the lions and said "uh-oh, the big one is getting up." We backed up right next to them and much to our surprise (and discomfort), they mated. It lasted no more than 30 seconds. Not very impressive for the "king of the jungle". They went to sleep and we went in for dinner. This ended up being our last game drive as the morning drive was canceled due to the storm. Lions mating under a lightening storm is not a bad way to wrap things up.

Our bush plane couldn't fly in the storm, so we had to go by car to the airport, which was about 2 hours and fine by me!

FABULOUS Leopard Hills

DAY 1

Leopard Hills was the last stop on safari for us. Our first night there, there were only eight of us and we all hit it off pretty quickly. We had some lunch and before heading out on safari, I had to try this outdoor shower. When else do you get to shower, outdoors, in the African bush?! It was really nice. I looked out to the watering hole and there were a few Kudoo, just staring at me with there big ears pointed straight up.

At 4:00, we loaded into the range rover and off we went! Gary was our ranger and Ronald (Ronny) was our tracker. The first thing we came across was a giant giraffe bone. Gary got out and handed it to us, so we could feel how heavy it was. We then pulled into the watering hole area that the lodge overlooks. This is where I found out that Gary was also a photographer, so he was giving us great tips on how to shoot and use the lighting. We saw two male waterbuck playing around and a brand new baby impala who was very curious about an Egyptian goose. The impala would cautiously approach the goose, the goose would hiss at it and the impala would clumsily run back to his herd. We drove on, to the banks of another watering hole full of hippos! We got pretty close to them and they were very active...wrestling and rolling around in the

water. We watched them for a good 20 minutes. When we left them, we came across, two, adult male lions. They were beautiful and HUGE!! Again, not very active, but I could have watched them all day. They were so majestic and it felt like a privilege to be in their presence. We hit another watering hole for our sun downers, which was also full of hippos and tons of baby hippos. It was so funny to see them all wit their eyes and ears just above the water, watching us very closely. Ronny pulled out some drinks and snacks and exclaimed "The bar is open!"

As it got dark and we headed back to camp, we got a call that one of the other rangers had found a Puff Adder (venomous snake) and was holding it for everyone to see. So, we booked it over there and sure enough, there was this guide, with a disgusting snake on a stick. He let him go and we were on our way back to camp. That night, we had a delicious dinner, with our ranger and hit the sack early.

DAY 2

Today was exciting before we even left the lodge! We had our morning coffee and Gary told us he would meet us down at the truck whenever we were ready. The two other couples got to the vehicle before us. When we got down there Gary asked us if we had seen the Leopard that was at our front door! Apparently, this leopard frequents the lodge pretty regularly. A couple of months ago, they found her on the treadmill in the gym!

Our first mission was to find her. We assumed that she had already left and we went down to the watering hole to see if we could catch her coming back down. There was no sign of her. We continued to look in other places and then got the call on the radio that she was actually on our deck and at the pool!

No worries, we moved on and soon found another leopard who was hunting and who was also very pregnant. We watched her for a while, slowly sneaking up on a herd of impala. She was very stealth! She moved through the bush and finally made her way onto a termite mound so she could get a better view. We were hoping to see some action, but she was too patient for us, so we moved on.

Our next sighting was bizarre and apparently, very rare. Neither our guide or tracker had seen it before. A Martial Eagle had killed a Guinea fowl and was trying to move it. The Eagle had the large bird on the ground, with one talon dug into it and was dragging it to a safer place where he could eat it. He flew a short distance with it, up onto a fallen branch and began to eat it...starting with the eyes. We watched for a while, got some good shots and moved on. Gary (our ranger) is going to submit some of hi shots to an African wildlife magazine.

We had some coffee and headed back to the lodge where we rested up before our evening drive.

The evening drive started with a massive rhino, chowing down on some grass and seemingly unaware that we were there.

We moved on to find a large herd of elephant. There was a young male there who was very curious about us. He came up very close to us and then backed up. I guess he decided that he didn´t like us because he started shaking his head and flaring his ears. He would pretend to charge us and then back up. At one point, Gary moved the car forward to "charge" him. This really made him mad. He ran off and then ran back, trumpeting and shaking his head. We started to drive off and he would chase us. Then, we would stop and start the whole routine over again. He was hilarious!! Then, we moved over by an adult male who displayed similar behavior, which was quite a bit more intimidating!

That night, we also enjoyed the rare sighting of a zebra and came across some buffalo, after dark, that Ronny found because he could smell them. On our way home, Ronny also managed to spot a python in complete darkness! We stopped to check him out and fortunately, he was more scared of us then we were of him.

Another delicious dinner with some great conversation, and we were off to bed!

Lions and Leopards!

Internet is a nightmare, so I am going to include the last few days into one blog.
Our last evening game drive at King’s camp was Friday night and it was an adventurous one. There was rumor that lions were in the area, so we spent the first hour and a half trying to find them. It was amazing to watch the trackers work. At one point, our tracker and guide parked the vehicle, grabbed the
riffle and went out to track on foot. We were left in the vehicle and told to just stay still if anything approaches. While they were gone, we could hear chatter over the area radio about a Leopard in the area who was playing with a brand new baby impala. This is common for leopards to do before they kill. Finally, our guide came back and left two trackers to track on foot and we were going to look more in the vehicle. As we were driving, the temperature dropped and the wind really picked up. We could see that the sky was getting pretty dark and we felt a few drops. 20 minutes later, Colbert (our guide) got word over the radio that Sam (our tracker) had found the lions. So, we hauled ass over to the area,
Sam jumped back onto the front of the truck and we drove deep into the bush. We got in and there they were-lying on the ground, resting up for their evening of hunting. It is remarkable how close you get to these massive animals. They give you at look at first and then they act as if you are not even there. Being around them was such a powerful experience. The three lionsthat were there were part of a pride of four. They are all pretty young. The sad part is that their pride was 9 strong, but the rest have been killed by other lion. Their Dad got old and lost his territory and their Mom was killed by 2 other lioness.
We watched them for a while. They didn’t do much…mostly, they slept.
We left them and decided to race over to the leopard that was playing with the impala. After 1.5 hours, she had finally put that poor baby impala out of it’s misery and was feasting on it. We raced over and by the time we got there, it was dark and starting to rain. The guide put the spotlight on the leopard and what a site. She had the baby impala up on a large branch and she could care less that she had an audience while she ate. The impala was small enough to only be a snack for the leopard.

We were able to take a few pictures before the rain picked up. We were handed some rain ponchos and it took us about 10 minutes to get out of the tough spot we were lodged into. By the time we got onto the road, it was pouring! The winds were strong and we were surrounded by lightening and thunder. The rain was coming down so hard that it felt like hail. It took us about 15 minutes to get back to the lodge and it was not a fun ride.
The next morning was our last drive at King’s camp. It wasn’t too exciting. However, we did finally see buffalo, which completed the “big 5” for us!
We got back to the lodge, had some breakfast and then headed off to the airstrip for our next bush plane adventure.
Our little plane appeared from the clouds and made a quick landing. When the pilot stepped out, I asked him how the flight over was (so I could determine if I was to get on the plane or not), and here is what he said:
“It was pretty tricky with this weather. We should be in a bigger plane, but THIS WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT WAS LEFT. It’s harder to fly in the clouds, because THERE IS NO RADAR UP THERE.” When I told him that he said all of that to the worse person he could say it to, he then told us that we would by flying below the clouds because it is a requirement when there are passengers in the plane. When we got on, he proceeded to write out our tickets for us!
The flight over wasn’t that bad at all. About 20 minutes and we landed in Sabi Sands on an airstrip that actually had a building near it. Apparently, this is Richard Bransen’s airstrip and he lets our lodge us it.
We were collected and drove 5 minutes to our new lodge: Leopard Hills. This place is gorgeous!! We somehow ended up in the honeymoon suite. From what I understand, the only difference is the view. The lodge itself is settled into a hilltop. We have an amazing, panoramic view of the bush and a beautiful clearing with a waterhole. We have our own, private plunge pool and an outdoor shower.

We had some lunch where we met the other guests: A couple from the UK, a couple from New York and a couple from Dallas! We chatted for a bit and when in to get ready for our first, Leopard Hills, game drive.

Safari!!!

One of the rules of the King's Camp lodge is that you can not walk anywhere alone after dark. Creepy-right? The lodge itself has a low, surrounding electric fence, but that is only intended to keep elephants out as they trample and destroy everything in their path. There is one leopard who likes to come into camp every once in a while to see whats going on. There are also baboons and impala that come in. We found out last night that none of these are the reason we must be escorted at night. After blogging, it was pretty late, and we had Oscar (who is our escort and keeper of the flashlight) walk us down the single path to our room. Every step there was either a scorpion, snake or other creepy, unidentified object. Ugh!

Okay, so we woke up this morning, at 5:15 a.m., we opened our front door and, HELLO, an impala was right there munching on our little tree. We had a little stare down and around the corner came her little baby. So sweet. We walked around them as they continued to munch, had some coffee and loaded into the vehicle for our morning drive. Not 2 minutes into the drive, we came across 6 giraffe having their breakfast. One of them was a small baby, whose legs were obviously still unstable. We drove more and came across many Impala, Kudoo, and Waterbuck.
Another hour in and we came across a small herd of elephant. Beautiful! They acknowledged us and continued to eat. This herd had two, very small babies. At least one of them, was still nursing. We watched them for a while and gently moved closer. Another vehicle from our camp came flying in a little too quickly, which really set one of the little guys off. He began "trumpeting" and flaring out his jumbo ears. He clearly thought that he was much bigger than he actually was. We were well entertained by him!

After that, we pulled up to a large watering hole for some coffee and biscuits. We watched the hippos across the way and those that needed to, had an opportunity to "shake the grass." This is my new favorite term :)
We drove some more and saw a few more elephants, before we pulled onto a spot by a dry riverbed for a "Bush Breakfast." Basically, all of the staff from the lodge brought breakfast to us and we enjoyed it out in the bush. From there, the tracker drove our vehicle back to the lodge and we did a bush walk with our guide. We received our instructions to walk in a single file line and always follow his instructions. If we "bump" into something, we were to stand very still. He proceeded to load up his riffle and off we went. The elephants were close but not too close. Other than that, we only saw a few birds and some spider nests, before making it back to the lodge. The rest of the day was really relaxing. We had our first workout since leaving the states and took a dip in the pool.

We are on our way out for our evening drive and Im really hoping to see a lion! We are only a buffalo and a lion away from seeing all of the "big five". Im really looking forward to another hot bath drawn upon our return and dinner in the Boma.

We have another drive, here, in the morning and then we jump on a bush plane to head to our next lodge. yikes. I will update again once we get there.

XOXO

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Once again, im very behind on blogging. Internet has been hit or miss. I actually, so have a lot of blogs on our laptop, but the only internet access we have now, is the one computer at our lodge. As we expected, because we are in the bush!!!
We left Cape Town today feeling like we could use one more day there. What a fantastic city! We flew 2.5 hours to Nelspruit where we were to meet our bush plane that would take us deep into Kruger National Park. So, our bush pilot met us after we collected our bags and he honestly did not look like he was old enough to have a driver's license. I have not been a good flyer on this trip and it's gotten worse. My first question to him was if this would be a smooth flight and his (laughing) response was "no, it will be quite bumpy." First time in my life that the pilot of a plane Im flying on carries my bags for me, onto the tarmac, loads them in the back seat and proceeds to help us step onto the planes tire and into the plane. They say this plane was a 6 passenger plane. The two of us and the pilot barely fit. We climbed into our seats and the pilot gave us the same "safety" message you normally get from a flight attendant while taxying. He started up the plane, waited for his cue that we were good to go and then turned around to give us a thumbs up to let us know we were good to go. Terrifying take-off!! Not only was it bumpy, but the wind was blowing us all over the place! Luckily, our cruising altitude was only 3500 feet. This made for a beautiful flight. Thank God Eddie had the camera to take some pics because I was white knuckling the two handles on the side of my seat. 35 minutes later, we landed on an airstrip out in the middle of nowhere. When he helped us back out of the plane, I asked him how old he was. 22, flipping, years old! Honestly, think about what you were doing at 22! We were picked up in a game vehicle for a 10 minute, dirt road, drive to King's Camp. Gorgeous lodge! We were greeted with a cold wet towel and a cold drink. As soon as we signed our lives away, we were taken to our stunning "hut". Only the pictures will do this place justice. Very safari themed with elegant accents. The best part is the double, outdoor shower. We had some lunch and at 4:00, we headed out for our first game drive. This is an open vehicle, with 6 guests, the guide who was driving, and the tracker that sat on the front of the Land Rover. The first hour was full of kodoo and spring bock (small deer like animals). ABout an hour in, we located a rhino and her baby. It was unreal to see these massive, beautiful animals in their natural environment. We ended up chasing them, which was quite an adventure. An hour after that, we came across our first leopard. They suspect that she just gave birth. She was absolutely beautiful and we were so close that we could hear her panting. We watched her for a while and then drove down the road where we stopped for a "sundowner" which is basically a cocktail at sunset. We drove back to the lodge to get ready for dinner. When we walked into our room, they lit a bunch of candles in the bathroom and had drawn a hot bubble bath. We had our Thanksgiving dinner, which for us was grilled ostrich, sweet potatoes and chocolate mousse.
This is a brief and probably horribly mispelled update. I will post pics tomorrow, but for now we have to hit the sack as we have a 5:00 a.m. wake up call for our a.m. safari.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Much love!

okay- so we owe everyone lots of info and there is so much to share and it was so amazing, I need to slow down to give the experience justice. I the mean time, Ill tell you about today. Cape Town is fantastic! It's like San Diego on steroids. It's about double the population and...I hate to say this, but it is, at least, twice as beautiful. It's stunning! We started our day with a trip up to Table Mountain, which was more fantastic than I thought it would be. Incredible views of the town.

You access Table Mountain, via cable car. Each one holds about 65 people and as you are going up, the floor of the cable car rotates, so that everyone gets a good view.

We left table mountain and hired a car/driver to take us around the other popular Cape Town destinations. Our driver was Justice and he was great! He was very funny and very passionate about South Africa. And...he LOVES Obama.

So, the first spot Justice took us to was to see the penguins in Simon's Town. Most penguins you find are in Antarctica, but for some reason, these guys prefer South Africa.

They were very cute

Then, we arrived on to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point...the farthest ends of Africa...the place where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.

We were walking around, when a group of about 25 Germans wanted us to take pictures of them. Each one of them handed us their cameras. Eddie, Justice and I were all grabbing cameras and taking pictures. They had been drinking champagne on the coast and were a little toasty and hilarious! Once they were finished, I handed our camera to Justice to take a picture of Eddie and me. We walked over to the point and when I turned around, all of the Germans were taking pictures of us!

We left there and Justice drove us around beautiful Haut Bay and Camp's Bay and gave us a lot of info on the history of South Africa.

The next day, we had a wine tour scheduled. Mervin picked us up and, again, was a wealth of knowledge on South Africa. He took us to our first winery, which was beautiful. It's funny how it looks so similar to California wine country, but so different at the same time. We had a private tasting paired with cheese. The tasting consisted of EIGHT wines and these were not small pours! We left there and went to an amazing lunch in the Franschoek region and it was delicious! We were able to hit one more winery and then we headed back to the hotel and had a great conversation with Melvin on the way. We had a nice dinner that night and left the next morning for the bush!

We arrived in Zambia a few days ago. We have no internet service, so I have been blogging in a word document, so I can paste it into the blog as soon as we have internet again.

After spending about 30 hours in London, we flew to Johannesburg to catch our connecting flight to Zambia. I’m not a very comfortable flyer. Sometimes I’m okay and sometimes, I’m a mess. I was perfectly fine on our flight to London. I was okay for the first few hours of our flight from London to Jo’burg, but the last half was a little bumpy and I was a mess! So, I didn’t sleep at all. I was basically on the verge of a panic attack for 6 hours. The turbulence wasn’t bad; it just lasted a long time.

We arrive in Jo’burg at about 6:00 a.m. and it was very cold, rainy and windy. Ker and Downey arranged to have someone from the airport meet us right as we stepped off the plane. They guided us to customs and then walked us to the front of the line. Before we could clear customs, they had as stand in front of some sort of thermal imaging screen that they were using to test people coming in for swine flu. Once we made it through, we were escorted to check in for our flight to Zambia and then through security. It was great to be able to move through these places so quickly, but it was also kind of sketchy. We had about 2 hours before our flight to Livingstone and we were exhausted enough to fall asleep on the ground for a little bit.

Zambia Day 1 (Hippos are loud)
We were met at the airport by someone from our lodge (The Islands of Siankaba). We hopped in the van for our 45 minute drive to the lodge. There was another couple with us, Raj and Latissia, who had just flown in from Lusaka which is North of Livingstone. As we drove along, they gave us some great information on Zambia. Along the way we picked up another friend of theirs, Chloe, who also lives is Lusaka and her husband would be meeting us later.
We drove through downtown Livingstone and as we made our way out of town, we were thrust into Africa. Lush and green from the new rains and people walking along side of the road…women carrying fruit on their heads and babies on their backs. Many women were carrying water as far as miles, from the Zambezi River to their villages. As of now, that’s the only way for villages to get water. We pulled onto a dirt road that we stayed on for 4 miles until we arrived at the lodge. We were greeted and checked in and then escorted to a pontoon like boat. From there, the boat drove us down the Zambezi a bit to the main part of the lodge. I am going to do my best to describe this lodge and its very unique beauty .There are 7 chalets on one island and the bar, pool and restaurant on the other island. The two are connected by a series of bridges…most swinging rope bridges. Everything is open air. The chalets are incredible. They are tucked into the vegetation, so you hardly notice them when you pull up. From the outside they look like giant tents raised upon stilts. In fact, the outside of these chalets are actually tented. Inside is all made of teak wood with a big gorgeous comfy bed and a claw foot tub. The “wall” facing the Zambezi could be completely opened by unzipping it and rolling it up and outside was a great deck. Beautiful! We had a delicious lunch and rested before the sunset cruise.
We met in the lobby for the sunset cruise. Joining us were the 4, only other guests at the hotel. Raj, Latissia, Chloe and Rob. As we got on the pontoon it started to rain. Not a problem-we had some umbrellas and the rain only lasted for 5-10 minutes. We did a cruise down the Zambezi and past the resident family of 13 hippos. We didn’t get too close as they are not very friendly. We cruised around a bit a pulled up onto one of the tiny islands in the river. Richard, our captain, poured us some drinks that we had selected before leaving the lodge. Eddie and I were EXHAUSTED and debated doing the sunset cruise. I’m so glad we did! It was really nice to chat with the other two couples about Zambia and their “home” countries. The scenery surrounding us was surreal. In front of us was a double rainbow (from the departing rain clouds), to the left of us was the stunning sunset and behind us was a family of hippos. As the sun went down, Rob announced that this was my and Eddie’s first African sunset and I’m so glad he did-we were so wrapped up in our surroundings that we momentarily forgot how special this sunset was to be.

A little behind?

Hello! We just made it into Cape Town today! We have just spent three days in Zambia...with no phones, no internet, no T.V. and it was fantastic! So...we are obviously behind on our posts. I am in the process of the Zambia post and I must warn you now that it is long. We have travelled to manyplaces, but I will tell you now that Livingstone, Zambia is the most amazing place I have ever experienced. The rest of Africa has a lot to live up to. Posts coming now...

London

We are relaxing in the B.A. lounge at Heathrow after our 24 hour whirlwind in London. This was my first time here and I loved it! Eddie and I have already decided that we must come back, as we only scratched the surface on this trip.

We got in yesterday morning at around 10:00 a.m. We made it through customs with our personal belongings as well as two, 40ish pound boxes of notebooks, pencils and other school supplies. As soon as we passed through customs, our new friends Jay and Carol were waiting for us. Ill explain who these wonderful people are when I post about the notebooks that are going to Zambia. We had some coffe with Jay and Carol and then hopped in a car bound for the city. Knowing we didn't have a lot of time, we dropped our bags in our room and hit the streets of London. Our first stop: Plummers Arms Pub. We had a pint of London Pride, some fish and chips and a lamb burger. From there, we jumped on the highly recommended Red Bus for a tour of the city. About 20 minutes in, I fell asleep and didn't wake up again until we got to the Tower of London. We hopped off and realized that the tower was only open for another hour, so we just walked around the surrounding area. The air outside was nice and crisp and the wind was STRONG.

We hopped back on the bus just as the sky darkened and the city lit up. We jumped off again at the picadilly circus, fought the crowds for a little while and then decided to head in for dinner. The area we stayed in was called Belgravia and it was perfect. The area itself was nice and quiet and appropriatley described as a "leafy residential area". It was really easy to walk everywhere from there. We left our hotel for dinner with empty bellies and absolutely no destination in mind. We had a lot of choices...Lebanese, Thai, Russian and we finally decide on Portugese. I had some grilled prawns, squid, fish and rice and Eddie had salty clams and pork...YUMMY! We had a night cap back at the hotel and were in bed by 10. I don't think I got more than 3 hours of sleep

This morning we got up and had breakfast and much needed coffee at Starbucks (shameful, I know). We walked around a bit and made our way to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. We got there about an hour early, but noticed that a lot of people were already there and standing at the driveway outside of one of the gates. Following about half a dozen police motorcycles, a little commotion and a lot of squeals and excitement came a car carrying a little lady in a fancy hat. It was The Queen stepping out, following her not so well received speech the day before. What a treat! About an hour more of waiting around and we saw the changing of the guard. It was a lot more musical and a lot longer than we antisipated. So, We devoured some lunch and headed to the airport. One more 11 hour flight and we are in AFRICA. Ten years of dreaming soon to come to fruition...