Day 9: Travel to Jo-burg

Up early as usual for breakfast and packing up.  Made a to-go lunch since there wouldn't be any where to stop on the way to Jo-burg.

Before getting on the road we stopped by a G-Adventures Planterra project, they have these projects all over the world.  This project was for a local day care/school for the kids in the village.  They have built them new toilets, a kitchen, and a water barrel.  The kids were not there, they had a graduation the day before so they gave them the day off.  It was still really cool to check out what has been done there.

Then we started the very long drive to the hotel by the airport.  Check out this road sign!! :)

The whole group was excited to sleep in a real bed last night! We all got ready and did a group dinner at Tribes.  I tried Kudu, Impala, Ostrich and some snails.  It was all really good!  The restaurant was connected to a casino, so we headed there next :)

Group pic!  So sad to leave all the wonderful peeps I met on the first tour.

The tour guides Vernon and TJ we really great.. They made the trip a lot of fun!

My tent mate Bec was also really awesome... The next one has a lot to live up to!!

The first tour was really a great time and super fun!  Hope the next group of peeps are just as cool, but again they have some serious competition!! :)

Day 8: Kruger National Park, Part 2

We slightly got to sleep in today... Breakfast was at 6:15 :D

The trucks came to pick us up at the camp site and headed out to find some animals!

It was quite chilly today and rained a little.  The morning started out with a male lion spotting, he was scared, don't think anyone got pics.  He was really big and was dark colored like Scar ;)

All of the animals we saw in the morning we had already seen on Day 7.  We did get to see 2 more lions, that always makes for a good game drive!!!

Lots if elephants and giraffes :)

And a hyena!  Disney makes them out to be ugly and stupid.  Apparently they have a very good social structure and they are super cute!!  Seriously, check him out ;)

Got to a new campsite today and dinner was prepared by a local tribe and then they did a performance for us.  At the end we all got up and danced with them... Good times!!

Had some fun hanging out at the bar after dinner then off to bed.  Not so early start tomorrow but a long bus ride ahead to get to Jo-burg (as the cool kids say ;)

Day 7: Kruger National Park, Part 1

An early start again but we got french toast for breakfast, yum!

Drove for about 1.5 hours to the entrance of Kruger National Park. Today is an intro to a game drive, the all day game drive is tomorrow.

There were LOTS of animals to see!! Elephants, ostrich, giraffes, buffalo, impala... Tons!

There is a "Big 5" in Kruger Park... The five most dangerous animals to hunt:  Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Leopard, Buffalo. We wanted to check all of these off the list!!

Day 5 we got the rhino...

During our drive to the campsite inside the park we saw the elephant, buffalo, and lion... 4 down one to go!!

We set up camp and had spaghetti for dinner.  Then we headed out for a night time game drive!  

The guide saw a chameleon and was trying to point it out to us.  Some said "I can't see it, can you go and fetch it?"  And he totally did!! I got to pet him, they are so cute!!!

We totally interrupted a lion threesome ;) There were 3 lions (2 male, 1 female) laying in the road when we approached.  The dominate male was very interested in the female.  We stayed and watch the lions for quite a while.  It was funny to see them just laying in the middle of the road!

The last highlight of the game drive was the leopard!!!  As they were opening the gate to let us in someone said "hey, there is a cat over there". The guide looked over and it was leopard laying right by the fence to the campsite... Awesome!!

Day 6: Travel to South Africa

The theme continues with early mornings... Breakfast at 5am!! Had to get an early start because the Zimbabwe/South African border can take forever to cross.

Another very long and bumpy ride to the border and we were really lucky, only took about 30 minutes to get across :)

We then headed to the next town to get lunch and some snacks for the next two days.... And some South African cider!

Arrived at the campsite, it is so nice!!  Four different pools all with different temps.  They have cute little mongoose here!

I also got a picture of Pumba (on the real camera).  He was not too far from the campsite... That is the warthog from The Lion King, just in case no one knows what I'm talking about ;)

We had another great dinner by the fire then headed to the pools for a bit.  There is currently a bit of a thunder storm going on... Sitting in the tent as it thunders and lightenings!

Off to bed to get ready for another alpine start tomorrow!!

Day 5: Rhino Walk and Bushman Cave Art

Best day ever!!! :D

We got to sleep in today.. Breakfast at 8. I was told this won't happen again!! ;)

We are headed out to stalk some rhinos. Not guaranteed but we were told we could get pretty close to them... About 5 meters away!  I'm sun screened up and ready to go!!!

First we saw two rhinos, mom and baby. The guide apologized for not getting us closer, they were a little freaked.  Seriously, this is really close... Maybe 40-50 yards.

Back to the land rover and headed to eat lunch the a hike up a mountain.  Half way up we stopped by a cave to see the Bushman drawings.

We then headed up to the top of the mountain for an awesome view!!

And ginger beer is awesome!  Kinda like root beer but ginger :)

We also stopped by a village where the kids were dancing for us.  We got to see inside their village kitchen.  Each building has it's own purpose.  In their culture, they havire than one wife an have to buy her.  It is a status symbol to have lots of wives!  This is where they cook their food, a hole in the ground in the middle of the circular building.

On the way back to camp we tried once more to see some rhino... This time we got about 20 feet away from another mom and baby.  With my other camera, I was so close I had to zoom out to get the whole rhino in the pic!!!

Ian was our guide for the day... He was fantastic!! He was very passionate about the rhino and the bushmen.  I really learned a lot on day 5 :)

Day 4: Travel to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

A very early start today... Like breakfast and packed by 5:15am!  We headed out in our bus a little after 6.  Had to get across the boarder into Zimbabwe.

While our guide collected the passports we crossed into Zimbabwe and checked out Victoria Falls.

Had to be back on the bus by 9am.  Already we have done a lot today!

Had a very long and bumpy ride to our camp site in Zimbabwe... Big Cave Camp.  We pulled over on the side of the road and had some lunch.

Of course on the way into the campsite we ran over a Black Mamba snake... The most venomous and dangerous snake in South Africa!  Our guide warned us about those and scorpions... Keep your tent zipped!!!!

Off the bus to setup camp and then took a walk to see the sunset.  I thought it was just gonna be a little hike but our guide was awesome!! I got to climb up a bunch of rocks!  And the down climb was awesome, we had to do a "leap of faith". Take his hand and jump across to the rock below.. So fun!! :)

When we got back to camp dinner was waiting for us. We had sausages, veggies, boerewors pap (South African maize meal).  The driver of the truck is a trained chef... Dinner was great, and not just because I was starving! ;)

After dinner, we hung out at the campsite bar for a few drinks, spotted a bunch of constellations and then off to bed.

Day 3: Lion walk and Elephant ride

So day 3 started really early!  Had to be ready for the ride to the Lion Walk at 6:15am.

When picking some other people up we saw a giraffe!

We took lion cubs for a walk.  They were about 9/10 months old.  So cute and super playful!

After the lion cub walk, some of the guys were gonna bungee jump!  So the group headed over to watch them.  Makes me even more excited to do my jump in South Africa!!

After the jumping we had to hurry to get back to our camp site so we could catch our transportation to ride the elephants!!  We got about an hour ride on the elephants and then got to feed and pet them :)

Once getting back to the campsite, I met up with the other folks on my tour.  Vernon and TJ are our CEOs (chief experience officers), they are really great! We had our group meeting where we learned about what we would be doing throughout the week.

We then headed into the town for some dinner and then to bed early... The next morning was an early one!

Day 2, part 2: Devil's Pool atop Victoria Falls, Zambia

Can any one say holy oh my god awesome?!?!?  Devil's Pool is the second water fall...

Took a short boat ride from the dock of a really nice hotel (not where I'm staying) over to where Devil's Pool is, we were on the Zambia side.  

While waiting for the boat I saw a few hippos in the water... No pics cause they were a bit out and I could only see their backs and a bit of their eyes and nose sticking out of the water.  Once one of them yawned I realized what they were.. So cool!

We were able to take a few pics before swimming over to the pool.  The guide had us get in the water and then we laid on the edge (he held our feet), wish he didn't have too!  While they were taking group photos little fish were biting us.  The guides told us about this so we wouldn't try to fling our legs out of the water and go flying over the edge of the waterfall.

The bank on the other side is Zimbabwe.

After swimming in the pool they served yummy food and drinks.

Then a short boat ride back to the hotel where we started.  And a super cool surprise... Zebra!! Wild, just hanging out!!

On my tour I met some of the people that will be on my Zambia/Zimbabwe tour.  All of them seem really cool :)

Have to say... I'm super excited I'm doing this... Everything is great so far.  I'm now headed to have some drinks with the peeps I met today :)

Day 2: Travel to Livingstone, Zambia

Standing in line for customs/passport processing in Johannesburg.  About 9 am here but 2am in Atlanta.  Think that ambien really helped, feeling pretty good right now.  Have about 2 hours before the next flight to Livingstone, Zambia.

Slept a little on the way to Livingstone.  The pilot said we were going to be able to see Victoria Falls but I totally missed it.  All I saw was brown dirt :| 

Made it through immigration and customs into Livingstone and found my G Adventures driver who got me to the Zambezi Waterfront Hotel.  

Check out my tent!

Now I'm waiting for 3:00 so I can catch a cab to Devil's Pool on the top of Victoria Falls (that will be separate Day 2 post ;).  Since I'm waiting... Might as well try the local beer :D

Oh! Don't feed the monkeys!!  They are all over our campsite.