Day safari at Pilanesberg

At 6:15am (no worries, jet lag had me up at 2:30 :) ), we were picked up by a local Zulu man (one of the larger ethnic groups in South Africa) and headed 2.5 hours outside of Johannesburg to Pilanesberg national game reserve (http://www.pilanesberg-game-reserve.co.za/). The drive provided for some time to catch up on sleep thankfully. We got to the park around 9am and our guide drove us through. He gave us some historical information of SA and helped spot animals for us. Basically it was a park with roads all through it. It was 55,000 hectares (roughly 136,000 acres) and had animals from all over Africa. 

We saw lots of impala and springbok (small deer/antelope looking things) and some larger ones, water buck and kudu. There were lots of zebras and one family that walked across the road around our car. We stopped to see a "Pumbaa" (aka warthog) alongside the road, which apparently makes for pretty tasty bacon, and next thing we knew a mom and her baby rhino crossed right in front of us. We saw like four rhino sightings which I thought was quite spectacular. 

We saw some crocodiles basking in the sun along with some hippos, though they were pretty far away. We saw one lion sleeping in the sun under a tree too, but she/he was so far away all you really saw was a light colored mark in the grass. Lots of elephant poop, but no elephants for some reason. I have been promised to see lots in Kenya tough. What else....giraffes, ostriches, wildebeest, turtles and I think that covers the big stuff. 

Here are some pics of the day:

We were told the zebras aren't pregnant, they have gas. Apparently really bad gas to set off predators. I'm a bit gullible on tours, so not sure about the truth meter on this one :). They do kick really hard, which is consistent with what I've been told before (I think on the Disney safari ride). 

I think this baby rhino sighting was my favorite :). 

The croc at the edge of the water. 

A lone giraffe. They make no sound but have a very long tongue. 

Hippos soaking up the rays on the other side of the water. 

P.S. Thanks to my Aunt Mary I found an SD card attachment for my iPad so I can share these pics real time. Great investment for anyone with an iPad!

Into Africa

So I had this post all composed and then lost it :(.  Will do my best the second time around :). 

I spent last weekend running around for last mi ute vacation items needed and trying to get packed. Here's a pic of where I ended up Saturday afternoon of all the stuff I wanted to take on my month long trek. I spent Sunday evening trying to get it all packed into that green bag (70 liters) and a small day backpack (20 liters). 

Between Sunday evening, Monday evening and early Tuesday I repacked a couple of times and finally got in about half to 2/3s of the items. Hope it's enough! ;)  Early Tuesday was a fire drill of running to the doctor to get anti malarial drugs for Kenya. Luckily mom was able to set up appointments and come with me so it all went relatively smooth and I still had some time before my 1:15pm flight that afternoon. Dad dropped me at the airport and said good-bye until June 19th!

Here's everything I took: (Unfortunately I've already left my nice sun hat on the plane when I landed in South Africa :(.  I'm hoping today I'll find it in the lost and found....fingers crossed!)

It was an hour plus flight to Dulles, about a one hour layover (enough time to grab a sandwich) and then a 7.5 hour flight stopping in Senegal to refuel (we waited on the plane) and another 8.5 hours on to Johannesburg, South Africa. I arrived about 5pm as the sun was starting to set (it's winter here), met my American friends Mary and Brian who are currently living in Singapore and had a quick dinner before an early bed time. A fairly uneventful trip, which is good :). Thursday morning we leave at 6:15am for a day safari!

Where to next?

I haven't posted since moving back to the US. There has been lots going on but I guess I see/talk to more of those who actually read this now than when I was half a world away. Apologies to those of you I don't regularly catch up with :). 

It was a nice Thanksgiving and Christmas with family. In mid December my brother and I celebrated at a reception in Charleston for my sister's summer marriage to Tom. And then my brother proposed to Emily over the holidays and suddenly our family has grown a bit ;).  For 2013 New Years, I visited friends back in Singapore and we spent time in one of my most favorite places, Bali! It was a great back to Asia and a memorable new year. Then I worked quite a bit. In early March, I went with my mom, her sister and my cousin for a girls' trip to Disney World. Orlando set record temperature lows, but we still had a great time. I got to see Stephanie (my Singapore travel buddy) two different weekends, once in the Twin Cities visiting our friend Cindy and once in Chicago. I also got to visit my cousin Hyedi in Minneapolis and Chicago as well over a couple weekends in February and March. My friend Mary who is now in Singapore also came to visit in late March. Good Friday we threw a surprise "Hen Do" party for my best friend Shaun and we had lots of fun surprise guests. A month later, she married Bill and we had great fun at the wedding. 

I probably have forgotten some events as well, but as you can see I've been making the  most of being near family and friends again. 

It's time to set out again though. With my move home and promotion at work, I received an awesome new benefit of a sabbatical. I take a week of leave and work gives me three weeks. What might I do with a month off you ask? Travel of course :). 

In a little over a week I head to South Africa, then to Kenya, next up Turkey and finish with a weekend in the Maldives. I am meeting friends in South Africa, joining a tour in Kenya, a little meandering on my own in Turkey and catching a friend in the Maldives. I hope to keep up the blog for the month abroad and share fun pictures. 

Christmas at the new place. Thanks to my friend Melinda for letting me borrow their tree. 

Character breakfast at Disney. 

Hen Do giddiness!

Going to the chapel...more pics at http://sethmorrisphotography.com/prophoto/bill-shaun-peoria-wedding-photography-peoria-il/

My new pack for this month of adventures :).