Hello all,
Thanks Gudrun for keeping up for me. I could've stayed at Inyati the whole time, in fact we had even asked for an extra couple nights stay, but decided to go with the plan. It was so nice and the internet not too available, I decided to just enjoy myself. It was definitely the best part of our trip! Lions, cheetah, leopard, and lots more. I will not be updating photos until I get home, or may not even write, just kick back and enjoy the rest of our trip....with the exception that when we arrived at Lone Creek Lodge, we are now questioning as to whether or not we left one of our credit cards at home or it was with us and lost. I checked with the bank and all is cool, but still wondering. Gudrun thank you for everything! We tried to call you from Inyati and our phone was down, they replaced it and still down. The drive to Sabie was very nice, almost Hawaii like, very tropical! We want to go back to Inyati!!!!! Love to all, Julie
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
November 9th, 10th
Here are some more pictures-we just woke from a nap. I got to shed one of my sweatshirts and my shirt underneath, so I am down to 1 sweatshirt! Bring on the heat. Still cloudy, and before we got here it was probably pushing 110 degrees, so most of the people here are actually enjoying this. There is a lot we have missed at this location because of the weather, such as the tree top viewing platform and the pool. Just too cloudy, windy and cool.
this is what I saw from my mirror while drying my hair. There were probably 30 or more and very interesting to watch. The male who was out in front, stopped in front of the watering hole(2nd picture) and guarded as the herd passed. Once they all passed safely, he took a drink of water and headed up the rear. They passed by 4 times, back and forth.
Ok I give up-I can load no more, More later..
Hopefully I will be able to get online at Inyati. Maybe it will even be faster. I don't ask for much. Just some warmth. It was rainy when we woke up this am. It is much warmer now and bearable. Off to Inyati!
Ok I give up-I can load no more, More later..
It is now later..
November 10th
We decided not to do the drive this morning, and David is still sleeping. We leave here at about 10:30 for Inyati. From what we hear there are many animals down there, but really how many more could there possibly be? lol We would love though to see some hyena or wild dog. I hear the dogs are pretty elusive.
I had ostriche last night, and surprisingly not like chicken! It was like beef and very good.
On our drive last night when we stopped for sundowners, we heard a couple roars of lions. So we tracked them and they were the 2 males that went back to daddy. We were on the top of a levy, with another vehicle who pulled up behind us and the lions decided to set up camp in between the 2 vehicles. They truely could care less about us. But they trapped us because we were the 1st vehicle. Our driver started to back up toward them and they finally mozied off. It was awesome to see them on the move. Usually they are napping.
The leopard was there as I had hoped. The cats are definitely my favorite. Very beautiful
Hopefully I will be able to get online at Inyati. Maybe it will even be faster. I don't ask for much. Just some warmth. It was rainy when we woke up this am. It is much warmer now and bearable. Off to Inyati!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
November 9th-PHOTOS!
Good morning!
It looks like photos are coming this morning!!(You can click on any of them to enlarge) Woo hoo! Guess it paid to stay back. It will still take awhile though, so I will try to pick out the best. David has the camera with him so the lions from last night will have to wait.
I decided to stay back this morning and sleep in-til 7:00. It was really raining this morning, and that would be fine, if it wasn't so unseasonably cool. Our last 2 drives have been raining and the one yesterday morning was brutal, very windy. Yes the soap dish at least for now is still the scariest thing here.
Oh wait....ok I was just delivered my cappuccino. We are really roughing it here in the bush... haha
Last nights' drive was amazing as usual. We hung with a pride of 5 lions for awhile-4 females and 1 male. They are very at ease here while observing. Actually sometimes too much at ease, we can't get 'em to open their beautiful eyes. We get very close. We also saw 6 cape buffalo, very big. We had sundowners, which is where they set up a linen table in the bush and serve your favorite cocktail, cook up some chicken wings and watch the sunset. The only sunset we did experience we did not stop because there were too many animals to watch. But as you can see, the sunsets when they show up are killer!
Thanks Miah for following and taking such good care of my boy! We will see you Saturday! Unc David said he would smack one on the ass for you.(I envision the movie Wild Hogs) I swear their manes look like they just came back from the salon.
I don't know if it makes a difference, but I am publishing the post now and editing it after as I am worried my pictures will mysteriously disappear.
David just got back from the morning drive and he is very cold and wet BUT he did watch a large male leopard with a kill in a tree...see what you can miss? They said they think it will still be there on this afternoons drive. I am burned out here so I will not be sending those til later. I have been here over 2 hours now. Internet just not like at home!
I will try to add another post later with some more pictures...
Love to all,
Julie
November 8th
What a difference a day makes! Let me first say that we now fear our soap dish, but I will get to that in a bit. I am going to attempt to load some more pictures, but this is a reeeeaaaallllly slow computer.
Gudrun, all was good at the Protea, so thanks! And with David's technical skills, I am sorry to report that your call did come through but David thought he had to hang up...~rolling eyes~
King's Camp is indescribable! To our camp from the plane, it was probably 5 minutes and on the way we saw a lion and lioness lazing under some trees right off the road.
We got in just in time for some fabulous lunch and 45 minutes later we were on our 1st drive. Unlike Zulu Nyala, where there were 3 safari vehicles surrounding 3 elephants, we were one vehicle surrounded by 30 elephants! It was an incredible sight! But not to be outdone, 2 leopard were relaxing on a termite mound, just like you would see on National Geographic. Our photos are awesome, I am just not sure what I will be able to share or when. It was hot, the african sunset is everything it is made out to be. We got back around 7-7:30 for dinner, which was fabulous....BUT...in the distance...anyone want to take a guess? There was lightning and the wind picked up. Ok this is where the soap dish comes in. I am in bed and David comes out of the bathroom abd says "so what is 13 degrees celcius and 19 degrees celcius? Because that was the low and hi for today. We are now freezing our asses off, the wind is really whippin and on and off drizzle. I was so flipping cold this morning I could barely stand it. So if it does not change, I will probably not go out tonight-it was brutal. Plus all our cold weather clothes are now dirty. So we are doing laundry for about $75.00 lol
Ok so this morning's drive, since it was so cold, pretty much all but the impala were bedded down staying warm. Oh and of course the 50 elephants we were surrounded by again. I just can't describe it. BUT our biggest thrill were the male lions that we were literally 5 feet from. They are just so magestic. The one was truely the LION KING! 2 of the them were the sons of the big male. Usually they move off on their own, but like one of the guys on our drive said, the economy is probably getting the better of them and they had to come home. They are about 3 years old and it is very unusual. But with the cool weather they were huddled together. The big male-Dad, was about 100' away, keeping somewhat of an eye on them but more or less just napping. They are so awesome.
So while I was drying my hair in our huge room(by the way we are extremely catered to) in the mirror, I could see behind me a herd of about 30 elephants about 200' from us, all different sizes, just mozying past. It really is indescribable. Although we did see a lot at Zulu Nyala, it is different here because it truely is wild. I so want to share our pictures with you. I'm Trying!
Yes You You we may have had a tough time just the 2 of us. But it truely is amazing!
OOMPS we love you too, and we have some great pictures for you!! I can't wait to show you! Can you give Miah a call and check on Riddick for me please? I am not checking emails. Next thing you know I am on a working vacation.
Love you all and thanks again Gudrun for having our back!
Gudrun, all was good at the Protea, so thanks! And with David's technical skills, I am sorry to report that your call did come through but David thought he had to hang up...~rolling eyes~
King's Camp is indescribable! To our camp from the plane, it was probably 5 minutes and on the way we saw a lion and lioness lazing under some trees right off the road.
We got in just in time for some fabulous lunch and 45 minutes later we were on our 1st drive. Unlike Zulu Nyala, where there were 3 safari vehicles surrounding 3 elephants, we were one vehicle surrounded by 30 elephants! It was an incredible sight! But not to be outdone, 2 leopard were relaxing on a termite mound, just like you would see on National Geographic. Our photos are awesome, I am just not sure what I will be able to share or when. It was hot, the african sunset is everything it is made out to be. We got back around 7-7:30 for dinner, which was fabulous....BUT...in the distance...anyone want to take a guess? There was lightning and the wind picked up. Ok this is where the soap dish comes in. I am in bed and David comes out of the bathroom abd says "so what is 13 degrees celcius and 19 degrees celcius? Because that was the low and hi for today. We are now freezing our asses off, the wind is really whippin and on and off drizzle. I was so flipping cold this morning I could barely stand it. So if it does not change, I will probably not go out tonight-it was brutal. Plus all our cold weather clothes are now dirty. So we are doing laundry for about $75.00 lol
Ok so this morning's drive, since it was so cold, pretty much all but the impala were bedded down staying warm. Oh and of course the 50 elephants we were surrounded by again. I just can't describe it. BUT our biggest thrill were the male lions that we were literally 5 feet from. They are just so magestic. The one was truely the LION KING! 2 of the them were the sons of the big male. Usually they move off on their own, but like one of the guys on our drive said, the economy is probably getting the better of them and they had to come home. They are about 3 years old and it is very unusual. But with the cool weather they were huddled together. The big male-Dad, was about 100' away, keeping somewhat of an eye on them but more or less just napping. They are so awesome.
So while I was drying my hair in our huge room(by the way we are extremely catered to) in the mirror, I could see behind me a herd of about 30 elephants about 200' from us, all different sizes, just mozying past. It really is indescribable. Although we did see a lot at Zulu Nyala, it is different here because it truely is wild. I so want to share our pictures with you. I'm Trying!
Yes You You we may have had a tough time just the 2 of us. But it truely is amazing!
OOMPS we love you too, and we have some great pictures for you!! I can't wait to show you! Can you give Miah a call and check on Riddick for me please? I am not checking emails. Next thing you know I am on a working vacation.
Love you all and thanks again Gudrun for having our back!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
November 7th
Good morning,
I am sorry for the lack of pictures. I got one up last night and it took a half hour. So I tried to
load 5 at a time, and while I was waiting, I clicked on the picture I loaded, then pushed back and it was all gone. I was so pissed, I had to walk away. So I will try a couple here now while I am waiting for the taxi. I believe you can click on them to make them bigger.
We are heading to Kings Camp this morning.
Gudrun, all was great in Richards Bay. The hotel was nice. More from Kings Camp.....
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
November 6th
Awwwe thanks You You! Yes I am feeling better. I am now taking cipro so that should knock out anything.
We had another awesome thnderstorm last night. So cool.
As you can see no luck on the photo card. It was dumb for us not to prepare that part before we left. So now we are hoping for something in Richard's Bay which is where we are headed now. We have the name of a taxi driver in RB and will look him up when we ge there.
Our drive yesterday included a baby giraffe and tiny baby warthogs. The only thing we did not see here was the elusive black rhino, but not without effort. We spent all of one drive yesterday
tracking him. Thabani, our guide was a lot of fun.
More this afternoon.
We had another awesome thnderstorm last night. So cool.
As you can see no luck on the photo card. It was dumb for us not to prepare that part before we left. So now we are hoping for something in Richard's Bay which is where we are headed now. We have the name of a taxi driver in RB and will look him up when we ge there.
Our drive yesterday included a baby giraffe and tiny baby warthogs. The only thing we did not see here was the elusive black rhino, but not without effort. We spent all of one drive yesterday
tracking him. Thabani, our guide was a lot of fun.
More this afternoon.
November 5th
Hello,
Well still not feeling well so I am now taking antibiotics. Hope that will help, I am sure it will. Surely hadn't planned on dieting on vacation.
Yesterday while we were hanging out in the room, we watched a vervet monkey hauling butt past our room, followed by an empty water bottle. Of course we had to find out why, and the monkey's had stolen sugar packs from the maid. So we watched them open them and eat 'em. Sugar all over their face. Mom's had babies in tow under their bellies.
On our drive last night we got to see 3 bull elephants. They are very big and beautiful. This morning we saw 1 week old warthogs. Soooo cute!
I am really hoping to get something to get photos up this afternoon from somewhere that seems to resemble Walmart, with the smiley face and all.
Tomorrow we head to Richard's Bay overnight and hoping to check out the Indian ocean. Then off to Kruger! We now have suitcase paranoia.
Thanks Gudrun for checking on our trip tomorrow and your interesting ele stories!
Thanks You You for your following too and it is good to hear from you!
I will be back later after the trip to the market.
Julie
Well still not feeling well so I am now taking antibiotics. Hope that will help, I am sure it will. Surely hadn't planned on dieting on vacation.
Yesterday while we were hanging out in the room, we watched a vervet monkey hauling butt past our room, followed by an empty water bottle. Of course we had to find out why, and the monkey's had stolen sugar packs from the maid. So we watched them open them and eat 'em. Sugar all over their face. Mom's had babies in tow under their bellies.
On our drive last night we got to see 3 bull elephants. They are very big and beautiful. This morning we saw 1 week old warthogs. Soooo cute!
I am really hoping to get something to get photos up this afternoon from somewhere that seems to resemble Walmart, with the smiley face and all.
Tomorrow we head to Richard's Bay overnight and hoping to check out the Indian ocean. Then off to Kruger! We now have suitcase paranoia.
Thanks Gudrun for checking on our trip tomorrow and your interesting ele stories!
Thanks You You for your following too and it is good to hear from you!
I will be back later after the trip to the market.
Julie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)