We took the first two weeks of April to visit South Africa, and it was a fantastic trip! We convinced our good friends, the Mughettos, to join us, and it really was a special time. The country was so scenic, we all took a huge number of photos, so this website is split into two pages. This page will cover our safari, and the next page will show Cape Town and the wine country. So without further ado.....

As usual, click on a photo to see it full-sized and click again to come back to this page.

We flew to Johannesburg and then  Federal Air into Sabi Sands, just north of Kruger National Park.	Here's where we stayed, the Founder's Camp of Londolozi game reserve.	The whole crew out on a game drive. Our leader, Oxide, and his tracker, Eckson, are in front, flanked by Rita, Sooz, Don, MJ, Grant, Michael and Mike.
We started out easy with a zebra or two.	Soon, though, we were into the big game, and we followed some leopards all afternoon.	Some of them followed us, too!
They really were magnificent animals and it was a privilege to see them on their own terms.	The happy game hunters enjoying a spot of afternoon tea!	The only scary moment was when this elephant took a bit of umbrage to our being on his road! His unhappiness with us was apparent.
We spotted him later with his family, and they were all much happier. Still wouldn't mess with him, though.	A morning was spent among the water buffalo, each of whom travel with their own grooming bird.	We didn't see many warthogs; they're fairly shy. But they were Sooz' favourite animals!
Less shy were the lions. Here's two brothers with apparently none of those ego issues on display in the Lion King.	As is usual, the females were much better-looking, and did most of the work, too.	Don took a turn at the wheel. Luckily he managed not to drive Grant into any bushes or the jaws of any hungry animals.
We had a surprise one evening. Instead of finding a lion pride on the hunt, we had champagne and snacks under lantern-light.	The Mughetto family, with Eckson on the left, and Oxide on the right. They were really fantastic guides for all of us!	A cheetah, surveying the bush for a potential meal (fortunately, it wasn't us!)
We were quite lucky to see a cheetah, they are very fast, you know.	Much slower, but no less impressive, were a group of rhinoceroses.	A view of our camp just across the river; Don needed a guide just to be safe as animals were known to sun themselves on the rocks!
The evening meal was set up beautifully each night. Our meals and service were superb.	We saw a hyena; strangely enough they were one of the few animals that didn't remind Sooz of Ollie.	Lots of enormous spiders set up their webs in the bush. Fortunately, none did so in our villa!
We musn't forget the giraffes; we saw a few families. When born, a baby is 8 feet tall!	A good snap of a yellow-billed Hornbill. Their name is appropriately descriptive!	Don managed to catch a black- breasted eagle just as he took flight.
It rained one evening, but it didn't dampen our spirits at all.	Tracker Grant, the big game hunter!	We spent more time with leopards on the last day, and saw a mother with her two daughters on the prowl.
The happy family, enjoying dusk.	Very sad to leave our last day, the girls with our hosts, Witness, Trevor, and Edward.	And so we fittingly end our time in the bush with a beautiful African sunset.
That's the end of part 1! Click here to see part 2, or here to go back to the home page.