It's been awhile since I've blogged, mainly due to our vacation to South Africa, which we took last month. South Africa is an amazing country, not what I'd envisioned (which was "brown like San Diego in the summertime", since South Africa is experiencing their worse drought). It's a beautiful country, has hospitable people and alot of culture. The safaris were awesome, as well!
When we got home, I immediately began the process of collecting, sorting and organizing the 2500+ photos that Reny and I took while on this trip. I immediately deleted those photos that were even slightly blurry; there were enough of similar photos that I could use. Then I went thru a rating system to separate (1) the best of the best, (2) the close 2nd and (3) the not so good but I wasn't ready to delete them yet. I was able to tag the photos and add description to groups. I blocked off some dedicated time to accomplish this. It took several days. But in the end, each of my photos have been rated, are tagged and have a description associated with them.
Below are some photos of our safaris "journey or expedition". We were able to see all of Africa's Big Five (elephant, lion, rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo and leopard). These are animals that, when hunted, are most likely to kill you if you miss killing them.
The elephants appeared to be charging, but were just vying for primo position under the marula tree; it was feeding time!
This lion was just hanging out near the watering hole where the elephants were drinking and bathing. While everyone else was watching the elephants, I kept an eye on the lion to make sure where he was.
These white rhinos were just hanging out, trying to stay cool. The one on the left eventually got up and walked over to the bushes on the other side of our vehicle. "White rhino" is a bit of a misnomer. The name came "Weid mond rhino" or "wide mouthed rhino". But "weid" or "wijde" was mis-translated as "white". Hmmm.....
The African Buffalo, or Cape Buffalo, is the largest bovine subspecies in East and South Africa. Its "boss" (the bone shield from the horns across the top of its head" form the perfect part... very well groomed.
The last of the African Big Five that we saw on safari... the leopard. The previous evening, we went on safari in search of this elusive animal. Of the four vehicles out looking for the leopard, ours was the only one that actually saw it. My video was probably the only video taken of that encounter. The following morning, we saw this leopard (not sure if it's the same one as the night before) lying in wait on a hillside. I think it was trying to figure out what we were going to do. Eventually, the leopard got up and left.
Bourke's Luck Potholes is on the Panorama Route where the Treur River meets the Blyde River and was formed by decades of swirling eddies, causing extensive water erosion over time.
Typical Zulu community... this one was at a cultural center in Swaziland. Yes, one of the couples on our tour almost didn't get to cross the border because they didn't have a VISA to re-enter South Africa! We were treated to some cultural dances and singing.
Cape Point Lighthouse, at the southwestern most point in South Africa... one body of water is False Bay, the other is the Atlantic.