Lion King Live

Wow! What can I say! We are now on our safari and absolutely loving it! It is so peaceful and beautiful here but I am getting so black! Adam is usually fully clothed because of his sun allergy but so far no bad blisters or burns or black peeling lips like in East Africa!

We are staying at the Kapama Game lodges in greater Kruger National Park, which was a 5 hour drive from johannesburg (can also fly).  Kapama is a private game reserve which probably has both pros and cons. 

Pros - you drive around in an open top car in a               
Square meter park, you can off road, drivers can correspond with each other to find all of the big five and the drivers seem to known the behavior of most of the animals whereas there have been numerous incidences of cars being pushed over by elephants or rhinos in Kruger proper. 

Cons - they control exactly how many animals for the ideal environment (can also be viewed as a pro) and there is likely a larger area that you can drive through although anyone can drive through Kruger if you pay the entrance fee whereas you can't here so fewer cars driving around. 

Initially we were booked for 2 nights, one night in a luxury tent and one night in a safari lodge but after Nadia and Hussein got back from their safari, we decided to add on a night. Fortunately we are staying at a different "camp" every night. Unfortunately, that means we have to move every day. Last night we started at Kapama buffalo camp which was fantastic! There were only 13 guests - food and service were great and I loved our "tent" with a balcony overlooking the game park. Some of the guests saw baboons and monkeys from their balconies! Will post pictures on Facebook when we are back!

The schedule here is much different than the East African safari we went on several years ago. First of all, I've never been happier to wake up at 5 am to depart for the morning safari by 545 am! The Safari drive is 3 hours, then breakfast and rest time, followed by lunch and more free time, followed by High tea at 4 pm and another 3 hour safari drive when the sun sets so you can find the cats! Then of course dinner and an early sleep - Adam and I were in bed by 10 pm! It is smoking hot here during the day so i can see why it's this way. In east Africa, you took a packed lunch and your safari drive was 6-8 hours during the day but it wasn't as hot there and got cold at night.

So naturally you must be wondering what we've seen - so far we've seen hippos, impalas, kudus, zebras, wildebeests, elephants, warthogs, giraffes, and of course rhinos and lions! One of the lions got so close to our car that Adam was pulling me back away from the edges of the car as i was trying to get some good shots of them! Loving our new SLR! 

I love that I was fortunate enough that my parents took us on a safari asa family, I get to experience it again with hubby and I hope Adam and I will be able to take our future children!