Okay, here we finally are.
Captain Alex on the bridge!
There were a lot of seals in the harbor just chillin around, the majority of them taking an afternoon nap in the hot sun. It’s also where they slept at night, and as we found out, they are cranky bitches when woken.
Most of us made the 4:30am meet as scheduled…two people were left behind. All of us tired as hell.
Someone is clearly excited to be at the airport. Our flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg was enjoyable - I had more room than on any of my Continental flights from Seattle to Nassau, and our captain was a comedian. His little act during our 2 hour flight highlighted just how crappy it is to be in litigation-happy USA - he would’ve been sued for discrimination or sexual harassment dozens of times.
We landed in Johannesburg without incident, caught our tour bus and set out for our 6 hour ride to Kruger. Within the first hour, one of the tires on the trailer we were towing blew a tire.
Saw us a fun little accident scene on the way there.
Apparently I was the only one too excited to sleep. Six hours later, we finally entered Kruger National Park and immediately spotted our first two animals: a lot of impala, and a giraffe.
This is our campsite. Each tent supported two people and came equipped with a sleeping bag and pad. Mine came with a small hole and two very large ants. We had bathroom facilities about a block away, as well as a small swimming pool which we fully took advantage of during our free time.
All of our food was cooked on grills at our campsite - everything was delicious, even the hardtack we had for breakfast every morning.
This little guy popped out of the trees right in front of us. First he stared us down, then he did a little dance (reminiscent of ‘the robot’), and then he started charging us. We kept backing up to avoid him, and after a minute or so of playing this little game, he crossed to road to go eat. We continued down the road and as we passed him, he started to follow us down for a bit. I named him Stampy.
I was one of the few lucky ones to see a leopard. This guy wasn’t very interested in posing for photographs, and this is the best shot I could get of him.
Again, I was one of the few lucky ones to have seen lions. Not only that, but a whole bunch of them! We spotted over a dozen of them coming down the road during our night drive - they were on the hunt. They passed by our truck and were less than 10 feet away from us, allowing me to get some decent night shots. There was a tense moment when one of the lions stopped next to our truck and stared at us for a bit.
Those are some of the memorable pictures I took. We saw dozens of more animals, including all of the big five.
From reading CNN.com several days prior to our trip, I learned that we were due for a lunar eclipse and invited everyone to check it out. A lot of people gave up precious hours of sleep to check it out.
Best picture of the eclipse I could get with the equipment I had.
I was attacked by monkeys in the camp and retreated fairly quickly. Video to come soon.
There were a lot of bats at the top of this gazebo outside the resort’s restaurant. Bat droppings were a problem for anyone dining underneath it.
I don’t remember the name of this fruit, but it starts with an ‘m’ and is three syllables…if that helps. I know that it was pretty tasty, though.
Pimp. I may just start styling my hair like this in the future.
Conquered!
Our group + guides. I’m really happy I brought my tripod.
On our flight back to Cape Town was through Kulula.com again, but on a British Airways jet. For those of you that don’t know what that means, it means your buddy Alex and his friend Cristie got free, unlimited drinks. And food, too.
Just had to throw this in because it is a damn funny picture.
Camps Bay? Campus Bay? Whatever the place was called, we found an Italian/sushi/seafood place that was just incredible. I believe this was the prawn linguine, and it was exquisite.
I took the revolving cable car upto Table Mountain. Pwned.
My very last day in port was absolutely perfect. Spent the day rafting on the Breede River - it’s an activity I definitely want to take up when I get back home. Spent the evening with my rafting partner Sheryl and Lifelong Learner friend Joyce at a steakhouse next to the waterfront. Amazing wine and a to-die-for tiramisu.
No pictures, but on one of my nights in town I dined with my taxi driver at this Japanese/Chinese/Korean place about 10 minutes away. Surprisingly, it actually was staffed by Japanese, Chinese, and Korean people and patronized by the same. Didn’t know there was much of an asian population in Cape Town.
Anywhos, that’s it.