Pasop Vir Jou Kop!

AHA! I have internet, I have a card reader... now I just need about six million hours to write out everything thats happened so far!

Kruger Park: a brief run down.

We travelled with Intrepid on an "independent" trip, which meant we were picked up in Johannesburg before dawn and were dropped off in the middle of nowhere to be picked up by John, our tour guide. There were four of us on the trip, apart from John. Me, Stace, Joana the german-hungarian who lives in australia, and Michelle the american from Maryland, USA. We started by going to Skukuza camp, keeping an eye out for animals on the way.

.. ok, looks like my internet connection is playing up, so there will only be a couple of pics on here!



In the evening we joined a tour group which were doing a night safari, which was ace, except for an obnoxious group of tourists who were really rude to our tour guide and to everyone around us. We had a great time anyway, and saw heaps of animals in the dark. The next couple of dys were filled with game drives, starting early morning at the crack of dawn, and by 7pm we were all fast asleep! We spent the first two nights camping out inside Kruger National Park in camp grounds, with only an electric fence between us and the wilderness! The second night mine and Stacy's tent was right next to the electric fence, and we saw a hyena walking past about a metre away from our tent! You could hear all the animals grunting and calling out in the night, it was fantastic!




On day three we got a super early wake up call. At 4am we hear Michelle shrieking and we leap out of bed to investigate. The impalas calling outside the tents sounded super close and the trees scratching on her tent made her think an animal was trying to get into her tent! No one could sleep after that!



In the afternoon we went to the lodge for our final night, which was just outside the KNP. The place was so swish compared to the nights camping!! Me, Stace, and Joana went to the cheetah park where they take in animals and fix them up and try to put them back in the wild. Their focus is on cheetahs, but they have a huge array of other animals like wild dogs, lynxes, lions, vultures, etc.




After our night at the lodge we took an early morning walk wiht John who showed us animal tracks and poop, and trees and how they are used, etc, around the game park. Then we all jumped in the van with Johan, our drinking buddy from the night before, and headed on back to Jo'burg, with a stop at Blyde River Canyon on the way. OMG The canyon is just amazing! I was blown away by how beautiful and HUGE it was! - and the complete lack of safety... they started a rail and then it just kind of stops halfway, LOL! After a grueling 11 odd hours in the van we made it back to amadwala lodge, where we upgraded to the super swish cabin complete with jacuzzi.. ahhh bliss!

Capetown:

pardon me, but, I nearly shat myself in the last couple of hours in joburg! We were heading to the airport and then all of a sudden, on the motorway we stopped. They had blocked off the motorway, in the middle, no detours or anything, and we couldnt go back. I was near tears because we were about to miss our flight! After 45 mins of waiting on the highway, they finally removed the roadblocks and we sped (and I mean SPED) to the airport. We only JUST made it!!!

We arrived in capetown and were picked up by Stacy's aunt and uncle, and since then it's been a whirlwind of meeting people, and going places!! We had a braai at Aunty Gail's and then spent three days with Aunty Sharon, and now we're back in Aunty Gail's care! It's been so fantastic! Here's a brief run-down of stuff that we've done:

saw iron man 2 (YESSSSS!!! movies in ENGLISH!)
went to the two oceans aquarium
shopped at century city and the waterfront (oooh new clothes!)
went to boulders beach to see the penguins
went to cape point
went to capetown castle and gold museum

I keep losing connection on here, so I dont think I'll load any more pics, but its been so great being here - and we have some amazing stuff coming up too! Bowling with family, braai (haha shame may lee), shark cage diving, table mountain, robben island.... and the list goes on!

gotta go now! (It's only taken me about 3 hours to load the few photos I have on here LOL)
xx Laura