Into Africa

To kick off 2011 I planted my feet in the tall grasses of sub-Saharan Africa for the first time.

I haven’t yet decided how and what I want to write about my travels around South Africa.  The 48-ish hours that I have been home have been filled with the routine of laundry, groceries, cleaning and general re-compression.  Once I have gained a few more days of perspective I will write in depth about some of my favourite experiences.  To sum up, here are some trip stats: 3 weeks; 29 hours in transit to get there; 14 travel companions; 4500 kms driven around South Africa; 11 hotels; and one small backpack (resulting in countless loads of laundry done in various hotel bathrooms).

I took well over 1000 photos and will continue to sort through them but for today I’ll post some of my favourites of the animals.  I feel so very grateful to have seen these magnificent animals in the wild, and so close up.

For the record, below you will see four of the “Big Five” (lions, elephants, buffalo, and rhino).  The leopard proved elusive but as I said in the last post, I’m crossing “Photograph the Big Five on safari in Africa” off the Manifeisty Life List in any event.

Big daddy lion in Kruger Park

Lion cub, Kruger

Mama lion, Kruger

Lion chilling after lunch (See the blood on the paws?), Kruger

Rhino, Kruger

Buffalo

Elephant, Kruger

Elephants, Addo (this was a great moment in the trip that I’ll write about in more detail)

Elephants, Addo

Giraffe, Kruger

Giraffe, Kruger

Zebra, Kruger

 

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