Back to JHB and Home via London

I know I have no were near captured the sheer magic of this trip effectively in these entries. The elephant encounters, evenings by the camp fire, night game drives and so much more.

But still time for some shopping, partying and a trip to see the lions!

Phil's first Lion Encounter

Adorable until fully grown!!!

Time left to go see Matt and Build a bear (Tiger) for Dibbs

Fond farewells.... To Great friends

And a 9 Hour flight to London with another 12 to kill.....
So off on a quick London tour after saying another farewell this time to Phil at Heathrow! It was great travelling with you man!... Keep it up and perhaps you get invited on the Bike trip with me and DJ to ..Mozambique or Namibia or.......???????????

Hyde Park ..of course

Carnaby Street

Hamleys

With the entire trip rounded off by Joining the Divali celebrations in Trafalgar Square.

To echo Phil's comments. Many Many thanks to our South African friends and all the people we met along the way. DJ , Kell and the Gang ... See you again very soon!

Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Botswana

The Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust is a community based wildlife project,established in 1992 to assist in saving the vanishing rhino,restore an area formerly teeming with wildlifeto its previous natural state and provide economic benefits to the local Batswana community through tourism and the sustainable use of natural resources, and our next stop.



Home for the next few days, a basic A frame in the bush with no power, and interesting outside facilities.

Brilliant!!!!!

The travellers

Hot water is provided by Solar energy or thank goodness, a back up system consisting of an oil drum and firewood.

There was so much wildlife in this area resulting in hundreds of photo's so just including my favorite shots!

The Amazing Weaver bird..........

The Dung beetle who entertained us for some time

Limpopo Reserve

Ok, we are going to have to admit it.....We are Lost! and no one to ask for directions.
After some exciting Hill climbing in the 4*4 we reached the highest point over looking the bush around the Tuli block.

The intrepid explorer looking cool. Kate shows just how big these Baobab trees really are. These trees are found in Botswana north of the tropic of Capricorn. it is said that some of these are believed to have been around before the birth of Christ., making them the oldest living relics of ancient times. Livingstone(I presume) described them as an upturned Carrot. Either way they are truly impressive. Phil and Deej, scope out the territory back at the lodge.

Even Phil did his turn at cooking. Not to much of chore when you are cooking by the Limpopo banks with so much life going on around you. After this breakfast it was off to a new location the Khama Rhino sanctuary.

A few more life around the riverbank shots we took the morning of departure as we really wanted to capture the essence this piece of heaven on earth before we hit the road again.

Back to October - On Route to Botswana

Following a quick flight from Durban back to JHB, and an evening's entertainment watching Phil, Jess, Darryl and Kelly fight it out on a board game that involved downing a shot at every lost round a few hours sleep and on the road at 5am. (Ok Phil you did ok despite the excessive number of shots. ( I think you played to lose). Time for a stop at a butchers store on route and stack up on some assorted Biltong.

Which some people... started on immediately!

A quick stop at the border for the exit and entry formalities and now to cross the Limpopo into Botswana. The very friendly and helpful border personnel made this a simple a pleasurable process.
There are 2 ways to cross the border at this crossing, (Pontdrift) either by cable car, or depending on the water level of the river by fording the Limpopo. Last trip we took the cable car which is a great experience.
However this time with the water level really low, if non existent we drove across.

Phil and Kelly get to know each other better in the middle of the Limpopo

On a drive like this you not only to see Africa, but to feel it! Away from civilization, no cell phones, Television etc etc. it clarifies both the mind and sole to leave these trapping on modern life behind. Here you are responsible for yourself, and there are many reminders that we (humans) are nowhere near the top of the food chain!. Take away the tools and technology and you are just another creature surviving out here.

Phil handles the gate to the corner of the Tuli block that will be home for the next few days!






The entrance to the most fantastic location I have stayed at in this continent. The view from our camp fire every evening and morning is beyond any description I could provide. All your senses are re awakened and just being content to watch and listen to the baboons, bird life and other bush creatures in their various rituals is like being re born.

Winter weekend in Algonquin

Established in the 1890's Algonquin provincial park provides an escape to the wilderness in Southern Ontario. During the Winter months we have found we can often have the entire park pretty much to ourselves and is a great weekend escape.

Our initial hike, around 2.5Km turned into 2 hrs + and felt more like 5 K's. Trudging through virgin snow over 1ft deep is very hard going without snow shoes. There were several moment were we seemed truly lost as at this time of year its hard to find obvious landmarks and I forgot to set the GPS. As the afternoon wore on we did Dibbs favorite hike to the logging museum , the old steam trains and logging boat, and found the perfect Echo valley. with fading light we headed back to the cabin, which took longer than expected as I manged to put the Ford into a ditch. With Brad, I and a passerby lifting and Dibbs driving we finally managed to get it back on road. Many thanks to the guy who stopped and assisted, otherwise it could have been a cold and miserable night out there.

Cold, tired and wet back the cabin for the obligatory Hot Chocolate and a roaring log fire...

Perfect.......