Sabi Sabi

We left Cape Town and headed up to Sabi Sabi landing at Skukuza Airport in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

It's a nice small airport just outside of Kruger National Park, with daily flights to and from Johannesburg and Cape Town.

At the airport we were met by our guides from Sabi Sabi and, trust me, it was hard to figure out how to get in these Land Cruisers!

This is Marcia, wandering.

OK, here we go! The road was narrow and dusty, and my first thoughts were that this is just like Disney World and what a good job they did copying the Animal Kingdom! ha.

We're at Sabi Sabi, and they welcomed us with nice cold, refreshing beverages. Marcia and Eunice look happy to be there!

The suites at Sabi Sabi were very nice! That's not our bed on the right, just a place to relax. I can used to this!!!

We had a little bottle of brandy, for relaxation, of course.

OK, now on to the good stuff. Our first spotting was a giraffe and we both took many, many pictures of it.

Rino! The babies are so cute, and were lucky enough to see one play in a little stream while his mommy watched nearby. I loved the rino babies.

Cape Buffalo and her baby. We saw many, many cape buffalo!

Ah, here are the Alabama ladies (along with Karen and Marcia)!

Our tracker, Dolin, sat in a little seat way out in front. That man has eagle eyes and can spot game from far off. He was amazing. Pravir was our Guide and we felt very lucky to have him as our guide. He was very knowledgeable about everything, and really added a lot to our safari.

Our morning safaris started with a wake up knock on our door at 5:30 a.m. After a light breakfast we headed out at 6 a.m. Pravir stopped mid safari for a coffee or tea break, and Diane and Wayne, who were in our Land Cruiser, are waiting their turns for some coffee, tea, or Amarula. Which reminds me...have you ever tried Amarula? Oh my, it is good. Go to your favorite liquor store and buy some, or even better, come to see us and we'll share ours with you!

Hyenas were not my favorite animals. They just look mean and sort of creepy to me. This pack of hyenas killed a baby giraffe and were feasting on the poor little thing.

Elephants! I loved the elephants and we were lucky enough to be surrounded by a herd of them one evening at sunset. That was a memory we'll never forget.

Isn't he beautiful! Bob took this photo during one of our evening safaris. The leopard looked very content lounging on a termite mound.

This is the reason for the leopard's contentment. He killed an impala, ate his fill, and put the rest of the carcass in a tree so no other animal could eat it.

Here they are again! If you want to have fun, look for the Alabama ladies (with Karen and Monica) and you'll have a good time for sure!

No, that's not Bob's lense. He was drooling over Pravir's lense and Pravir left him try it on for size!

He were are with Pravir on our walking safari. The guides always have a rifle with them and keep it unloaded in the Land Cruiser. For the walking safari they have to carry it loaded . I asked, and Pravir said he never had to shoot an animal.

Dolin wasn't worried about the elephant coming in for a closer look.

Bob wasn't nervous either, and this elephant came close enough to sniff our Land Cruiser.

The rules were NEVER stand in the Land Cruiser. The animals are used to seeing people ride around, but they've never see anyone stand alone, so the vehicles don't scare them. We were reminded over and over again: don't stand up!

The sunrises and sunsets were beautiful.

Bob took this sunset on our last safari. We watched a herd of over 1,000 cape buffalo heading down to the Sabi River.

This trip was definitely a trip of a life time, and one we will never forget. The animals were beautiful, the friends we made were wonderful, and Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge was outstanding. If you'd like to see more of our photos, view Sabi Sabi on our video page. You can find it at the top.

So, now we move on to Zambia, and a quick move across the border to Zimbabwe.