Just Another Day in Paradise - June 30

We woke up again at 5:30 with a knock on the door and typically I'd have been upset about anyone waking me before 11am, but I popped right up. The "pop" didn't last long and I made my way to the coffee quickly this morning. I didn't focus on the coffee long because the juice is so great here. When walking to the coffee area Lora and I said to each other that we kind of hope nobody else is there because the previous day it was nice and quiet when we arrived alone and after the loud crowd arrived we were hoping it'd be silent for a bit. It's a good thing we didn't bet because sure enough - 2 people from that group were there - albeit 2 of the guys we liked from the group. We told them what was good to eat and the such and we sat down on one of the couches and attempted to sit in peace. They were having none of it and kept chatting away. Eventually it was time to go and we headed out.

We started the morning off with a lion chase. We came across a single male lion that was stationary only or a minute or so and then he headed off. Piet told us he was likely headed towards another pride. We made chase which at times was easy when he was on the path and then when he made his way offroad became slightly more difficult - nothing is too difficult for the land rover's we were in though. We seemingly pissed off the lion as he kept marking his territory and gave us the look of death quite a few times. Lions really are absolutely amazing creatures - we joked about how he was seemingly posing for us and that he knew everyone loved to just look at him. It was quite the gig - king of the jungle and everyone knew it. After the lion kept going on for what seemed like forever - we passed him off to another truck and headed off. We found ourselves at a lake with a local stork that we had previously seen take a huge fish in one gulp. He was unlucky today however. He pecked and pecked at the water but came up empty mouthed. The water was amazingly reflective though so we got some food "mirror" shots of the bird. Next we went to check up on the buffalo that the lions had killed a few days prior. Since we last saw the kill there had been significant progress - the entire insides that were visible to us were completely gutted. We saw dry rib bones and it looked like the kill was done - Piet assured us that the legs hadn't even been touched and there was a lion still working his way on the inside of the buffalo. After the kill update we made our way to find some zebras (the locals pronounce it like the British - zeh-bra - instead of zee-bra like we're accustomed to). We were making our way and then were about to turn around until Nelson spotted something - he waved to Piet to do another 180 and keep gonig the direction we were just seconds ago. He did and then literally 30 seconds later we were next to 5 zebras. I really have no idea whether or not it's a show or not, but my belief is that it's not and we were going to turn around until Nelson picked up the tracks of the crew. We followed the zebras for quite a ways - Piet told everyone on the radio that we found them and soon enough we were joined by another land rover that the took over tracking them when we left. We made our way around and came across a whole family of warthogs. We should pause now to remember the Lion King movie because for the next few mintues all I heard was Lora singing Hakuna Matata because Pumba was standing in front of us. After we'd seen enough of the warthogs we made our way back to the lake with the large number of hippos that we'd seen before. After having some hot chocolate and taking tons of pictures (the hippos didn't yawn while we were there which upset me a bit) we headed back to the lodge. Piet made a joke about how we were going to walk back and we laughed. Then Nelson packed the land rover up and drove off. We were walking. He explained the plants to us and so much more - without taking all day to type everything he taught us it'd be impossible to put it all down here. Part of it was a bit of trivia where he picked off some random leaves and asked us to guess the plant/scent. Lora guessed mint and was right. I was impressed because I had no idea - it smelled familiar but I never would havre gussed correctly. Eventually we stumbled upon Inyati where the rest of the crew was there already. We were made aware of the times for game drives prior and thus far each game drive has been extended beyond the posted time. We really have seen so much. The amusing part to me is that Impala are so prevalent here that we've basically begun ignoring them. We have seen them so much that they don't even impress anymore - although we're sure when we see a deer at home we'll still pause to enjoy the view.

Hoiy crap we're up to about 2000 pictures right now for the trip and even though I know we'll only keep 1 our of every 5-10 or so it's still a lot of keepers. Enough to keep Lora busy on the scrapbook for quite some time.

The afternoon was great - we started off with an amazing brunch again and the food was very yummy. There were some new faces and we introduced ourselves and asked where they were from. They said Louisville and I was intrigued - then I asked where in Louisville and they said Prospect and again I was intrigued. My parents live in Prospect and I spent 2 years there. They said the lived in Norton Commons - which is the neighborhood across the street from where my parents live. We were basically neighbors. Again, it is such a small world. They told us that whenever we are in town we should let them know and we'll grab some coffee or something. We later talked to the husband though and he's a huge bourbon fan like I am - so it seems more likely we'll enjoy some bourbon instead. After brunch we made our way back to the lodge where we anticipdated taking a nap and then going on the night drive. However, the baboons were having none of it. They came out in full effect along with some friends. Lora ran out and was taking pictures left and right. I was relaxing in the chalet and she kept telling me to come out - eventually I did and snapped quite a few shots of the animals - even chased some down. Eventually it was nap time and we had to move inside after 30 or so minutes because it was so hot. It's winter here and still too hot to sleep outisde - we're moving!

After the nap was over it was high tea time again and I'm convincedd now that without a doubt high tea is just a fancy word for delicous appetizers and wonderful juice. I could go on and on about how great the food is but just take my word for it. After the food was demolished we made our way to find Piet again.

Once we found him he asked us if we wanted to see zebra or hippos. Lora and I didn't care - just bring on the animals. Someone else in our group spoke up and said zebra so we made our way to the zebra. You could tell that Piet was on the radio earlier finding out what was already spotted and where we could head to. It worked out very well - we hung out with the zebras for a while but moved on because it was getting crowded. We then made our way to find some elephants and we hit the jackpot. Another large herd of them were eating leaves - they basically eat leaves al day to stay in that great elephant shape. Then we were off to find some more animals and we spotted 2 giraffes and paused for a quick bit to take some shots and then moved on. Lora and I brought our handheld GPS tonight and makred Inyati as our home waypoint so we could see where we were driving. It was very useful as we knew where in relationship to camp we were. We never left the vicinity of the lodge, but at times it would see we were driving for quite some while. I could barely believe how many animals were so close to where we were sleeping. After the giraffes we made our way to a lion pride - it was part of the prior all-male pride we had seen - this is where the females and cubs were at though. The cubs were extremely playful and very fun to watch. They were just like humans - needed lots of attention and weren't happy when nobody wanted to play with them. The lions are my second favorite - behind the leopard. We stayed with the pride until well after night fall and then made our way to a safe spot to have some Castle and red wine. Afterwards we made our way back to Inyati. Tonight's drive ended earlier than the previous ones but we were still the last crew to arrive.

Shortly after we got back the Boma was on again. We all made our way to the bonfire, but not without picking up a bottle of Shiraz first. The wine here is great! We enjoyed oxtail and lamb chops as the main courses this time and they were both delicous. After dinner but before dessert the show began. The entire staff of women came in dancing and singing. They did a few songs and dances and it was truly amazing. They sounded amazing and the audience was defintitely wowed. There were some great stories told over dinner tonight and most notably is a story that Ash told about how he used to own a land rover. He had a tendency of hitting things and particularly at the BP at the corner for Hillsborough and Gorman near NCSU. He was trying to be very careful because he was 2/4 at this gas station for hitting things. He was slowly backing up and heard a crunch - not to be stopped by that he looked around and all seemed well so continued backing up. There was a larger crunching sound and come to find out the guy behind him no longer had a car - he had a compressed piece of metal that used to be a Ford. The guy was pissed off and chased him around for a few minutes before the cops showed up and stopped the chase - however they began laughing at the situation. This only angered the guy who owned the small Ford even more and he tried to escape and chase down Ash, but the cops held firm while Ash laughed as well. I haven't done the story justice but as I typed it I laughed the whole time.

After dinner was over we made our way back to the chalet - we were guided by Keith which we are fairly certain runs this place per what we've read. He was extremely nice and reassured us that we didn't miss South Africa by not going to Cape Town - it's beautiful but not quintessential South Africa. Regardless we would have liked to have gone but it just didn't work out this trip. We definitely don't regret the trip we've taken though and everything has been absolutely wonderful.

Okay it's time for sleep and Lora's been passed out next to me for quite some time now so I'm signing off. Until next time.