Gil and I arrived home this morning after 30 hours of traveling. The experience was like no other I have ever had and I have the 3000 pictures to prove it. I still have to go through them but will post a few in the next few days.

Some quick thoughts:

Capetown was enjoyable despite very windy weather which kept us from going up to Table Mountain. We enjoyed the Cape Point tour. It was raining most of the time we were in the van, yet the skies seemed to part whenever we were out of the van. The views were incredible. The wine tour the next day...or was the wine tour first...was alot of fun with the large group we had, and made all the more special by getting to see Birkenhead's new property.

After 4 days in Capetown we were off to Hermanus and Birkenhead house for 2 days. The place was beautiful and the hot chocolate was the best ever...maybe the Amarula helped? However the weather didn't cooperate but we managed to enjoy with all the wonderful people who were there with us. And waking up each morning to the view from our room (2) was spectacular.

Our first camp was Mateya. Only way to describe it was it was pure luxury. It is in the Madekwe game reserve and we saw some great game...lion's um...dating, the mother rhino protecting her baby, the lion cubs, the multitude of birds, the elephants at the watering hole, and the most exciting was watching the two male lions enjoying their kill while a brave (or was it a foolhardy) jackel tried to steal the meat from the head male.

After 3 days there we headed to Lion's Sand camp for our final 4 days. We thought Mateya was luxury...this camp soared far above that. The food was good enough to be served in the finest restaurants in NY, the rooms were stunning and roomy (Gil said he didn't want to leave the room it was that gorgeous). We had views of the Sabi River and the land in front. Many a morning we were greeted by springbok or nyala nibbling outside our windows and elephants drinking down by the river. The game viewing was better than at Madekwe (although Madekwe's game viewing was quite good!) Our first drive out we were not more than 10 feet from elephants. It was a bit disconcerting. Highlights included getting stuck in the sand while viewing a pride of lions and having the other truck try and pull us out of the sand...and failing. (Plus the laughter as Gil and Bill...Gemma's husband...discussed which of them should be the sacrifical lamb and run out of the van to distract the lions. Thankfully we didn't have to choose.) We enjoyed every minute especially since it afforded us fantastic close up views of the lions. Other highlights were finally seeing leopards, the hyena's waiting outside our sundowner, and the rhino's viewing us in the bush during our outdoor breakfast. Add to that the sitings of mongoose, tons of elephants including several babies, the cape buffalo, the zebra, the giraffe's and all the other animals.

I'd have to say that the other highlight was the wonderful people we met and the memories I'll always have. This was by far the best vacation I've ever had.
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"It tastes like Kudu" says the Yellow Crested, Green Giggler.