Said it once say it again - have a fantastic trip and please remember your friends back home doing laundry and cooking meals ..... we will be so excited for pixs and reports

OK..unpacked and repacked and unpacked again. Got clothes and shoes into one bag, with slight shoe spillover into Doug's. However, the medicine, vitamins, hair brushes, makeup are taking on a life of their own....they want their own bag. I hope Doug is really underpacked.

Joanna, wish you were coming. I will feel sorry for you cleaning and whatever, but I missed ROO!

Let's see.... 2 bags for Andi. One bag for me (that Andi gets to share somewhat). One empty bag going. (not so empty returning.)
I have been told that this is very fair.

I don't think I under-packed. I believe the term is "right-sized" packing. No downsizing in my packing! I can only hope that language usage affects the scale.
It actually was easy once I understood that every piece of clothing has two sides!

Doug

His duffle is bigger n mine. AND he doesn't wear as much make up.

HA HA HA HA HA Tony's stash is always bigger than mine! He'd have hard time with your trip luggage wise but if David could do it Tony could do it!!!

which David?

Doug

Profile for cindyr
Member Status: Cindy and David
Registered: February 16, 2004
Posts: 1124
Email Address: cdross@comcast.net
Location: South Barrington, IL
Occupation: Sales
Favorite Cruise: i think my favorite is always right around the corner!!

With you right??????

We are here! Loved, loved SAA. W could have done 8more hours in our little 2a and b seats. Such great service. Picked up by k&d rep in jbg and Capetown instantly. All is wonderful. Yes Joanna, David's bag much larger. I think the limo guy assumed the giant bags were mine........miss you all. Mwt the green fields already. Off to the hop on bus!!!!! Post soon.

So glad to hear you are safely in Cape Town Cindy and David. No matter how much I check details I always worry about someone not making the connection with the transfer company. I do relax once I get everyone on the ground and with Ken and me in tow!!!

We are now at Vuyatela. The nice thing about this camp is WIRELESS INTERNET and it works GREAT. Grant, Dena, Don, Michele, Gary and Anne are coming here and they will love this fast wireless internet. We will get some great pictures from Grant I am sure.

We spent two nights at Chitwa Chitwa and had a great time. During the two days game drives we saw the following.

Two lions with two four month old cubs absolutely fabulous sighting. The cubs were active and crawling all over the two lions.
Same leopard we saw two years ago "Kerala" with two NEW four month old cubs.
One leopard in a tree
Leopard in a tree with an impala kill
Cheetah(sorry Ralph) on two termite mounds and then followed her off road into the bush. We NEARLY saw a kill a gemsbok starting running out of the thicket and the cheetah took out after it but the gemsbok just disappeared and the cheetah stopped.
Rhino (3 males)
Giraffe, zebra, wildebeast, buffalo, wart hogs.
We did not see elephant but chose to look for the leopard with the cubs instead of going to the area where the other game vehicles went to see the elephant. We did find the leopard again and we were able to spend more time with the leopards - our preference.
There is a new colation of four male lions that we heard roaring last night. They made a kill and the vultures were in the air. Unfortunately they are just over the boundry line in Mala Mala they will probably move to this side tonight. WE HOPE.

There has been a change in the management with a wonderful new person in charge named Shannon. She has made some good changes and we really enjoyed Chitwa Chitwa. We went out with two different rangers each day and found them both to be excellent. One just joined he used to be the videographer for Wild Earth. Very knowledge and super nice called Rexon. Our other ranger was called SURPRISE and he suited his name. Totally into his job and we found him to be a lot of fun.

There were a few tiny things that could be better but if we decide to use Chitwa Chitwa for our next safari I can change these few things for our group. It is certainly in the running. Game was good and the lodge is beautiful. The large lake in front of the lodge was full of hippos and we saw one crocodile. The impalas and water buck were running around on the other side of the lake. Great area for breakfast and lunch, covered so no one is in the sun, with a view of the lake.

Great weather. Chilly but NOT cold in the morning never used my gloves. Warms up in the afternoon and at dinner I could wear short sleeves. Could not be better. Hope it stays this way.

Okay signing off to go to lunch Ken will try and post some pictures this afternoon and with the great internet connection it should not be a problem.

So exciting! Thanks Ngaire and Cindy for posting. Continue to have a wonderful time! See you soon.

A FEW PHOTOS FROM CHITWA CHITWA:


A female lion with 4 month old cubs.


Kerula with one of her two 4 month old cubs.


Safari, Kerula's mother


Our Cheetah encounter this morning.


A Cameleon crossing the road in slow motion.


A young male Kudu.


Zebra on our last game drive in Chitwa Chitwa.


Our sundowner last night was spectacular.

Federal Air Information for those that have not left yet. As always things change. Now they weight ALL your luggage, camera bags, handbags everything and you must be under 25 kilos per person. In the past they did not weigh hand luggage it makes a difference! Also everything is sent through an machine for security and each person is wanded before boarding the plane. Security is good of course but somehow I loved the simplicity that Federal Air used to provide. Probably the World Cup in 2010 different standards of security were imposed and still of course remain in effect.

Wonderful photos, Ken! Thanks so much!

So excited to find your pictures this morning, Ken. Wonderful as always!

Wow, that's a major change for Federal Air! I guess it had to happen, but the previous casual attitude was so refreshing.

I hope this is an incredible trip for you all!

Fantastic pictures Ken...makes us feel like we're there!

Thanks for the pix and the info. Cant wait, 3 weeks from today for us!
----------------
Helen

I am so envious of your cheetah sighting! Can't wait to leave--maybe I should start packing! ;)

Karen is right, Ken's pictures rock!!

Karen where did you find that gremlin? He is so cute!

For the six coming here GOOD NEWS - the first thing today we went to an active Hyena Den. Two very small pups, the smallest I have seen and SO SO cute. About four adults. Quite a lot of hyena around both at Chitwa Chitwa and Vuyatela.

Saw a leopard cub but not a clear sighting. The same two lions with two cubs but this time in thick grass.

It is SO nice to have internet again. I do not know how the other camps will be but this internet is fantastic. We will be missing this when we leave here.

We leave tomorrow morning and fly off to meet the Birkenhead Group. It is supposed to rain tomorrow unfortunately but after that the forecast is great for the rest of the time we are at Birkenhead House and La Residence.

Off to dinner. Been drinking WAY TOO MUCH Amarula it has to stop or I wont fit into the little amount of clothing I have bought with me.

Wonderful pictures Ken, as always.

Sounds like lots of good ROARmail is starting.

Agree, Karen where did you get that little thing? Can we add it to LCT graemlins?

cool Cameleon Ken, the green is brilliant!

We arrived late last evening and are heading out to join 7 others for a trip to Cape Point, which is reported to be the windiest place in S.Africa today with 40+ mph winds.Should be an adventure.

Should be an exciting time at the Cape Point. It is windy and overcast at Birkenhead today. Wireless internet is great as I am sitting looking out at the ocean drinking my morning tea and playing internet Dinner last night was excellent and chatting with Pat and Ray M was great fun. Now that the jet lag is mostly behind me I can make a dent in the wine cellar here. I also have a , I guess you say blog on a shutter fly sight. Not sure I know how to copy and paste with the I PAD so i will just type the link. rlwebsterroar3.shutter fly.com/

hopefully that will work if interested. maybe karen can verify it works later today. If it does not then if Karen would be so kind to copy and post the link that would be good.

Almost breakfast time at Birkenhead so will end this

Editing to add the correct link for Ralph's blog.
Click here for the blog :)

Thanks for the good news about Vuyatel, Ngaire. Excellent internet is a welcome amenity.

We broke down & got the rolling duffels (6 lbs). We are packing for a four week trip, including a stop in Paris to join June, Ngaire's sister, for two days at the French Open tennis tournament. Gary got all of my things into the one bag (except for camera & computer). Weight is 21.2 pounds (9.7 kilos). I think his weighed in at around 23 pounds (10.1 kilos). Like Marcie said - thank goodness for the laundry service. Wear one outfit while the other one is in the wash.

Thank you for the good intel on the change at Federal Air, Ngaire. We will have to weigh the backpacks to make sure we are under the weight limits.

Ken, those pictures are awesome. Love the one of the leopardess and cub in the tree (along with every other one of them ;p)

We leave on Saturday. Safe travels to all.

Cheers, Anne

Great pics...sounds wonderful...I remember how windy and rainy Hermanus was last year. But, I bought a great coat downtown to handle the weather! I will miss that lovely ocean walk and the botanical garden walk and time there with you folks. Whoever has room #1, enjoy it for us.

One more day of work and repacking before we are on our way to JBG.

Enjoyed your blog, Ralph, thanks. Look forward to each entry. How tight was your connection in Jo'burg? I am a little concerned as we arrive on the A380 so lots and lots of fellow pax to clear immigration.We have 1hr 50 min, is that enuf?
------------
Helen

We were incredibly fortunate and the 100% precipitation and 40 mph winds became a non issue and we had a wonderful day crossing Chapman's Peak, a visit to an ostrich farm, and hiking up to the lighthouse at Cape Point. Wonderful dinner at Birkenhead House where we were joined by the owner and her husband. The seas are raging and the sound of the surf should be great background for sleeping. The wireless internet at Birkenhead is excellent.

Birkenhead is everything I remembered! Wonderful dinner last, much different weather than last time, but we still plan to trek into town. Have to tell Joanna and Marcie that the gorgeous blond young man that we all took photos with last time, greeted us on arrival. Life is good.

my connection was tight especially as my plane was 30 minutes late. I was met by some one that helped me thru immigration , collect bags and get to terminal b and to ba check in counter. that helped a lot. Ngaire said you will be met as well so should go ok.

Looked overcast this morning but it is brightening up. Ken and I just walked the path and were taking off the layers. It is not cold. It was sunny and lovely then a few sprinkles then sunny again. What a gorgeous path this is from Birkenhead House.

Next two days are forecast for partly cloudy, warmer and no rain. Should be perfect. I looked at the weather in the game park area and it was 32 degrees celcius right now! Thats warm.

Dinner was great last night. It was so lovely to arrive and see everyone it was a very noisy dining room! That wonderful calamari and rack of lamb PLUS my favorite soup, cauliflower.

This afternoon eight of us are going to do the wine tasting at the winery in Hermanus. It is always a nice outing and fun to have a one hour excursion.

Shane is the name of the "handsome" young man we will get another picture for the ladies left behind.

Time for lunch now --- I have been SO BAD and have totally enjoyed being bad.

Ngaire, I agree with you. I am subscribing to the theory that trying a bit of everything is the way to go. Not sure my wardrobe will hold up under these conditions, but I am giving it a shot. Lunch was great with prawns as a starter and chicken curry as the entree, but the piece de la resistance was a decadent brownie topped with ice cream.

Sounds just perfect! I will bring my elastic waist bands!
----------------
Helen

Helen aren't elastic waist bands the greatest!!!!

Ha Ha, Joanna! The best thing to happen to vacations since rolling luggage!
----------------
Helen

PHOTOS FROM VUYATELA AND BIRKENHEAD HOUSE IN HERMANUS:


Male leopard at Vuyatela.


Birkenhead House from the scenic path.


View from the terrace of Birkenhouse House.


Ray enjoying a spicy bloody mary.


Shane with the ladies. Ngaire, Susan, Shane, Cindy & Pat.


Zinnia & Shane with their two year old son Aden.


Wine tasting at the Bouchard Finlayson Winery. Peter Finlayson poured the wine for us and then gave us a tour of the winery.

Great photos! What a gorgeous little boy!(and that was pretty good-looking Bloody Mary,too)
--------------------
Helen

Loved seeing the pictures and now even more looking forward to our trip n 2012.

What a wonderful day. The sun came out today and the drive to La Residence was lovely. I told them NO cramped vans so we had a 40 person bus for 14 people. Definitely not cramped.

We were able to see ALL the suites at La Residence as the rest of the guests were not arriving until around 3.00 pm. They are all so wonderful it really does not matter what room you have.

Then an incredible lunch. Choice of a cheese souffle or pumpkin soup, then Mountain Trout or Filet and then a passion fruit and creme brulee dessert. Complete with a wonderful white and red wine. Everything was fantastic. We went into town and strolled around for a while and then back to La Residence. Drinks at sunset and then they bought around so many wonderful snacks and we had dinner reservations at Ruebens.

None of us were hungry but amazing how much we ate and everything was also wonderul. This country has incredible food.

A film crew came in to La Residence today and stayed the night and also had a big dinner here. A huge long table was set for them for dinner. This group included some of the "beautiful people" including a stunning looking blond model. They are still partying downstairs with live music. Little worried about the noise for our group but I think we are all so tired we will all crash with no problem.

Off to bed now in this gorgeous room. Tomorrow is another day in paradise.