We loved La Residence and Rebun's. It was a great place to decompress after 12 days on Safari. It took 2 days of massage to unknot my shoulder's and back after Gary's wild rides. Envy you all being there. What a wonderful trip. More picture's please.

Sitting in the lounge at O'Hare, waiting for our flight to Frankfurt. Can't wait to get to Jo'burg!!

We stoked the fire and listened to the live concert compliments of the film crew. It was a wonderful evening just relaxing. Up this morning to the most beautiful sunshine. Some are off to a wine tour, but La Residence is so beautiful we are just going to soak in the wonderful views.

We had a great day today. Ralph, Pat, Ray, Susan, Ken and I did the best wine tour I have ever done at the winery and restaurant, La Petite Ferme.

He was the "Real Thing" and has had this winery for 25 years and he basically runs it himself with the help of his son. His wife is the chef. A small boutique winery and we tasted wine right out of the stainless steel vats and also out of the oak barrels. A Savingnon Blanc only 3 weeks in the vat and still cloudy, a Chardonnay in an Oak Barrel at 3 months and a Shiraz at 1 year. He was so very interesting a really great character. His wines were really good I am just getting so "wined" out. Unfortunately we cannot get these wines in the States. The setting looking over the winery to the beautiful mountains, priceless. I ate light today at lunch with a piece of Cape Salmon and a very small side salad.

Ruebens last night was a sensational meal. Butter tender filets! Not a great atomosphere but really great food.

After we got home we had a relaxing afternoon, we handled some emails, watched a little tv and got ready for dinner.

Tonight we are eating at La Residence, it is expensive but after our arrival lunch was so wonderful most of us decided this was the fitting end to four wonderful days in the Cape Town area. This is a sensational property they have the art of hospitality down to a fine science.

Tomorrow the hardest part flying from Cape Town to Johannesburg I do hate airports at any time let alone with a group. We have done all we can to make it work smoothly so hopefully that will happen. This time it is too far for us to go ahead and get things all set up as we usually do so I am having to rely on others.

One more night as we ALL gather together and then off to the GAME PARKS. We are all now getting anxious for the game park part of the trip.

So happy to hear about Le Petite Ferme as we (the Part Deux folks) had planned to go there as well. Fingers crossed for an uneventful trip from Capetown to the Parks.
------------------
Helen

:app: :app: :app:

Love hearing about your trip!! It sounds fantastic.

Dinner menu tonight at La REsidence

goronzola poached pear salad
or
smoked trout with asparagas poached egg holdandaise
or
Spicy pan fried prawns and fine salad.

Soup - porcini mushroom soup.

Main
Grilled cape salmon, new potatoes, patti pans and fennel sauce

oven roasted quail, cous cous, baby carrots, pomegranate jus

roasted rack of lamb, garlic creamed potaotes, fine beans,rosemary jus

Dessert
creme brulee
or
chocolate torte, with vanilla ice cream
or
cheese selection

This was even BETTER than it sounds and a wonderful table for eight right in front of the fireplace. Great night now I am about to HIT THE SACK.

Doug and I arrived without incident In Joburg yesterday morning. Our SAA flight was direct and smooth from JFK and we zipped through passport control and our bags zipped off the belt and we were on our way. Well, so we thought. Our Hyatt ordered limo wasn't there. However, there were airport folks on hand to smooth things over for us and one lovely guy called the hotel for us and found out our car was stuck in traffic and on its way. The airport really has it's act together and seems determined to turn around it's bad reputation. Doug wanted to tip the gentleman for being so helpful to us and he refused any compensation.

Our room at the Hyatt was ready upon our arrival and we freshened up and enjoyed a great breakfast. We used our Hyatt suite upgrade and the room is a quite large 2 room suite across from a large open Regency lounge. We decided to keep our first day low key. However, the Hyatt is attached to the Rosebank Mall with a lovely craft market, so I got all my shopping out of the way, picking up my usual jewelry along with baskets and a few other trinkets. We had a lovely Italian dinner before crashing.

Today, we were again treated to another sunny, but cool, day and headed off to De Wildte Cheetah Conservation Park about 1 hour north of Joberg. We got to add patting Baron the cheetah to patting tigers, koala bears, and kangaroos! We learned all about extinction issues with cheetah, vultures, badgers, wild dogs, wild cats...a thoroughly enjoyable two hours. Tomorrow, we are off for a morning horseback safari and then we will bottle feed baby lions and end the day walking with adolescent lions before joining the group at the IC Hotel in the evening. Can't wait to see everyone! What a great beginning.

Sounds like you're off to a great start Andi! Ngaire think I will print that menu for Tony tonight as I serve him grilled chicken and a salad..... PERIOD!

I am just loving the reports! Can't wait to see more pix from Ken, and some personal notes from first time ROAR'ers like Cindy and Dave! And the others who are on Part Deux, like Helen! (who oh so gallantly welcomed us to ICE through the glass on ICE!)

Hi all! Sitting in the bar at the intercontinental in joburg. This brings back such great memories of the last time when we were introduced to amarula!!! What a lovely dinner last night as Ngaire said in front of the fire! Plenty of great food, and of course no lack of vino.......there are not enough stars to describe la residence.....olivia.....why aren't you here? In fact all of you! Heading to dinner soon,such a fabulous group....last safari only3 days. This trip 8!!!! Bring on the animals.....hi from Pat, Ray, dick, Susan fanelli, what a great group!!!

Sooooooooo happy to hear what a great trip this is!! Sitting in the bar ?? , now that's a surprise. :D

PHOTOS FROM LA RESIDENCE IN FRANSCHHOEK, SOUTH AFRICA:


La Residence


Taken from our room.




Wine Tasting straight from the barrel at La Petite Ferme.


Our last evening at La Residence.




The staff saying good-bye to our group.

Just about to hit the sack in Johannesburg. Nice dinner tonight with new arrivals, Ken, Sheila, Paul, Susan and Andi and Doug. Rack of Lamb again for me. This hotel does a great job with the food and it is reasonably priced.

Tomorrow the safari adventure begins. Last minute charter air flight changes mean our group is no longer leaving at the same time. Tintswalo group leaves the hotel at 9.30 am and the Leopard Hills group leaves the hotel at 11.30 am. So we said good bye to the Leopard Hills group and Ken and I will see them on May 3rd in time for lunch. Cannot wait to get back to the bush!!

Posting may be difficult from this point forward I do not know how the internet connections will be at the camps. Will post when we can.

Love Love Love seeing and hearing everything! ....so when is ROAR 4 :3smile:

Doug and I had a fantastic three days in Joberg. Today, we went to a place called Ukulula which breeds lions and releases them back into the wild. We got to play with baby cubs 6 weeks to 12 weeks and to walk with adolescent lions (11 months)- an utterly incredible experience. we weren't allowed to touch these adolescents but we could walk next to them while they hunted, swam, played. We also got to pat and hang out with totally tame 2 year old cheetah named Emma who purred like a kitten. All I can say is wow. Ended the day with a wonderful dinner at the hotel with everyone and we are so excited to be with all the Roarers.

Gosh it alla sounds (and looks) so wonderful and you haven't even gotten to the parks yet! How I wish we could do this again, mayabe 2014?? Please keep up with the posts / details / stories as you can because hearing about it all from fellow LCTers is ALMOST as good as being there. Have a great time at the camps

Oh how I wish I was able to say I needed to decompress after 12 days on Safari!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

:lct:

I'm green with envy, and regret that I'm not there! La Res looks every bit as beautiful as I can remember it, and all look to be having a super time. Keep it up!

Posting for Andi:

Amazing pixs!!!!!! LOVE LOVE them -

Thanks Karen! Wish you were all with us!

Great photos! So envious of all you serial and first time ROARers! Can't wait to hear more!

:app: :app: :app:

Wonderful photos, Andi & Doug!

LOVE LOVE LOVE these !!! "Walking With The Lions" has moved into #1 on my must go to list !

Marcie you can come here and walk my kitties for free!!!!

Keep the photos coming.

What great pix! A magical trip. Cant wait for my turn.
----------------
Helen

I agree with you, Leslie - lots of fun stuff before the official safari begins. Have a wonderful time, everyone. May you see lots of animals, get great pictures and enjoy each other's company.

Despite multiple tries to get our outbound flight switched to Newark from JFK, we headed out at 11:30 am yesterday to take Lufthansa's early flight to Frankfurt. This meant a 15 hour layover, as our flight to Joburg leaves at 8:45 pm tonight. This was our first time on the A380. The upper deck is fitted out for first class (8 seats) and business (98 seats). Business is divided into four sections.

The last remaining two seats together (months ago) were in the second to the last row, in the last section of business class. Think of this as the equivalent of detention in high school. The overhead bins are half as deep as those near the forward section of the plane. Even worse, they have little depth, as they taper off quickly to fit the curvature of the fuselage. Our flight attendants took the rolling duffles & stored them in the wardrobe. Works for me! We squeezed our not very full backpacks into the mini-space provided.

I was struck by the significant majority of Germans on the flight. Fellow passengers and flight attendants happily started conversations in their lingua Deutsche, and were treated to our very best blank stares followed by "Bitte -sprechen die Englisch?". The service was efficient and the in-seat video had great choices. Seats are of the angled variety, so it's hard to get comfortable enough to sleep for more than an hour or so. The perfect way to get wedgies as you slide down the seat and have to hike yourself back up through perfectly aligning the extension of the footrest and the tightness of the seat belt. Sweet Karen, you'd have trouble getting the foot rest part short enough to slow the pull of gravity.

Would I choose an A380 again? Absolutely - it is the Ferrari of jumbo jets. We cleared Canada well ahead of schedule. Reported air speed was 668 mph. How cool was THAT?

We ROARed into Frankfurt at 4:58 am. We decided to skip breakfast in favor of the Lufthansa arrivals lounge. Sure enough, every German baked good known to mankind was available. Eggs, meats, cheeses, fruits and shower service. We had to wait until 5:30 am for the facility to open. After that, we trundled to the Sheraton at the airport for our day room.

The day room worked out really well. We were in our room by 6 am. I'd asked for a 'just in case' 11 am wake up call. Next thing I knew, the phone was blaring and the room lights had flashed on. Where had the time gone? Dang, that is the best wake up service! There's no chance you can fall right back to sleep with that kind of sound and light show .

We headed into Frankfurt for the afternoon to get some exercise and a late lunch. The weather was picture perfect today - high 60s and a light breeze. We strolled along both sides of the river. On the south side, sycamores line the path. Someone gave those trees a crew cut. It catches your attention - not necessarily in a good way.

It's May 1 - spargel (the German white asparagus) season has officially begun! We munched on a plate of spargel with a side order of sauerbraten outside at the Stork, which claims 'Goethe ate here'. It's near the main cathedral. We were treated to a 15 minute carillon concert. A simply magical way to enjoy Germany at its best. It was easy to catch the train back to the airport. All in all, the layover turned out to be a very good thing.

Time to power down, pack back up, slither over to the Lufthansa lounge and wait for the countdown to Joburg.

Cheers, Anne

In Tintswalo. I will write up tonights first game drive briefly. So ready to hit the bed. Bottom line, lots of elephants, with big bulls in musk and small babies. Zebras, plains animals and the highlight was a coalition of FOUR male lions. I wish Anne was with us to write this up as no one but she can do.

We drove up at dark to four male lions yawning and stretching. One got up and the others followed. We trailed them as they returned close to the road. Our ranger "Eric" saw two buffalos walking down the road towards our vehicle. He said 'this is an unique situation everyone get ready" He said the lions became aware of the buffalo and were on the hunt. Our vehicle was the front vehicle and we saw the buffalo right in front of us. Our ranger said he had to move as when the lions attacked the buffallo would head straight into our vehicle. So we took an angle to the action. It was pretty dark by now. We kept the lights off for the most part but there was just enough light to see.
Suddenly the buffalo snorted and started running and three of the four males gave chase. It was SO exciting. Unfortunately they missed the buffalo. They returned to the hunt as they walked on down the road. Following four male lions was really a pretty neat sight. They stopped to "do their business" and then rolled around in their own "poop". We were very close to the lions.

I hope we see them again tomorrow I have not seen four male lions together before. Supposedly there are six males in this colation and he said they will all come together again.

Coming home we got behind an elephant walking the road he would just NOT move over. Finally past him we hit a huge herd with one elephant that was not too happy with us. After a stand off for a while with us backing up we managed to get past her and back to the lodge.

Dinner tonight was fantastic, Butternut Squash soup and a choice of Duck, Filet or a vegetarian dish. I had the filet - perfection. All served with a basil potato and vegetables. Desert a panna cotta with berry sauce. Could not have been better.

Internet wireless in the lounge but not in the rooms and a bit slow but at least we have it.

Back with more later hope the Leopard Hills group had a great afternoon drive.

Anne, thank for all the details. We are on Lufthansa A380 from Frankfurt to Jo'burg but in the forward biz class so hopefully our overheads are more accomodating.
Ngaire, Wow!!!! Sounds so exciting.
-------------
Helen

Checking in from Johannesburg. We flew LAX - London Thursday night - the AA flight attendants in our section wore "tiaras" and large "jewel" rings. They had a great sense of humor and made it fun. Then we had a few hours at Heathrow airport Friday afternoon and flew that night to Johannesburg. On that British Airways flight we received a small box of commemorative chocolates in honor of William and Kate.

We arrived Saturday morning, rented a car, and drove out to the area where the De Wildt Cheetah Centre is located. We stayed overnight Saturday night. Saturday afternoon, we visited an elephant sanctuary which was well done. They currently have 4 rescued elephants. We got a lot of interaction with the elephants including a trainer showing each of us their feet, tail, teeth, eyelashes, ears, and so on, letting us feel all the parts. We got to feed the elephants by hand and each got to lead one, walking it by holding its trunk in our hand.

Today we went to the cheetah centre, which Andi has described well. They are focused on research and conservation for highly endangered species, including cheetahs and wild dogs. There are only 600 cheetahs in the wild so if we see one, that will be a treat. We drove back to J'burg and are settled at the Hyatt. Walked around and shopped a bit, including the big Sunday crafts market at the Rosebank Mall. We had an excellent dinner at a Greek resturants within walking distance of the hotel. There are many restaurants and shops very close by.

Here are a few photos from the elephant sanctuary and cheetah centre.


After our close-up overview of all the parts of the elephant


African elephant


Elephants lined up for feeding


Meerkat at the elephant sanctuary


Vulture - cheetah centre


Wild dog at the cheetah centre


Impala at the cheetah centre

Cheetah at the cheetah centre


Cheetah at the cheetah centre

Love all of the photos and commentaries. If you can't be there in person, this a great way to feel like you are there.

Grant, thanks so much for the delightful pix! Only you would do the "vulture" ;)

Please give reports as you progress. Is Richard with you?

Love the reports - love the photos! Thank you all so much!

Update on game drives. I am going to post periodically so I do not lose this along the way.

Ken is trying to post some pictures from our game drives that will go with the reports below.

Leopards!
Driving down the road we saw a male impala sounding the alarm call with great frequency. So we went to the area that the impala was facing. Very quickly we spotted a leopard right next to the road. It was a young male. He started to move and we went off road following him as he moved through the bush not always easy but our ranger was very good. We called our other vehicle with Art, June, Marvin and Ellen. The leopard gave us some beautiful shots and at one point came out of the grass and headed right to our vehicle. I could have stretched out and touched him he was so close.
Suddenly the ranger pointed behind us and there was a female leopard. She kept getting closer and the male moved forward. At this time the other vehicle arrived so they saw both leopards.
The two leopards got fairly close and the male started hissing and the female walked off. The ranger said that this was the female's son that had separated from her some time ago. The male leopard gave us one more wonderful pose as he perched on top of a mound and we got a nice shot of him with our other vehicle in the background. After about 45 minutes with the leopard we bid farewell and moved on.

Elephant!
Last night we saw a LOT of elephant. A large herd and they blocked our path two separate times coming home. The best elephant of the day was a BIG bull in full musk and boy could we SMELL it - yuk does that REALLY attract female elephants? He was on the side of the road with one of our vehicles in front of him and our vehicle behind him. Glaring at us and obviously not too happy. Some head shaking and general agitation. He was interesting as he had been swimming and he was only dry on the top of his head and the rest of his body was wet. Finally he moved between our vehicles to the other side of the road to join the herd and Ken got a picture of him. Not the best shot but it shows the experience.

Lion!
Last night we saw four of the Manyelti coalition of lions, there are six altogether. Today just driving down the road we spotted two male lions. They did not seem to happy to see us snarling a bit and Ken got a great shot of that. As we were sitting there we heard the tell tale sound of mating lions. We drove back and found the pair and followed as they were on the move. We were not able to see them doing the deed it appeared he was trying but she had a headache.
The plan is to go back to this area tonight and see if we can find the mating pair again she may have lost her headache by this evening. When we got back to the two other males we managed to get a shot of the other vehicle with the lion right next to the land cruiser.

We saw zebra, wildebeast, cape buffalo, kudu and of course impala.

We just need the rhino to complete the big five and we did see rhino tracks today and heard when we arrived the rhino was good right now so I am sure that will be in the cards.

The lodge works well.
The rooms are nice and very spacious and remind me of the rooms at Ebony lodge at Singita. The entire lodge is linked by raised walkways something I always like. Food has been excellent and the rangers and trackers have a good sense of humor and are doing a nice job.

There does not appear to be as plentiful game here as the Sabi Sands/Leopard Hills area. However what is nice here is that there are fewer vehicles so when you get a great sighting like this you can stay. During the whole time with the two leopards it was just our two vehicles and one other. Same thing with the lions and elephants we have seen, at no time did we NEED to leave it is a nice to be able to stay as long as you wish. The negative to this is that there are fewer eyes looking to spot things so more driving around looking.

When you get a great sighting in sabi sands it is a busy area and you have to move out to give other vehicles time at a sighting. However you see more things and less driving with no sightings.

Very hard to get the "perfect balance" of game vehicles. Both situations have their positives and negatives. This has been great so far as we are getting such great sightings ans staying so long that everyone is very happy.

Coming back for breakfast we saw some very active monkeys and Ken took a shot of a young one that was very curious.

We just received an email from Susan at Leopard Hills. I guess their plane was delayed leaving JNB so they did not get out on their game drive until 5.00 pm. She said they saw mating leopards
and the alpha female wild dog going into the den and the five other wild dogs of the pack. MAYBE this will finally be my time --- I get there tomorrow.

PHOTOS FROM TINTSWALO:




Marvin, Ellen, Art, June & Leopard.










Velvet Monkey.

Thaks for the great reports and pictures. They somewhat ease the pain at not being there with you.

Dick adn Sue

Today we toured Soweto with a very good guide. We had several opportunities to meet and talk with local people, which was very interesting. Among other things, we saw a jazz music performance by a mother and her four sons, toured a youth afterschool program, had some beers in a local shabeen (bar), and saw the Mandela house. This was our first time to stay in and around J'burg and it has exceeded our expectations in every way...Looks cold from the looks of Ken's pictures, was that 32F or 32C from the report last week


Military helicopter in the area for an expo


Brothers and talented musicians


Streetside barber


Street scene


Street scene


Our group with guide Bongani at The Shack