Road trip! -Sun City South Africa

We decided to take a road trip on Nha's last weekend in Botswana. We were meeting up with Marco and Andy where working in Jo'burg. We started out early at 7am and headed to the Tlokweng border post. We got thru pretty quickly and turned on the road that takes you to Madikwe. The 1st part of it is paved and after the Tau gate it is gravel/dirt. We were going for a while on the dirt and there was a noise and Linda said, that noise is funny, is it supposed to be making that noise. Nha had driven on that road to pick me up at Makanyane a few weeks previous and he said it is just the noise from the road and checked the mirror and looked at the tires and said they were fine. The noise continued and then all of a sudden the back end of the truck started fish-tailing. I had never been driving when getting a flat before. We stopped and the tire was shredded! Lucky we had Nha, he changed the tire, we threw it in the back of the truck and were on our way. The dirt went on for a long time and we had to be careful not to blow another tire since we didn't have another spare. Let me tell you the signs in Africa are terrible. We thought we were lost so many times because there weren't any signs saying this way to Sun City or Pilanesburg. Finally there was a sign and we knew we were going the right way. Then there would be no signs again, 40 mins later there would be another signs with a city we knew. Stressful! We made it there walked around, did some shopping, had lunch and then met up with Marco and Andy. I thought Sun City was going to be better than it was. It really isn't anything like Vegas but we had a good time and the we were off to the zip!

Zip line- Sun City, South Africa

5 of us were doing the zip line, Marco was an observer since he had arleady done it twice and Jean stayed back at the hotel. Marco used my camera and took pictures of all of us coming down. It was a lot of fun. I can't wait to go back and do it again! This is the longest and fastest zipline in the world. It says you get up to 70mph but we didn't get going that fast. If you look at the 2nd picture. I am up at the top you go down past the dirt square and then back to the square where they get you off the line. It was well worth the R340!

Work, work, work and more work!

I haven't been very good about posting this year but all I do is work! I am so tired. We also work on Sat so the only day we really have to do anything is on Sunday. I have done some shopping and I am going to buy a carved wooden chair. It will take some work getting it home! Nha and I have been playing tennis at the Gaborone Sun on the weekends and today after work we went and watch the guys from work play in a soccer tournament with some of the other companies in the park. Tomorrow we are driving to Sun City and going on the zip line! It is the fastest in the world. You go 7o mph and you are hooked in so you fly like superman! It should be fun. I will try to post pics sooner than I did for my safari.

I also have been feeding the family of stray cats in the apartment complex. It is a mom and 3 kittens. They were always tearingup the trash so I started buying cat food and leaving it in a bowl. They don't tear up the trash anymore but the other day there was another cat there too. The kittens were so small at least they are getting some regular food daily!

Game Drives

The first game drive I went on we saw 3 rhinos and a pride of 17 lions! The pride is usually 20, the 2 males and 1 adult female wasn't with the bunch. The were napping, it was like a sea of lions! It was amazing. You could tell they had a kill recently because you could see the blood stains on their fur and they had full bellies. Some other highlights of the game drives was more lions. I saw so many lions on this trip. I saw 2 male lions napping, the pride of 17 on another day hunting. They gave up and we moved on we also the missing adult female with another male that wasn't one of the pride males. We saw a spotted hyena, slender and banded mongoose, springbok, waterbuck, impala, red hartebeeste, wildebeest, steenbok, kudu, bushbuck, giraffe, zebra , elephant, hippos, water monitor, black backed jackel, baboon, vervet monkey and 7 new birds. I have 2 unidentified so I might have a few more.

The reason I didn't walk around camp was because of the pride of 17 lions. They were very near the lodge. I was the only one around and I was scared the lions would come and get me! The lions were outside one of the cabins a few nights before I got there so I didn't want to take a chance. I didn't see the wild dogs again! I couldn't believe it. It make so mad! We went to find them on the afternoon game drive because the den was far from camp. We hung out at a waterhole for awile and then headed back to camp because it would take about 45 minutes to get back. It was getting dark and we heard over the radio the dogs were at the water hole we left, killed a kudu and then had the kill stolen from them by hyaena's. Even though I was the only one on my last 2 game drives we didn't try to find them again. Hopefully I will see them the next time. I know where they den now and will pick a lodge closer to them. ?Unfortunately it will be far away from the big pride of lions but I really want to see those dogs!

Makanyane Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve

I decided to go to Madikwe last minute. I got off work at 1pm and went back to the apartment to see if I could get into a lodge. I tried the Madikwe River Lodge where dad and Cindy stayed but I had a hard time. I remembered he say a lot of lions and the wild dogs so I tried the lodge close to it which was Makanyane. Lynette was very friendly and gave me a special rate and I was on my way. Nha drove me to the border and then I was picked up by the guy who gave me rides last year. He took me to the lodge from there. The lodge was right on the Marico river. Last year I was at Tau lodge which was fenced and the River lodge was fenced too. I assumed this would be fenced also but it wasn't. This lodge had its own property too, like in north Botswana, it was a private concession. None of the other lodges could go onto the property. I got there after 4pm so I missed going out on the afternoon game drive. I was shown to my room(little house) which was also on the river.

The room was huge and so nice. I think it is the 2nd nicest place I have been. The Cape Town accommodation last year is still the best. I was in cabin #4 and it was called leadwood. THere was a big leadwood tree in my room between the bathroom and the bedroom area. There was a indoor and an outdoor shower, a big clawfoot tub. My sister would love it, the water is so hot!
I took a bath everynight with a view out to the river. It was great! I had dinner in my room twice. I was the only one there basically. I had wildebeest, impala, springbok and ostrich while I was there. I also had carrot and cumin soup that was delicious and the best desserts! During the day I would hang out in the lounge chairs and read my book hoping for the birds to come around. I did see a few new ones! I didn't wander around the camp. I was a bit nervous with it not being fenced. You will find out why from my next post!

My 1st week

My 1st week wasn't very eventful. It was all work work work. Many of you know I don't like to work overtime. Well it is so busy here that's all we do. My 1st week I worked 15 hours of overtime! I was so tired. It is so different than last year that is for sure. It is dark when we get home from work and I am so tired I really don't do anything. I don't even talk on skype most of the days. It sucks now too since someone got me a webcam for my b-day, I look worn out and terrible and everyone says how tired I look. Nice! It's holiday weekend after working OT on Sat. We are off on Mon and Tues, Botswana holiday. Last minute I booked at Madikwe for safari until Tuesday afternoon. I was suprised I got in. It is slow after world cup luckily.

I made it!

I made it to Botswana much smoother this year. There wasn't the airport drama like, thank god! My mom took me to the airport early Thursday morning. I got upgraded to 1st class to Atl so that was great! I had a 4 hour layover in Atlanta so I called Andrea to see if she Buck and Allison would meet me at the airport so I could meet Allison for the 1st time. They came to meet me and I was to meet themat the baggage claim area so we could go over to the atrium and sit and have some lunch.

I made it off the plane quick and headed over on the tram to the baggage area. When I got off the escalator I saw Buck, Andrea and Allison who was holding a sign she made that said welcome Aunt Jen. We headed over to the restaurant area and found a table for the 4 of us. We sat and talked for a while and then Allison wanted me to color with her so we booted her dad out of his seat. ha ha! We colored for a while and then I got a sandwich and asked Allison if she wanted anything. I did ask Andrea 1st if it could be anything she wanted and she said yes. Allison didn't know what she wanted so I showed her all the pastries and cookies. She didn't want a cookie becasue she already had on that day so she said she wanted a cupcake. She then changed her mind and wanted a piece of carrot cake cheese cake. She ate her cake and I my sandwich. She got a bit of a sugar high, ha ha that is what aunts are for!! It was then time for me to go to get my plane to Jo'burg. We said our goodbyes and I promised Allison I would come and visit her when I got back from Africa and the weather was nice in Atlanta. She has to plan all the places she wants to go with me in the meantime. It was great being able to spend my layover with them.

I got through secrurity quick and only had to wait 45 minutes to board the plane. It was a full flight and I couldn't upgrade unless I paid $900 and that isn't really worth it, I would rather go on safari! There were no delays in Atlana this time. I was scared because of the World Cup final that the plane would be oversold and it would be drama like last year. I arrived in Jo'burg with over 1 1/2 hours to get through the transfer terminal and get to the gate. I got to the gate and chatted with some of the people around me and the time kept passing. It said we were boarding but there was no announcement. Finally it said DELAYED! I couldn't believe it. Here we go again. It only ended up being 1 hour.

We finally boarded the plane and I sat next to a girl from Texas who was going to Gabs for the 1st time and she would only be here 4 days. I told her all the places to see, eat and shop. The flight attendent was really nice.I had 2 beers on my short flight and I hadn't eated so I was feeling no pain. We got off and went through customs. All my bads arrived! I was shocked especially since 2 were over 50 lbs. Wai Man was waiting for me at the airport which was remolded. I couldn't believe it, it looks like a modern airport now. We ended up taking Aurian to her hotel and then Wai man took me to Riverwalk so I could get som Nandos! Yum, strips and rice with chips and tapatio. I am in heaven. I have the same apartment as last year. Hopefully today I can go get my Wispers of Summer!