Zambia-- Livingstone Day 8

We were up and at 'em early this morning for our flight from Joburg to Livingstone, Zambia. Bill liked the doorman's hat at the hotel this morning so they switched hats for a picture--hahaha! It was quite a bit warmer in Zambia! (Each place we've gone, it's gotten warmer with the biggest jump in temps in Zambia-- hot and humid (and buggy with LOTS of mosquitos!). We were given cold towels upon arrival at the Royal Livingstone Hotel and given instructions... meanwhile a giraffe just walks over behind everyone. At this point in our trip, I'm not sure why everyone was so surprised--haha! We settled into our room and then tonight we went on a Zambezi River cruise... we saw A LOT of hippos and yes they were all submerged in the water! It was a beautiful evening and the temps cooled quite a bit to be very enjoyable! Tonight we saw a Zambian sunset!! Excited for all our adventures here!

South Africa-- Johannesburg Day 7 (Morning @ Mala Mala)

This morning was our LAST safari drive... we almost immediately found this HUGE male leopard. He was a big guy! Just his neck had these HUGE muscles! He didn't like the attention because he was born in a different area and came to Mala Mala where he isn't accustomed to all the land cruisers everywhere. He tried to get away from us, but our guide was very persistent! Steph told us that when he first came over the border, we was kinda grouchy and would jump at the cruisers!! He's accepted the fact that we are here now, at least, but didn't love that we were following him. He was one HUGE cat! He was fun to watch!!! Then we Ferrari safaried over to see the family of lions one last time before we left. This time the males were with them but all they wanted to do was sleep. At one point, after the female got sick of telling her cubs to cut it out (she didn't want to nurse likely because she was hungry due to not having a kill and wanted to save her milk) she walked by the dad and nudged him with her paw as if to say, "I'm done watching them, it's YOUR turn!" To which he just lifted his head for a bit and then went back to sleep....TYPICAL! The cubs were extra playful and roaring at each other! So stinkin' cute! Then we literally Ferrari safaried over to see ANOTHER huge male. He was about 20 minutes away and it took us a bit to get there. It was also drizzling, but they had ponchos in the cruisers-- of course! He was really active and kept laying down, then standing up and walking and then laying back down. He went in between 2 of our cars and I could've reached out and touched him! He didn't even care we were there. It's like they KNOW they are the king of the jungle!! Top of the food chain!! We watched him for a while but then we had to get back to the camp to catch our plane. On the way back we were given a farewell Mala Mala gift by seeing a lone female lion... she was likely trying to get away from a male trying to mate with her. In one picture you can see our camp in the background. It was almost like she was showing us the way back! This was the perfect parting gift from the African bush! When we got back we took some pictures at the entrance and in front of our Landcruiser! Such a fun, adventurous time we've had here at Mala Mala! We loaded into our vehicles and headed back to the Skukuza airport and then we flew to Johannesburg where we overnighted. Jones arranged another beautiful hotel (The InterContinental) to stay in and a really nice lunch/dinner was served at the hotel. We spent the afternoon rearranging all of our luggage because we couldn't take everything to Zambia-- another small airplane...it was nice to relax in our hotel room and get ready for another adventure!

                        

Katie & Kaden's Little One...

We got these late tonight after we got back from dinner! Katie and Kaden announced last month that they're expecting in April! This is so exciting... We'll have 2 little cousins so close in age--Brooke is due in March and they are exactly 1 month apart! Exciting times for our family for sure!

South Africa-- Mala Mala Camp Day 6

Our morning drive started of really foggy today...the bush looked almost eerie! First sighting was some hippos in the water (of course!) and off in the distance. Then we got to see wild dogs hunting!!! This was the coolest thing!!! We did what our guide called a "Ferrari Safari" to catch up to them. We went over everything off roading to keep up with them. The hyenas always follow close behind them because they steal their kill. So when the dogs eat, they have to eat really fast because then the lazy hyenas come in and steal it from them! So crazy! So in the pictures you see the hyenas following super close behind the dogs because they are hoping for a free meal! Hahaha! The wild dogs were so cute--hyenas not so much! (They are part of the ugly 5 which includes wart hogs!) These particular dogs didn't end up catching anything so they laid down for a rest while the hyenas just stayed around hoping! Then we found a female leopard-- probably the mother of the female we found the first evening here. We found a BUNCH of giraffes-- they usually don't mind people, but there was one who kept walking away from us thinking he was hiding behind bushes and trees and we're like... um we can still see you! Your legs below and hello-- your head and hugely long neck above the trees??? It was so funny! He tried his best to hide! We learned that you rarely see a giraffe bend down to drink or eat... it is a very vulnerable position for predators, so you don't see if often... but we got to see it! So cool! He must've felt safe to do it. We saw a lot of zebras today and lots more ellies! Our guide stopped when he saw one rubbing up against a tree (picture below)... they like to push over trees because they love to eat the roots. Our guide thought he was going to push it over, but it turns out he was just getting a good scratch! Hahaha! You can always tell where the ellies are-- they bore holes in the sand because they can smell water with their trunks and they drink the water where it looks to be just a dry river bed! And anywhere where there are trees pushed over-- that's the ellies too! We took pictures of our camp and room (#15) and all around the grounds of the camp... animals were everywhere, as usual! At night we have to be escorted from dinner. We aren't allowed to walk anywhere without an escort because there are no fences and anything can wander in!! Yikes!! Bill and I got 1 hour massages today between drives. They came to our room and it was so relaxing and nice! On our afternoon drive we immediately came across a bunch of mama ellies and their babies-- always so fun to watch them! It was fun to watch them run with their ears flapping in the breeze-- they would run to catch up with the moms-- maybe they lost track of them because they were so focused on eating! I don't have pictures but we saw 2 young male impalas learning to spar and it was a crack up! One of them kept stopping to look over at us as if to say, "Did you get that? Here, let me do it again so you can get a good picture." We saw another lone impala way up on the top of a big rock just hanging out there. Usually you don't see them by themselves, but I guess he figured he was safe up there! We got pictures of our last African sunset at the camp tonight. It was really pretty! Another amazing day!!!