Africa: Giraffes

How thrilling it was to see giraffes in the wild. I could hardly believe my eyes. Their height was beyond what I had ever imagined.

Africa: Painted Wolf (Wild Dog)

Just as we were heading out of our last camp we were very fortunate to see these 2 wild dogs on the road right in front of us. I love their other name, Painted Wolf, because they really do look individually painted. Their numbers have dwindled over the years as a result of human encroachment, but thanks to large game reserves in both Botswana and S Africa, they have safe territories in which to live...I guess as long as they stay inside the boundary lines.

They are stunning to see, very unusual looking...almost ethereal. We were VERY excited to see them, and I only got a few photos.

Africa: Just some of the many, many Birds

I can hardly describe the beauty, variety and vast quantity of the birds we saw and heard. We were fortunate to be travelling with avid birders, Bess and Chip, who could identify everything that flew.

Africa: Elephants Galore

Ha ha...this photo I must admit is not mine...someone emailed it to me, and I think it really shows the scale of these huge, beautiful mammals. We saw many, many elephants of all sizes in herds, and of course the babies were really cute and very funny.

Often we would see broken tusks, whether that is a result of age, I'm not sure. Elephants with the huge tusks that one would see in photos of the past have unfortunately been virtually bred out of existence due to the greedy demand for large ivories.

Africa: Lions

The first thing people ask is if we saw lions. Yes, we saw lots of lions. Yes, we were very close to them. Was I scared? I'm not sure that is how I would describe my reaction...I think I was in awe. I could feel my jaw drop, and my hands shook as I was trying to steady the camera.

We were always in the landrovers...you don't go for game walks, you go for game drives, at dawn and dusk. The most memorable time was a morning drive. Dan is a good spotter and with his binoculars he saw a small pride of 4 lions approaching us, a male, 2 females and a teenager. The amazing thing was, that they continued to approach at a very leisurely pace and simply walked past our vehicle as if it wasn't even there and carried on. I was told that lions in the wild are not particularily interested in humans as food...but still we were holding our breaths from their sheer proximity, especially Karen, who was on the roof of the landrover.