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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

A few more pictures




We're Home






Luke and I arrived home on Saturday. Despite the 30 hour return trip, we were still beaming about our time in South Africa. Jeremy, Tricia, and Jake were wonderful hosts and travel companions. They generously opened their home and transported us to many wonderful places. My favorite parts of the vacation were the trip to the Pilanesburg game reserve and the trip to Cape Town.

Pilanesburg was a beautiful park set in the crater of an extinct volcano. It was amazing driving through the park seeing animals in the wild. It was very thrilling to be on the edge of your seat concentrating and looking intently for animals. Tricia was the best as spotting them. We got to see zebras, wildebeest, warthogs, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, buffalo, and many different species of buck.

Near the end of our visit, we flew from Johannesburg to Cape Town for several days. We spent time driving along the cape, swimming with the penguins at Boulder Beach, and touring the Cape Peninsula National Park where we hiked out to Cape Point and saw where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. It is said that the breezes at Cape Point are the freshest air you can breathe. I don’t know if it was the air, or the amazing views, or the company we were with- I was left feeling giddy and awestruck from the day.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Johannesburg, South Africa




Lucas and I arrived at the Johnson's home in South Africa on Sunday evening, 30 hours after we left our house in Olathe. The trip was pretty tiring but not as awful as I had feared. Due to a delay during a layover in Senegal we were 4 hours late but when we came out of customs Tricia, Jeremy,and Jake were there waiting patiently for us. Jake was holding a sign to welcome us.


We've been having a wonderful time visiting and Jake is keeping us quite entertained. Today we went to the Lion Park. Along with seeing zebras and lions while we drove through the park, we were able to pet lion cubs and feed giraffes. A giraffe's tongue is really long, really black, and really slimy. Also, their heads are so much bigger than I thought they were. Perched up on those long necks, a giraffe's heads doesn't look all that big but when you are right next to them, it's startling how huge it is.


The weather and the scenary are beautiful. This is an amazing place to visit. We'll post more pictures in a few more days.