Over the weekend, we had an excursion to Touws River. We started the weekend early and drove to a children's creche in Touws River. (This is pretty much the same thing as a school.) While there, we did community service- we painted, cleaned up, cooked and prepared food, etc. Oh, and we got to play some soccer with the kids. It was great! After spending most of the day there on Saturday, we headed to our safari lodge! We went to a private game reserve, called Aquila, which is about 2.5 hours from Cape Town. We stayed in chalets with outdoor showers. It was much smaller and less of a natural habitat than a big National Park like Chobe (where I'm going during Spring break) or Kruger. They have fenced off areas for the lions, for example, and have to give the lions and elephants some of their daily intake of food.... But the good thing about a private game reserve is that you have a great chance of seeing animals. So we saw 4 of the "Big 5". The Big 5 are the 5 greatest wild animals in South Africa: lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo, and rhinos. We didn't see leopards- they're almost impossible to find. The best time to see them is late at night. Our safari guide has worked at this safari for 4 years and has only seen leopards twice! We also saw springbok, wildebeest, zebras, and more.
Anyways, just wanted to send you a few shots from the weekend. We were VERY close to the animals. There were a few big trucks on the safari and one smaller truck. The lions, for some reason, decided to chase the small truck. Yes, chase. It was funny to watch from the safety of another truck, but also scary!
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| Close up of an elephant. |
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| Young, female giraffe. |
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| Rhinos! |
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| Baby rhino- so cute. |
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| Hippos on the prowl. |
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| Did I mention that an ostrich liked to hang out by the pool with us? Here, I'm just chasing him. |
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| Mufasa |
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| Here's some of my friends getting chased by the lions. Don't be fooled by their smiles- they were really scared. |
Notice the baby rhino (Mom and Aunt Cindy- I thought about your nickname from your younger days when I saw the rhinos... sorry to bring that up!)
That's all for now!
Hey Courtney! Are you wearing approved clothing for interacting with ostriches? This is my first visit to your blog, but I'm going to play catch up! Your mom is keeping me posted but now I can keep myself posted! Have fun and be safe:)
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