Hey friends! I started this post exactly 2 weeks ago....and am just now getting it posted. Sorry for the delay!!Our 'stuff' from NC was delivered the week I was trying to get this posted....but unpacking the boxes and getting 'our house set up' to make it 'home' took priority. I know you understand. I had to 'build my nest'. It is so nice to have some of our comforts of home here now.
OK --- on to telling you about our weekend adventure - April 3-5 to Tuli Safari Lodge (located about 6 hours from Gabs). Their website, in case you're even in the neighborhood and want to visit! is www.tulilodge.com/pages/41/tuli-safari-lodge
The pic above is of one of 8 suites at Tuli. This isn't the one we actually stayed in...but similar. Notice the thatched roof? Too cool! Accommodations were very nice!
This is us, heading out for our evening game drive. Game drives were at 6:00 am and again around 5:30 pm. We got a gentle 'wake up knock' on our door at 5:30 am, headed over to enjoy coffee, juice and muffins, then headed out for our morning game drive. Breakfast was served at 9:00 am. We ate constantly! Lunch was at 1:30 pm, then tea at 4:30 pm before our evening game drive. A snack was enjoyed while on the evening game drive, then dinner at 8:00 pm.
One of the highlights of my weekend were the giraffes. I would have been content to see just one...but we saw dozens thoughout the weekend. This one posed for us! Notice the awesome landscape? The place was beautiful! So peaceful!
Now you'd think a giraffe would be super EASY to spot, right? Wrong! In this pic you get an idea of how well they 'blend in' with the landscape...namely the trees. They can stand perfectly still...which makes them difficult to spot. Amazing how God made them that way...the camoflague of their colors, their long, graceful necks blending in with the trees.
Here are a couple of very bored hyenas. Must have had a busy night. We're told they are active (hunting their prey) mostly in the evening.
The awesome landscape.
Bethany took this picture while on our evening game drive. We had stopped to have our snack. She did a great job with this pic. The colors are breathtaking.
What's a safari without a little excitement??!!! The morning after we arrived, we awoke to a flat tire. Later, we found out we had picked up a tiny shard of metal. Enough to completely flatten the tire. Thank goodness for the spare! (No, it wasn't Syd's 'adventuresome' driving on the bumpy dirt roads to the lodge that flatteed the tire!)
Our family having breakfast the day we prepared to leave. All the meals were served outdoors. I felt like a queen all weekend. The food was fabulous. Did I tell you we ate constantly?
Sadly, we didn't see any lions or leopards during our game drives. Maybe another time. However, we did come upon a herd of elephants feeding during our evening game drive. I'm telling you - a game drive at night was quite an adventure. Notice the folded up seat on the front of the Land Rover in the pic of us above, headed out for a game drive?? THAT is where the spotter sat! He held a bright spot light - to scan the area as we drove along - looking for animals. At one point, the driver stopped the Rover, and we just sat and listened. I was listening to the crickets and birds, and was in amazement of all the stars lighting up the sky - noticing the different constellations visible in the southern hemisphere. Then, our driver/ranger said to us, "You hear that?.......elephants feeding." I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Then, as he drove us near, you could hear the elephants stripping the leaves off the branches and chowing down. As we watched this one elephant.....that completely ignored us...spot light and all....we could all then hear the sounds of other elephants feeding. Our driver (by the way, his name was Simon...and he is from the Tuli area) drove us closer. Boy did we get close!!! Right in the middle of them it seemed. We saw a precious baby elephant feeding...then we were 'almost' charged by a young male elephant....the elephant was flapping his ears and coming towards us...which is how we knew he wasn't happy with us being there disturbing his dinner. The 'spotlighter' shown the light on the young male elephant, and he backed off. Then, we saw there were elephants walking right behind us!!!! And other elephants feeding on the other side of a busy right beside us!!! I wish my pics would have come out....but it was just too dark. It was beyond words to be that close to the elephants.
We do want to go back to Tuli later this year. It was such a beautiful place!
I STILL can't believe I'm living in Africa! This is awesome.
