It all began with such a flurry of activity. Land in Johannesburg, organize phone and data plans, exchange currency, rent the car, remember to drive on the left side of the road, go 5 hours east, grocery shop, gate check, room finding. Check, done, ok that worked, next. . . . .

And then it was done – well, except for animals of course, the whole reason behind the previous lists. I wonder how long it will take before we see our first wildlife, will they be far away, a distant spec? Will there be many like the herds in East Africa? With a sedan will we be limited to tar roads? What time do the gates close, can you drink the water (so much research that did not get done) is there internet? We are so exhausted, jet lagged and rattled, should we just start fresh in the morning?

Nah. Let’s get our bearings, we can sleep later. Thirty seconds out of the gate there are zebras, mixed with impala! Go another kilometer and there you see elephants, make the first left turn (we were looking for a hippo pool) and we find rhinos! The sun is shining right Into our eyes, bad light so we turn around; back on the Main Road we find a gaggle of cars, MMmmmmmm. Let’s see what they see, oh a lion walked by and climbed the tree stump directly across from us: posed and preened for the cameras.

We have been out of the room maybe 25 minutes.

We move away from the lion and found this road right next to the rest camp, the hippo pond is just west of the camp, let’s go! The massive giraffes blocked the road. Literally stood in the middle and we could go no further, no forward, not back. The cape buffalo and zebras looked on from the field and the giraffes bent their necks low to look us curiously in the eye, as if to say, my road, got it. We just giggled. No sense of jet lag and the big five: elephant, giraffe, cape buffalo, rhino and lion completed in the first 45 minutes. Check, done, ok that worked, next…..

We have many more amazing photos and additional posts. We will be adding them in the next few days.