Back from the Wilds of Africa

Just back from holiday with Andrew. We had a GREAT week! Saw lots of new places and went to various game parks and reserves in South Africa and Swaziland. Our lodging ranged from a small grass beehive hut to a large two-story cottage perched next to a waterfall in what felt like a rain forest surrounded by hundreds of colorful birds.

Andrew was able to play some golf at a nice Swazi course, while I dutifully sat in the cart and kept score while sunbathing. We had what was his first real braai (South African bbq), and had good meals sitting out on a deck by a watering hole for hippos and baboons, and had several close encounters with members of the “big five,” including giraffe, elephant, and lion.

-We saw a male lion about 10 feet from the road in Kruger Park with a fresh kill! We must have sat there in our car for about an hour watching, and we’ve got it on tape! We couldn’t figure out what he was eating exactly...

- We were about 15 feet from a group of mama elephants and their babies, which was a BAD idea. Our guide didn’t seem phased about it, but when one of them started flapping its huge ears and charging us, A and I were a wee bit uncomfortable. Mainly because we had no gun in the tour jeep AND it kept getting stuck in the mud!

-We also got up close and personal with bugs…TONS of bugs. So far I’ve lucked out in this department, but the week Andrew is here they seemed to be everywhere! Night 1 brought a small army of ants to my beehive bed….with no end in sight after multiple sprayings of ‘Doom,’ A and I had to hunker down on one twin bed for the night!

- Another night we noticed one or two ant-like flying bugs on the bed. Then there were about, oh 200, of them on the bedside lamps. SUPER fun. We Doomed the whole room and vacated for the requisite 30 minutes, but spirits broken, we managed to get another room for the night. Then as we were packing up, there were some massive roaches in the bathroom.

-Andrew was attacked by what looked like a swarm of bugs on his lower back...must have been 30 swollen bites!

-Finally, on our last night, we were visited in our room by a lizard, and we think it was he who chewed his way through our food bag and made a mess of our bag of apples.

All this is expected in Africa I guess! We had a great week of sightseeing and spending lots of time together after two long months, but I think A is happy to be en route back home to Boston!

Pics to come!