Day 7--Rhinos and Elephants

We are having a wonderful time at Kambaku camp.  Yesterday afternoon and this morning, Peggy and I were the only people staying at the lodge so we had private ranger tours.

There has been a weird thing happening at dinner.  The day before yesterday we saw and ostrich and guess what we had for dinner?

Yesterday we saw a warthog, and guess what we had for dinner?

No telling what we'll have tonight.  Both were actually very good.  They have a farm a few hours away that raises game for food.

We started off yesterday evening going to see if the white lion was still where we left her.  Along the way we saw some beautiful Guinea Fowl.

There were tons of vultures by the kill of the white lion are her lioness friend.  This is a hooded Vulture.

We were in luck, the white lion was still there.  We were so lucky to see this rare sight.

And we had another treat at the end of the day--a male rhino that was so busy marking his territory we got to get very close to him.

Here is a video of the territory marking.

This morning was another great game drive.  We started with a beautiful sunrise.

Luck was with us.  A male lion crossed our path.  Amazing!

Then we came across a male Kudu.

We came across a tree of baboons.

And then a wonderful highlight.  About 25 or 30 elephants came to a watering hole for a drink.

Here's a movie of them.

Another outstanding day!

Day 6-More Animals in Timbavati Park

We had dinner in the wine cellar of Kambaku last night.  Great fun and food.

We also ran across a group of Vervet monkeys.

First thing this morning, we woke up a den of sleeping hyenas.

The babies are really cute!!

Here's a group of Impala

We were lucky to see a lone bull elephant wandering through the bush.

And as yesterday--lots and lots of giraffe.

The schedule here quite different than anywhere I've been.  We have two game drives a day.  One at 5:30 AM and the other at 4:30.  Each drive is 3 hours, so they are part in daylight and part in the dark.

Day 5-Kambaku River Sands

We flew from Cape Town to a small airstrip about a half hour from our Safari Lodge--Kambaku.

Driving in we saw lots of giraffe.

The place is amazingly beautiful.  Great rooms, great food!!

At 4:30 we went out on our first game drive.  We have a ranger and a tracker.  

We saw so many animals and birds--hippos, rhinos, zebras, wildebeest and on and on--but the star of the ride was a white female tiger.  Apparently there are only two in this huge area of South Africa.  She and another female made a kill and were relaxing after their meal.

Here are few shots I really like:

I was really surprised at how close we got to the animals.  Also, my camera is doing a good job.

At sundown we had wine and snacks in the middle of the bush.

Great first day on Safari.

Day 4--Last Day in Cape Town

Peggy and I took it easy today and hung out downtown and at the water front.  We leave early tomorrow for Kruger Park and our 1st of two Safari camps.

At least twice a day we've been stopping for a cappuccino with a bit of chocolate. This was probably our fanciest.

While we were eating lunch on the waterfront we had these visitors right next to our table.

I had wonderful sushi at the Harbor House Restaurant.

All in all, a wonderful day.

Day 3--Stellenbosch

We started today by visiting the school that Peggy works at.  The teachers were so excited by her surprise visit.

We then headed off to the wine country.  We stopped at Fairview Wine Farm that also makes tons of goat cheese.

The grounds are beautiful.

We had a wine and cheese pairing for tasting.  Both were delicious.

We wandered Kleine Zalze winery.

And had lunch at very nice wine bar and restaurant.

Day 2 Camps Bay, Simon's Town, & Penguins

Today was absolutely lovely.  We drove down the  Cape Peninsula  Our first stop was Camps Bay.  

Here's Peggy and our driver & friend Clinton.

Along the way we ran across this dude.

The Cape Peninsula is interesting because on one side is the Indian Ocean and the other side the Atlantic.  There was a fire yesterday on one of the mountains--we saw it from the top of Table Mountain.  You can see a ring of smoke through the bay

.

We had lunch at a lovely fishing village called Simon's Town.  I used the Around Me app and found Saveur--a very nice restaurant.

Then, the highlight of the day--a place called Boulders--a cove where there are hundreds of the endangered African Penguin.  I think I've got over a 100 shots of these wonderful creatures.

And here's a video.

We ended up at a lovely vineyard.