Africa 2000 - Warm Up

When we first landed in South Africa, we headed directly to the Indian Ocean and spent 4 days relaxing at a resort called Rocktail bay, which is frequented by many locals. One day on our walk we got caught in a rainstorm and got drencehed. When we came to the site shown in this picture, we sat and watched humpbacks breaching off shore.

Next stop was Ndumo where we walked with many animals, but sitting on the ground and having the giraffes look down on you is special.

We then traveled into Swaziland for a visit to a rock art site. These 13 kids accompanied us along with 4 guides. We just seemed to collect guides as we went along. We had a tapestry made dipicting part of the rock art and it is hanging in our living room.

This young WHITE RHINO was one of the joys of our stay at the luxurious Phinda Lodge in South Africa. We spent a long time watching as the calf suckled. Then once it had gotten full, it decided to come take a look at those things in the vehicle

At the last lodge on the "warm up" portion we stayed at another luxurious place called Tswalu in the southern Kalahari desert, still in South Africa. Our guide was petting this gorgeous king CHEETAH and all Joyce did was come up behind the guide and start petting and then the guide moved away. This big cat purred like crazy and really enjoyed being scratched behind the ears. Yes I was scared, but it seemed pretty safe at the time, and what a thrill.

STEENBOK

BLESBOK

HARTEBEEST

ORYX

NYALA

Joyce taking video up close of a WHITE RHINO mom and her calf.

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Last Revised - 9/03/01