Steve and Ang's South African Adventure

Well we were a bit concerned about the weather to start as had woken to thunder and lightening but the sun came out and is was great to not be too hot.
Off to Glenburn lodge and to sort out the groom and his men.
We made our way to the gorgeous thatched chapel hidden in the gardens and to await lisa.
The sun was shining and the lovely bridesmaids appeared to the string quartet closely followed by proud charlie and his beeming daughter looking just like an angel. Was such a beautiful ceremony with the sun streaming in and an extremely happy Mr and Mrs Babyshoes to appear to the petal throwing crowd.




The reception was fantastic, great speeches, lots of laughter, good food and loads of dancing.

Lisa's dad and his band played and we were disappointed when they finally left the stage.
Steve even lost a bet and had to get up on stage and sing 'Why do you build me up, Buttercup baby just to let me down'. Much laughing to follow and there was also a competition to see who would win the 9 carat necklace that they were giving away. One by one we were singled out and guess who was left on the stage - yes me. They made me turn around before placing the necklace around my neck...turned out to be a necklace with 9 baby carrots on it. The laughter errupted once more.

Was a fantastic night and Ragani ended up catching the bouquet...watch out glen, your up next!

We were so honoured to be a part of tristan and lisa's wonderful day and so lucky to meet so many wonderful people. We had an absolute ball!

The rest of mabula was absolutely amazing, with super close sightings of a herd of elephants (10) and only 5 metres away from us. There were a couple of baby ones and just so cute.

Am writing now from singapore and still trying to remember all the things that have happened in the last week.
The biggest highlight was on the last day of safari. Rags, glen, kit and rick went off on horseback but steve and I really wanted to see the lions again as the first sighting wasn't that good. Well we surely got a good sighting. Was just us 2 and Angie, our tour guide, she was busy looking at the track marks and we came around the corner and ground to a halt as 4 metres away was the biggest daddy lion staring at us. He took a few steps towards us (we were told to keep very still) locked his eyes, sniffed us, licked his lips for what felt like an eternity and then turned his back and joined the other 6 lions that were grazing.

Hopefully my photos will turn out ok, as you can imagine was very hard keeping the camera steady. Was absolutely the single most scariest moment of my life and the adrenaline was pumping for the rest of the day!

Ok, so I wasn't going to write but I couldn't help it.
We arrived yesterday to Mabula and were met by our guide Fritz.
We went for a game drive straight away and within 10mins of driving encountered a rhino fight just 10 metres from our truck. One of the large male bulls took advantage of one of the smaller bulls and horned him right up his backside and lifted him right off the ground. Fight lasted for a few minutes and they both were left puffing and panting. There was much ouching, and aw-wing coming from our van.

Also saw crocs, hippo bathing in the dam, giraffe, warthog, buffelo, kudo, zebra and baboons.



We were then greeted at Kwafubsi camp by beating drums and drinks and led to our LUXURY tents. They were amazing, raised on a wooden deck with huge bedroom (and mosquito nets) and fully functioning bathroom with bath and toilet. All the finest linen and body lotions and fineries.

We had a fantastic meal of Ostrich neck (the friendly pet Ostrich that was walking around wasn't too happy with us)

and delicious dessert. Everything was lit by candle light or lamps and our game driver had to walk us all back to our tents through a gorgeous lamp lit pathway.
It was a long night of waking to all sorts of noises but such fun (I like this kind of camping).
.....
Today we had an early drive and saw more of what we saw yesterday plus elephant on the hill and a pride of lion only 15m from our truck. Came back and had a fabulous breakfast and have moved to Mabula Lodge. Again everything is wonderful and lavish (I can easily adjust to this lifestyle!!!).
Off to laze by the pool again before our next game drive at 4pm.

Love to you all
a.

Today a few of us did a tour through Soweto. Firstly we went into a squatter camp to see how the poorest blacks lived. Everyone was really friendly and we were surrounded by beautiful children asking us loads of questions.



Is just amazing to see how they live and that they are quite content with it. We felt sorry and brought lots of ornaments that we didn't require just because we felt priveledged to be there.
We also saw Nelson Mandala's house and Winnies.
The best part was the Soweto Memorial Museum where it held all the stories about the 1976 Soweto Uprising and all about the students that were gunned down. Was really emotional reading the stories and feeling the parents/teachers sorrows.

Battery about to run out but off to Safari for 3 days so won't be in touch for a while.

Take care love a.

Drove to sun city on sunday (after the boys had rested their heads). Made it there by dark and went and had a look around and an amazing italian meal. Sun City is just unreal, with palaces, casinos, hotels and is just huge and so ornate. We all had fun on the pokies with rick winning some and steve losing some, but ragani and I couldn't stop on the phantom of the opera pokie game. Would bash out the loudest tunes even if we only won 12 credits.
The next day would have to be the highlight of the trip. After the boys had gone to golf us ladies (lisa, rags, kit ,annette) went to the Lion Park.
OH MY GOD, I have fallen in love.
We were able to go into the compound and feed and hold the baby cubs. They were so adorable and the little one I held just feel asleep in my arms.


Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww he was the cutest wee thing. The guard had something to say as I started leaving with him in my arms. It was just amazing and we fed them bottles of milk. Was just the cutest thing.
There were heaps of lions and we got really close to them and yes (rolled off another film).

Upto 3 film nights booked in now.
Went to Sun City again in the afternoon and did a tour through the palace which was just phenomenal, so much detail in everything and the statues and lavishness was just fab.

Had a lovely lunch and then went to the valley of waves for the rest of the day. THe most amazing wave pool and sunned ourselves, enjoyed icecreams and read our books.
The boys turned up late after their 18 holes but had had a great time and even threw stones at the crocs on hole 13!