Can It Get Any Better Than This???

Day 3! We have had two of the most incredible first two days already!!! I can't imagine anything being MORE fun, or AS exciting, as our day 1 and day 2! We strike off early with everyone watching and looking! By now, we are starting to understand what a GREAT guide we have in Chris! He is amazing in how he locates the wild game and then positions us for the best advantage to get pictures. Today's highlight is finding the large elephants at Zulu Nyala. At the start of the day, Chris told us to remain calm when an elephant approaches as they will throw their ears out to make themselves look big and impressive (ha! that really isn't necessary as we are shocked at their immense size already!!!) He said elephants are capable of pushing a vehicle over with their bodies so DO NOT touch them! (Are you kidding me??? They are going to be THAT close???) Oh yeah, we have the most up close and personal experiences today with the elephants!

Here's the big, bad boy snorting and slinging dirt as he comes around the corner at us!!! Yikes!!!

This is the moment when he throws his ears out to let us know who's boss out here!!! He actually got so close he bumped the front of the vehicle and Chris had to "talk him down". Once again, my heart is pounding and I'm not sure we should be doing this!!!

I hesitated to put this picture in, but he was literally IN OUR FACE!!! He is SO CLOSE to us! I was on the far side of the vehicle and I could not zoom out far enough on my camera.

This big tusked guy had just wet himself down with mud to keep the sun off his hide.

Two large tusked elephants wallering in the mud puddle. It was fascinating seeing them throw this mud up on themselves.

Well, I could show you several DOZEN more amazing pictures of the elephants, but it takes so long to upload the photos, I MUST move on!!!

Here are some other animals that need their time on the blog!!!

We saw some massive size rhinos! They have poor eyesight and usually move pretty slow (however, this one was moving along pretty good right here). They are more interested in their grazing of grass and not us!!! Whew!!!

This male cape buffalo does NOT look like he has his"happy face" on! He has been kicked out of the herd; a younger male has probably taken his place, so this is NO TIME to mess with him! Cape buffalo are the number one most dangerous animals of the wild game in Africa. They give no warning if they are going to charge. Maybe we should move on and just leave him be!

We found lots of hippos in the water. I really wanted to see one out on land, but we never got that chance. They made a lot of loud grunting noises and snorting! Usually when one made a big growl like this, I was not ready with the camera to catch him at his peak!!! :(

The warthogs are shy, they run off pretty quickly when we see them -- and they are quite funny to watch them run! I actually thought they were kinda' cute in their own sort of way!!! They are suppose to be good eating! We did not get to try them, but we did eat impala, kudu, and oxtail - all pretty good if you did not think about what they looked like!!!

I probably should have given this guy a more prominent place on my blog! This is a wild dog. I was not too impressed with seeing "a wild dog" until several people mentioned what a rare sighting they are and they had never seen one. The wild dog is a top predator and their numbers are getting too be very low as to how many still exist today. They usually run in packs, but this one was alone this morning.

Vervet monkeys! Kinda' cute little guys, but pretty annoying! They were outside our room in Sabi Sands. They would run across the deck and sit and watch you! They know how to open door handles, so you had to keep your room locked at all times to keep them out!

The Cheetah makes "A Kill"

It is the second day on our photo safari! How could we "top"what had happened on the first day --photographing the male cheetah was a thrill beyond belief for me! Today, however, is going to be even more amazing in what we experience! Chris, our ranger, locates the male cheetah in tall, thick grass with a fresh "kill"!!! We drive the jeep off the road and into the bush as far as it will go, then we all follow Chris back into the opening where the cheetah is still panting hard from capturing a young nyala. The cheetah is not happy that we are gathering around, but he is more concerned with other predators like hyenas or lions that might challenge him for his meal.

 It is getting close to dusk and we are heading through the tall grass to where the cheetah is located.

We interrupt the cheetah -- he takes time out to see how close we are going to get to his meal! We are only about 20 feet from him!!!

I'm thinking maybe we should NOT be standing 20 feet from him - he doesn't look too happy with us!!!

Amazing video film!

More Than I Ever Bargained For!

Our very FIRST day at the game preserve and I find myself in for an adventure I had never imagined!!! We are at Zulu Nyala which is east of Johannesburg, South Africa, and not far (maybe 25 miles) from the Indian Ocean. It is a relatively small game preserve (3,000 acres) which has some real advantages to it. Within minutes, we are spotting wildlife and taking photos! Chris, our ranger, tells us there is a female cheetah with three cubs on the prowl for food. Her cubs are five months old and her last "kill" was two days ago, so she is hungry. Our mission today is to find her! Thankfully, Chris is so knowledgeable and experienced, (plus he and his cousin, Monte, another ranger, work together so they cover twice as much territory and tip each other off as to where the great sightings are), he figures out where to locate her without much difficulty! 

The female cheetah and one of her three cubs -- is that not just precious??? (I think you can click on the photo to enlarge it).

The female cheetah is on the hunt for some food!

 Look closely for the three cubs in the grass!!! :) They are SOOO cute!!!

In the afternoon, we are still expecting to follow the female cheetah and see if she can find some food. As we are out driving and looking for her, we happen upon a GREAT find!!! Chris spots a lone male cheetah resting in the tall grass! He is huge compared to the female and we are so excited to find the male! As we pull up and park, Chris looks back at ME in the range rover and says "get out!" . . . ME???? GET OUT???? . . . Ooo-kay!!! Not understanding what we are about to do, I climb out onto the ground and meet Chris at the front of the vehicle. He tells me to follow him!!! I'm starting to get a clue what we are about to do, my heart is beginning to pound pretty fast. I am starting to feel pure fear for my life! (Did I do something wrong to warrant this fate???) As we walk off the road and into the grass, Chris tells me to follow him closely, stay calm, move slowly, and stay quiet! We quietly and slowly move in the direction of the cheetah (remember this is a large male cheetah!!!). We stop several times to take photos and give him time to adjust to us being out there. As we approach the male cheetah, he is on high alert and he stands up to get a better look at us and to see where we are. Again, we move quietly and slowly GOING CLOSER!!! We finally get within about 20 feet of the cheetah when he hisses at us and shows his teeth! Did I mention my heart is about to explode at this point??? We crouch down in the grass in front of the cheetah and take a few more photos of this amazingly beautiful animal. We have just a few moments there in front of him before he decides he has had enough of us! This male cheetah has given me the thrill of my life as he turns to run off in the opposite direction!!! What a rare opportunity to photograph a wild animal like this!!! I was shaking like a leaf, but thrilled beyond imagination!!!

This male cheetah was really BIG!!!

He sees us coming . . .

He's really not too happy with us being in his territory!

           WOW! I feel like a real "professional" photographer out taking pictures of the wild animals!!! This was so cool!!!

Day 1 of our Photo Safari

Even with several short nights of sleep (we had to get up at 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning, couldn't sleep very well in a strange bed/hotel on Sunday night in D.C., slept ON a plane Monday night, had my days and nights mixed up on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, let alone mention that I realized I'M IN AFRICA!!!!), I woke up SO excited about our first morning out on the game drive! I was dressed and outside at 6 a.m.! I wasn't the only one restless and excited, Hal and Verde, and Ted, were the other early risers in our group, so we went for coffee, and a view of the GORGEOUS scenery we have from our lodge at Zulu Nyala.

Hal, Verdi, Ted, and me are the first ones up. Having coffee and excited about our first day on a game drive!

View of the game preserve from the lodge.

At 8 a.m. we met our ranger for the week, Chris. He's a young fellow (26 years old) with a wonderful accent! He speaks English, baby Dutch, and whatever the local African language is around here -- when he talks to the Africans it reminds me of Brad Pitt in the movie Joe Black when he was speaking to the African woman in the hospital!!! :) We load up our land cruiser with 10 of us: Hal and Verde, Ted and Karen, Denis and Pat, Bob and me, and another young couple from Colorado, Shane and Cindy! We are given all the instructions for being out in the wild among the animals: DO NOT get out of the vehicle, DO NOT touch the animals (YIKES!!! Is that possible???), speak softly, etc. In about five minutes, we are already seeing giraffe, impala, nyala, wildebeest, warthogs, zebra, etc. It is AMAZING!!! Seeing a giraffe off in the distance with its neck and head sticking above the trees is so cool!!! We are on a mission this morning to find a cheetah or the elephants!

   Loaded up in our jeep for the week! Bob is in the front with our ranger; Shane, Cindy and me in the front row; Karen, Ted, and Verdi in the second row; and Denis, Pat, and Hal in the back row.

Let the photo taking begin!!! Giraffes, zebras, nyalas, impalas, and warthogs are among the first sightings. 

South Africa!

Our trip to South Africa has started a day early! That was kinda' good news/bad news! We ended up changing our flight out of Dallas on Monday morning to A DAY EARLIER (Sunday morning) because American Airlines was making us nervous with the report of cancelled flights and delayed take offs.  We couldn't afford to be delayed or have our flight cancelled at the last minute as we could very likely miss our international flight out of Washington, D.C. So, . . . THANK YOU VERY MUCH AMERICA AIRLINES, we had to get up at 4:30 a.m. and leave on Sunday morning at 7:10 a.m. :( The good news was we had a little extra time in D.C. so we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum this afternoon. It was pretty cool to see some of the aircraft they had displayed there. Bob definitely enjoyed ALL of it; I was not as thrilled as Bob, but I did love seeing the space shuttle!!! It was displayed so impressively!!! It was very cool to see it sitting in the distance with the nose pointing right in at you when you entered the museum!

The Grandkids

It has been a great summer to be home and spend time with our grandkids! They are growing up so fast and becoming such fun little people to spend time with - I love it! Here is a quick update on each of them:

Dylan turned five in July! He is our oldest grandchild. He has become quite a good swimmer - I was amazed when I watched him retrieve some swim toys from the bottom of the pool this summer -- where did he learn to do that already??? He has taken swim lessons each summer and now he loves going to the pool.  He also plays soccer and goes to pre-school. He is a real joy and sweetheart!

Next, is Carter. He is going to turn four years old in October! He, too, enjoys going to the swimming pool. Clint and Michell have a nice community pool by their house and it is fun to take Carter and Chase over there to play in the water. He is getting pretty brave in the big pool and is learning to kick his legs and float around with my help. Carter also LOVES his cars! He always has a couple in his hands, but recently Mr. Potato head has become a new obsession!  He has such a tender heart and is a fun kid to be around!

  Chase is two and a half years old! He is a "mini-Clint"! Having an older brother makes him seem a little more grown up for his age. His favorite game is: Hide and Seek! We play that a lot and when we find each other, we hug and scream, and of course, he wants to do it again!!! :) And Chase is a talker! He has his numbers, alphabet, colors, etc. all down and is quite verbal! I love hearing him call me: Mimi! He is so precious - who couldn't love those eyes and that face???

 Naomi! Our grandDAUGHTER!!! Ahhh, how fun to have a little girl! She is two and a half years old as well (she and Chase are two weeks apart in age)! She is so petite and feminine, she loves her baby doll and her baby stroller, yet she is as likely to be wearing a straw hat and carrying a plastic sword of her brother's. I love to comb her beautiful hair. It is getting so long. When I want to put a clip or bow in it, she usually does not want it! I guess she is going to be a gymnast - she is so limber! Her little legs rotate in all directions! It does my heart good when she only wants "Mimi" to do it for her! She, too, is a real sweetheart!

We are so blessed by these four little grandchildren! God has been so good to give each of them good health, sweet dispositions, and happy hearts! This is a very wonderful season of life for Bob and me. I cherish each time we have to spend with each of them. They make my life so complete! I am so thankful for each of them!

We left Ruidoso, New Mexico this morning! We had a fun week with Jim and Susan! We enjoyed several new adventures around the area and and even got Mexican Train in on two nights!!! (Susan won one night and Bob won another!) One day we drove out to the Inn of the Mountain Gods which was a very lovely setting/hotel/casino, but with most Indian casinos, I think they smell smokey and musty, so we had a quick look around and moved on.

Nice looking golf course at the Inn of the Mountain Gods, but we elected not to play here.

 Lots of Southwestern art work at the entrance to the hotel.

We met up with some other friends from Indio, Dale and Marilyn, they spend the summer months in Ruidoso. Bob and Dale played golf one day, along with Karl Odom (also from ORI). On Friday evening, we went over to Dale and Marilyn's for hamburgers at their RV lot. Every evening the deer wait for Dale to feed them, so about 7 p.m. they came wandering through their backyard for corn.

On Saturday, we went to the Ruidoso Downs Race Track. We enjoyed the comforts of the Jockey Club, lunch, and the races on a beautiful afternoon. We tried to pick some winners -- my "high-tech" method was to go with names of the horses I liked (i.e., Ping Pong Patty, Da-licious, God's Little Angel, and Sugarintheevening!) Of course, that did not prove to be a winning idea in any of my races!

 Jim and Susan overlooking the race track.

 A photo finish!

 :( Where's MY horse???


On Sunday, we took a car drive up to Cloudcroft, it is about 9,000 feet elevation (about 4,000 feet higher than where we were.) There is an old Lodge up there that serves a delicious brunch, so we stuffed ourselves (once again). Then Susan and I did a little shopping while Bob and Jim sat in the car and played on their iPhones! 

Cooler temperatures up in Cloudcroft made for a pleasant afternoon.

 White Sands, New Mexico in the distance.

 In Alamagordo, we stopped at the Pistachio Tree Ranch. I had to add this giant pistachio nut to my collection of "super-sized" objects we have seen around the country! :)

Jim and Susan in front of a pistachio tree - can't say I had ever seen pistachios growing before!

On Monday, Bob and I went to play golf at the Rainmakers, north of Ruidoso. It was a very challenging course, but Bob played great and I did pretty good on the back nine!!! :)

Bob hits it right down the middle and shots par his first time out on this course! 

I shot 46 on the back nine! :) I had TWO pars, five bogeys, and two 7's!!! I was happy with that!!! (Don't ask me about the front nine please!!!)

Ruidosa, New Mexico

I am attempting to work on my Blog! My old one went "kaput"! :(   I would like to figure this thing out before we go on our trip to South Africa, so I can use it while we are gone without a lot of difficulty. Bear with me as I get used to a new website!

We are in Ruidosa, New Mexico! We have met our friends, Susan and Jim Green, from Houston, here to spend a week together. Today we drove up to Garden of the Mountain Gods Hotel and Casino. It is a beautiful location, but a little disappointing (as with most Indian casinos) the smell of smoke inside made it less than desirable to spend much time there. :(  

 Jim, Susan, and Bob on the back deck overlooking the lake and golf course.

Entrance to the Hotel

Susan and Jim