Backtracking

More pictures from the Drakensbergs (I stole these from Anne and Karen)...

Arrival...this is the group headed down the hillside to the cottage where the girls stayed.


On our way to find rock art: Sarah, Katie, me, and Anne all walking in step.


Me and Melissa. She's attempting to hide the ridiculously baggy shorts I was wearing for the hike, because I was self-conscious about them. =)

Picnic and shout-out

This one goes out to my old co-workers, especially to the ones who attended that testing workshop...


We celebrated Melissa's birthday with a picnic and jazz concert at the botanical gardens. I got separated from my camera, but Kevin took this awesome shot of me and Anne talking to Daleen. It doesn't get much better than this...;-)

Elephants galore

In taking my friends to Pilanesberg, I was hoping that we'd get to see at least some of the big and impressive animals--rhinos, elephants, hippos--and maybe even lions, though I wasn't counting on that last sighting. By lunchtime, we'd seen plenty of zebra and giraffe, some warthogs hilariously squelching in the mud, and numerous kudu, impala, springbok, and waterbok. No elephants, no rhinos, no lions. And hippos only from afar. (Were those hippos or large rocks? Can we be sure?) Anne and Karen were really excited about all they'd seen so far in the day, but I was really really hoping for some elephants in the afternoon. So was Anne. We got our wish. On two separate occasions, we rounded a curve to find elephants RIGHT THERE. Here's our first encounter:

Elephant family from the rear. These guys were all just hanging out, snacking off the trees and blocking the road. We waited patiently for them to move on before driving forward, giving them a wide berth since there was a momma and babies. And since elephants are pretty wide anyway...


Following the road after the elephants moved on a bit:


Bye, elephant family. This nice peaceful picture was taken before a van overtook us and pulled up RIGHT NEXT to the momma elephant. Not smart. She bellowed at them, stretched out her trunk towards the van, and stomped her feet. Aaaa! Fortunately the elephant was more cool-headed than the camera-happy tourists and the animals moved on without incident. We lost no time in getting away from the provoking van. Especially since our car was half the size of the elephant...


Our second elephant encounter came at the end of the day. We headed for one last hide, hoping to see some animals at a watering hole just before sunset. We got there and found that the turnoff/parking area was blocked by two large elephants. So much for visiting the hide...the elephants certainly took precedence. I love this shot of me taking pictures of the elephants:

Pilanesberg

I took Anne and Karen to Pilanesberg Game Reserve for the day and got to play the role of guide on this my third trip there. I drove us around the game park in our tiny rented VW Chico and there were several times that we all were a little (or a lot) frightened that it (and we) would get trampled by elephants. It didn't.

Here are some highlights from the day...I'll save the elephants for the next post.

Apartheid Museum

Visiting the Apartheid Museum proved to be a harrowing experience. I heartily recommend against getting lost in Jo'burg in heavy traffic.

In spite of the horrible experience of getting there and back, on this my second visit to the museum, I came away with a stronger sense of all this country has done in coming to terms with the past and the hard work that has and continues to be done to move forward in peace and reconciliation.

Tings 'n Times

Melissa and I took Anne and Karen to see some live music in Hatfield...


You can take this picture one of two ways...

Downtown

Anne driving on the left hand side of the road! Anne & Karen rented a car for the end of this week, and Anne's major excitement of the day was navigating through downtown traffic, taxis, and pedestrians.


Sunset from the Union Buildings--looking out over Pretoria


Me with the Pretoria skyline


Anne and Karen with the Union Buildings

Dinner at Pappa's

Yes, it was.

More of Cathedral Peak

Beautiful views from our hike to the Fern Forest. We lost the trail in a non-fern forest and bushwhacked our way through trees and bushes...then we clambered over rocks and made our way up the river bed for a while. We may not have taken the right path, but we had a ton of fun.

















































Karen in what we could find of the Fern Forest!

Cathedral Peak hike

Just one of the many HUGE and colorful bugs we saw this weekend

















Melissa, Anne, Karen and I spent Sunday afternoon hiking near Cathedral Peak. Here's me with my friends from San Francisco...=)






















Me with the Cathedral Peak view...

Our slightly questionable hike

After hiking for 30 to 45 minutes, we arrived at the rock art site and found the gate closed and locked. We had missed the last tour by a little over an hour. But, we discovered that the gate provided a little room to work with...























We gained access to the path that led to caves with thousands-of-years-old San rock art. Here's proof of my presence there:

















Here's Anne breaking out of the site, next to a sign that reads "Entry to this enclosure without a guide or prior permission is strictly prohibited." Ack.

















Hiking back, Mairin got tired and hitched a ride on Tyler's shoulders. She kept falling asleep, but waking up just as I was about to take a picture...






















Sunset at Giant's Castle

Beginning of our first hike

Sarah driving past a really cool view

















A very awesome sign at the parking lot

















Postcard-perfect view...starting our hike near Giant's Castle

Where we stayed

Looking down the hillside at the girls' cabin


















The view from our deck


















Karen and Anne* sitting on the hillside


















*Anne and Karen are visiting me from California! =) They joined us for this weekend away to the mountains...

The kids...

Sneaking in another picture sent from home. Aren't my nieces & nephews cute? (Well, ok, Jesse's screaming, but still...)

Goodbyes

Goodbye hugs from the Road Trippers...here's me with Melanie. (Or, "Tall Melanie"...to differentiate from Melanie with the Long Hair.) We got to have a cool mentoring chat on the last day of the Road Trip. =)

More Pilanesberg

I can't content myself with just one post. More pictures from our game drive!

We got yelled at a few times when park rangers (or whatever they call them at game parks) found us hanging out the windows...

















The Road Trippers...and Mairin

















If we've told you once, we've told you a thousand times: stay in your car...and no, you cannot ride the zebra.

















I had fun hanging out with the Stewart kids this afternoon. Here we have some wildlife inside the car--Iain is giving himself bunny ears.
























Road Trip, anyone?