Hike Table Mountain (at middday in summer)

Ok, so it was totally worth it. 1100 Meters----3 Km---34 degreees celcius---1 and a half hours....... Oh shit, I've gone metric, lemme clarify. 3300 feet-----1.3 miles--- 103 degrees fahrenheit----1 and a half hours. It was the hardest short hike I've ever done. The first 60 percent of it was done in the in the direct sunlight, luckily the other 40 was all shady and a nice south westerly breeze picked up(it may have saved my life). We had two friends in town from the old neighborhood in Jo'burg, Brett and Jason. My brother, brett, J and myself decide that 3:00 is the perfect time to hike up the mountain. Brett was very reluctant the whole time and then 30 min. in I realized why. I felt like I was been cooked by the sun ( we are in the dead of summer down here). Needless to say once we reached the top it felt great and all the suffering was worth it. The only thing I regret was drinking two beers and eating half a pizza an hour before the hike(NOT POWER FOOD). But once up top we indulged in some beer shandys (1/2 beer 1/2 lemonade) , they were amazing. We got up too early so decided not to stay for sunset. The hike up took almost 2 hours and the cable car down took 10 minutes(kinda depressing). Anyway enjoy the pictures. p.s. I reccomend table mountain to anyone who comes to Cape Town, it is spectacular. There are about 5-6 routes to the top that vary in difficulty, we just happened to choose the most direct(and steepest one).

Lions and Elephants and Bears, ohh my! (oh wait no bears)

So, I have been slacking off on the blog thing, but i want to keep everyone updated on what I have been doing .I originally planned on giving each animal its own blog post, but there are too many animals and pictures. This post encompasses all the cool animals into one. The Mighty Lion, and the fatty ooliphant (afrikaans for elephant). This male lion was from the western pride (there is three prides of lions on the game preserve). When we pulled up he was snuggling with one of the females from the southern pride. A sign, perhaps, that he might be moving in on Grumpys(the Alpha Male of the southern pride) territory. Grumpy is quite old and it is only a matter of time before another male kills him and assumes control of the pride. The female also pictured above was uncomfortable in our presence and left to hide in an adjacent bush when we pulled up.

We spent the whole day tracking down this group of elephants hoping to get a good view . They mainly kept their distance, grazing on the succulent newly sprung foliage and knocking down trees and eating entire branches the size of baseball bats. We waited on the other side of the clearing and were rewarded when they came through into the open and passed 30 yards away from us. Elephants are always a special sight. The elephant pictured at the top was on his own in the open on a seperate day. He was just cruising through the plains, we pulled up 15 yards behind him and watched him graze. He paid us no mind. Ahhhh, the life of an elephant, nothing bothers you, even noisy tourists!

sexy beasts...

Impala, one of the most common sights on our 5 day adventure in the bush, but that didn't hold us from stopping and admiring them. They are hands down the most graceful buck I've ever seen. Please enjoy these photos of my favorite sexy little beasties.

Ahhh KUDU!

these magnificent female Kudu were very apprehensive of us....the Male Kudu is one of the most majestic creatures I have ever seen in the wilds of africa, unfortunately the day male Kudu was spotted i had missed that game drive(the only one I missed, never again). I will try to get some pictures of him to post for you.....he has his own complex story which i will not recount now. Needless to say these beauties continued grazong while we sat appreciating their awesomeness.

Cute.....southern mountain reedbok

The southern mountain reedbok is generally a very shy member of the antelope/buck family, these cute little mothersuckers just hung out and posed for us as we passed through the lush river valley......definitely....special.

Amazing....

Hello Everyone, the following blog posts are dedicated to the beautiful wildlife that inhabits Southern Africa.....Pictured above is the stoic yet quite skittish Warthog (pumba)...these pictures were taken 50 ft. from the front porch at the lodge...we played dominoes, they ate grass(on their knees).

Happy New Year!

I landed in South Africa on Dec. 12th and have been having a blast since I arrived. We moved on the boat around the middle of the month and then the family arrived. It was a whirlwind of epic proportions (aka. menagerie). Yesterday the last of my family except for my dad and brother(another crew member on the boat) left to return to their respective countries. The highlight of the trip was our trip to a game lodge in the north of south africa. My pops has a place there. The next post will encompass the trip to the lodge and have some great pictures and video of our experiences while there including hyena vs. leopard video(amazing!). The above picture is of myself and Devon who will be crewing with us on the boat, it was taken the day after we moved onto the boat.