South Africa 2016
Read MoreSoweto
Soweto, or SOuth WEst TOwnship outside of Jo-berg, is one of the shanty towns where millions of the poor of SA live. Things are a little better as the roads are mostly paved, there is electricity and running water, and the current government is striving to replace huts such as these with more permanent housing
On the way to Kruger National Park...
...we stopped for a couple of days part way to stop at the Iketla lodge, seeing several sites along the "panorama route" from Jo-berg to Kruger Nat'l park to the east. Here Barbara looks out over the country side a little ways from the porch outside our hotel room (with outside shower!)
Toward Kruger
Kruger Nat'l Park is the crown jewel of SA parks, an area the size of New Jersey in the eastern part of the country that is open to the migration of animals. We spent the next several days in this park, though we didn't quite stay IN the park itself (see next). The descent from the highlands around the Panoramic route and gold country down into the Kruger area is beautiful
Yep, open vehicles
In Sabi Sabi, we ventured out in open vehicles with a driver and tracker sitting up in front. For reasons that are still not clear to me (but am grateful for), all of the animals, even predators and "Big 5", don't seem to see the humans sitting out in the open truck as snacks or meals. These lionesses are doing what they do for most of the day
hippo at dawn
This guy was wandering across the grass, far from water. Hippos feed mainly during the night, sometimes wandering far from water. They and cape buffalos kill more people than any other animal (other than humans themselves). They can run up to 30 mph, running down people in their path back to the refuge of the water hole