The Baobab tree.
Bret and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary this August 4th, and for a present for each other we decided a trip to Africa would be a great way to celebrate 20 wonderful years. My sister Jaime was very happy to watch the boys for us, I'm so very grateful to her for doing that for us, it was easier to go on this trip knowing the boys would be staying in their own home and in good hands.
It all started with us getting on an airplane in Omaha to fly to Atlanta, to then fly to Johannesburg. The flight to South Africa took 16 hours. It was long. But we had our books, and we also had our own TV screen in the back of the seats in front of us, with about a hundred movies and TV shows to choose from. That made the time pass. Sleep was not going to happen for me, I just can't sleep sitting up. We both took some sleeping aids but they just made me drowsy, not fall asleep. Airplane food leaves something to be desired I must say! YUCK. I wish I'd brought more snacks for myself. I'll have to remember that next time. The hours passed slowly, but we finally made it back to the earth with out a hitch. Thank goodness. As we came off the plane, there was a man standing there with our names written on a card. Graham Sales our PH, had arranged for a company called Air 2000 to to meet us and help get us through customs and everything. When you're traveling with a weapon it makes things a bit more difficult, there's a lot of paper work. Anyway they took us through really quickly and got us to our hotel room for that night. The room was great and I was looking forward to a shower and a night of sleep. Only problem, there was no clock in the room, none of our phones would work so we couldn't even get the time, and no alarm clocks. I was kicking myself for not wearing a wrist watch or something. We had asked the desk for a wake up call at 5 so we could meet our escort to take us back to the airport for our 6:30 am flight to Poloquane. Not sure I spelled that right, but that's how you say it. Anyway, I wake up sometime in the night and I can't get back to sleep. I have no idea what time it is and with the 6 hour time difference my internal clock was all off. Both Bret and I were wide awake. It was driving me crazy not knowing what time it was. I was panicking that they would forget our wake-up call, and we would miss our flight, we were in a strange country, we would be lost forever and never make it back home. I was having a panic attack needless to say. We decided to turn on the TV to see if we could catch the time on CNN or something. Nope. For some reason South Africans don't care what time it is. After a while and not seeing the sun come up I dug in my purse and got out my Ipod touch. I remembered It had a world clock feature on it and low and behold it had the time for Cape town, which is in the same time zone that we were in! It was only 12:30 in the morning! I about cryed. We had a long time to wait. It was a long night! 5 am finally came and we headed out to the lobby to meet our escort to the airport. He was late. Our flight left in an hour, and we had to re-check our bags and Bret's gun. We were cutting the time a bit close and we ran to our gate, they were supposed to start boarding just as we got there. The lady at the counter says the our flight was delayed because of fog in Poloquane. That's so very frustrating. I was so tired of waiting, airports, and I just wanted to get on with the fun stuff of our trip! Ugh! So 3 hours later sitting waiting, we finally got on the plane. I was so tired. We get there to find a black guy saying that Graham Sales our PR, sent him to pick us up. So we get in the car and take off for a about a 2 hour drive to our camp. I am so tired. the first thing I notice is the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and he's driving on the the left side of the road. Very weird. We finally get to our camp and are shown to our room. I'm excited but tired. We get all unpacked and head to the dining room for lunch. I love the place we stayed at. The cabins had thatched roofs and cute little beds and everything. Our chef's name was Smart, our butler's name was Andrew. Andrew made sure I was happy, had a drink in my hand, and Smart made sure my tummy stayed full. It was! Great cook! Wonderful food! We had a lot of meat dishes. We had Elan, Bushbuck, Kudu, and some others I'm sure. I also fell in love with this dessert called Melva Pudding. It's this yummy very moist cake thing covered in this incredible custard stuff. Mmmmmm!
So started the routine of getting up at 5:30, with a wake up knock on the door from Andrew who had two cups of hot chocolate on a tray to help warm and wake us up. We would put on our hunting clothes, have breakfast, head out on the truck and do the hunting thing till lunch. We'd head back for lunch, and then go back out hunting either on the truck or go sit in a blind. We'd be out till dark sometimes later, and then head back to shower and then sit by the fire pit to chit chat. Andrew would bring us a drink and a snack, then we'd talk about the day's hunting experience until the bell was rung for dinner, then bed. Sunday morning we drove to a near by town and visited the hospital there. Bret was interested in seeing how things were run in their healthcare system. This was a government run hospital and man, it was very sad. The conditions were horrible, and the care wasn't all that great. If you go to the ER, you just sit there and hope that the doctor will show up. I'm so blessed to have been born in the USA.
This is a Wildabeast. The first animal Bret brought down. It was very exciting. Our first African animal. It was a long shot! Bret's so good.
We drove to the Limpopo river one afternoon and Bret shot this Impala. Notice the guy laying on the ground holding up the head. Graham, our PR, was snapping pictures and the head wouldn't stay up.
This was a very exciting and emotional kill. This is what Bret wanted to go to Africa for. The Kudu.
This is my Impala. I was only planning on shooting an animal with my bow. I took a shot at a small animal from a blind and by the time my arrow got to it, it was 20 yards away. They are so fast, my arrow with only 35 pounds behind it didn't stand a chance. So Bret and Graham talked me in to trying to get one of these guys with the Rifle. Now, I've shot with a shot gun before at pheasants and clay pigeons. I've never shot a rifle, never used a scope, never used shooting sticks. Graham said, "I'll teach you." Nothing like on the job training. I don't even get a practice shot. It would scare all the animals away. He hands me the rifle, and he puts it on the sticks, which he is holding in the picture above. He has me look through the scope at a tree about 200 yards away. He shows me how to rest the gun on the sticks and line up the cross hairs. Bret shows me where to put the butt of the gun so I don't get a bruise. Then it was off to find an Impala for me to shoot.
We walked around a bit and found a good buck. I was hoping so much that I wouldn't embarrassed myself and miss the thing all together. We got set up on the sticks, and the buck moved, so we walked a bit farther and caught up with him again. My heart is pounding and I'm not sure what's going to happen when I put the gun on the sticks. I'm shaking so much, how in the world am I going to keep the gun steady! I look through the scope and see the buck. I try very hard to calm my nerves and keep the gun steady and keep the cross hairs on the back of the front shoulder. Graham takes the safety off for me and says to me in a whisper, "Now just squeeze the trigger." Slowly I pull back on the trigger and BOOM! The force of the gun was so great that it flys up about a foot! I thought for sure I'd missed it. My ear is ringing and I can't hear anything. I was so concerned for the force of the kick back, that I forgot about ear plugs! I look around at everyone to see what happened. Graham is looking through his binoculars and saying it was hit but to far back. I wasn't to happy. We watch him for a while, and finally see him fall. We walk up to it and make sure it's dead, then discover that I'd made a perfect shot. The entry hole was right behind the front shoulder, the exit wound was next to the back legs, that's what Graham saw through the binoculars, so he thought I'd shot it to far back. But I didn't. How about that! Perfect shot! So we both got one. Bret was very proud, and I was so happy I didn't miss or make a bad shot in front of all those guys!
This was our night hunt for the Bush Buck. I know it sounds weird, but it's totally legal. These animals are mostly nocturnal so they are hunted at night. This was near the Limpopo river as well. We were on the truck with a spot light, driving on these very bumpy rocky dirt roads, or more like paths. Anyway we finally get a shot at one out in this field of very tall grass stuff. There are also Elephants all around us. Bret was like, "You want me to shoot this thing here? With all the Elephants just a stones through away? Cuz I'm not going out there to get it." Graham said "Shoot it!" So he did. Graham says to the trackers, "Go get it." They ran out as fast as they could, and brought it back to the road and the truck. We took this picture then got out of there. Very exciting.
Little baby Elephant in Kruger National park.
Baboon crossing ahead.
This little guy was waiting patiently for mom while she got a grooming. A little camera shy though.
I couldn't get over how big his little ears were.
This is a one of the rivers through Kruger National Park. Can't remember the name. But no swimming! Crocs and Hippos may be lurking.
I love Giraffes! I hope Bret never wants to shoot one because I don't think I could handle that. They are incredible to watch walk, very majestic I think.
Walking through the bush tracking something. We did this a a lot!
Warthogs were everywhere. Driving down the road you see them running back and forth. So ugly they're cute!
The (spelling ?) Acacia bush. We had to dodge these things the whole time. Missed a few times though and got the scratches to prove it. Beastly things!
Okay, a little explaining. We were all done with our trip and headed home. We flew from some small town I can't remember the name now, back to Johannesburg to catch our flight home to Atlanta. We were getting our luggage and waiting to pick up Bret's gun at the special luggage place for guns. I see this guy and recognise him from TV. Bret watches the hunting channels all the time, so naturally I watch them too because I want to be with Bret. Anyway, there's one show that is called Tracks Across Africa, that we've been watching a lot because it has footage of all kinds of Africa hunts. This is Ivan Carter, who is the shows host. We've been watching him on TV for years. It was kind of weird to run into him at the airport. Bret was excited to say to him that my wife recognised you. I guess not many women are fans of the show. So we got a picture with him!
This is a Nyala. They stalked this one near a water hole that had crocs in it. He had to keep one eye on them and one eye on the Nyala. Great times.
This is the truck we went everywhere in. Sitting on the back of this was quite the adventure!
We had one morning where we sat in a blind for a few hours. The wind was against us so we didn't see much. Not as exciting as riding on the truck. You must be "v-e-w-y q-u-i-e-t."
The Zebra was an exciting hunt because we were surrounded by cape buffalo. They are very curious animals and when we shot and were talking about how we were going to track this thing the cape Buffalo's came to see what all the ruckus was about. Graham wanted me to stay in the truck. I was a little disappointed, but didn't argue. While the guys were gone a bull came quite close to the truck. The tracker that stayed with me made some noise to scare him away but not make him mad. It was exciting.
The dining room. We had many great meals here and some fun conversation. This is one of the places all of the stories of the day are told.
Some of the locals in the town near our camp. It was called Macena. It was interesting because you'd see a nice brick house next to a house made of tin and wood.
The Diker that Bret got with his bow.
The symbol of Africa, the Baobab tree. Such a beautiful tree. I wish I could've seen it with its leaves and fruit that comes from it.
Graham giving me a quick in the field lesson before I shoot at my Impala.
Looking through the scope for the first time. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I was scared silly. That's why I took up bow hunting. I'm a little scared of guns.
This is the only warthog I brought home. I was hoping to get a real one with my bow, but they proved to be to tough and fast and smart. Bret was able to get one with some great difficulty with the rifle. For me this would have to do.
Our last few days were spent doing some sightseeing in Kruger National Park. It was beautiful and exciting to see all the animals in there natural habitat.
These were our friends Smart who was the chef at our camp, and Andrew, who was the butler. I wish I could take them home with me.
Our last night we spent at a spa. The tent/room was unbelievable. This picture was taken right after we had our massage and hand and feet exfoliating treatment. All ready to go home.
So back to the airport we go, not ready for the long flight home, but really missing my boys and my own bed, and the USA and I had to get on the plane in order for me to get back home. We were an hour late getting off the ground. We had to all be hand patted down, and our carry-on bags hand searched before we could get on the plane. So do you think the U.S is paranoid? After a 16 hour flight to Atlanta, more like 17, my butt hurt like you wouldn't believe, I didn't sleep a wink, watched 3 movies, read my books, attempted to sleep, had some "yummy" airplane food. (sarcasm here) we finally touched down in Atlanta. It was nice to be back in the US where I had cell phone reception!!!!! I text Amber and Jaime to tell them we were back and would be home that afternoon. I love seeing different parts of the world, I hate flying there. But it was an amazing trip and I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience such a vacation! Thank you Bret. I love you. Happy Anniversary!
SO very cool!
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