097 - African Adventure - Day 6 (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Victoria Falls) - Welcome to the Jungle

 

After four jet-lagged nights of minimal sleep in Cape Town, we were overjoyed to roll out of our pad at 0400 for the next double-hop leg of our journey.

Ciel was bursting with excitement as we arrived at the airport,

and for the flight to Johannesburg,

where Taz was finally able to score a bag of South African biltong.

Which he promptly crushed in 20 min, before sagely stating, “Guys, I think I ate too much biltong.”

It wasn’t long before we caught our first glimpse of the mists of Victoria Falls!

We hit the ground running,

and arrived shortly at the Safari Lodge Suites, our new pad.

We had a view of the mopane woodland, 

And with no fences or barriers of any sort, it was not without its own excitement.

Situated not far from a couple prime watering holes,

we were quickly acquainted with a number of the locals.

(Note: Our pics aren't great, these guys move fast, but they're all ours!)

(Marabou Stork)

(Striped Mongoose)

(African Masked Weaver)

(Helmeted Guinea Fowl) 

In fact any time we stepped out our door, looked out our window, or gazed across at the watering hole, a new species would show up!

(Chital)

(Warthogs)

(Cape Buffalo)

(Baboons)

These guys were particularly cute,

(Vervet Monkeys)

That is, until they started swarming and chasing us down the road. The kids and Britt bolted for the suite while I hung back flailing the beach bag in some semblance of defence. It was a scene reminiscent of Jurassic Park.

“RUUUUN!!!!”

Fortunately, we escaped unscathed.

We recovered from the ordeal in time to rally for the Boma Dinner & Drum Show.

Where we sampled some local cuisine,

Highlights included impala stew, and eland steaks,

and these “little” guys.

(Clearly, they were delicious!)

It was a raucous night of live entertainment, 

table-side face painting, 

interactive drumming, 

and (of course),

dancing!

Next up: Devil's Pool...