This post is a long time coming. Few months ago, we spent some time in South Africa and Eastern Europe for a much needed vacation. We were thrilled to cross a few experiences off our bucket list which included this segment below – the safari. Everything about our safari portion of the trip was amazing – hospitality, food, views, the animals….just spectacular. Since our visit in the African bush, we often find ourselves in wanderlust — wondering about the next time. We just have to go back!

We’ve been asked about our favorite portion of the trip and that is just hard to pin point. Everything about our safaris were awesome but the one thing we were sad about was not seeing all of the big five animals. We saw four of the big five animals – elephants, buffalo, rhinoceroses, and lions…but the leopard didn’t make an appearance for us. And really, that is just the way these safaris go. There are no guarantees being out in the wild and we can use the leopard as an excuse to visit South Africa once again.

Picking photos to share online was hard….and we are still torn because there was so much to share. Perhaps we’ll share more one day on our own personal site of our travels. But for now, we hope you enjoy this first segment. The next series of images will be displayed within the next two weeks – once we narrow those down. Enjoy!

“Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life.” – Michael Palin

If you look carefully at the image below on the left, you can see the crocodile eying the bird.

A few of our images from our elephant back safari.

African fish eagle.

After our elephant safari, the owner of the lodge we stayed at was notified of a pride of lions that had a fresh buffalo kill nearby. We stayed for about 45 minutes and witnessed a few lions protect their fresh kill. The buffalo is towards the right behind the reeds with another lion guarding it. The other lion was defending their carcass from the crocodile.

Below are a few images from our temporary home, Needles Lodge in Marloth Park – Mpumalanga, South Africa. We loved seeing all of the wildlife run through the bush daily…There were wildebeests, zebras, and warthogs. We also had a fun encounter with some giraffes during our walk. During our dinners we even met an adorable bush baby who came by to visit.

We had daily visits from our friends the wildebeest, zebra, and warthog.

Every night, this cute little galago (aka bushbaby) visited us during our dinners on the deck.

Us with a few of our new friends from the UK who also stayed at Needles Lodge after they traveled through Mozambique. We are also with our hospitable hosts, Gail and Denis.