Here are some of our favorite photos from the motorcycle tour:
1) Our tenth day was a "rest day". Rather than riding, we woke up before sunrise and did a half day safari in Kruger National Park. This photo shows the landscape in the southern part of the park which we visited. As you can see, all the brush makes it difficult to spot even large animals like the giraffe in the center of this photo.
2) Our friend Corinna had her 40th birthday on the day of the Kruger Park safari game drive. We jokingly promised her an elephant for her birthday gift. Here she is enjoying the view of a roadside elephant.
3) We spotted a few different giraffes but this female giraffe, which crossed the road right next to us, was definitely the one we saw the closest!
4) Impala are definitely not an endangered animal in Kruger. We saw them everywhere. This small herd was playing right next to the road and included a few fawns that were only a few hours old.
5) The game drive was done in open air jeeps. Here we pull up along side the second Jeep holding the other half of our party to chat.
6) One of the big surprises of the game drive was the Kudu. These large animals are amazingly beautiful. We saw them a few different times and always found them stunning. The fence in the background is a small section of the park that has been fenced off as a guage to determine the damage being caused in the rest of the park by the growing number of elephants in the park.
7) Lion prints in the road. The closest we came to seeing a lion (or any of the other big cats).
8) We had a catered breakfast at one of the bush camps inside the park. During breakfast, a troop of vervet monkees came along. This one is waiting for us to finish breakfast. While this one kept our attention is buddies ransacked the truck, even going so far as to unzip backpacks looking for food!
9) On a few different occasions, we came across dung beetles. These are protected animals in South Africa because they break up and dry out elephant dung before flies can lay eggs in it. (The dung beetles roll the dung away from the pile, bury it and they lay their own eggs inside the ball). This is just one of dozens of beetles which were frantically working on a fresh pile.
10) One of the most impressive sights of the game drive was coming across this bull elephant. He stood about 50 ft off the road casually pushing over a small bunch of trees for a breakfast of tender tree roots. It was incredible to see how little effort was required by the behemoth to topple each tree.
11) Our guide picked this chameleon up out of the road and passed it around inside the truck for us to see before moving it to safety.
12) Another of the critters we saw on the game drive was the wildebeast. We saw them on a few different occasions but this was definitely the best shot of one.
13) Another of the highlights was seeing zebra in the wild. This small herd walked right past the truck, practically close enough to reach out and touch.
14) It is hard to find anything cuter than a baby zebra. This little guy was bringing up the rear of the herd, still wobbling about on newborn legs.
15) Our next riding day, the eleventh of the trip, was a loop up onto the high veld. On the eastern edge is God's Window. According to the movie "The God's Must Be Crazy" this is a good place to return unwanted coke bottles to the gods. It is supposedly rare to get a clear view down the valley here but it was gorgeous when we visited.
16) The insects grow large in South Africa. We found this monster moth at our hotel in Waterval Boven.
17) Likewise, this monster beetle was found on the grounds of the same hotel as the moth.
18) The final day of riding was the trip into Johannesburg. No pictures from that riding day either. However, for our final day in South Africa, we booked a tour through our hotel. The first stop was the incredible Apartheid Museum just south of Johannesburg. This is a must visit for anyone in the area. We only had two hours for the museum and could easily have spent double that.
19) The second half of the tour was a combo driving and walking tour of the Soweto township. This was fascinating and another thing that is highly recommended for anyone visiting Johannesburg. We did a walking tour of part of the township, but also drove through areas like this where government provided housing is being built to try to address some of the housing problems associated with the huge population of the townships.
20) At the end of our Soweto tour, it started to rain. Jonna started taking "artsy" photos through the rain covered windows of the car. Since it was Sunday the locals were out in their Sunday best like this Church lady.
21) Artsy shot: Rain in Soweto.
22) Another artsy shot: Soweto streets.
23) These kids were playing on a trampoline oblivious to the rain.
24) Artsy shot: Soweto street corner.
25) This artsy shot was taken in the alley behind Archibishop Desmond Tuto's house. In addition to Tutu, Soweto is also home to both Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela. It was also the site of many anti-Apartheid uprisings. We drove past numerous of these sites during our tour.
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