Sunday

We get the guard's voice at our door at 6am telling us that coffee and tea are ready at the lodge. You really need to set out everything you need the night before so you can pull on your clothes, grab your stuff and get to coffee in a few minutes. Once gathered there we head to our jeep.

The sun is barely rising and you watch it rise from your jeep.

My new favorite discovery: Hot water bottles. You can tell the winters are short and mild- there are no heaters in your rooms. But- when you come to bed after dinner there is a hot water bottle in your bed- better than an electric blanket by far- especially when you push it down to your feet to sleep. Also, there is a hot water bottle and a blanket at your spot on the jeep in the morning. It is cold, but definitely bearable.

This morning we went straight to the water buffulo carcass where a lion was eating. We watched a lioness and her two cubs walk up the road in front of us and come to eat as well. It was amazing and wonderful. The cubs were precious of course.

When we had our fill of that we went on down the road to find a leapord who had dragged her impala kill into a tree. She was at the base of the tree and her cub was in the tree eating, and dropping the occasional bone, that mom would then chew on. While we were watching the mom perked up, jumped into the tree with her bone and a hyena came and collected another fallen bone. I forgot- the night before we watched two hyenas do quite the interactive ritual. They were fascinating. One of them laughed as they walked away. Eric loved that.

I should mention it has been no problem getting the kids out of bed at 6am for a safari run. They are much more talkative and animated on the afternoon runs though. They have definitely warmed up to Greg and interact with him constantly. I think they are keping him entertained.

That evening we also came across about 500 water buffalo at a watering hole and in the road in front of us. We also sat in the middle of a herd of elephants and watched the babies threaten our jeep by flaring their ears at us then running between mom's legs for safety. They are so darn cute! The parents just ignore us.

We stopped for muffins and coffee halfway through our 3 hour run. We were so spoiled- we had already seen the "Big 5" in our first two rides.

Afterwards we gathered for a giant breakfast, hung out a bit, showered, had a lunch, went for a walk with Greg and his rifle, had tea and set out for our next safari ride. FABULOUS.

Thank you Kyle Witten with the African Adventure Comany for hooking us up with Djuma Bush Lodge!