Thought I would start a thread for mail from Cheetah that we can all use during our trip.

Safe travels. See you in a few weeks. I'm sure it will be a different experience now that they are out of the drought. Can't wait to see Ken's pictures.

Yes, last year was sad with that drought. Water is flowing again in the river at Mala Mala we can go crashing over the river in our vehicles now that is always such fun.

Once you are all settled would be nice to get some weather reports. Especially how cold it is in the morning. Thinking of what to pack and how many layers one may need in the morning.

In Doha now. Nice flight over slept really well. The Qatar seats for me are the most comfortable to sleep and sit watching TV. Very adjustable. Although the lounge is huge the food is not so good. So we wandered the airport and found a very nice Italian restaurant. I had a lemon caper chicken dish that was fantastic. Ken had an italian panni he liked as well. We had a room in the hotel in Doha and that makes such a difference. I love having a room in hotel in the airport really great. They always upgrade us as we are returning guests. Up now getting ready to board our flight to Cape Town.

Staying at the Silo for one night with meetings with some people in Cape Town that we work with. Then tomorrow meet up with most of the group for the Cape Point tour and then other members of the group at Birkenhead. Not been there for two years so really looking forward to that.

We are in the Emirates lounge at LAX. Emirates has only one flight a day now from here and it is a A380. The lounge is brand new and very pretty. Interestingly it is only for Emirates (no partner airlines access) and it is only open for 4 hours and only for the first and Biz class passengers on its only flight! Not at all crowded. Veuve Cliqout champagne and lots of hot and cold food, put out in small batches and replaced promptly. Jerry enjoyed his passion fruit creme brûlée! Nice start to our trip!
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Helen

Greetings from Cape Town!

Today is our 3rd day here and we've had a ball. Yesterday some more Cheetah's arrived so last night we had a fun dinner at a near by Italian (no surprise) restaurant. It was delicious and the wait staff was charming. Last night's dinner consisted of Sue & Joe (from Texas), Michelle & Ed, Sue & Ray, Tom & me (all So Ca)

Today 6 of us (Ray & Sue, Michelle & Ed, Tom & me) had a very interesting, sobering tour to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of the 27 years he was imprisoned before the fall of Apartheid. The prison is now a museum. Our tour was conducted by a former prisoner himself who entered when he was only in High School so it was enlightening hearing his story from first hand experience. I'd highly recommend this tour. After the tour we tootled around the water front and ate a late lunch.

The past few days have been bright and sunny. Today was the first day it was cool and a bit overcast. We 8 will enjoy dinner together again tonight. Since I arranged last night's dinner....tonights will be arranged by the others, where? TBD. Tomorrow we move from Cape Town to Hermanus to live the luxury in the gorgeous Birkenhead House. Tough life huh....

I'm having trouble posting photos so I'll email them to Karen and ask for her help !

We arrived today and are staying at the new silo hotel and have a business dinner here tonight. This silo is amazing. I may impose on Karen to post a couple of pictures too. We are rushed to meet someone ken has not his computer set up. I snapped a couple of shots of our room. I sat in that bathtub today with this fantastic view of the waterfront. The bath with a world class view.

We ran over to the waterfront to get a South African SIM card, and look at the refurbishment of the V&A and saw Joe having a bite to eat. We visited briefly. I will see everyone tomorrow. Some in the morning I am doing the Cape Point tour with them and the rest at Birkenhead house.

Okay off to get ready for dinner.

Hi from Doha. In the airport hotel for nap and shower after 14+ hour flight from Houston. Hope this goes through. Due to the electronics ban when returning home I didn't bring my computer. Trying to send on my Kindle fire. So far Qatar isn't cooperating. Oh well. I'll try when I get to Capetown. See you all on Sunday.

We are at Birkenhead House, the first to arrive. Emirates is now my new favorite airline! They serve Cosmopolitans on the planes and even serve them in a martini glass! Not the crappy vodka and cran-apple in a tumbler I am usually given.

We arrived at Dubai airport about 8:00 pm with a connection leaving at 3:30 am so we stayed at the DubaiInternational Hotel in the terminal. It was very nice, extremely convenient and reasonably priced. They gave us a wake up call.at 2:30 and we were on our way again.

On arrival at Birkenhead about 1:30 we had a very nice light lunch (Thai duck salad for me and grilled calamari and shrimp for Jerry) handled by the lovely Miriam. We took a walk along the cliffs/beach and are now waiting for the rest of the Cheetahs to get here.

Ralph it's a little chilly as the sun sets. Best guess it's about 60? I have a light jacket on as I sit outside.
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Helen

Hi from Capetown. This city is booming. Construction every where. I was here 8 years ago and fell in love with the city. Many others have obviously joined my ranks. Stayed at the Westin before. Highrise downtown location. Wonderful hotel but not easy getting to places. This hotel is by the Waterfront. Perfect. Hello to everyone at Birkenhead. I know you'll enjoy.

Enjoyed the Cape point tour that I had not done for several years. After some early morning mist we had a beautiful day, sunny and no wind. Saw the ostrich farm, the Cape with only two buses and then the funicular up to the lighthouse. Then lunch at the Black Marlin and of course the Penguins. We kept moving right along and was great until after the Penguins with the two hour drive to Birkenhead house. We left at about 9.00 am and got to Birkenhead at 4.30. Long day.

Shane welcomed us and dinner was great last night. Calamari and kingklip I was happy. Ken said the steak was good too.

Today is Ken's 70th birthday, how can that be true! We are celebrating with seafood buffet tonight (plus some items for non seafood people). They get the mussels right off the beach in front of the hotel. They are stunning cannot wait.

People are all out on tours. The animal training farm, quad biking and Joe took a flight. It is a sunny day and about 65 degrees. Perfect. I did my emails, reorganized, and washed my hair. Ken took a walk into town with ed and Michelle. Great morning for everyone.

Happy Birthday to Ken and welcome to the "70's". We are finding it very enjoyable!!
"

Everyone came back and all had a good day. The walkers saw whales from the path. The quad riders had a blast. The flight was great and Joe saw a group of whales he took excellent pictures. He also saw sharks. The animal training farm people were gone forever. Their tour sounded better than our first two tours. So I am looking forward to doing that with group two.

We have heard the whales are not coming in the numbers they have in the past but our group saw whales and it is really too early for them to be here. Also orca's have come into the area and are attacking and killing the great white sharks. Nature is always changing.

Lunch was great I had a seafood pasta and it was a big menu. The food is excellent as usual.

Happy 70th Birthday to Ken and Happy Birthday to Ngaire next week!

Happy Birthday, Ken! I'm really enjoying the "sea"mail --keep it up everyone. I think Birkenhead House is my favorite place in the world--would love to be there with you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEN!!!

I guarantee that you are in the top percentile for hikers your age. I was amazed at your stamina on Huayna Picchu; Ed and I both were huffing and puffing, and you just kept trucking along! We will have to do it again!!!


from Clay&Jenn

Just loving all the posts. I remember our lunch at the Black Marlin like it was yesterday. Can't think of anything that would make me happier than to be at Birkenhead House knowing that La Residence and the animals are still to come.

A very special 70th birthday to one of the most special people I have ever known. And "she who won't be named" also has a birthday coming very soon, although we'll keep that one a secret! Haha!

Cheers to each and every one of you lucky enough to be part of this special journey!

What a fun day today....there were only 4 of us on a private animal tour this morning and it was FANTASTIC. It's actually a large farm where they train animals that are in the movies and TV so it was all about meeting the Animal Stars". We were able to see the training of baboons and meet the resident primates and many other animals. Unbelievable how smart and clever the baboons are. They understand all the sign commands, do back flips, turn around and so cute when you give them a sealed bottle of water. In no time at all, they open it and drink from the plastic bottle just like we would. There's even a baboon that was in a movie and knows how to carry out two mugs of beer (looks like beer) without spilling a drop.

There's a friendly zebra "Columbia"...it will definitely be the only time I was able to sit on a Zebra, so gentle and well trained, just like sitting on a horse. There are 2 beautiful majestic lion brothers, a not friendly hyena who would have killed any one of us just for fun and so many more animals.
There's 3 resident Cheetahs, and one in particular was so sweet. We could give him hugs and he would purr. We also held a tiny baby goat. There's a little squirrel monkey that was in training for a movie shoot on Sunday. He didn't like me, only wanted his trainer. The tour guide/trainer was excellent, so knowledgeable and you could feel her love for all the animals. It was like being on the "Red Carpet" of animals.

I took lots of photos but can't post here, sorry, not sure why, maybe I didn't pay my subscription to photobucket or ?
Many of these animals were rescued from the horrid "can hunting" and now living a good life. None of these animals would survive in the wild due to their varied past.

Tom & I had a massage later this afternoon. We had a pre-dinner wine tasting here at BH with a local winery. Next a fabulous dinner with 2 very talented local musicians performing through out dinner.

It's hard to believe Ken is 70, he sure looks and acts a lot younger. He is the BEST, always here to help, and loved by everyone.HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEN !

Such a great day in so many ways. We are truly blessed!
Tomorrow we head to La Residence...more fun awaits.

Cape of Good Hope.


Cape Point.


Birkenhead House.


Boulders Beach.


Jackass Penguins.

Happy birthday, Ken!! Love the pictures and the posts. So many wonderful memories. Have fun, Cheetahs.

Last nights seafood buffet was outstanding. They also had a whole tenderloin and chicken. Mussels fresh from the beach, huge prawns, and crayfish tails. Just outstanding I got them to bring me a bigger bowl for the mussels.

Sad to say goodbye to Birkenhead but so many good things yet to come. It was raining this morning and foggy. Still overcast when we arrived at la residence. But by the time we ate lunch and did our room tour the sun was shining. Just unpacked what I will need for the next two days and now comfortably settled into our room

Tonight we are going in different directions. Eight are going to Le Petite Ferme. Two are staying at La Residence. Ken and I and one other couple are going to an Italian restaurant.
We hope for sun in the morning this area is so beautiful in the sun. However before that we will gather at the lake for pre dinner cocktails.

Yesterday Sue and Ray and Jerry and I went off on a Quad adventure. We drove thru some woods and some vineyards and some stands of olive trees and generally had a ball. In the evening we had a wine tasting and then the spectacular BBQ . We had live entertainment during dinner . The guy who played guitar and sang explained the meaning of each of the songs he sang but since they were in Afrikaans much was lost on me . But towards the end of evening he let lose with Leonard Cohen's genius tune "Hallelujah " and Bob Dylan's " "knocking on heavens door" . Just a great end to a great day.
We are now comfortably ensconced in La Residence after a very nice dinner at La Petite Ferme which is a working winery. Mixed reviews on the food but a very pretty place. The driver who came to take us back told us he was born here in Franschoek as were his parents. He worked at la petite Ferme for 20 years and many members of his family still work there. He pointed out his primary school , the original location of La Residence and the places which used to be groves of peaches and plum trees. Pretty cool.
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Helen

Marcie's Animal Farm Adventure:


Marcie rides Columbia the Zebra, don't try this at home.


A thirsty Baboon.


Tom, Marcie and Cheetah.

Lunch at La Residence:


Helen enjoying lunch.


She couldn't eat the whole thing.

Happy birthday to Ken. Hard to believe that he is 70 as he is one of the few contemporaries that can keep up with George on a hike. And George is only 63.

Hope everyone has a wonderful time, as I am here in the office and OR slaving away.

Happy Birthday, Ken!

So we are now at Lion Sands.

Driving in we saw a female and baby giraffe.. Nice quick lunch and then started our first game drive at about. 4.15 pm. Pretty short. However we saw two sleeping lines, one lion chewing on a bone, elephant, a huge rhino, two very large male waterbuck so for a first short outing that was good.

We sat down at 7.00 pm to an outside dinner. Kind of a Boma but not a buffet but served meal. Main courses, Salmon and beef filet. Dinner was fast and satisfying we were finished by 8.15 pm.

These rooms are really nice with lots of places to put things away and staging areas for your safari "stuff".

Tomorrow I feel we start our safari for real.

A great morning! A giraffe had died somewhat mysteriously. He had no trauma and his footprints indicated he was walking along and just fell,over dead, possibly illness or possibly he managed to make contact with the power lines above him. In any case this was cause for much activity. We headed over , passing dozens of vultures, apparently waiting their turn. with the carcass. We expected to find hyenas feeding on the giraffe but rather we came upon a lion feasting. In the bush all around this spectacle were lots of hyenas. Someone counted 20+! Our vehicle didn't see that many, maybe 12 or so. Someone spotted another lion in the grass and the speculation was that the hyenas did not try to run off the feeding lion because they were afraid of what the other lion would do. Anyway we moved on in search of a leopard. Sadly we could not find her so gave up. Breakfast was lovely, set up for us in the bush. Resting now before our evening game drive
Helen

Lion sands Day Two

Another glorious day and not too cold.

Today we all had a fantastic sighting. Our first indication was a lot of vultures in trees. A dead giraffe had also attracted lions and hyenas. At one point there were 21 hyena all making excessive noise and one lion eating on the carcass. The hyenas kept inching closer to the kill and then started to eat. The lion would growl and they would back off. But eventually the lion ignored the hyenas and they started eating at the opposite end of the giraffe. Then suddenly another lion charged out of the bush and hyenas scattered very quickly. Then the lion went back to the bush and the hyenas returned. We sat watching all the action for quite some time.

There were reports this morning of three young male Lions that have never been on this property before. Plus yesterday another lone young male killed a cub . There are two resident big males that are brothers that are right now over on the Kruger side. They will not like these young males in their territory. The rangers heard the big lions calling so they will probably come back to chase off the young males. We have seen these two big lions before, they are huge with really dark manes. So that is exciting.

Also visuals on two different leopards. That is what we are going to focus on this afternoon

Lion Sands - River Lodge:


Starting the day with a shot of a beautiful Starling.

Maybe the giraffe had a heart attack. I am always amazed that their heart can pump blood all the way up to their head. A few years back, one just dropped dead at the Tulsa zoo. They did an autopsy, and it had had a heart attack. They said its aorta was so big you could put your arm down it.

We had a great afternoon. We started off to find a leopard. Expecting a co-ordinated effort with all three vehicles. However within minutes a leopard was spotted. We all saw the leopard and two of our cars followed the leopard through the bush. She was on a hunt. Then she dropped down and took a nap. So we moved on.

The highlight for our vehicle was a group of giraffes maybe eight or more near a watering hole. Three of them were drinking at the waterhole. To drink they must spread their legs out far to get low enough to drink. You do not see that often it is fascinating to see that. This sighting two of them did it at the exact same time and they were reflected in the water. There was also a troop of baboons running everywhere. It was a special sighting. Ken will post pictures hopefully tomorrow.

We also saw a lot of plains game in the hunt for zebra. Seems like zebras were no where to be found. We got a call for elephants and right in front of us at the elephant sighting were a dazzle of zebras. Perfect. The off roading to the elephants was pretty rough and rocky. We found three males happily eating away. One gave us a little shaking of the head. So funny when they do that.

Another vehicle saw four rhinos at the watering hole. So that was a great sighting as well.

We have been out with two Rangers so far.

Monique is a female ranger and very good. I must admit I have always preferred male Rangers and it was great to find a good female ranger. We have gone out with her twice. Originally from Belgium she has been guiding for three years and is continuing her studies to become a vet. I have noticed things about her that I really liked. She positions her vehicle well and with one lone elephant coming our way she did not know she put her vehicle in the perfect situation should we need to leave. That elephant did give is attitude so it was easy for us to pull out. She has a lot of knowledge and shares that in a very nice genuine way. We hear many of the same thing from other Rangers but she does in a way that it does not sound like normal educational lecture. It is conversational in nature and more interesting. She will be on leave with group two but back for group three and I will request her.

Paul is a delightful handsome young black man and we went out with him today. Big smile and handled the off roading following the leopard extremely well. You could tell right away he was going to be good. We really liked him and will request for our next groups.

Kenneth we have not gone out with yet and look forward to doing that tomorrow.

Great bush dinner tonight complete with flushing toilets. Life is good!!!

Rachel - the ranger said the giraffe was probably electrocuted. He died under the power lines and they are so very tall.

Ralph - both morning and afternoon game drives require layering. When it's dark it's cold. Very cold.

I can't add any additional description. This is an amazing experience and I feel so very lucky to be living it.

I do have a PS. To the animals of Africa. I now have plenty of photos of your tails. It's time for some head shots please.

Back from the morning game drive.

We went back to the giraffe carcass first thing. This time no hyenas but there were a few vultures on the ground. At the carcass site their were three different male lions. Two feeding, one sleeping. These three lions fought off the two younger males we saw yesterday. They are still young males but older and bigger than the original two males. One of the three males had a problem with his right leg. Must have happened in the fight. What makes all this interesting is the resident coalition of the two Charleston lions will most likely hear all the calling and fighting between these younger males and return here and reclaim their territory. We have two more game drives left here so my fingers are crossed. I would love to see them again. Monique, our ranger said they are massive now with black manes.

After the lions we drove north to see if we could find Buffalo, and black rhino. We found fresh dung so they were in the area. Then we saw leopard tracks but they showed the leopard going across the road. So we drove that block hoping to spot the leopard. We stopped for a comfort stop and found a zebra watching us, he could have been polite and turned his head. Then things picked up again.

All three vehicles met and we walked down to the river bank to check out the hippos. We also saw a small crocodile. This is a beautiful spot on the river with lots of boulders. We walked back up to the cars for coffee. Then we spotted a huge crocodile sunning on a boulder. Just after we left we spotted a herd of elephants drinking at the river. Such a lovely sighting. We were able to get out of the car and take pictures as we were on the bank opposite of the elephants.

One of the other vehicles saw giraffes fighting (necking). The giraffes hit each other by swinging their necks around and strinking each other. I have not seen that often always fascinating to watch. Most of the time they are testing each other's strength and walk off into the sunset together. However if it is a real fight it can get violent.

All in all a great morning topped off by a yummy breakfast. Most ordered eggs Benedict and Ken and I had an omelet.

Black Faced Monkey.

Following the leopard.


Purple Roller.

Lion Sands and Mala Mala

What an exciting day. Our last game drive at Lion Sands we saw a rhino with a baby nursing. Giraffe, zebra and other plains animals and we topped that off with a leopard sighting. The leopard was mobile but by the time we got there she was grooming herself. She had her paw on her head, talk about flexible. She is the mother of the first leopard we saw.

Then Mala Mala arrived to pick us up. We piled in looking forward to our next adventure. Going through the gates of Mala Mala I always feel it is like coming home. Alex, Nerrine, Fritz and Jacque were there to meet us so nice to see them all again. We had two new Rangers Theo and Daniel. We ran to our rooms to check them out, had lunch and we were off on our game drive.

We all had outstanding drives. Starting with a big herd of Cape Buffalo, the only big five animal we had not seen. After last years drought so many Buffalo were lost. Only a few young ones in the group. It is going to them a while to recoup to their usual numbers.

We were with Fritz and he was determined to find three large male lions that had just arrived on their property. So we headed off in the direction of the last sighting. There was a large herd of Cape Buffalo and lion tracks on top of the Cape Buffalo tracks. So the lions were stalking the Cape Buffalo. The Cape Buffalo moved onto a watering hole. It is always greAt to see a herd of buffalo drinking. It was just starting to get dark. Good time for a kill. We waited anxiously but no lions.

Fritz was not giving up and he started driving where he thought they may be. SUCCESS he found them. All three were laying down but with their heads up. One of the lions became mobile and joined the lion closest to us. They greeted each other and gave a lion version of " hugs and kisses". So neat to see. They were making the preliminary sounds of roaring and I was hoping for a show. But alas they never roared.

All three males started to move but not to the Cape Buffalo. Then we heard the other two vehicles were with a pride of females and one year old cubs. Those vehicles were staying with the females we were staying with the males. The males were moving in the direction of the females. The ranger is spot lighting the lion, driving in the dark off road, talking on the radio and talking to us. Amazing!

We stayed further away than normal as these are new lions and they do not know their tolerance for vehicles. We had called in other vehicles so there were three tracking the male lions. Staying away did not work as these massive lions walked right next to the vehicles. Fritz said that these were the biggest lions he had seen let alone this close to his vehicle. You could hear them breathing and walking and they gazed right at you.

The issue is these are new males, they would want to kill the Cubs and mate with females. The females will want to protect their Cubs. If these three males settle down here they would rule this pride for years to come. There are two more male lions in this coalition. Five of these big males can ward off any threat from other males.

It was now very dark so the vehicles with the female lions came to take our place and they saw the males. Everyone was so excited it was a thrilling experience.

A truly amazing day. I just hope these lions stay around for the next two groups

First morning at Mala Mala

Today our vehicle decided to look for the wild dogs. The area the dogs are being seen is not prime viewing for other animals, it is a long way and the scenery is beautiful. We knew that but decided to go and give it a shot.

We spent most of the morning searching and following tracks. Three other vehicles from the other camp were looking as well. Finally success. However the dogs had killed already this morning as there was blood on their faces. They were basically just lying down in long grass and resting and will probably stay that way until late afternoon. They got up once or twice walked a few feet and plopped down again. Just like watching sleeping lions.

The other vehicles had good sightings including a big male leopard and a side striped jackel. So they were all very pleased with the morning.

This afternoon we are going back to try for the afternoon wild dog hunt. Do not think the other cheetahs will join us as they have limited time and want to see as much as possible. There is a strong possibility the wild dogs will head back into Kruger as they were heading in that direction before dropping down to rest. But ken and I still want to try. Watching the dogs hunting is my absolute favorite thing to see.

Lovely to be back at Mala Mala. There is water in the river and we have seen some animals drinking but the river is not as high as it has been in prior years. We were able to forge across the river in the vehicles always fun.