This year we planned a trip to South Africa for Christmas, with 3 days at a game reserve near Botswana followed by a week in Cape Town. We flew to Johannesburg on December 23 - an eleven hour flight which we all remarked was not bad at all compared to the 24 hour flights to the U.S.! Guess we really are becoming seasoned travelers! After our arrival in Johannesburg, we transferred to a puddle jumper flight to the Madikwe Game Reserve. This tiny aircraft had only 4 rows and carried 12 passengers, with the cockpit not separated at all from the rest of the seats. Kasey and I were very uneasy about being in a plane so small, and our fears were justified when we saw the pilot and copilot flipping thru a manual before take-off that I was certain was the "Flying Airplanes for Dummies" manual! Once we were in the air, that little plane dipped and dropped like a paper airplane on a windy day! Needless to say, it was a nail biter for the next 50 minutes until we finally landed (thank God!) on a dirt runway where we were met by our game ranger from the Thakadu River Camp. His name is Lucky, and we were soon to discover that he lived up to his name! Being a game ranger in South Africa requires a lot of knowledge not only about animals, but also birds, plants, trees and all things related. Lucky is a wealth of information and very excited to share with us all that he knows about the eating habits, sleeping habits, and mating habits of every thing we saw. He explained to us why certain animals prey on other animals, how they protect themselves, how they care for their young, and can track an animal by looking at paw prints in the mud or even a pile of poop. He drives a big LandRover type vehicle and many times took us off-road in pursuit of something interesting. The first thing Lucky told us were his two rules: No screaming and no standing up in the vehicle. Believe it or not, the animals in the wild regard the vehicle as another animal and really aren't too interested in it, unless you stand up or yell or do something to draw their attention. Believe me, we were quiet as could be, except for the occasional gasp and the constant sound of the camera shutters clicking! We really enjoyed getting to know Lucky over the next several days, and were intrigued to find out that he has never left his village, has never flown in an airplane, and never cares to do either of those things! :)
Sunset in South Africa
Here's Lucky with Wes and Kasey on our evening game drive, day one. A typical day began with Lucky calling to wake us up at 5:00am and we loaded up and were on the trail by 5:30am to catch the sunrise and the animals feeding. He always brought hot coffee, tea and hot chocolate and biscotti along for a mid-morning snack. The morning game drive usually lasted until around 9:00am, at which time we returned to camp for a hot breakfast. Then we had some down time (go back to bed or go to the pool) until lunchtime at 1:00pm, afternoon tea at 3:30pm, and the evening game drive began at 4:00pm, with a stop for happy hour. Lucky always brought gin and tonics for me, local beers for Shelby, and drinks and snacks. He would stop the vehicle in a safe area, pull out a makeshift "table top" attached to the front of the vehicle, and set up happy hour. It gave us a chance to get out of the vehicle and move around a little bit (and for the guys to "mark their territory" if need be!) We returned to camp around 9:00pm, ate dinner if we could keep our eyes open long enough, then went back to our tents, showered and went straight to bed, exhausted! Usually too exhausted to even wonder if there were any animals wandering about......
Here is our "tent" at the Thakadu River Camp - a 5-star, luxury canvas tent complete with electricity and showers, and a deck overlooking the Marico River. Wesley and Kasey shared a tent just down the trail from Shelby and I. I loved sleeping under the mosquito net! The days were very hot and dry, but the evenings cooled down quite a bit, making the early mornings cool and crisp as we drove along. We usually snuggled under a blanket on the early morning game drives before the sun came up and the evening game drives after dark. There were only 12 people staying at the camp over the Christmas holiday - a honeymooning couple from the U.K., a family of six from Montreal, Canada, and our family. The staff at the Thakadu was awesome! The meals were very good and more than we could ever eat, dessert at every meal, a full spread at tea time every afternoon. We felt like we were constantly eating! They were so friendly and so genuine and we enjoyed our interaction with them. All meals were in the open air dining room, and it was fun to share stories of our game drives with the other families and hear what adventures they had experienced. 
This was the first animal we encountered, on our way from the airstrip to the camp. It was almost like the giraffe was just there waiting for us to drive by! Whenever we saw an animal, Lucky would stop the vehicle so that we could take photos and videos, and he would tell us about that animal.
This elephant was the second animal we saw on our way to the camp. Elephants are surprisingly quiet and can just sneak up on you without making a sound! We felt like he was posing for us! The first day was full of gasps as we saw lots of different animals for the first time. It was just amazing to see them in their natural environment, and not behind bars in a zoo. Some animals were loners and others were in a group. Lucky was a cautious driver and always parked the vehicle so that we could make a quick getaway if need be. It was kind of funny that by the last day, we were like "oh it's just another elephant" as if we were so used to seeing them already! :)
Arrival at the Madikwe airstrip
Here's the little plane that caused so much motion sickness! They had to clear the runway of giraffes so that the plane could take off! 