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Picking up where we left off last night... We headed to Damrak 5 to board our dinner cruise. It was an open air boat, which would ordinarily be nice, but due to the extreme heat here, made things a little uncomfortable. But, we survived, and enjoyed a canal-eye view of all things Amsterdam. We saw many houseboats in varying condition and learned that no more may be sold, so they are at a premium. We saw many locals on boats and in the water seeking respite from the heat and at one point stumbled upon hundreds of boats that created a kind of "redneck yacht club" (a country song recalled by Rich). The dinner was pretty good but, universally, we all particularly liked the red pepper soup served in a cappuccino mug. Sitting at the next ... read more

Hello readers. We are happy to report that today was our last early wake up. We're glad we did it, though, as departing from our lodge at 6:00 meant we had the opportunity to spend some time with orphan elephants. The reserve we visited was home to ten elephants who had been orphaned. Most of their mothers died during Zimbabwe's most recent droughts. We were given information about their care and how they had been saved from certain death, but also that they had lost their fear of people, which meant they could never really succeed in the wild. Trained only with positive reinforcement, they knew their names and each other well. Our ground leader led us on a trail around the reserve and each elephant had a handler/driver who filled us in on the individual ... read more

We started today at 4:30 for our final morning safari into Kruger National Park. Today's goal: rhinoceros and leopard. Today's actual hits included: elephants, hyena, cape turtle doves, emerald-spotted wood doves, duiker grey antelope, tawny eagle, battaliers, vultures, wild dogs, RHINOS on 3 occasions(!), vereaux eagle owl, warthogs, and LIONS(!). We saw so many impala (antelopes) they felt like part of the family. Though we never found the elusive leopard, today's "hunt" was very successful. The highlights were the rhinos and the pack of wild dogs. Our guide, Mary-Anne, was super excited to have found these two species for us. Though many attempts have been made to tame/domesticate the wild dogs, even those reared from birth, none have been successful. We should also mention that during our breakfast break at a picnic area, we were being ... read more

Picking up from where we left off... After finishing last night's blog, everyone put a few more logs and pieces of coal on their respective fires and made their way to bed. Just as he was about to fall asleep, Jake moved his leg and felt a soft, warm thing by his foot. Panicking that there was some sort of animal in his bed, he gave it a good kicking, only to find out it was a hot water bottle that someone on the hotel staff had put in as a warm-up. It was a moment of panic and a water bottle, not a wild beast. Today we started early, with breakfast at six and on the road to Kruger National Park around seven. The drive took roughly three hours including one pit stop along the ... read more

As the morning began, we expected to make a short tour into the Stellenbosch wine country and then visit Robben Island. Upon arrival in Stellenbosch, we took in the sight of goats frollicking at the Fairview Winery. There was a tower with a goat walk that escalated around it. We had never seen a goat playland before. This one even included a bridge over the road that led to a goat condo. The goat commune consisted of several 1-2 year olds and a goat father who was at least 15 years old. It was really something. Before actually entering Fairview we got some very unfortunate news. Due to expected high winds that would effect wave swell, our scheduled trip to Robben Island had been cancelled. This was a huge letdown as following Mandela's experience was the ... read more