On the way, we stopped in Sun City, a slightly fading casino & water park that was built by a Jewish guy in 1979 (Sol Kerzner, whose parents immigrated to Johannesburg from Russia... maybe he'd like some guests at Passover this year?). Noah was ready to pawn his binkies for slot chips, but we quickly moved out to the (100% manufactured) beach front, which included a massive wave pool that Lucy thought was the better than Cats (not that she's seen it).
Ready for action.
Hawaii Five O!
The wave pool is the water area in the back. A huge wave suddenly "erupts" (seemingly out of nowhere) every 5 minutes or so. We had to hold Lucy tight, but she kept asking to do it again. (No fear, that girl!)
This sand is a-w-e-s-o-m-e .
(If only he would stop eating it!)
As the sun began to set, we headed over to the Manyane Golden Leopard camp ground, where we found the tent we reserved to redefine the idea of "roughing it". (It felt a bit more like camp than camping. Janet, you would have loved it.)
Our new home away from home (for two nights)
Settling in
Guess who wandered up to our tent?! (Look for a visitor at about 1 o'clock.)
Mr. Zebra
He hung out for a bit and then wandered off.
(No, Judy, Noah didn't try to pet him.)
(No, Judy, Noah didn't try to pet him.)
(But he thought about it!)
Noah and I relax a bit.
(Mom, notice the Wegman's bag under the table.)
Dinner time
What's on the menu? Roasted corn (in the tin foil), Afrikaner 'kosher' farmer's sausage (bauerwurst), and chicken dogs for Lucy.
Hang out time. (Lucy's wearing socks because a massive thorn from an African acacia tree went through one of her Crocs. It was wild and really painful... poor girl! Next time we'll remember sneakers.)
Bed time.
(Lucy insisted on bringing her Dora flannel (!!) pajamas. It's summer here.)
Happy Papa. Grumpy Lucy.
Up for oatmeal at 4:30 am (yes) to try to get to the game reserve when the animals are out looking for breakfast. (We didn't end up seeing much in the morning. Daddy G wished we had slept in. Papa A thought we should have gotten up earlier.)
The game reserve is 220 square miles with a series of roads that are good enough for regular cars to drive. (Alice the Honda Jazz enjoyed the trip but needed quite a bath when we got home.)
Pilanesburg sits in a crater of an extinct volcano, so the animals have a natural boundary, which keeps them around. Also, that guy I mentioned, Sol Kerzner, helped stock the place with animals back in the '70s so his guests at Sun City would have a good time driving the park. It's now run by a regional government body.
We found a giraffe enjoying a salt lick near the main meeting point at the game reserve
Out on the road, we came across a group of ostriches hurrying over to Curves to beat the morning rush.
We hung out in a viewing hut, where you can watch for birds and hippos without them noticing you.
Noah thought it was fun, even if he had no idea what we were doing.
We came upon a rhino having a bite to eat.
A while later we spotted a zebra family
Hunting for animals got us hungry!
Enough animals. Back to the tent for some bubbles.
Then we hit the pool. (Nice "camping", eh?!)
Lucy had her own bed. Ad and I shared a twin bed. Not a good idea. (I almost sent him out to the car. The next night we pushed them together. Much better.)
The "ablution center" at the camp site even had a few bath tubs.
OK, I'll keep that in mind.
Time for bed. (But I convinced Adam to move the wake up time back a little...)
Breakfast at the campsite's restaurant and then back to the game reserve
We came across a group of giraffes.
Noah and I enjoyed the sights.
Ad did too.
Lucy and her new BFFs.
Hop on Pop.
Bye, guys!
A bit tired of animals, we gathered up our stuff and headed home. We'll happily go back, so come visit and we'll book you a tent!
From a safari with love,
Glenn
I love that the "Do not feed baboons" sign has a down arrow that's pointing directly at your two kids. Perfect!
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