Travel

Backpacking, Hiking, Travel

Hike hard, climb harder – Italian Dolomites

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Hike hard, climb harder – Italian Dolomites

Not every place will steal a bit of your soul…but this one did.

July 2-3 – It’s always a bummer when you lose a day to travel but that’s how time zones work. We made it to Venice around 10 a.m. and Venice in July is WILDLY hot, and humid. We dropped our bags and headed into the city but really only lasted a few hours before we were all puddles of sweat. Even with stops for gelato.

July 4 – Our real adventure begins! We met up with our friends, old and new, and headed to Cortina d’Ampezzo. An adorable mountain town, that’s a little bougie and the location for many of the upcoming Olympic winter games.

July 5 – After 2 days of city and small town life it was time to head into the mountains and start climbing. We pack up our backpacking gear and headed out to begin Alta Via 4, a historic location with via farratas and tunnels through the mountains that date back to the second world war.

We climbed and hiked and tunneled our way through these beautiful mountains, with just a little danger as a storm rolled in and we were hailed on before finding a cave to wait out the storm. Our refugio for the night had some amazing 360 views making each mealtime magic.

July 6 – More via ferratas and hiking await us as we make our way to the next refugio. The day started out a bit foggy but the clouds made for a super interesting landscape. Italy’s mountains are rugged and intricate and the views surround you no matter where you’re hiking making this area just a wonder to behold.

July 7 – Day three brought just a short bit of via ferrata and much more hiking. We took a ski lift down into a town, a bus to our next trailhead and then a fairly short hike to Lake Sorapis (WOWZA) and our refugio for the night. My favorite refugio of the trip both for its proximity to the lake and the pure joy the owner exuded hosting us.

July 8 – We had to make a hard decision for day 4. Either do the most difficult via ferrata and steep scree hike; or hike down, take a bus, and hike again to the next location. Under the best circumstances this would be a really difficult day but the weather was also not on our side, so we opted for the safer option and skipped the via ferrata, and we still ended up hiking up to the refugio in the rain 🌧️. What we didn’t anticipate was missing the bus and being stuck on the side of the road for hours. One thing about travel is you better be flexible enough for the unexpected.

Despite our missed bus we still made it, sopping wet, to dinner and had a place to stay the night.

July 9 – Our last day hiking and climbing and back to civilization and most importantly, gelato!

July 10-12 – We headed out to Trento, our last city for the trip. Larger than Cortina we explored all this city has to offer. We took the cable car up to Sardagna (it runs every 15 mins from early morning to late evening), walked back down through the small grape farms along the hillside. Stopped in at the Piedicastello Tunnel museum–if you only have time for one thing this is it! Toured the Castello del Buonconsiglio, and visited the MUSE. All this while stopping as often as possible for, you guessed it, more and more gelato.🍦

All in all the Dolomites are a true sight to see and if you get the chance to see them, do it.
Arrivederci!

Backpacking, Hiking, Travel

High Altitude Adventure in Peru – Salkantay Trail

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High Altitude Adventure in Peru – Salkantay Trail

A lot (and I mean A LOT) of people will disagree with me but I did not fall in love with Peru. I certainly don’t regret going; if you haven’t seen it I wouldn’t tell you not to go. It’s just not my place. And that’s ok. Not every place will steal a bit of your soul.

June 21-22 – Much of South America is a slog to get to. Several flights and connections, but we made to Cusco! Sitting at 11,000+ feet Cusco can quite literally take your breath away. Upon arrival we were embraced by culture. Cusco’s main plaza was filled with people dancing, playing music and wearing traditional clothing. A parade lasting hours welcomed us to Peru and set the tone for the entire visit.

June 23 – We used a company called Salkantay Trekking to organize our tour and plan our hikes and they are a very oiled machine. Day 1 was spent in Cusco learning about it’s history and walking around it’s many historic sites.

June 24 – Whew this was a whirlwind of locations! At a glance we visited: Chinchero > Moray > Salt mines of Maras > Urubamba > Ollantaytambo > Train to Aguas Calientes

Each of these new locations brought with it new views, new things to learn, and new opportunities to experience the cultures in Peru. We visited Incan ruins; fed llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and vicuñas; learned how alpaca wool is cleaned and dyed; tasted the salts and snacks of Maras; and tested our lungs with a short hike in Ollantaytambo. Ending the day with a train ride to Aguas Calientes, the town we would start in for our visit to Machu Picchu.

June 25 – Up with/before the sun–4 a.m. starts were very common on this trip–and off to Machu Picchu before the hoards of other tourists would be up for the day. We arrived at the standard photo op in time to watch the sun rise and hit the ruins. We then walked through the winding paths and learned it’s history and architecture. We attempted to hike up Machu Picchu Mountain but just a bit from the top we realized we didn’t have time to continue on before our bus was going to leave us, so we didn’t quite make it up all the miles of stairs.

June 26 – Hello early morning again! Today we travelled from Cusco to Salkantay’s Sky Camp, which is a mini-village of glass igloos, and hiked up to Humantay Lake. It’s a fairly short hike to Sky Camp but it sits near 13,000 feet so almost everything is hard to do at that elevation.

Tips for hiking at high elevations:
1. Take *laughably* tiny steps, this is not the time for big stepping even if you have long legs. Shuffle your way to the top!
2. Use the trekking poles. I’m not sure why people often refuse them, they are not just for old people and they’ll help you make it up.
3. Try not to take super long breaks, if you’re doing tip #1 you shouldn’t need long breaks anyway but stopping too long can take the wind out of your sails so pause just long enough to take some deep breaths and then keep moving.
4. Hike your hike. If you’re with friends sticking together may not be the best. Of course keep an eye on everyone you’re with but you’ll need to keep your own pace and momentum.

June 26 – 4 a.m. is the theme, Peru will force the early riser out of you. The hike up to Salkantay Pass is the longest and most difficult in terms of distance and elevation gain, but this was probably my favorite and most memorable day. Some of our group took horses up and some hiked, but we all got to the top to expansive views of…fog. We were quite literally in a cloud at 15,000+ feet.

Once we reached the pass we thought the clouds would burn off but we were stuck waiting around (with about 40 other folks) to see if the view would open up. Just as we were deciding to head back–it’s not a great idea to stay at high elevations for a long time–our guide began passing out perfect coca leaves. Not to eat but for a short cultural ceremony to thank Pachamama (Earth Mother) and blow our spirits into the mountains. We then created a tiny rock cave and placed our leaves inside. Like magic, the clouds parted and we were able to see the Salkantay glacier and mountains that encapsulated it.

June 27 – You guessed it, another 4 a.m. wake up call 🙃. And we’re off to Rainbow Mountain, an extremely popular location and difficult hike due to elevation, 16,398 feet! You can choose to pay for a horse, a motorbike, or take your own feets for free. If you choose to walk it please see the tips above especially about taking tiny steps. As we hiked up we saw so many people really really struggling because they were trying to walk their normal steps. Doing regular steps will make you have to stop frequently to catch your breath and make it so much more difficult in the long run. People may be passing you at the beginning but you’ll be shuffling on by in no time with your tiny stepping.

Taking our time and tiny stepping also allowed for us to have enough energy to head over to the Red Valley. This is a fairly short hike after you take your Rainbow Mountain photos and it’s totally worth it. Where there were piles of tourists atop the mountain, Red Valley trail is mostly empty and the views are really beautiful.

June 28-July 1 – Goodbye Cusco, hello Lima. We spent one last night in Cusco and then headed back to Lima to eat (I highly recommend doing a food tour, Peruvian food is so so good), drink, and recover from all our high elevation hikes. We dipped our toes in the South Pacific, and had a much more chill end to our adventure vacation.

So how did Peru not steal a bit of my soul? I think it’s just a bit too touristy for me; I fully understand that I too am a tourist and I’m adding to that vibe. Despite our early mornings and attempts to beat the crowds there just wasn’t a moment where I could find real peace. I feel the same about the Grand Canyon if that gives some perspective. When I head out into nature to recharge and reset it’s not just for the beauty of a place, it’s to quiet the constant noise of this world, and I just didn’t find that moment here.

Backpacking, Hiking, Travel

Argentine Patagonia – Los Glaciares National Park

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Argentine Patagonia – Los Glaciares National Park

Is Fitz Roy the true love of my life?

February 1-2 – I’m back on a plane to South America with Zealous Travel Co. One year after completing the W Trek in Chilean Patagonia I’m off to see what the Argentina side has to offer. As much as I love Patagonia the amount of travel time to get there never gets easier, but at least there’s ice cream. Welcome to Buenos Aires! This city is so cool. I’m never a huge fan of staying in big cities when I travel–give me the wild spaces all day–but BA has a really fun vibe and I walked more than 13 miles just taking in all there is to see.

February 3 – The rest of our group arrived and we took a walking tour of San Telmo and La Boca ate some delicious food, had traditional mate, and went to bed early for our early morning (4 a.m.) wake up to travel to El Calafate.

February 4 – After a short flight to El Calafate we stopped by Perito Moreno Glacier and hopped a boat tour to get a really good look at one of the only glaciers in the world that is actually growing instead of shrinking. It is huge and beautiful!

We grabbed some lunch and then took a bus 3 hours south to our final destination, El Chaltén.

February 5 – We had planned to do some white water rafting but the rains the night before made it super dangerous to attempt so we were able to rearrange our schedule and get in to the via ferrata! There are many via ferratas across the globe and I’m sure they are all awesome. Essentially it is a climbing path with metal rungs, ropes, and foot/hand holds and it is super fun (unless you don’t like heights). The route took use about an hour and a half and at the top we were met with absolutely stunning views of the Patagonia mountain range.

February 6 – It’s backpacking time! It’s no secret that any time spent with my backpack on my back is a good time so I was super excited to start this part of the trip. Our first trail started right out the doors of our hotel towards Laguna Torre for lunch (highly recommend bringing an empanada). We continued on to Campamento Poincenot to soak our feet in the very cold stream and make camp for the night. In total we walked about 13 miles for our first day.

February 7 – Waking up at 3:30 a.m. to straight up a mountain is not really my idea of a good time, but watching the sun come up and hit Fitz Roy was absolutely stunning. I could be convinced to say it’s the best view I’ve ever seen. After watching the sunrise and take our breath away we headed back down to camp for breakfast and to pack up for our next spot, Piedra del Fraile.

We arrived at the refugio fairly early and had plenty of time to relax, have a glass of wine, we even made a charcuterie board of trail snacks. The dust that covered our faces overnight was actually quite impressive. It somehow blew through a rain fly and tent groundsheet to leave a lovely layer on everything. Total miles, 11.25.

February 8 – A much more chill day overall, we pack up our daypacks and walked a very windy trail to Laguna Pollone. We got so lucky with the weather being sunny, mild, maybe even a little hot, and no wind so having a little rain and big wind gusts was kind of a treat since that is the expected weather in Patagonia.

After a snack at the lake we packed up and headed out of camp and on to our transport back El Chaltén. On our way we spotted a super endangered deer, the Patagonian huemul! There was an unexpected river crossing right before we got to the van but what’s life without taking off your shoes and hiking up your pants. Today’s total was an easy 9 miles, and we headed back to our hotel to clean the dirt and smell off us, and then get ice cream of course.

February 9 – The next morning we got up at a reasonable hour and headed out to do some horseback riding at a local estancia. My horse, Marco, was very chill which I appreciated. We had lunch in the woods and then though we were supposed to kayak back the winds made it too dangerous so we hopped back on our horses for another ride, and there was a puppy to cuddle at the end. ❤️

February 10 – The weather worked out in our favor this time and we were off to do some white water rafting on Rio de las Vueltas. I was pretty nervous after a bad experience as a teen and had avoided ever rafting again but it was super fun and not at all as scary as I had anticipated. We also had an absolutely fantastic raft guide who kept us safe despite a few class 4+ rapids. I don’t have any pictures from rafting because I was white knuckling my paddle the whole time.

Upon return we had my fourth or tenth ice cream cone for the week and walked around El Chaltén which is one of the most endearing little mountain towns I’ve been to.

February 11 – Another early morning for the ~3 hour bus ride to the airport back to Buenos Aires. We spent one more night in Buenos Aires, this time in the Palermo neighborhood, a 10/10 on the cuteness scale of neighborhoods in BA. We made it back home after more long days of travel but Fitz Roy has my heart forever (or maybe just until the next mountain comes along).

Backpacking, Travel

The W Trek Patagonia Chile

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The W Trek Patagonia Chile

My first time in South America.❤️

February 17-18 – Due to COVID-19 there were some extra hoops to getting into Chile so my very first recommendation is to absolutely do this trip, but wait until the borders are a little more open. Chile requires everyone to get tested upon arrival and then you MUST quarantine until you are cleared via a specific-to-you QR code, which could be 8 hours or could be 24 hours who’s to say. So upon arrival in Santiago my friend, who had already been cleared, handed me a mushroom empanada (10/10) and I went to bed. When I got up I was cleared! I did have to wait for the rest of our group to arrive and also be cleared so wandered around Santiago for a bit, got more empanadas, and we could finally head off to Puerto Natales.

February 19 – To say that Patagonia is far from the U.S. would be a whole understatement. It is quite the travel experience and is basically as far south as you can get without touching Antartica. So we arrived in Puerto Natales with just enough time to eat, meet some street doggos, and go to bed before waking up for day one of The W.

February 20 – Bus > Ferry > Legs. Up early to hop a bus (where we caught a glimpse of Guanacos) to arrive early enough to get on a ferry taking you to our start of The W; we went West to East. Upon arrival at Paine Grande we hiked the first section of The W which takes you from Paine Grande to Glacier Grey. Patagonia has a series of Refugios along the route where you are allowed to camp but these must be booked far in advance and they are the only places you can stay in the park. It’s mainly tent camping with bathrooms and eating areas so you do not have to carry all your food if you choose to eat at the refugios.

When we arrived at Glacier Grey some of us chose to do a bonus hike (always do the bonus hike) to this suspension bridge overlooking the glacier.

February 21 – We hopped on a little boat for a very cold ride to Glacier Grey. After a quick safety tutorial and gear change we were off to walk around a glacier for a while. We filled our water bottles with fresh glacier water and looked into deep and beautiful crevasses. And here’s the thing about hiking The W, it’s actually a W shape so we hike up the first section of the W and then you have to hike right back down, so at the end of the day we landed back a Paine Grande for the night.

February 22 – Day 3 and the LOOOONG day. So if you can imagine we begin at the bottom of the first line of a W and today we hike up the second line, back down, and then about half way up the last line of a W. If you’re looking at a map, it would be from Paine Grande, up Valle del Frances, back down and over to our final refugio, Refugio Chileno. It was absolutely beautiful, and pretty rough on the legs.

February 23 – Mirador las Torres the main event! To see the sunrise over las Torres you have to get up around 3am to start the hike, and there is a really good chance you’ll see nothing at all for your efforts. We got lucky, there was not a single cloud in the sky for our entire trek and thankfully this day was no different. The sun lit up these granite towers and what a wonder. We then hiked back down, had a quick brunch and headed out of the park ending our Torres del Paine adventure.

February 24 – After a lovely night in a cozy bed we did a bit of horseback riding and enjoyed some final views of southern Chile. Best, until next time Patagonia, maybe the Argentine side? 😏

Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Travel

Laugavegur & Fimmvörðuháls Trails Iceland

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Laugavegur & Fimmvörðuháls Trails Iceland

Let’s go backpacking in Iceland! An absolute dreamland of a country.

August 6 – One major plus of Iceland is that it’s so easy to get to. There are many nonstop quick flights to get there and it feels like just a popover.

This was our very first time using a travel company (Zealous Travel Co.) to plan and organize the whole thing and it was awesome. No worries about permits, or where to stay, or literally anything; which made this trip so much more relaxing despite it being a lot of long days of hiking. Full disclosure this is my friend’s company, but I’d recommend them even if I did not know them!

Upon arrival, we toured around the city of Reykjavík. This city is really cool and I would totally spend more time there some day, but we were quickly on to bigger and better things!

August 7 – Icelandic horses are super cute! They have the fluffiest bangs and are very sweet. We did a short ride and even got to experience their breed-specific gate. We also toured a sustainable tomato farm and restaurant (very tomato-forward meals 🍅), and relaxed in a natural hot spring before we wrecked our bodies on the Laugavegur Trail 😉.

August 8 – Here we go!

Day one of backpacking made Iceland feel like a truly otherworldly place. We had many firsts on this trip including this being our first backpacking trip with a guide, food provided, and though we slept in tents each site has huts for bathrooms, food, and water. It really felt like glamping in comparison.

You are also able to drink from most any stream because there are very few animals carrying disease and the water flows directly from glaciers (so cold and tasty). All of this meant that our packs were quite light with very little in them. At just 7.5 miles hiking this first day, it was a pretty easy one, though still a lot of ups and downs over the rolling hills.

August 9 – Day two hiking. We headed out early and this day had so many river crossings. Day two was pretty short as well, but we did add a bonus hike at the end to see Iceland’s “Grand Canyon”. I think I will always do the bonus hike when available. Even when you’re tired and have hiked all day, it’s worth it.

August 10 – This section of the hike was a bit more boring (if hiking in Iceland can ever be boring), it was also super sunny, hot, and windy. I somehow got sunburned in Iceland! I would fully have expected cold and rain but it did not rain one time during our full 10-day trip. So this day was a bit of a slog with the exposure and hills.

August 11 – We completed the Laugavegur section of trail and are on to Fimmvörðuháls (no I can not say this trail name aloud). This day just happened to be our 10-year anniversary and it was one of the most beautiful days of hiking ever. It was a LONG one but waterfalls and terrain absolutely made it fly by. We hiked along glaciers, really interesting rocks and ash, because you are basically walking on a giant volcano in Iceland always, and saw more waterfalls than I’ve ever seen in my life. There were very few moments when the sound of rushing water couldn’t be heard.

We ended the hike at a really popular waterfall called Skógafoss which you are able to drive up to. It’s always interesting to me when I’ve hiked a long time and finally get to a destination and that destination is also easy to get to if you drive it; so you are dirty, and stinky, and tired, and other people around you are dressed up, and fancy, and look really well rested.

August 12 – After a good hard sleep we got up and took a ferry to Heimaey Island to visit the absolute cutest birds in the whole world, puffins! They are just like adorable penguins but also a toucan and they flap their wings so so fast so they can fly. We also stopped by the black sand beach which has been known to sweep people out to sea, but it didn’t get us.

August 13 – After our relaxing day with puffins it was back to exercise! We kayaked a glacier lagoon for quite a while and then popped over to Diamond Beach, which is super touristy but also really cool. It’s this black sand beach with enormous chunks of glacier either stuck on the beach or out to sea. It’s a little bit sad to see these huge pieces of glacier melting off right before your eyes, anyone claiming global warming isn’t real can just go see it quite literally.

This was our last night together as a group, I had only met 2 of the people on the trip before this but I’ve made lifelong friends and everyone was just absolutely wonderful. So thanks to Zealous Travel for bringing us together.

Hiking, Travel

Cape Town

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Cape Town

Embracing the beauty of the beaches, the mountains, and the people.

In June 2017 we spent 15 days in South Africa.

June 24-26 – Travel! It takes a long time to get to Cape Town from Chicago. I’ve done some long flights but this was exceptional. Here are some tips on a long flight:
1. Get this neck pillow, it’s the best and there are 1,000 ways you can wear it (no one paid me to say this); eye masks and ear plugs are also pretty awesome when it comes to flying.
2. Bring snacks – seriously airplane food is kind of the worst.
3. I am now old enough to require compression socks; I found this out on the trip.

June 26 – After seemingly 1,000 hours of flying we arrived in Cape Town, found our friends who took a different flight, and picked up our rental car. We found out the hard way that you should ALWAYS get an automatic shift in Cape Town. Not only do you need to drive on the wrong side of the road and car but the hills are insane and you’ll break down 5 minutes from your Airbnb.

I will say this about our car rental, the employee who we called to help us not only dropped us off at our Airbnb (taking 2 trips to get us all there) but also drove around Camps Bay to find us at a coffee shop so we could sign for the new car he brought us.

June 27 – We all get up fairly early, and headed to “the center” which is what IES Abroad (my workplace) calls it’s offices in each city they are located. One cool perk of working for IES Abroad is that there are centers all over the world where the staff there can give me tips on what to do and give me a local’s perspective. After a visit with the director we stopped at Bo Kaap–a neighborhood with rich culture and beautiful buildings. Following a quick dinner we started our first trip up Lion’s Head. Lion’s Head is a small mountain in Cape Town, it’s about an hour and 45 min hike up and is fairly easy to do; it’s popular to go up at dusk with a bottle of wine and hike down with a headlamp!

June 28 – Cape Town’s history is so interesting and is dealing with a lot of similar issues to the U.S. On day 5 we took a walking tour through downtown and were able to see and hear about the colonization of Cape Town and how it is effecting the culture today. Later we walked through the Kirstenbosch gardens, one of the great botanic gardens of the world; we head back there day 8 for the trailhead up Table mountain.

June 29 – This day was interesting; we started out head to the V&A Waterfront because we had tickets to tour Robben Island but though the day was beautiful and it didn’t seem to have even a breeze the fairy boat was canceled due to strong winds. This is really normal and you should make sure…
1. book in advance and
2. have a backup date and time so you can reschedule.
So with that canceled we did a little shopping and I was picked up by a taxi to tour/photograph some of IES Internships new housing options and a tour of the University of Cape Town campus. In the evening IES Internships had an event to celebrate it’s first semester in operation and we gladly tagged along for the party!

June 30 – The one day it rained we drove about an hour outside of Cape Town to visit a few wineries. It’s not very well advertised but South Africa has amazing wine (and sells it super cheap at the grocery store, like $2 a bottle). The first one we visited also had an olive oil tasting which I really recommend. I don’t think I realized how different olive oils can taste until we did that.

July 1 – We finally had the perfect hiking day! Depending on which route you take up and how much you explore around, the Table Mountain hike can take between 2 and 6 hours. We took the longer route that starts in Kirstenbosch garden and head up and across the mountain. We also hiked over to Maclear’s Beacon before heading to the cable cars.

The experience is awesome; you hike through all types of terrain, starting in a forest-y environment with waterfalls through to rock and boulder scrambling and ending up on the flat rock top of the mountain. The weirdest part for me was that you hike alone and rarely see anyone for the first 2-3 hours and then because of the cable car you start seeing tons of people, some in dresses and suits, at the top!

July 2 – We got up early the next day to drive outside of Cape Town to a few of the smaller towns and Cape Point. First we visited Boulder beach, a beach where you can hang out with penguins! We bopped around a bit there, the penguins were all nesting so we couldn’t really get close but we did get to see a ton of baby penguins with their families.

Cape Point is like the tip of South Africa and it has a little bit of hiking with beautiful scenery. There are just a ton of baboons at the point; they are super scary and will grab any food you have right out of your hands. We also saw wild ostriches which were huge and amazing. Our last stop on the way back to Cape Town was Simon’s Town, a small fishing village which was super cute and fun to walk around in.

July 3 – Back at Robben Island the weather was good enough to sail out to the island this time and I made sure to take a Dramamine because I get pretty motion sick on planes and boats. The island was really cool and the our tour guide (like most of them) was a former prisoner so we got to hear his story as well. The forgiveness and redemption that happened there is just unbelievable and inspiring to hear. After returning from the island we headed to Signal Hill which is just a quick drive up and has more beautiful views.

July 4 – It was our last day in Cape Town so we took one last hike up Lion’s Head to watch the sun rise. When our alarm went off we weren’t sure it was going to be worth it but we got up and drove to the trailhead. I’ve never seen a thing so beautiful. The sun coming up over the ocean and hitting the side of Table mountain is a wonder. It is 100% worth the early wake up call! After hiking back down we got coffee and took the cable car back up Table mountain one last time as well. Cape Town is such an interesting city because everywhere you look there is something beautiful to see.

July 5 – We left Cape Town to finish our trip with a safari on a private reserve, Africa On Foot, near Kruger National Park. The safari was perfect at this point on our trip. Meals and itinerary decided for you, time to relax, and a much slower pace while still being really exciting. We only had two half days and one full day on safari and we probably should have planned a few more to be able to see more animals but it’s fairly expensive and I’m sure there are cheaper ways to go (you can rent your own car and drive through Kruger on your own I think) but when it comes to wild, man eating animals I want professionals involved.

On the first day we got there just in time to drop our stuff and hop on a jeep, I say on because it’s just a big open vehicle. Our guide was awesome and I can’t tell you all the things we saw but giraffes were involved and I love them; we also tracked a lion but didn’t get to see one. In the evening we had dinner and drinks and some honey badgers harassed the kitchen staff!

July 6 – Our first full safari day we got up early, had breakfast, and headed out on a bush walk. This particular safari is interesting because it’s one of few that will take visitors out walking in the wild. The only downside of walking is that you don’t get to cover as much ground as if you were driving, but it is much more up close and personal to be in a formation with guides in the lead and end, carrying weapons I’m sure would just slow down anything that wanted to eat us. We ended up in the middle of a huge heard of Cape buffalo which look to me just like water buffalo, but I’m told there is a difference.

When we returned to camp we had lunch and had a bit of rest time before heading back out on the jeep to look at more animals and have a snack and drinks at the watering hole; a literal watering hole not a bar called “the watering hole”. I think it was this day that we saw a rhino and elephant, huge and gross and kind of scary.

Later in the evening we would go out on a night safari and I don’t know how he did it but our guide would find the smallest little nocturnal monkey in a tree a mile away while driving while I looked all around and saw……..nothing.

July 7 – Our last time out on safari we opted to drive rather than walk so we could maybe see a lion, we never did and Brian is very sad about that but we saw a ton of things and if you are planning a trip to Africa anywhere near a safari place you should do it! We left in the afternoon to fly back to Cape Town and began another 1,000 hour flight home.