World Cup - June 15th

Today is the first day of our Safari. We are taken from Waybury House at 5:00am. Let me tell you something, when on vacation, you don't want to wake up early. We end up riding in a large van (a little more leg room would help) with 2 Aussies backpacking through the World Cup. They are pretty cool and we have some good conversations. We make our way up, making several stops, and transfer into a new vehicle with our caretaker, Wayne. He tells us about what to expect and that we will be going on a game drive at a private reserve in the afternoon. The private game reserve has the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and water buffalo) and that we would be riding in open vehicles (no roof). We arrive at Thornhill Bush Lodge, given some juice on arriving and shown to our rooms. The rooms were really nice and contemporary....as Juliana stated a "Spa Safari."

After an hour break, we head to the game drive at Thornybush Reserve and had a great time! It is very rare to happen, but were able to see all Big 5 along with giraffes, warthogs, zebras, impala, etc. We were out for 3 hours, giving some refreshements under the stars and then brought back to the lodge. There is a cold front moving through and we are giving dinner around an outdoor fire. The food is traditional African and is fantastic!! We then are told to get to bed early since we would have to be up and ready to go by 5:30am. Ouch.

The link to pics is here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/aquadri26/WorldCupDay7#