I wanted to devote a little more time to our stay in the Kalahari Desert area of South Africa.

The photos don’t really do it justice…..’

Between the red dirt and the clear blue skies, it is truly a magical place!!

How can you not love this image of a group of Oryx…..

…or this video animals fleeing from the truck…..

We were interested in these “watermelon”-type of fruits…..

Nicolai, our guide, cut one opened and said that they were often sweet….

After he took a big bite, he did several spit takes and declared that this particular one was NOT sweet!!

We were also intrigued by the desert cucumbers…..

Apparently, all of the “deer” type animals love the fruit and the Rhinos love the vines!!

The weather this year has been unusual and there were large meadows of tall grass…..

It made a beautiful contrast to the red dirt.

And, look at these tracks in the dune….

….not only the large mammal tracks, but the tiny bird feet as well!!

On our last night, they drove us to one of the stable dunes for our “Sun-downer” farewell.

The night was gorgeous…..

One of our waiters, Belus, had gone before us and set up a campfire and all of the trimmings for a fun evening….

I loved the design that the lanterns made on the ground…..

Belus added a grate on top of the flames, and grilled Barbecued sheep’s Tail….

After I got over the thought of WHAT I was eating, I enjoyed the spicy flavor!!

Sadly, we had to leave early the next morning, and it was hard to leave our home at Kalahari-Oryx!!

We have visited twice and I truly hope that there is another one in our future!!

After leaving, there was a flight to Johannesburg, an overnight there, and then the 16-hour flight back to Atlanta.

This was one of the nicest trips that we have ever been on. Everywhere we went, we met wonderful people who took amazing care of us!!

I can’t wait for our next adventure….wherever it may be!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Our final destination in Africa was the Kalahari Desert, staying at the Kalahari Oryx Lodge.

We visited here in 2023 and spent several wonderful days darting and moving Rhinos!! You can see the video here….

We were supposed to be doing more of this, but various things happened that prevented us from working with the Rhinos. Consequently, we had tons of time to relax and view the amazing animals.

NOTE….there are LOTS of animal photos here!!

Adding to my “first time seen in the wild” list, I was so excited to see this grouping of giraffes…..

It was so fun to watch them….

This one was the youngest in the group…..

I absolutely LOVE how these guys walk….

There is a wonderful comedy sketch about giraffes…..

Okay….I got distracted…. back to the animals…..

We saw numerous pairs of ostriches as we drove the property…..

We scared this pair off of their nest, but it was fun to be able to see the nest up close ……

Later we saw a female actually sitting on a nest….

It was SO cool!!

As we traveled further around we saw more Rhinos….

Look at the horn on this one….

We also saw a Bonte Buck….

….a Tsessebe…..

….Steenbok…..

….Sable…..

…Harteeest…..

….and Impala…..

I had planned to end the trip on this post, but I have to tell you about our last night in camp!! Come back tomorrow and we will finish it out.

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

After the excitement of the morning of moving rhinos (see Monday’s post), I decided that I could use something a little less exciting. So, while Michael was meeting with some of the scientists, I got to go on a photographic safari!!

I was met out front by Attie……

and ensconced in this nine-person vehicle……

Attie asked me how long I wanted to be out, and I immediately said that I would stay out as long as he was willing!!

Kudu female….

Young Sable male…..

VERY skittish Hardibeests…..

As we drove, I kept seeing whispy nests in the trees…..

Attie told me that they were built by birds called “Social Weavers” and that eventually the tree would look like this!!

He told me that the openings face down to deter snakes from climbing into the nest.

When I had another chance, I photographed looking up into one of the nests…..

The next two photos are probably my favorites. These two OLD buffalo were enjoying their evening meal and totally unconcerned about me!!

Young Impala

Springbok…..

These guys were incredibly plentiful…..

…but extremely hard to photograph. In most cases, this was the best that I could do…..

It was interesting to see them hopping like a kangaroo….with their back legs under them. I asked Michael about this and he said that it is called “pronking”. A bit more digging came up with this…. In Afrikaans and Dutch, to “pronk” is to show off, though the reason that springboks pronk is not known definitively. They could be excited, agitated, exercising, spreading their individual scents, or showing off their fitness either for predators or rivals within the herd.

So, who knows why they do it but it was fun to watch!!

After one hour and 45 minutes, it was starting to get cool in the truck and the light was almost gone so photography was out of the question. I said to Attiey that he could start home now and he informed me that he already had!

You could have fooled me! I had NO idea where we were!!!

Our last animal encounter was just before we got back into camp. I saw two rhinos, assuming that they were the more docile White Rhinos. I was WRONG!! They were the always agitated Black Rhinos!!!

Attie started to slow down for me to photograph…..

…when the larger Rhino quickly twirled in our direction. Attie wasted NO time in getting us the heck out of there!!!

The sun lowered into the sky…..

….and then I was back at the lodge with a camera full of photos and eyes opened wide to the wonders of this world!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!