I am in AFRICA!

Part of me still thinks it isn’t real, but it is. The animals I’ve seen. The amazing women I’ve met, and the places I’ve stayed are all incredible. I purposefully went on a women’s tour to meet new people and everyone is amazing. The variety and the ages are just what I was hoping for. We have lawyers, medical specialists, grad students, retired, bartenders, and investigators. All in all a diverse group of women I am honored to meet.

But we all know I’m all about the animals. So here are PICTURES. Some are of me and the places, some animals. I’ll give tiny snap shots of what each is, so it isn’t a complete bombardment.

This is all of us at the Tropic of Capricorn.

This is me at Deadvlei. It is a place where the acacia trees basically petrified in the middle of the desert. The hike to get there was a lot. Granted there are some young super fit people in our group (okay and one old super fit person), that is not me. It was about a mile up a dune. Walking in sand sucks. others did Big Daddy which was a MASSIVE dune. Yeah no. Just getting there where I was was enough that I’m still sore.

This is a tree that is actually a type of aloe Vera. Yep, the top is a succulent plant. So cool.

When I first arrived one of the things we did was have tea with the giraffes and I got to feed them. Aren’t they cute?

So far these are the creepiest things. They are crickets - they are HUGE. I swear if I had one of them crawling on me, I would shriek. Sorry, not sorry.

But you know I’m all about the cats. So I’ve seen some in the wild and some in a rescue sanctuary. Check out this.

Leopard. SO gorgeous. At the sanctuary.

Cheetahs at the sanctuary. There were three of them, siblings. We saw one in the wild, but even with binoculars it was tiny.

This was in wild. She was a bit annoyed that all the safari vehicles were blocking her view of her prey.

But the best was this. The Caracal!! I based Carelian off of this cat species and I have video of him jumping for meat. It is amazing. I’m going to write a short story about Carelian hunting. Because I learned so much watching the caracal move.

We leave tomorrow for Zimbabwe, where I will have tea with elephants this time, and then get to see Victoria Falls. Seriously the people here are wonderful. Even my random taxi adventure. It might not be my dream continent, but the beauty here is amazing.

I’ll be home in about 8 days, and I’ll crash for a day or so, then try to get back to writing (I’ve been horribly bad) but I’ll have more news for you then.

Waves from Namibia!

Mel