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Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip

Family travel through a slightly twisted lens. Sense of humor required. Shoes optional.

Lilac Breasted Roller

December 18, 2009 by Susan Getgood

One of the prettiest birds we saw during our trip was the national bird of Botswana, the Lilac Breasted Roller.  In fact, I could not stop taking pictures of it.

Mashatu:

4006849965 430abee69c Lilac Breasted Roller

4007617406 efe91bc274 Lilac Breasted Roller

4007705478 977bc56222 Lilac Breasted Roller

Mala Mala:

4040951580 b852a0b829 Lilac Breasted Roller

This pair of Lilac Breasted Rollers was clearly nesting in this tree on the lawn at Mala Mala.

4041194638 336cde765b Lilac Breasted Roller

On our very last day, as we were waiting to leave for the airstrip, I managed to get a photo of one in flight.

4169131223 34ef0fc426 Lilac Breasted Roller

Filed Under: Africa, Birds, Botswana, Mala Mala, Mashatu, South Africa

Mala Mala, South Africa

December 15, 2009 by Susan Getgood

4038175395 d4448ef2cc Mala Mala, South Africa

Leopard at Mala Mala

20-22 September 2009

My brother and mother have done a brilliant job delivering the blow-by-blow of the vacation over at Mashatu Tiger; here’s a link to Doug’s summary of our arrival at Mala Mala and here’s Mum’s rundown on our time there.

I’ll bottom line it for you. Mala Mala Main Camp is beautiful and very elegant. We saw some amazing animals, including the Secretary Bird and the Ground Hornbill. Lots of lions, leopards, elephant and giraffe. We had a tremendous sighting of two bull rhinos on the last morning. We saw a mother and baby hippo walking across the lawn around 11 pm from our room. Our ranger, Lucky, was phenomenal. He was even able to spot a chameleon in a tree at night.

For most of these photos, you’ll need to visit my brother’s photo gallery because I managed to delete a whole bunch of my pictures from Mala Mala when I got home (don’t ask, I am still pissed about it.)

Nevertheless, we preferred Mashatu. Why? Mala Mala is elegant and the hospitality is impeccable. It just didn’t feel as friendly and down to earth as Mashatu. In fairness, our experience of Mashatu may be a little colored by Mum’s friendship with Afke and deep knowledge of the native animals due to her time spent “at the Pond.” Likewise, our first night at Mala Mala was not the smoothest — starting with the long delay of the plane and ending with some confusion upon arrival, well detailed in my mom and brother’s posts linked above.

However, I’m a pretty objective person. Even after I eliminate all of that, if your budget is limited and you can only do one “luxury” game reserve, I would recommend Mashatu over Mala Mala. If you can visit both, by all means do. The landscapes are completely different, and there are animals in each place that you just won’t see in the other.

But if you have to choose, make it Mashatu.

That said, here are some of my favorite pictures from Mala Mala.

4013201574 53a4b507bd Mala Mala, South Africa

4040772723 779f4668cd Mala Mala, South Africa

4012428867 bc7e4c53d7 Mala Mala, South Africa

4040195633 064c5f24e7 Mala Mala, South Africa

4041187506 ea280dcd68 Mala Mala, South Africa

4041245522 bbba871538 Mala Mala, South Africa

4040505309 4834fc355c Mala Mala, South Africa

4040526249 54c4e6ea0a Mala Mala, South Africa

4040535491 0e7248d196 Mala Mala, South Africa

Photo Sets: September 20, 21, 22

Links:

  • Mashatu Game Reserve
  • Mala Mala Game Reserve

Filed Under: Africa, Botswana, Mala Mala, Mashatu, South Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa – The Apartheid Museum

October 24, 2009 by Susan Getgood

3965238071 fcf1382a31 m Johannesburg, South Africa   The Apartheid MuseumSunday September 13, 2009 – Monday September 14, 2009

We arrived in Johannesburg at about 8am. Customs was efficient, as was the greeter from Journeys of Distinction, the travel agency that had arranged our trip. She guided three fairly weary travelers to the shuttle bus for the Southern Sun airport hotel and confirmed that Patrick, our tour guide from Wilro Tours, would pick us up promptly at 1pm for our visit to the Apartheid Museum.

Yes, we were tired but it’s always a good idea to get on local time as quickly as possible.  I wanted to visit the Apartheid Museum, and the first day was our only window of time in JoBurg for sightseeing. Mum and Doug were kind enough to go with me, although I suspect they would have been just as happy relaxing by the pool. It turned out just fine though; they really enjoyed chatting with Patrick  while I meandered through the exhibits.

When you purchase your ticket at the Apartheid Museum, you are given a token representing a racial identity and you enter the museum through the appropriate door (pictured above.)

Once inside the museum building, you follow a timeline of South African history that explains the roots, impact and aftermath of apartheid.  I think the thing that astounded me the most was how narrow the victory was for the apartheid forces in 1948. If the opposition had been less fractured, South African history might have been very different. There was also a special exhibit devoted to Nelson Mandela.

We were there for about two hours but I could have spent a whole day. Photography is prohibited inside the museum, but I took a few pictures of the exterior. On the way back, Patrick took us on a brief tour of the city, pointing out historical and cultural landmarks.

We wrapped up the day with dinner at our hotel, and an early night. Needless to say no one had trouble sleeping!

3965252559 72f2d1cd82 m Johannesburg, South Africa   The Apartheid MuseumRecommendation: I highly recommend the Southern Sun OR Tambo. The rooms are pretty standard for a luxury airport hotel, but the food and the service are far better than I have experienced in similar properties in the US and UK. When we left fairly early the following morning to catch our flight to Livingstone, Zambia, we were privileged to hear the housekeeping staff chorus that starts every day with a song or three.

The picture at left is a display at the Out of Africa store at the departure gates at OR Tambo. It gave us a bit of inspiration for the next stop on our trip: Livingstone, Zambia and Victoria Falls.

Filed Under: Africa, Hotel, Museum, South Africa Tagged With: Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg, Southern Sun

Countdown to Africa

September 7, 2009 by Susan Getgood

In less than a week, we will be boarding a plane for a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. I hope to be able to post at least every other day.

Here’s our itinerary:

Friday Sept 11: Boston to NY JFK. Staying overnight at airport Holiday Inn.

Saturday Sept. 12: NY to Johannesburg

Sunday Sept. 13: Arrive Johannesburg in am. Plan to visit Apartheid Museum in afternoon.

Monday Sept. 14: Depart for Livingstone, Zambia – Victoria Falls. We haven’t made any specific plans for the time in Livingstone as yet. We plan to get the lay of the land and take it easy for the nearly two days we’ll be there.

Wednesday Sept. 16: Depart for Johannesburg. This is basically a layover night at an airport hotel.

Thursday Sept. 17: Flight to Polokwane, South Africa, followed by a 2+ hour drive to the Pont Drift Border Post on the Botswana border, and then to Mashatu Main Camp.

Sunday Sept. 20: Flight to MalaMala Game Reserve in South Africa via light aircraft.

Tuesday Sept. 22: Depart for Johannesburg, and then in the evening, Johannesburg to NY

Wednesday Sept. 23: Arrive JFK NY in the morning. Once we’re through customs, we’ll catch a shuttle back to Boston.

Filed Under: Africa, Botswana, Mala Mala, Mashatu, Safari, South Africa, Victoria Falls

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