I fell a little behind in documenting the safari from October. We spent a couple of days in Johannesburg and a day in Pretoria. The different branches of government in South Africa are located in separate cities, so Pretoria is the administrative (executive branch) capital, Cape Town is the legislative capital, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and Johannesburg is the largest city. It was interesting to spend a day in Johannesburg and get one perspective on the country followed by a day in Pretoria to get a very different perspective.
You can watch the video slideshow version or browse through way too many photos or just go about your life without doing either.
Long drive from MalaMala (near Kruger National Park) to Johannesburg, via the loosely-defined Panorama Route (God’s Window, Bourke’s Luck, Graskop, etc.)
A little snack of beef heart and liver on the bike tour
Photo op
Grandpa to many
Kids in Soweto
Climing on the tourists
Soweto
Soweto
Cool house on Soweto bike tour
Hector Peterson memorial
He told me he hand-crafted the trinket I bought so I took a picture with him. He didn’t.
Near Hector Peterson memorial
Mandela’s Family Restaurant
Mandela House
Aquafresh
Desmond Tutu House
Locals
Drinking something suspicious
Drinking something suspicious
Tourists with bike tour guide
Lunch at Lebo’s
Chicken legs for lunch
Wooden bike
Bob Marley sign at Lebo’s
Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers
Blending right in
Finale of bike tour
Soweto bike tour
Street hawker sizes up Michael
Soweto bike tour
Soweto bike tour
Soweto
Soweto
Kids checking the photos
Kids posing in Soweto
Soweto bike tour
Soweto bike tour
Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill, the Zoo, LDS Temple, etc.
Youth event at Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court
Statue outside Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court
Mandela – Gandhi exhibit at Constitution Hill
Gandhi statue at Constitution Hill
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony – Gandhi
Gandhi and Mandela exhibit at Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill
Cells (some haunted) at Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
Shaking hands
Distant view of South Africa LDS Temple from Johannesburg Zoo
Apartheid Museum White card.
Apartheid Museum
Apartheid Museum
Pretoria, including Voortrekker Monument, Kruger House, Church Square, City Hall, Union Buildings, Cullinan Diamond Mine area, and a delicious braai (barbecue) with our hosts
An evening braai (barbecue)
Hippo art
Paul Kruger statue at Church Square, Pretoria
Tshwane City Hall
Kids swimming on the fountain – Tshwane City Hall at Pretorius Square
Tshwane City Hall
Cullinan Diamonds area, outside Pretoria
Cullinan Diamonds area, outside Pretoria
Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Group shot among the Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Union Buildings Gardens
Mandela statue
Mandela statue
Purple jacaranda tree at Kruger House
Reformed Church across from Kruger House
Kruger House
Kruger House
Gereformeerde Kerk (Reformed Church) – Pretoria. Across from Kruger House.
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria
Voortrekker Monument
And a few straggler photos just to make this page take forever to load –
Ok, I finally narrowed down the best clips of our 4 days at MalaMala. Here’s the video –
It reminded me of the sheer variety of creatures we saw. Our rooms had checklists in them for keeping track of animal sightings. I didn’t want to bug the guide for the name of every bird and tree, but here’s what I marked:
Our guide caught the reflection of this bushbaby’s eyes as it jumped from tree to tree looking for bugs. I caught a couple of minutes of it when it finally stayed relatively still in one tree. This is zoomed in as far as the camera would go, which is why you’ll hear us asking questions about what it looked like — we couldn’t see it very well.
I had hoped we would at least catch a glimpse of a leopard during our time at MalaMala. As it turned out, we saw at least one per day and a couple were within arm’s reach of the Land Rover. We watched one pounce at a rabbit but miss. (Another group bragged at lunch that they saw him catch it right after we left.) Beautiful animals!
My favorite photo was one my dad captured at sunset –
Vultures brought me a lot of enjoyment during the safari. They gathered in sinister-looking trees just like you’d expect and their heads bobbed up and down exactly like the Beatles-type vultures in Disney’s The Jungle Book.
We first saw them trying to get in on the remains of a Cape buffalo taken down by lions. The lions were so full they could barely walk, but they still chased the birds away a few times before giving in. The second group was waiting for a larger group of lions to finish with a zebra. The vultures fought over lion scat and gathered in a nearby tree for their turn with the meal.
Here are a few clips set to “That’s What Friends are For” from The Jungle Book.
