memorial day & loskop dam

In the U.S., the unofficial start of summer is Memorial Day weekend. In Africa, however, it is the start of winter (we are in the southern hemisphere). Obviously, Africans don't celebrate Memorial Day, but our American friends invited us over for burgers and hot dogs!!! We are excited! A big thanks to Sarah & Seth for being awesome. :-)

How did you celebrate this holiday weekend? No matter what you did, I hope you took a moment to remember why we have this treasured break. The memory of those who have fought and died while serving in the United States Armed Forces is not something to forget. Thank you to our troops, both past and present!!!

On to the fun part of this post....
On Saturday, we braved the crazy ZA drivers and took a day trip to Loskop Dam Nature Preserve to see some African wildlife in their natural habitat. It was my life goal to see a giraffe that was not in a zoo, so I begged Mat to drive me because I am still mildly scared to drive on the freeways. Lucky for him he obliged, and we drove 68km's NE to the preserve. The trip was *relatively* uneventful, except for the fact that we almost ran over about 10 S. Africans who tend to cross the street whenever they feel like it - even if there is a car coming. And the fact that we had to drive on unpaved roads that the Garmin did not recognize. Now that is scary. BUT, we made it alive without being hijacked or robbed. WAHOOO!!!!!!

Fast forward to entering the preserve...
We drove for about 10 minutes down a dirt road before reaching the main gate. We thought we were lost in the middle of nowhere and I was panicking about getting a flat tire. I was also panicking because I had to pee and the road was bumpy. When we reached the main gate, we parked and went in to pay and get a map. The cost was R100. That is about $9.50 USD. For both of us!!!! When can you safari for $9.50? Never. Never ever. We were thrilled...until we learned that there was no public restroom in the building. Ugh. Not winning.

After paying, we entered the driving trail with no map because they didn't have one printed (is ZA going green?). We immediately saw a warthog aka Pumba. "Hakuna Matata" is STILL stuck in my head two days later. And now it is stuck in yours. You're welcome. And shortly after, we saw a giraffe!!!!! This is NOT a zoo, people, so we were not guaranteed to see any animals. But, we were lucky because we got to see a lot of animals - giraffes, baboons, mongoose, kudu, impala, nayla, warthogs and lots of birds. It was INCREDIBLE!!!!!! I cannot even describe how excited I was when we saw SIX giraffes. Winning!
Here are some of our favorite photos of the 2.5 hour drive through the preserve:

{baboon - there was a baby, too, but the mama baboon moved it away from us FAST!!}

{bird with a toucan-type beak. this bird spent a lot of time on the ground}

{giraffe and warthog. the giraffe is in the back left}

{another giraffe - we think it is a male because it was alone}

{funny looking bird - no clue what it is}

{young impalas}

{male impala}

{male nyala - this thing is weird looking!!}

{young kudu}

{adult male kudu}

{monkeys in the road}

{view of the Loskop Dam reservoir}

{look at the thorns on this tree!!!! YIKES!}

{warthog aka PUMBA "hakuna matata"}

{driving trail through the preserve}

I hope you enjoyed these photos of our first safari! I am studying these animals in preparation for our visit to Kruger National Park aka THE safari experience in ZA.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Love,
Jess & Mat