Toto meets Jurassic Park

Jeff here. So the Toto song "Africa" is rolling through my head a lot these days, and especially these past 24 hours. We made it to our next to last destination, Botlierskop, a Private Game Reserve just a bit outside Mossel Bay in the middle of nowhere--think Toto meets Jurassic Park. This place is awesome. Just a few minutes after we checked in to our rooms we wandered outside to see three massive Rhinos lounging about. Apparently they (and the rest of the animals) just wander around, such that they suggest you call for the golf cart to get a ride back to the lodge after dark. Shortly after checking in we went out on our first game drive of the stay, a three hour jaunt around the 3000 hectare farm (around 7500 acres). I'll let one of the kids write about the game drive, but it was really fun. We saw 4 of the big 5 up close and personal (Elephants, Water Buffalo, Lions, and Rhinos. No Leopards here, although they've seen a few tracks they say), along with a lot of other incredible beasts. We have another game drive this afternoon.

The other big news is that we all rode elephants this morning. Yep, cross that off the old bucket list. It was very fun but I don't know if my hips will ever be the same. :) Kristi, Violet and I rode the big male, Clara and Lucy rode the female, and Dayle was on the baby. A fun ride and quite an adventure.

We leave here tomorrow and are heading back to Cape Town for our final night before heading home.