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After lunch we jumped back in the jeep with four other people from the lodge and set out for our very first safari drive. It was such an amazing experience to be driving in the middle of the wild on dirt roads…with wind in our hair as we sat in the open-air jeep scanning the bush for animals. We drove around for about four hours and saw more zebra, Impala, kudu, a brown hyena (rare to see), a rabbit and some cool birds. Since it had just rained over the past 2 days…things were very muddy which meant the jeeps couldn’t go off-roading and the animals didn’t need to travel very far to find water.
As the sun was setting, the ranger pulled the jeep to the side of the road and pulled out a little table he attached to the front of the car. He laid out some dried fruits, nuts and jerky as well as a few cold beers. We climbed out to stretch our legs…we enjoyed the sunset, ate some snacks and chatted.
We got back in the jeep and headed back through the dark to the lodge…the ranger held a heavy-duty flashlight against the bush as we drove, in case a nocturnal animal was roaming around. Back at the lodge, the staff was waiting to greet us as we arrived…they handed us a warm wash-cloth and a glass of port. Giff and I went back to our room for few minutes (escorted of course since it was dark) to get cleaned up. Dinner was served by a fire outside on the patio. The first course was smoked salmon stuffed with a creamy cheese which was followed by a salad and then Giff had the venison and I had the fish. The venison was by far the better choice and I don’t really even like venison, there are no fish swimming around here…it makes sense to go for the meat! For dessert, they served flan and then we realized it was already 10PM…we had to be up at 5AM for our next game drive. We excused ourselves and were escorted by our ranger to our bungalow.
At our doorstep, we stopped and gazed at the sky…it was the most beautiful sky we had ever seen. The milky way was so clear as was planet venus and many other star constellations. There is almost no pollution here on the reserve…so the sky is as it should be, it was gorgeous.
After a hot shower, we climbed through the mosquito net into bed and fell fast asleep.
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Published by Giff Kabat
I grew up in Ohio as a kid, so of course I went to college at “THE” Ohio State University. I graduated in 2001 with a major in business finance. A month after graduation, I moved out to California with my college girlfriend (whom I married in 2005)…and started my career in sales (industrial sales for 5 years…then moved into medical laser sales for 4 years).
In 2009 I was 31 years old. I had a great job, a new house, and a beautiful wife. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better…my wife and I found out we were going to have a baby. Everything was going according to plan…and I couldn’t have scripted a better life for myself.
Then in the same year…everything changed. My wife, Brandey, called me when I was on my way to work and told me over the phone, something I never thought could be possible in a million years. My beautiful 30-year old pregnant wife was just told that she had breast cancer. At that moment, everything stopped all at once. I immediately went to her…and learned of our new plan…which began with her needing surgery immediately…and the rest we would find out later.
The day we returned from the hospital after Brandey’s surgery…my father died. He had been battling an aggressive cancer of his own…and although he was the one person I wanted to speak with about Brandey having cancer…I never told him. My sister, Brooke, had just gotten married a few months ago, and although he was weak, he was able to walk his little girl down the aisle of her wedding. On the night before my sister’s wedding, Brandey and I told him that we were pregnant and about to make him a grandfather. It made no sense to tell him that everything had changed for us…so he died in peace knowing everything was “the way it should be” for his only 2 children.
2010 was the worst year of my life. We had lost our baby…and for 12 months I watched my wife fight cancer with multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and drug therapy. It was a difficult year for us…but we made it. When you go through something like this in life, you learn a lot about yourself and the people around you. I was amazed at the strength and courage of my wife…and how many good people there are in this world. I will be forever grateful for the ones who never ceased to amaze me with their kindness during this hard time. Family, friends, and sometimes complete strangers…helped us make it through this. I am, and will always be especially grateful to my mother, who was with my dad at the very end, when I couldn’t be there, and when things were at their worst. She has been so supportive throughout all of this, and without her everything would have been so much harder for me.
It’s 2011 now…and the plan we have for our life this year…is to make it the best year of our lives. Brandey is officially in remission from breast cancer and she has a 95% chance the cancer will never come back. Besides the love that I have for my wife and family, the loves of my life are food, wine, and adventure travel. My wife and I love traveling to new places, seeing natural wonders, and meeting new people from different parts of the world. So for the next 400 days…we’ve decided to travel the world…and celebrate our lives. There are so many things I took for granted in life that I will never take for granted again. My father worked for over 30 years at the same job with the same company…rarely took time off…and died at 64 years old right after his retirement. For me, this trip is a combination of a tribute to him, along with wanting to spend the time of my life with the “love of my life.”
* The only thing I will miss while we are gone is our family and friends (who we hope will meet us somewhere throughout our trip) and especially our 3 little kitties we left with my mom in Ohio to catsit for the next 400 days. I will also miss watching “American Football” over the weekend…but I’ll do my best to check the scores in the middle of the night.
GIFF
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