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Today is our very last safari drive in South Africa! It has been such an amazing experience and quite frankly one you really need to do for yourself.
After seeing an elephant, and both a spotted and brown hyena this morning…we wanted to get our lion fix for the day so drove deep into the bush where the mother and two cubs had been feasting. Sure enough, they were still there and this time, the young male lion was eating from the carcass and the young female lion we had seen at the lake was also there. The cubs were adorable as always and the two lionesses were relaxing while the male ripped the flesh from the dead kudu.
There were other jeeps that had people wanting to see the lions so we left and continued driving…we saw a couple rhino’s. One of them was particularly happy today…We had never seen a rhino’s penis before…ummmmm, it was very large!! After taking some pictures since we know you want to see the happy rhino too, we drove to a new area which also had a nice lake and mountainous background…there were two more rhino’s munching away at the grass.
We continued to drive over to a very flat open field area and saw various herds of grazing animals all over the place…wildebeast, impalas, Springbok and zebra. We slowed down for a bit enjoying the scene and then continued our drive under the warm sun. We saw another Giraffe and he had birds on him, the ranger explained how it is a mutually beneficial relationship. The birds eat the parasites off the giraffe’s skin/hair which is obviously good for the giraffe to not have so many parasites weakening him. Interesting huh?
We stopped for a coffee, realizing it was our last coffee break on a safari in Africa. It has been such a treat to be out in the bush watching the wild animals roam around their territories. After our coffee break, we watched a couple of male impalas fighting, heads down and horns locked. The ranger explained the males fight for dominance in the herd, the males that establish the dominance…control the territory. They push out the bachelor males and do everything they can to keep the females from leaving.
On the drive back to the lodge, we saw two turtles, a bunch of grasshoppers and more impalas. We arrived back at our place where we ate breakfast and got our things packed. Our flight wasn’t until early evening so we were able to relax at the lodge during the day before the jeep brought us to the landing strip. When we arrived, the small private plane we have flown in on was waiting for us on that dirt road in the middle of the bush. We thanked our ranger, got our bags loaded and sat in the very front seat of the plane…right behind the pilots. There was no curtain or door dividing the pilots from us…we could see all their buttons and levers. The plane took off as we stared down at the bush we had just explored over the last five days.
We flew only a few minutes to the other side of the reserve to pick up the rest of the passengers and then we were off to the airport watching the Madikwe Reserve stay behind as we moved forward. The plane ride was bumpy as it was on the way here, and a totally different experience to ride on a little propeller plane compared to the big commercial planes. It was like we were really floating on the air, which I guess is what we were doing!
We arrived back at the airport and waited around for our flight out of South Africa…tonight we will fly to Amsterdam for a 24 hour layover before arriving in Argentina!! South Africa was one of our favorite countries to visit so far…they have the beautiful wine country, the gorgeous Cape Town area and of course the safari experience. After spending time at two different lodges in the Madikwe Reserve, we decided Rhulani Lodge was the best one…the food was better, there were no kids at the lodge and we liked the ranger…it was more of an intimate experience as oppose to the Impodimo Lodge. Although we had fun at their lodge too and the experience of having the elephants come right up to the pool was so cool. We did a lot of safari drives to make sure we saw everything, but we think 3-4 days is a good amount of time.
The days were long and the mornings were early over the past 5 days so we should sleep well on the red-eye tonight!
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Published by Brandey Kabat
What I like: Dark chocolate, yoga, fresh squeezed juice, laughing, hiking, wine, travel, food, lush products, being warm, having long hair, the ritual of drinking something hot first thing in the morning…
What I don’t like: When people smell their fingers, pushing elevator buttons, confrontational situations, not being able to fall asleep quickly at bedtime…
Most random job ever: Plastic surgery consultant
As for my love life: I met my husband mid way through my junior year in college, as soon as I laid my eyes on him I was attracted to him. In fact, I made the first move which was a bit out of character but there was something about him…probably the fact that he was smokin’ hot!!
Where from and where to: I grew up in NY, went to college at The Ohio State University and then headed to CA after graduation. My boyfriend (Giff) and I had a map, a borrowed van and used stuff from his mom’s basement aka a vacuum, silverware, old Christmas ornaments etc., and about $1000 each. We thought it would be a good idea to head straight to CA since neither of us had been. Being we didn’t know anyone there nor did we have a job or job interviews set up or a place to live…I would say we did it the hard way! However with a bit of help from Giff’s mom who flew out to put us up in a hotel, bought me a suit for interviewing and co-signed a lease to get us a place to live we eventually found jobs and an apartment and have been in CA for 10 years.
Our story: After moving out to CA and living together for about 3 years we got engaged. He popped the question while down on one knee on the beach at sunset after we finished our picnic he had packed of bread, cheese, shrimp cocktail and wine. He even had the ring in a box that had a light shining down on it when opened so as it was getting dark, this amazing man was asking me to be his wife as he handed me a huge rock…Yes! Yes! Yes!
In 2005 we were married (I am biased but our wedding was absolutely amazing). By the end of 2005 we were new home owners. 2006-2009- we were both happily married, attached to our 3 cats and were focused on building our careers.
Giff and I got pregnant mid year 2009 with our first baby but what should have been one of the highlights of our life was soon distracted by the news I received at the doctor’s office.
The lump in my breast that had been dismissed the year before as nothing was now being diagnosed by a different doctor as breast cancer. Thankfully Giff is a persistent person and when we went in for our ultrasound (to hear our baby’s heartbeat) he brought up the request for testing to be done on the lump rather than dismissing it based on feeling it.
The going gets rough: Things began to move so quickly at that point, it was hard to breathe. I was 30, pregnant with my first child and going into surgery to remove breast cancer. I was about to go through what would be the worst year of my life. The plan had been discussed, we were going with the most aggressive regimen possible- double mastectomy, port surgically placed in my chest, chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation. We also had to terminate the pregnancy. This cancer was estrogen positive and the hormones were actually feeding the cancer. That little angel whom was the cause of our going into the doctor saved my life.
Giff was my rock through every step…interviewing a team of the best doctors, memorizing which medicines I needed to take and when, driving me to chemotherapy and sitting next to me while I was so scared, telling me I was beautiful when I was bald, and so many other things…words cannot express. When you say your vows, in sickness and in health…you would never guess sickness of this magnitude at this age would be in the near future. In addition to this hardship, Giff’s dad died of a complicated prostate cancer the day we came home from my surgery. I could not hold my husband as he mourned for his dad because of the pain I was in from the mastectomy. How did Giff handle all of this pain at one time? How was he so strong for me? He is amazing. Giff’s dad was one of those people whom you naturally wanted to be around…his smile was contagious, his love for life was invigorating and he listened so intently when you talked in a conversation with him. He made you feel special. We think about him often and will miss him so much.
My family and friends were also by my side…my mom flying out from NY several times to help us with cooking and cleaning and holding my hand. It must be one of the most awful things in the world to watch your baby girl be diagnosed with breast cancer. My girlfriends also flew out to take care of me and help with anything they could. Other friends living closer would come by just to sit and talk or watch movies. There were so many cards, letters, flowers, cookies, and other gifts that came from all over the country. It’s amazing to have such great people in my life. In addition to my amazing circle of friends and family, there were the strangers with whom crossed our path. Whether it was a letter in the mail from a breast cancer survivor, the anesthesiologist who called Giff during my surgery crying happy tears that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, or our fertility doctor who promised to watch over our frozen embryos as if they were her own. There were so many small gestures that made such a big impact on our lives.
Looking at the bright side: Thankfully this was caught in stage 1, had it been caught a year prior by the first doctor I had gone into about the lump, it may have been caught at stage 0. Please learn from my lesson…insist the lump be tested – a lump cannot be diagnosed by touch. They were able to cut all the cancer out and after I finish the entire regimen including a pill I take over the next 5 years, they said there is a 95% chance the cancer will never come back.
Our exciting future: We’ve decided to re-prioritize, we are taking 400 days starting February 7th of 2011 to travel the world! We will travel to new places, eat new foods, taste new wines and meet new people. We will focus on healing ourselves both physically and mentally. This will be one of the best years of our lives.
View all posts by Brandey Kabat
Spinning Around The World 
I could have gone my whole life without knowing what a Rhino’s penis looked like! Sad to see Africa posts go, these were my favorite so far.