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Last day; last game drive. Time to start the long journey home.
Even on this last drive we were excited to see the beautiful sunrise and to see animals. Today we finally saw baboons! What a noisy bunch! The cutest sight was a mom carrying her baby as she ran.
We saw regal water buck and kudu; the last time we will see any of these creatures until our next visit to the zoo.
We couldn't help but to have our heads fixed on the fact that this is the end. We packed our things and said goodbye to our fellow guests and the lodge staff, giving hugs all around.
We were picked up at noon by a driver and whisked through the country on nice modern highways from the Sabi Sand Game Reserve through Hazyview and on to Nelspruit International Airport, a couple of hours away. We saw villages, markets and beautiful lush farms along the way. The countryside was vastly different from the bush we had seen for the past 10 days. We were in the mountains; everything was green from more frequent rains and was very picturesque.
We were a bit nervous about the trip home. The scheduled departure time for our Delta flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta had been changed to an hour earlier. This meant we had a gap of only two hours between the scheduled arrival of our flight from Nelspruit and the Delta flight home. Before we left camp I contacted our travel agent, Liesl, with African Safaris Consultants agency, to see if we should consider changing one of the flights. She thought we might be ok but took the initiative to book a fast track service for us. We didn't even know what that was. What a life saver!!!! As things turned out, our flight from Nelspruit was delayed 40 minutes, making our gap between flights only an hour and twenty minutes. During this time we had to get our luggage in the domestic area of the airport, check it in to our international flight, and make our way to the gates. Joburg's airport is huge. And it is set in the middle of a very large shopping mall!
We were met at the gate by a young man with a sign showing our names who grabbed us and started running. We looked like race-walkers, weaving in and out of throngs of people for what seemed like a mile through this vast airport. He had a special pass that allowed us to follow him through security as if we were flight crew. They were making the last call for passengers for our flight when we made it to the gate. Wow! Here's the kicker! We had booked our own international flights. Liesl had no responsibility in taking care of us once we arrived at the Joburg Airport, but she did it anyway! That point didn't occur to us until after we arrived home. Now that is service!!!
To Liesl, if you read this story, please know how grateful we are to you for the perfectly arranged, wonderful trip you put together for us and especially for going the extra mile to help make sure we made it home on time. To everyone else, if you ever want to visit Africa, we highly recommend African Safari consultants and in particular, Ms. Liesl Matthews.
A few foggy days later . . . As I finish this last posting on Monday, April 13, we are home in Atlanta. Tessa is back in California. Our house is very quiet. We are still a bit jet-lagged but already thinking about our next adventure. We are thinking Iceland in the fall or next spring to see the Northern Lights and then a visit to India, Thailand, Viet Nam and Cambodia in early or late 2016. Meanwhile, we are so thankful to be able to travel as we do, we know we are lucky in that we both enjoy it so - the dreaming, the planning and the actual adventure. While this is true, we also love being at home too, doing a little gardening, hanging out at the beach and visiting friends and family here and all over the country. Looks like we will be free for a little while so folks, get the boxes out of the guest room; we hope to be coming your way.
- comments
Trenda Purcell I am so jealous! You saw a live Kudu!
Tessa's Auntie Marla I truly enjoyed reading your blog, thanks to Shea for sharing it! It sounds like you had a fantastic time, and what an adventure for Tessa. She's a lucky, lucky girl!