I can't believe we are going.

I've been wanting to go to Africa for some time. Sure, we've been on safari at the San Diego Wild animal park, but this is for real.

Chris has always wanted to see African wildlife also, but the fear of being eaten by a lion in the shower or touched by an insect got in the way. Once, I looked into a place that Matt Lauer stayed at only to find that it boasts the widest variety of insect life in Africa.

Then, there's the trip to Brazil that didn't quite turn out as planned. The major mistake in the Brazil plan was staying at a place that was too rustic. Yes, we upgraded to the most luxorious suite, but it was on top of a water tower up 6 flights of outdoor stairs made of twigs (see photo on the left). The fact that the boat needed repair didn't help, nor finding out that the place was where Survivor Amazon was filmed. After two nights, Mike was voted off and we spent a few extra days in a nice hotel with great mahogany furniture in the city of Manaus.


Anyway, this time we are staying at nicer places that Chris picked out. We are also sticking just with two places in South Africa to minimize travel time. The travel agent wanted us to visit 4-5 places but we started with just one and went up to two. I'm sure Victoria Falls is a nice waterfall, that wine country in South Africa is fine and the dining is great in Cape Town, but we are nature lovers so it's Thonga on the coast and Londolozi in Kruger National Park.

Now, we'll see if we can convince our hosts that we are as interested in birds as the big 5 mammals and have no interest in insects.