Southern Africa, 2012

We returned to southern Africa in February of 2012 for an extended trip through South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique. We began with a 2-week volunteer program near Nelspruit, South Africa to care for injured wild animals. We were fortunate to care for white lion cubs, caracals and servals during our stay. We also spent some time with ostriches and baby rhinos. We posted more details on our blog at February 29, 2012: Greetings from Khulula Wild Care in South Africa, March 1, 2012: Photos from Khulula Wild Care, March 4, 2012: Caring for Cats Part II, March 6, 2012: Never a dull moment at Khulula!, March 10, 2012: Wild Dogs in Kruger, Sam & Kiara Move and Wrestling Crocs, and March 16, 2012: Figa Gets New Mates, Learning to Dart and Goodbye to Khulula.

From there we went to western Botswana to visit the San people at Aha Hills near Xai Xai and see ancient rock art at Tsodilo Hills. After those visits, we made our way south to the Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve and saw wild dogs and many other animals. We flew from Maun over the Makgadikgadi Pans to the Tuli Block in eastern Botswana for two weeks of conservation survey work. We were lucky to have great sightings of elephants, lions, leopard, wild dog and aardvark. Our blog entries: April 20, 2012: Trance Dance, Gathering Honey and Rock Art, April 23, 2012: Rhino Darting, April 26, 2012: Bucky Escapes, and April 29, 2012: Feeding the Kitties and Bedroom Visitor.

We returned to South Africa to participate in a rhino darting and monitoring program (African Conservation Experience). Later we hiked in the Drakensberg Mountains and climbed Mafadi, the tallest peak in South Africa, and Thabana Ntlenyana, the tallest peak in Lesotho and southern Africa. After a night at Sani Pass, we returned to South Africa to visit Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Reserve and see numerous animals. We continued north through Swaziland and spent nearly a week driving through Kruger National Park from south to north. We finished with a quick trip to the Niassa Reserve in northern Mozambique. Our last blog posts are at: May 11, 2012: Barrier of Spears, May 12, 2012: Road Block, Wild Dogs Galore & Close Encounters with Cheetah, May 18, 2012: Swaziland, May 22, 2012: Mad Dash to Skuza, May 22, 2012: Lunch with Elephants, Love in the Bush & Hyena Hijinks, and May 28, 2012: The Lost World of Niassa & Farewell to Africa.

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