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Welcome to the site for our 2014 trip to South Africa. Please visit each of the picture sites to see all the adventures. We will be adding move video over the coming weeks, so please come back and visit to look for new content! (Please click on the thumbnail image to open the album for viewing).

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First stop on the way to South Africa was Frankfurt. Following a small delay out of Miami because of safety checks after lightning hit the plane on the way in, we landed in Frankfurt on a cool day. But, that didn't stop us taking in the Main Tower and some of the sights of the city of Frankfurt.




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The first obligatory stop on our trip - something we really wanted to do - the worlds longest, fastest and highest zip line at Sun City. The Unreal Experience was certainly everything it was advertised to be - an incredible experience. This is where you can see the video of Deb and Octavious
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Following a week in Johannesburg to recover from the jet lag and do the zip line and also catch up with family, we headed to a house on the the Walkersons Private Estate just outside the town of Dullstroom in Mpumalanga. This area is famous in South Africa for being a fly fishing area, and in particular, trout fishing. We managed to get my Dad out there too and he showed he had not lost his skills catching a 2kg rainbow trout.


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The cold of Dullstroom behind us, we set out on our adventure with Heritage Tours and Safaris in Kwazulu-Natal. Our base for the two nights and three days was this wonderful resort in Saint Lucia, Umlilo Lodge. What a wonderful welcome from the owners, and such a comfortable place to stay. We will definitely go back there should be return to the area.
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The first event on the Heritage Tours and Safaris package was a late afternoon boat tour of the Saint Lucia Estuary to search for hippo and crocodile. The perfect time of the day for viewing hippo especially as they are awaking from their sleep during the heat of the day to set out for an night of grazing. Huge yawning hippo are common sights. Our incredible guide Dennis gave us a very memorable trip.
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Following the late afternoon boat tour, early the next morning (5am is definitely early!!!), our guide for the day Stacey Farrell picked us up and took us to the oldest proclaimed reserve in South Africa, Umfolozi Game Reserve. Something that was very special to see on this tour was the traditionally dressed Zulu ladies heading out for a day of grass harvesting. Every June, this is a traditional event that dates back to the days of King Shaka where the ladies are allowed to harvest the dry winter grass to be able to make skirts, bowls and all different types of crafts. Our day in Umfolozi was unfortunately cold and windy, so we didn't see a great deal of animals, but it still was an incredible day.

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Even after a long 9 hour day in the game drive truck, Octavious and Mark headed our for a night drive in the iSimangaliso Wetlands World Heritage Park. Our guide Theo was able to find us the most amazing sights and it was an incredible few hours spent.





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The last morning of our Kwazulu was again spent in iSimangaliso Wetlands World Heritage Park and a lunch time break at Cape Vidal. We saw again some very interesting sights and had a great day including a wonderful picnic lunch provided by our guide Theo.
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After the Kawzulu-Natal adventure was over, we headed to Cape Town (business class travel at it's best too!!!) to spend some time with wonderful friends. While relaxing was an important part of the time in Cape Town, we did still do some tourist things, one of which was the very popular Penguin Sanctuary near Simonstown.




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On the way back from Simonstown, we stopped at an area that affords incredible views of the Cape Flats, the most populous area of Cape Town.
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Back in Johannesburg after the few wonderful days in Cape Town, we did a couple of small adventures around the Gauteng area. The first was to the Crocodile and Reptile Park, Croc City. Of course, there was a zip line there as well that we did - over 3 pits of Nile crocodiles. Nothing like the original zip line we did, but certainly something different.




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The last adventure was to the Johannesburg Lion Park. A drive through the park that included white lions to a lion cub encounter with 3 month old lion cubs made for an adventurous day out