No title available
EXPECTATIONS
gracie abrams
No title available
roma★
RMH
KIROKAZE
Noah Kahan
Cookie Run:Kingdom Official!
Cosmic Funnies
🩵 avery cochrane 🩵
Monterey Bay Aquarium
No title available
Origami Around
izzy's playlists!
tannertan36
Fieri Frames
Jimmy Eat World
No title available
No title available
seen from Germany
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Brazil
seen from Colombia
seen from Thailand
seen from Thailand
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Saudi Arabia
@bigfiveforthefiveo
The Massive Predator
Lots of talk this week about the 20 ft Great White off the coast Oahu . This type of sitting is becoming very rare. Unfortunately these majestic creatures have been hunted almost to extinction for shark fin soup or for medicinal use.
I wish this would have been me. I would have wanted to jumped in with and taken a swim with this fascinating creature. Besides this would have been the perfect and…
View On WordPress
Whale Shark Migration
Tomorrow we will be headed to Cancun, Mexico for the Whale Shark migration that occurs June- Sept. We are in hope to snorkel with these gentle giants while they roam in their natural environment. This will be the link to my blog , click follow on Tumblr if you would like to join us in our adventure.
Off to enjoy one of many blessings nature has to offer.
View On WordPress
Mahalo
Mahalo
Hawaii has been a great pit stop for recuperating from the time change from Australia. We have had a great 3 days playing golf in the Kohala Coast on the BIg Island of Hawaii. The courses here are challenging and visually beautiful.It crazy to watch your golf ball go out of bound then bounce back from hitting lava rocks.This visit we decided to stay in a condo at The Islands Mauna Lani htt…
View On WordPress
Dreams do come true. Click FOLLOW if you want to take this journey with me through Africa.
Leopard in the sand at Little Tubu Camp, Botswana
The Mother Continent
Africa is the Mother Continent. Humanity began there and spread to the rest of the world. Africa is home to more countries than any other continent in the world.
I hope you have enjoyed my journey through this unforgettable Safari. There is so much more to share that I have chosen to leave out until now, and it is mostly about the Rhinos.If you have noticed I have not posted any photos of those beautiful animals and I will not. With social media and the geotags making this issue worse,tourist posting photos with these geotags make it so easy for poachers to find these animals.
Our guide informed us that Rhino horn is the most valuable substance on the Earth . The White rhino is a relatively unaggressive and this is why poaching for its horns is a threat. The illegal trade of Rhino horns is an intricate underground business similar to the drug trade. The money guys hire a poor villager that has nothing to loose to go slaughter and remove the horns of a rhino. These animals are darted (tranquilized) and once they fall to the ground they are mutilated by machete, knives or chainsaws removing part of their face because the poachers want to get all of the horn. This poor innocent animal will the awake and stumble,completely disoriented not knowing what just happened and mostly likely die. As of right now if this continues these animals with be extinct in the wild within 8 years! According to our guide 1 gets killed every 8 hours. In some areas where there are only a handful left ,there are people patrolling them 24 hours a day. The fight is being lost. I feel helpless. But spreading the word and making people aware of what is happening can help.
Unfortunately this trade is mostly due to Asia's demand of Rhino horn for aphrodisiac, and status symbols. Traditions and ancient medical remedies that have been tested are proven to have zero medical properties. The education for this nonsense to cease,needs to start with the children, our future.Teach them that this is not needed. We now have modern medicine. The young generation of these mutilators need to learn conservation or we will have nothing left. This type of poaching is also happening to Lions, Elephants, Gorillas and many more ,all for mostly something modern medicine can take care of . So sad.
As we were leaving Cape Town and I saw the mammoth size freighter ships in the harbour with their cargo, we wondered how many Rhino horns or Elephant tusk may be on those ships. :(
A word to the poachers as seen on a bumper sticker .........LEAVE THE RHINOS ALONE POACHERS BALLS DO THE SAME THING
Going to Africa has changed my life, it has moved me like no other place I have visited. The diversity of the people, the untouched landscapes,with no light poles, cables, concrete building, and simply no rush for to do anything is what I embraced. The air is fresh and clean and the smells and sounds are captivating. How some of the animals can coexist with each other, we as humans can truly learn .When you look out of your tent at any time,,there is natural beauty.Viewing animals that seem prehistoric that have managed to stay on Earth as long as they have is astonishing .Our daily possessions that we think we can’t do without are not necessary. All of this and much more that I have experienced ,has made me so appreciative , grateful and thankful. Especially for my husband that enjoys going and experiencing all of our dreams together with me.God has blessed us.
If you have ever even had the thought of ever visiting Africa make it a reality. I have traveled to many places but this is the gem of all my travels.
Once your feet have been touched by the African sand, Mother Continent will forever be in your heart.
JM
Bontebok
African Penguins
Boulder Beach Penguins
Noordhoek beach
Camps Bay
Cape Town, SA Our Last Day
Along the coast today we head to False Bay. (If you watch the Discovery Channel you have seen False Bay during shark week).Simons Town is the spot to view AIRJAWS ! Shark Breaching is one of the hunting techniques that great white sharks use to surprise and kill its prey. They breach with such force and explosive energy that it propels the shark right out of the water. Unfortunately we are just a month or 2 short of the peak breaching. Or we would have been out there for sure.
First we drove through some gorgeous beaches with boulders that look like post cards at Llundinddo beach. Passing through a fishing village in Hout Bay we had to make a pit stop. JD took us behind directly to the boats that had been out for 10 days fishing as they brought in their catch. We saw about 700 bins of Hake fish, they are a deep sea fish that are in the cod family. You see this on just about every menu in SA.My husband felt at home here as he talked to the fishermen as they exchanged fish stories and techniques. This was special.
Strolling through Chapman’s Peak Drive on Cape Town’s Atlantic Coast, between Hout Bay and Noordhoek, is arguably one of the most spectacular marine drives in the world. Driving through a half tunnel seemed safe at the time because the weather was great. On a windy or rainy day this must get sketchy as I can imagine falling rocks or better yet the whole thing falling down. It was worth the view! Noordhoek was next with its beautiful beaches and horse population, horseback riding on the beach here is very popular. Wish we had more time I would have loved to have done this on that spectacular beach.
We have finally made it to False Bay to see the African penguin. They are only found in the south western coast of Africa. They were so easy to view from the boardwalk. These penguins decided to make a colony here in Simons Bay in the 1980 due to the reduction of predators in the area. I don’t blame them for coming to this beach it is full of kelp and just sparkly clean. We were able to view them and their babies as they sunbathed and took frequent swims in the bay.
Leaving Simons Town is Cape Peninsula where you can actually go to one of the most Southern Points of Africa. But more importantly this area has been recognized as a Unesco World Heritage site for it Cape Floral Region. The Cape Floral Region “represents less than 0.5% of the area of Africa, and is home to nearly 20% of the continent’s flora,” Unesco said. “Its plant species diversity, density and endemism are among the highest worldwide, and it has been identified as one of the world’s 18 biodiversity hot-spots. Driving through the Cape Floral Region we spotted Reedbuck and Bontebok two types of Antelopes that we were yet to see. We made a quick stop to feed a few ostrich at a farm.We were able to hand feed them some snacks. I really enjoyed that the female ostrich was pecking on my GoPro . She wanted to be in the scene.
Believe it or not after this long and great day we arrived at the Hotel at 5:00 pm had quick shower, cocktails ,snacks and off the the airport it was to get on our flight at 10:45 pm . Florida time 4:45 pm I am writing this now from the airplane with wifi. We have flown across the Continent of Africa in 11 hours to Arrive in Amsterdam with a layover of 3 hours. We are now on a flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta 8 ½ hours plus we still have another 2 hours from Atlanta to Maimi and a 2 hour drive home. We have been flying for more than 24 hours with almost a total of 30 plus hours by the time we get home. WOW!! I cannot wait for my shower,bed and hug my doggie.
Olive Oil tasting at Tokara Vinyard
Sculptures at Tokara Vinyard in Stellenbosch
The Dassie posing on his own informational placard .
Cape Town, SA Day 2
Well it’s a pearl of a day, not a cloud in the sky. What a perfect day to go up to one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature Table Mountain. The Cape Floral region of the national park is one of the richest floral regions in the world. Over 70% of the flowers are endemic to the Table Mountain. It is no wonder that the mountain was chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. Table Mountain joined the Amazon rainforest, Vietnam’s Halong Bay, Argentina’s Iguazu Falls, South Korea’s Jeju Island, Indonesia’s Komodo and the Philippines’ Puerto Princesa Underground River as the newly listed wonders.
We arrived at 8:45 am and proceeded to get in the que for our ride up. We had tried the day before but it was a 2 hour wait. Today was the day. We did not want to visit Cape Town and miss out on this. Our que was only 10 minutes today. You ride up in a cable car that can take up to approximately 60 people up to the top and 600 to 800 people and hour. WOW!!! As you ride up in the cable car it rotates so that everyone can get a great view.
When we arrive to the top the panoramic views of the city were endless. What a sight to see. It was well worth it to get up there. But the real reason I wanted to go up was to see the dasse. The dasse is the closest living resident to an elephant in spite of his size. They actually just look like a really large rat. When you get to the top of Table Mountain as you are walking around you can find the dasse sunbathing on the rocks. Ironically I found one that was sunbathing right on his information placard.
Can’t beat this weather so we head out to Stellenbosch Wine Farms. Even though we are not really wine connoisseurs we still love the exploring the tasting rooms and the beauty of the farms. Stellenbosch is the second oldest town in South Africa. With its vibrant, social, scenic, culinary and cultural backdrop we had to definitely check it out. Being that it is only 11:30 am I have to talk myself into getting my libations going, but this is nothing that a little bread can’t fix. One of my favorites stops was Tokara Vineyard. This place was the embodiment of style. As soon as we drove in I knew I was going to like it. The art work was exquisite with beautiful sculptures that were so appealing to the eyes. We had a few tasting of their reserve wines and an olive tasting as well. That went over pretty good as we purchased 6 bottles of olive oil.They were yummy and the real deal.
After getting the morning started with the tasting continued to Franschhoek. La Petite Ferme was going to be our stop for lunch today at Franschhoek. Gorgeous views and great food. No complaints here.After lunch we strolled down the main street in this beautiful weather for a little bit of shopping. I found myself a warthog sculpture to bring home so that when I look at him I can be reminded of all our wonderful memories.
My husband being a golf fan we had to make a stop at Ernie Els Winery.Ernie has been one of South Africa’s leading sportsmen for over a decade. Besides what is better than a perfect round of golf? A perfect round of wine! This stop made my husbands day. There was a memorabilia room with the Masters being shown right at the time is was on live broadcast with Ernie Els actually in it. The room was filled of trophies & photos. As you make your way to the outside of the vineyard there was a putting green area to sip your wine. Lovely spot.
As we are driving back on the highway these large pirate ships catch my eyes. The look so familiar and I ask our guide JD what are those pirate ships doing in the middle of that open area? He said that is where they film the Starz series Black Sails. I began to freak out and started saying stop stop I have to take a closer look at this. Thankfully I had a great guide that was willing to pull over in the busy highway as I jump out of the car to take photos. I could not believe my eyes! I could see through my lens that there was activity and they were filming. I wanted to go there so bad. But it was late in the day and security must have been high since the filming was going on. Well a at least I got to see it. The ships look amazing!
Back to Cape Grace to prepare for our dinner in an area called Green Point . Tonight I was craving Italian , JD recommended a local joint called Ileone Mastra Tonio. It was fabulous. Wonderful fresh salads and I had ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta. Besides we knew the ingredients were fresh because we met the Chef at the spice market in Bo-Kapp the day before buying for his restaurant.Good Stuff!
