#ukutula

[pennypaxlive]

#Repost @assocphotoevents ・・・ Further example of where the trained lions, tigers and cheetahs trained by @ukutula_official end up. One of their trained tigers found at the #circus responding to the stick just as he was trained at Ukutula! Please join us in helping to spread the word of these cats being abused and raised for captivity, circus, and hunting reserves! #boycottukutula @peta @blackjaguar.whitetiger @animaljusticeproject @animalhopeandwellfare @animalliberationfront @crueltyfreeintl @humanesociety @saenonline #peta #animaljusticeproject #afma #antivivisectioncoalition #floe #crueltyfreeinternational #humanesociety #noav #negotiationisover #naalpo #saen #lionhunt #blackjaguarwhitetiger #BJWT #wild  #notpets #lioncub #lionsofinstagram #animalcruelty #ukutula #ukutulasucks #ukutulalies #ukutulalionlodge

[griswoldadventures]

Grammy & Jackie Visit (also Brett & Mike)

The month of November was full of visitors! Nothing like folks waiting until the last minute to get a visit in! First up was Grammy and Aunt Jackie, who came for about 10 days at the beginning of the month. Their visit also coincided with a visit from our friends Brett & Mike, who were visiting us for the 2nd time. 

A nice first stop for anyone visiting Pretoria is the Irene Village Market. The weather was great and perfect for walking around to look at crafts and enjoy yummy food and music. This time we were also surprised to see a beautiful peacock walking around!

After spending the weekend in Pretoria, Jackie and Alicia took a 2-night trip to Pilanesburg to go on safari. The weather got very hot, but they had a great time and saw lots of animals! 

Marc took a day off of work and went with Brett and Mike to Ukutula Lodge to pet some lions and cheetahs! Ukutula is about a 45 minute drive from our house and one of the few places that offers bush walks with lions and the opportunity to pet cheetahs, hyenas, and lions!

They also signed up for a motorcycle track day, taking advantage of the incredibly low prices for things like this in South Africa. They each spent less than $300 to rent a bike and equipment for the day. Marc’s really enjoyed being able to take his bike out on the track and he’ll definitely miss this when we’re back in the US!

For the last few days, we took a trip to Cape Town and rented a cute house in Kenilworth, a quiet suburb not too far from downtown. The house was absolutely perfect - lots of space, well taken care of, and equipped with tons of toys and things to keep the kids busy!

The weather was beautiful the entire time we were there. It was a bit too cold to use the pool, but we all had a great time and loved this house. 

On our first day, the guys rented 2 Cobras and we took the drive through Chapman's Peak to the Cape of Good Hope. The drive was fun and the weather was very nice. Everyone took a turn in the Cobra’s as we made our way down the coast. 

We stopped in Simonstown for lunch and to visit Boulders Beach and see the penguins. We had lunch by the water at Seaforth, a restaurant we’ve been to a few times now, with a good menu and great views. 

After lunch, we walked to the beach to try to find some penguins. It was VERY windy!!

And there were soooooo many penguins!

This was our first time paying to go into the beach and while it was pretty crowded and the wind was kicking sand up and into our eyes at times, it was fun to see so many penguins in the water. It was pretty cold and the water must have been freezing, but the penguins were enjoying it. 

We had intended to visit the Cape of Good Hope, but when we got there, the line of cars to get in was backed up all the way to the main road. We figured it would take us at least an hour just to get in and if it was packed with people, it wasn’t going to be much fun. So, we drove back to the house instead and unfortunately missed the Cape of Good Hope on this trip. 

Marc, Brett, and Mike took the long way back through Chapman’s Peak while everyone else took the highway and the kids napped in the van. And, of course, a trip along the coast with 2 Cobras wouldn’t be complete without some pics of  the cars!

Before we returned the Cobras, Marc took Jackson on a short drive around the neighborhood, which Jackson really enjoyed!

That night, Jackie and Alicia stayed with the kids and we went out to dinner and had a nice (but cold and windy) drive into downtown Cape Town. We ate at Fork for the 2nd time and it did not disappoint!

The next morning, we went up Table Mountain. The guys hiked up and the rest of us took the cable car to the top. The line for the cable car was incredibly long and we weren’t able to sneak up the elevator, so it took awhile to get up this time around! Luckily it was mostly in the shade and we had snacks to keep the kids occupied. We met up with the guys at the top and had lunch after walking around a bit. It was definitely the most crowded that we’ve seen it at the top and while the views were great, we were ready to get back down to the bottom and away from all the people!

After another car nap for both of them (they were both asleep before we even got to the main road), we headed over the V&A waterfront to walk around and do some shopping. 

For our last full day in Cape Town, we did a wine tour! It was also Riley’s birthday, and I’m pretty sure there’s nothing she wanted more than to spend her 1st birthday at a few vineyards!! We used the same company that we’ve used a couple of times now and asked that they pick some vineyards that were more kid friendly. The kids both did quite well. Marc and I decided to split our tour and 2 did two wine tastings and I did two. This allowed us to take turns running after the kids and helped ensure that neither of us had too much to drink!

The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed each of the 4 vineyards that we visited. 

Thankfully, the first two vineyards that we visited weren’t busy, so it the kids were able to run around a bit and we didn’t have to worry about them bothering anyone!

At the last vineyard, there was a lot of open space and we took out the bike that we brought for Jackson. He loved riding that around!

After another couple of good naps in the van on our way back to the house, Jackson and Steph ran out to Woolworth’s to get a cake and some dinner for the kids so that we could celebrate Riley’s birthday!

Thanks to a few decorations from home that we brought with us and a yummy cake and cupcake for Riley, we had a nice celebration!

Happy 1st Birthday, Riley!!

On our last day, we packed up in the morning and walked over to a local coffee shop and had a nice breakfast outside before getting ready to head out. We stopped at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for a bit before we made our way to the airport. It was another beautiful day!

And Jackson really enjoyed the canopy walk!

We made our way back to Pretoria and said goodbye to Jackie and Alicia as they flew back to Atlanta. It was a busy trip, but we all had so much fun! And it was great that they were able to make a visit before we moved back to the US!

See you again soon, Cape Town!!

[chaletnz]

Throwback to the second week as a volunteer at Ukutula Lion Park in South Africa!

[chaletnz]

UKUTULA DAZE//WEEK ONE Throwback to the first week on our volunteering project in South Africa!

[funnywildlife]

Lion Cub by Kelly Ukutula Lion Park, near Johannesburg, South Africa

[chaletnz]

Throwback to our wild South African three day orientation with Awesome Travel!

[chaletnz]

And Then It Was Over

Final breakfast for me was a treat with the Australians being so kind as to share their Vegemite with me. I finished packing and Elinor came running to say we can go and farewell the cub cubs. The baby cheetahs had just eaten and had milky chins but they came up for goodbye cuddles and play time. From there we had to go and see our hyena babies Dominant and Grey Knee who knew we were leaving because they were very attentive to us and crawled into our laps with no coercion whatsoever. It was a bitter cold morning to say goodbye to everyone, pay our tab and carry our bags into the van. There were a lot of tears, particularly from Lauren, Greta and Andrina. We were all given a gift package and a hug from Gill and a handshake and thanks from Willi and that was it. We were off back to the guesthouse with an unknown driver who was not Lolly and took us down a scary backstreet where we thought we would be kidnapped. We arrived into Harry's outstretched arms and went inside to pat the dogs. Harry said we had 45 minutes until he would drop us off at our hotel so Elinor and I went on a dash down to the Rosebank Mall to get lunch and Caitlin and Mike came with us. We nipped into Subway, I ran to Vodacom for a top up and Elinor headed for the craft market for a replacement lighter. We met up and walked back to the guesthouse in record time for our ride with Harry and Thabo, Mel and Gwendolyn came along too. It was a short ride to our hotel and everyone was quite surprised by how flash the hotel was. Trainee took our bags up to our room after we checked in, and he turned on the heaters for us and gave us some information on the area. We lazed around for a bit and then decided to head off to the train station to catch a train to Rosebank where we were meeting Caitlin, Mike, Mel, Sam and Camilla for dinner. We left our room at 6pm allowing an hour for the walk, train ride and other walk. When I asked for directions to the train station the desk clerk looked at his watch and said, "it's not safe to go alone now, you need a security guard to walk with you." So we waited 15 minutes for someone to walk us and then I asked them again because we couldn't wait all night or we'd miss dinner. The security doorman quickly led us there and came in to help us get a card for the Gautrain which we didn't need assistance with but for some reason he thought he was walking us there to get a card and then walking us back (I told him so many times we are going on the train NOW to get dinner). Finally we were off though and arrived at the meeting spot with a minute to spare. We headed upstairs to The Zone food court where we decided on Mike's Kitchen. I had ribs, Elinor had sweet and tangy chicken wings, we shared and it was glorious. I also got a Malva pudding for dessert which was delicious. We ran back to the train station and waited for the last train to take us home. From Park station we called the hotel who sent our security escort back to retrieve us.

[chaletnz]

The Rains of Africa Finally Found Us

Thursday was allocated to us as a free day so we get a chance to pack our bags and say goodbye to the animals and do whatever we like. I put some washing in with the laundry and then got on with the mammoth task of fitting all my stuff into my lil green bag that Elinor has dubbed the jelly bean. Elinor needed some medication from town so Lauren and I joined her with the intention of a wolfpack lunch. Gill came and gave Lauren some bandaid samples and money and asked her to pick up some more big band aids for Greta to use on her hyena bite. We waited around for almost an hour for Junior to take us in and then when we finally went it was a huge rush to get there with Junior flying down the road at 100kph and 140kph once he reached the paved road to Brits. He was screaming at other drivers, pedestrians and the gate at Ukutula for opening too slowly. When we got to Brits mall he yelled at a woman in the car park saying "your driving is as BAD AS YOUR HAIR!". All in all, an aggressive ride in. We started off with a Macca's run because we were starving, Lozi's play suit was feeling it after a large burger combo and ten nuggets. We had a tense moment when Lauren said McDonald's in England don't have combos. Elinor and I were in disbelief until we realised that she simply didn't know that a combo and a meal are the same thing... We went to the pharmacy and the supermarket where I thought I'd be cute and get Caitlin a red velvet cupcake - ended up buying all the red velvet cupcakes they had so all my mateys could have one. Junior picked us up with his younger brother sat in the front and a box and a whole lot of frontline packets in the back. The three of us sat in the back uncomfortably as Junior pestered Raylene at the passport office for some assistance. "Please ma'am this is a matter of absolute urgency. I leave for Australia on Sunday and I can't change my flights, I went to Brits today and they refused to help me so ma'am if you would please help me I would really appreciate it." We've never heard him say a nice word and here they're all spilling out at once. We arrived back at Ukutula just in time for a final magnum with Caitlin and then I carried on packing until 6pm when Jan took Elinor, Caitlin, Lauren, Andrina and I out for dinner at Spur Ranch Steakhouse. As we drove the storm started and we were all fascinated by the frequency of the lightning and the complete absence of thunder. I had a laugh when I asked for a lemon lime and bitters and the waitress brought me a glass with lime juice in it, a small cup full of bitters and a can of lemonade. Another mix it myself experience! Foodwise they all got ribs and I had a burger. We gorged and then headed back in torrential rain which had ruined the unpaved roads. Jan was worried that the bridge may have flooded but luckily we got through. The bar was going off tonight so we all hung out for a bit but it was very cold so me and my bae went back to my room for some last evening snuggles.