Waterfalls and Canyons...

Instead of spending another day in the safari park, we had a guided tour around the surrounding areas. 

We visited a viewpoint over the Blyde River Canyon, one of the largest canyons in the world. As you can see, the views over the landscape were incredible.

Here I am with some of my best friends from the Mozambique trip: Daisy, Charlotte and Shelly. We were dressed warmly as it was winter in South Africa; the mornings were especially cold. 

Lisbon Falls—the tallest waterfall in the region at 308 feet (94 meters)—was absolutely stunning, especially with the beautiful sunlight glinting off the water. 

I enjoyed playing around with long shutter speed at these smaller waterfalls. 

All-in-all, the 5.5 weeks I spent in Africa was truly an incredible time exploring a new and beautiful part of the world, meeting many like-minded people, and having lots of opportunities for taking photos.

More Safari Adventures...

One of the baby giraffes we saw on our bush walk

The baby zebra was adorable!

Our driver got us so close to this elephant that I thought he might charge at the vehicle. I actually had to switch to my wider angle lens to get photos of the whole elephant as we were too close for me to use my zoom lens. 

After the sun had set on our first game drive, we came upon a group of elephants. I love this photo with the elephant in the front and the African starry skies behind. 

Up Close on Safari...

Our safari package included three game drives and two bush walks, where we explored the African bush with a woman who had grown up there. The safari drives were incredible and we saw some amazing wildlife including four of the big five: lions, elephants, water buffalo and even a cheetah, which we were very lucky to spot on our last sunset safari. We also got really close to giraffes on our bush walks, including two baby giraffes which were believed to be twins—apparently a very unusual occurrence. 

Evening game drive drink break 

I loved pretending I was a National Geographic photographer. These lions, a mother and her cub, were less than 15 feet (5 meters) away from me! Although it would have been exciting to witness a kill, we only came upon the remnants. 

She had such gorgeous eyes

We could hear the crunching of the bones while she ate

Mommy and her children

Awesome Safari Lodge...

After having an amazing time in Mozambique, we headed to South Africa. It was a very eventful 17-hour drive, especially crossing the border where they almost didn’t accept the visas of some of the volunteers, including mine.  

Chilling with Charlotte outside our room

When we arrived at our safari lodge long after dark, I was awestruck—it was gorgeous. Set in the middle of a private game reserve near the Kruger National Park, the Ku Sungula Safari Lodge was wonderful. I was even more surprised when we sat down at a long table wrapped around an open fire and served dinner. I felt like I had been brought onto the set of Survivor.

Breakfast and lunch were served at a beautiful table overlooking the watering hole where we could watch monkeys playing and warthogs wandering. 

There were five of us in our traditional rondawel, which was much fancier than I was expecting considering the low price for this optional add-on to my volunteer program.