Joburg, SA

We got to spend a day in Johannesburg, South Africa before parting ways and going home. (I don't want to think about it, I'll get teary eyed again)

We stayed at a great little hotel called the Quartermain. It was so nice and quaint and totally different from Zambia! haha

So we really had absolutely no idea what to see in Joburg so we hired a private tour guide who took us around the city in the morning.

Milton first took us to see the World Cup Stadium. The World Cup of Soccer was held in South Africa last year and this stadium was used for the opening and final games.

Next Milton took us to the Mandela house in SOWETO. It was really interesting to see their old house and learn about all the events that took place. There was a brick wall they put up in their kitchen that they said the children would hide behind when people would be shooting at their house. It was really sad, but really interesting to learn about.

After our tour of the Mandela house we drove around the city center of Joburg. It actually was pretty disgusting because their garbage collectors went on strike and haven't collected trash in awhile. There was garbage everywheeeeere.

Gross- right? YUCK!!!

After driving through the city center we headed back out into the suburbs and went to see where Nelson Mandela lives today. On our way we stopped and saw a great view of the area.

As you can see, he made a little bit of an upgrade with his current house:

Check out all the rest of our Joburg pics!

We didn't really do too much in Joburg just because we didn't have a lot of time, we really didn't know everything that there was to do and we were worn out from the rest of the activities we did that week.

Felt like this song was probably appropriate ;)

Peace, Love and Soccer

Circle of Life

During one of our African Adventure days we went to Kasane, Botswana to Chobe National Park. The morning was a boat safari down the Chobe river followed by a 4 by 4 safari throughout the animal park.

We were picked up at our resort and transported to the border of Zambia/Botswana/Zimbabwe/Namibia. There's no bridge over to Botswana so we had to ride in a little boat over to Botswana.

Once over the river Mike picked us up and took us to the Chobe National Park! We arrived at the Chobe Safari Lodge and it was beautiful! Such a pretty lodge. 

Once we got to the lodge we had to check in and wait for a few other people to show up. Once everyone was ready we loaded up in the boat and set sail down the Chobe river! At first we only saw birds, but then we started seeing bigger game. Impala, TONS of hippos, buffalo, crocodiles, etc.

The boat safari was about 2 1/2 hours long and then we had a buffet lunch at the lodge. Once lunch was over we loaded into the jeeps that brought us to the lodge and we headed into the game park to see animals! We pulled into the park and immediately saw giraffes and elephants. Then Mike, our guide, was told over the radio that there was a lion spotted! He said that if they're lucky they get to see a lion about once a week. So we booked it over to where the lion was and we basically stalked the lion for about an hour hoping that it was going to attack an impala. It never did, but it was so awesome to be so close to the lion!

It was such an amazing day. Definitely a highlight of the trip. We almost didn't end up doing it just because it wasn't the cheapest activity, but it honestly was so worth every single penny that we spent.

Here was our safari group for the day: a family from South Africa, a couple from the Netherlands, and then of course the hottest couple ever ;)

Check out the rest of our pictures from our Chobe Safari!!



Peace, Love and Simba!