After the initial concern about why on earth would I leave North America in the summertime, to head to South Africa in the midst of winter, I remembered that although I may be cold, I could take my hot water bottle as well as the binoculars and sun hat (although maybe there won’t be much on the way of blazing sunshine), and there is always the chance of seeing wild dogs.

Now I am a total elephantophile. I have hours and hours of video that I have taken over the years of elephants. I am totally enamored with everything about them, and there is no doubt that during our 6 days in Kruger National Park, we will be seeing them on a daily basis. There is no challenge to locating a herd of elephants in Kruger. However, wild dogs are a different matter. I do not personally feel as connected to wild dogs as I do to elephants, but there is something about their elusive nature that attracts me to them, and the goals of this safari are to enjoy the nuptials, avoid having an elephant sit on our rental car, and search for wild dogs. What fun!

First things first. We need somewhere for the 24 of us to stay. You have several choices of accommodation when you visit the Kruger area. Firstly there are the private game reserves and lodges and camps, which go from expensive to totally outrageously expensive. However, they are usually absolutely wonderful, and an excellent way to experience African wild life.

Then there is the National Park accommodation in Kruger itself. This is totally adequate, and we had a wonderful holiday with the family there several years ago. So when my brother in law suggested this, we jumped at the opportunity to go back. Usually in preparation for a safari I spend months researching parks and accommodations. This was all too easy. My brother in law made all of the arrangements. All we had to do was make sure we could take the time away from our jobs, and book our flights.

Instead of using airline miles for this trip, we decided to pay for the trip and accumulate miles to use for our trip next year. We were limited to Alaska Airlines partner airlines which was not a problem as several provide flights to South Africa. In the past we have gone on Delta, which has the advantage of having a direct flight from Atlanta, thus preventing the horror of 2 overnight flights, and a long lay over in Europe. Alas, Alaska and Delta are no longer friends, so they were out of the question. We ended up booking with Emirates because they were the cheapest, friends who have flown with them rave about them, and they had an itinerary that only involved one overnight flight and had a short lay over in Dubai – just enough time to hit the shops there. What was there not to love about that?