Where Is Safarigal?

We woke up at sunrise. I had apparently slept through the hyenas calling, and neither of us heard the lions. We took some photos of the hide, Brian made himself some coffee, and we sat in the swing chairs watching a couple of hippos return home to the dam. It was...

We started off the morning tracking a lioness, but her tracks disappeared into the thick bush, so we lost her. Then looking up at a nearby ridge, we saw a couple of elephants, so we thought we would stop by and see what they were up to. After a very bumpy drive we...

They do things early here – wake up is at 5:00! No phones though, our guide, Phanuel,  comes to our door and says “knock knock”. Much better. It was just the 2 of us on our game drive again, which was great. Phanuel had heard that there were wild dogs in the area...

Our final game drive at Idube was great. No rain today, and lots of animals. We had our final morning tea break at one of the many dams. Then it was time to finish packing, and say a fond farewell to our friends. I wish they were able to join us at Kambaku. Our...

We were awoken with the phone ringing at 5:30 AM. Back in the old days of staying in tented camps someone would come to our tent and call “knock knock” and bring a tray of coffee and orange juice to our tent. Not here. There is a telephone in our room (horrors),...

We are planning on staying at 2 game lodges on this trip. Our first lodge is Idube in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve, and our second is Kambaku in Timbavati. Both are in the general area of Kruger Park, and are said to have great game viewing. We have not stayed at...

The end of a journey It was a noisy night on the train. But I still loved it. We rattled and rolled along, with frequent stops on the way, but you really knew you were on a train. Breakfast was excellent as usual (what’s not to love about eggs benedict and...

One thing I didn’t mention is how very noisy the train is when it is on the go. It also sways back and forth. It is not at all like the high-speed trains in Europe, which of course is wonderful, but it does make sleep a challenge. I usually like to go to sleep when...

Way back in 1989 I came across an article about a new luxury train service in Southern Africa. I read the article over and over, I was so excited. A luxury train pulled by a steam engine that would take me to Victoria Falls. It was a dream come true. It took until...

So when we were thrown off the Queen Mary 2 in Fremantle in March of 2020, I absolutely couldn’t face the idea that my dream of a full world voyage on Queen Mary 2 was over. How could this happen? We flew from Perth back home to Idaho, aware that the world around...