Three girls:
Four cameras:
And one recalcitrant car:
Ah, yes. So you've already seen the pictures of the absolutely amazing sightings we had during the All Girls Kgalagadi Safari 2012. You've had a morning with the cheetahs and an evening full of sunsets.
So this is where it gets real. Wipe the stars from your eyes, and the sleep-drool from your mouth because on our third morning there, this Land Rover was having issues and she wanted to whole world to know it:
She (her name is Dora, by the way) she didn't care that it was 7am. She didn't care that her hijacking siren seared the eardrums of everyone within a 3 kilometer radius. She didn't care that she cleared the entire camp and ruined the morning of like 50-60 people. She didn't care that a whole platoon of mechanics had to be sent out in the hopes of curing her:
She didn't care that after 2 hours of non-stop wailing, she had set my nerves on such edge that Lorenita might have had to have a beer. Or two. And it might have been 9am. (Of course no pictures of this exist since that didn't really happen.)
In the end, it was determined that a faulty battery (installed by a man whom we all believe to be of the genus Mechanicus cheatus) was the cause of all of Dora's worries. Alright, fine girl, but I swear you didn't have to scream like that.
But with a little more cajoling ...
a little more soothing ...
we finally got Dora on her way!
Also, we had nachos:
Hey, we had to keep our strength up somehow!
That night we went on an amazing night ride, guided by Anna, the Glasses' friend and a volunteer guide at the park:
It was fantastic. We saw two separate groups of spotted hyena at kills as well as 4 African wild cats. Oh, and that was the night of the fire-red sunset. So not a bad way to end what had started as a brutal day. Except ... except that that was not the end of that day. Oh no. Thanks to some deflating mattresses I don't think we got to bed till 2 a.m. I swear that is the most tired I have felt in a LONG time. I think I was hallucinating there by the end.
Anyhoo, the next morning I was expecting us all to be grumpier than a basket of crabs on their period (shut up, I just made that up.) But to our mutual surprise, we were all like, hey, I feel cheerful, how about you? We all decided that we must really love this place to be happy after that day from hell.
Of course it helped that we knew we were gonna see this little guy:
This is Stefan, the son of another set of the Glasses' friends, Jan and Vanessa. Jan is the head field guide at the Kgalagadi. He and Vanessa are absolutely fabulous. They had us over to their house and fed us lovely food and they graciously expanded my Afrikaans. I now know some very colorful ways to say, "Go away, you idiot!"
And I just kept wanting to eat this little guy up:
As did his Auntie Bron:
Seriously how can you resist?
Anyhoo, the morning after the night before, we met Jan and family for a picnic at a lovely site. We were also saying goodbye to Anna, who was off to guide at another site for a few days. We had lovely a great brekkie and finally got a group shot!
In all, it was a lekker, lekker trip. I mean we were already laughing about Dora's screeching that next morning. You know a trip's good when the disaster becomes laughable the day after. And besides the heavenly sightings, there was joking till our tummies ached, lots of sitting around the braai chatting and late night Amarula nightcaps.
We were sad to leave ... but the sadness was tempered by the fact that we'd be back soon ... with the boys this time!
These last shots are of the farm where we stayed on the way back. This is where I took those sunset/windmill pictures. It's a gorgeous place called Oom Benna's, about 15ks from Brandvlei. The house and land are all filled with antiques, from old phones to rusting (but beautiful) farm equipment.
What a lucky girl I am. But seriously. Not only to be able to "sneak away for the weekend" to the Kgalagadi, but to be able to share it with 2 amazing, amazing women. Gill, Bron, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This was a trip I'll always treasure.
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