S.A.: The Animals

Breathtaking! Courtesy of my new Nikon I was able to capture some amazing shots! My new favorite animal- the Zebra; their skin is sooo beautiful. The toughest tracking- the leopard; our guides were determined for us to find a leopard and even went off on foot to hunt it out of the bush. The reserve is known for sighting "The Big Five", and we were lucky to catch them all in the 2 days: Rhino, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, and Elephant. The Zebras and Giraffe's were our added bonus. and the Baboons wouldn't sit still long enough for a good shot. I have some nice bird photos as well- but they just didn't stack up against these beauties! Kruger park is roughly the size of Virginia, so while there are some fences keeping the animals out of the local villages, they have great freedom to roam around in the wilderness. (and no animals were harmed in the taking of these photos =)

South Africa: The Place

off to South Africa. We had a training in Mozambique the next week, so we took a diversion to spend a few days on a Safari. loved it. I cannot even explain how amazing the place was. and so thankful that I bought my new camera before the trip. We spent 2 nights- all inclusive with meals and drinks, morning safari (5:30am) and night safari (sunset), with guide and tracker. Awoke in the morning to the baboons running around the roof and terrace and led back by security in the evenings "just in case".

Ulusaba Safari Lodge: Sir Richard Branson's Private ReserveRock Lodge- the sister lodge where we enjoyed a nice lunch

Thoughts from the Copthorne hotel.

I woke up the other morning from a bad dream. I was in the hotel lobby in a panic b/c I had a pocket full of room keys and couldn't remember the room number. This is pretty much the past weeks in a nut shell. I know my blogs have been a bit "random" these days. 1 day Tennessee, the next Qingdao?? Not sure i even knew where that was before this trip. But none the less, it's been a heckuva trip! I'm exactly 1 month in and exactly 1 month to go.

So what am i doing? One theory is i'm a few months away from my 30th! So perhaps it's a feeling of seeing the world before then. =) Actually though, the job i took 10 months ago ended up being the jackpot! I'm 1 of 4 consultants in our company who has been tasked with implementing Process Improvement in our organization. This means lots of workshops, trainings, and guiding others in our organization to think a bit differently about what they do in their jobs. We're doing this globally, thus the reason for the hop scotch across the map. I love it. I'm meeting such interesting people, trying out foods I would have never considered, and seeing parts of the world that aren't typically on top of the "to-do" list. and when I return in April, it slows down quite alot. So now is my time and i'm taking advantage of it. For you never know how long the door will be open.

Having said that- I am quite tired, sometimes not sure where I am when I wake up, and feel that i'm sometimes running on full speed when others around are walking around. I miss my friends, my family, my Ricky, and my little Addie who is now talking more than I do!

And......I crave sweet tea.

Freezing!

You've probably seen this location before- but not with the man swimming in the ice by the boats! (see bottom left of 1st boat). That's a Copenhagen winter for you! We went from 95 degrees in Singapore to around 15 degrees in Copenhagen in apx 12 hours! Luckily the best part awaits us- South Africa here we come!