It
was eighteen years ago that I first ventured to Africa. I went on
several safaris and fell love seeing the wild animals in their own
environment. When you’re in Africa, it is the people who are
in the cages of their vehicles, and the animals are running wild.
As
I write this it is March 11, and I am on my way home from another
incredible trip to Africa.
A
great place to start is in Cape Town, one of the three capital cities
of South Africa. (For you trivia buffs, the capitals are Cape Town,
Bloemfontein, and Pretoria.)
Cape
Town is near the tip of Africa. A quick trip to the top of Cable
Mountain will give you a wonderful lookout over the city.
The view from Cable Mountain a flat mountain that overlooks Cape Town. In the far distance, Robbins Island is visible.
Just
a few miles from Cape Town is Robbins Island, where Nelson Mandela
spent 27 years in prison before being released in the early 1990s.
In 1994, he became the President of South Africa. Under his great
leadership he led this struggling country to a democratic government.
With the death of Mandela this year, the world lost a great leader.
Penguin Park in Cape Town affords plenty of opportunities to interact with and photograph penguins in the wild.
After
spending a day visiting the highlights of Cape Town we flew to
Johannesburg, which is the largest city in South Africa.
Johannesburg claims to be the lightning capital of the world, but we
only saw blue skies while we were there.
Southern ground hornbill
It
was then a day’s journey to Cougar Park to go on three days of
safaris. On our way we visited a beautiful waterfall and enjoyed
some of the beautiful flowers that bloom in the wild.
Lisbon Falls, the highest waterfall in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
These lilies grow wild in Africa.
One
of the sights we saw on safari was a lioness that had been severely
wounded in an encounter with a warthog. A warthog’s tusks can
maim or even kill a predator that we would consider much more
dangerous. These wounds may yet prove fatal to this lioness. Worse,
she has three cubs who are not yet self-sufficient and who will die
if she does.
Here I am, taking a picture of a lioness.
A severely wounded lioness.
Two of three lion cubs who are in jeopardy if their mother dies of warthog tusk wounds.
This beauty afforded us plenty of opportunity for photographs.
Our
encounter with a large elephant was an interesting one. The elephant
got on the road and would not leave the road and would not let us
pass. We finally backed up for more than an hour. It was an
adventure I will never forget.
This peaceful giraffe was so unafraid of us that he seemed to pose for our cameras as he peeked at us over the tops of the trees.
The sun sets on one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I can’t wait to go again and see what new adventures await me.
If
you would like to travel with me on my next trip to Africa, contact
Dian Thomas was blessed with the good fortune to be born near and raised in
the remote, breathtaking Manti-La Sal National Forest in southeastern Utah,
where her father was the forest ranger. She took the skills she learned in the
outdoors and turned them into a New York Times best-selling book, Roughing It
Easy. Her appearance on the NBC's "Tonight" show with Johnny Carson
boosted her into the national media scene, where she became a regular on
NBC's "Today" show for eight years and then ABC's "Home Show" for six years.
After more than 25 years of media exposure and 19 books, she now shares her
practical insights and wisdom with audiences who want to savor life.
A former Relief Society president, Dian is currently serving as a visiting
teacher. Visit her website at www.DianThomas.com
