What's new with Kim, Chris and Lily: January 2016

Our big holiday vacation - Part 3 (Kruger National Park - Safari)

We definitely saved the best part of our vacation for last. We got to spend 5 days on safari in Kruger National Park. Based on our prior experience, we chose to do it much like the South Africans do and used the National Park's accommodations. Not necessarily 5 star, but clean and comfortable for the most part. Although the air conditioning was on the fritz at our first camp. Luckily our second camp gave us more a/c than we needed. The weather was warm (think 100 - 115 each day), but we seemed to adjust o.k. While this was Chris and my third trip to Kruger, it was Lily's first and definitely did not disappoint. We saw more animals and more variety than we ever had in the past. Likely because the area was in a drought and many animals could be seen around water holes. The highlight was seeing lions every day (some people come to Kruger and never see lions at all). Many days we actually saw more than 1 pride. And we saw many baby lions too. Lily loved the Vervet monkeys that while annoying (they like to snag everyone's food) they are also incredibly cute.

Here are just a few (of the many) pictures from Kruger.

Our big holiday vacation - Part 2.5 (Garden Route)

About 5 hours outside of Cape Town you can drive East to this lovely area called the Garden Route on the Indian Ocean. I describe the area like this: take the beautiful scenery of the Oregon Coast (loads of trees) then add the beautiful blue water and beaches of the Caribbean and together you have an amazing place. Most of our adventures were around the city of Knysna. We stayed in a very small beach community called Bretton on the Sea and then we made it to Plettenberg Bay to enjoy Robberg Nature Reserve, an awesome dolphin tour and the most amazing seafood. We spent just two nights and three days here, but had a fantastic time. Lily even did some serious hiking at Robberg Nature Preserve. I was so impressed.

Bretton on Bay

Dolphin Tour (what fun)

Dolphins at Play (we saw hundreds)

Seal Colony at Robberg (said to be the largest in South Africa)

Knysna Heads (there was some awesome shelling at this stop)

Hiking Robberg Nature Preserve

Our big holiday vacation - Part 2 (Cape Town)

After having a little hang up at the airport due to our lack of birth certificate for Lily (new requirement), we finally made it to Cape Town just a day later than planned thanks to some helpful friends breaking into our safe at home. A story for another day. We spent nearly 10 days around the Cape Town area and got to experience everything we also wanted to do in Cape Town and so much more. Lily seemed to enjoy all of it. From picking up shells on the beaches to hiking some great nature reserve trails to shopping downtown. We had a home exchange set up so Lily also got to enjoy the comforts of home, toys included.

Here are just a few of the pictures we took of this amazing city:

Lily at the pool at our house exchange home