Lots of cool animal pictures during this three-night trip. I'm going to break this down by day and separate the morning and afternoon game drives, so I'll show the pictures roughly chronologically, rather than grouping them by species. Therefore, the same species may pop show on multiple posts. It's just how they leapt in front … Continue reading Shamwari – Day One Morning

We arrived in Durban, and it was an adventure. The wind picked up the day before, so the waves were quite choppy. The Silver Dawn entered the harbor with the help of a tugboat (which is not usually needed), and when we were next to the pier the ship starting listing ("leaning") more than 5 … Continue reading Shamwari – Introduction

Richards Bay is our first port during over a week in South Africa. It's a major coal exporting center. So I'm going to Hippo Haven. This is one of those "I need to get off the boat" tours. But hippos are cool, so off we go. The Isimangaliso Wetlands are a sometimes-estuary: a place where … Continue reading Richards Bay

While Seychelles and Mauritius are independent island nations, Reunion is a department of France. That's right, they use the Euro and the capital of Reunion - an island to the east of Madagascar - is Paris. I think of it like how Puerto Rico is to the USA. Reunion is a "hot spot" volcanic island … Continue reading Reunion

Our relaxing overnight stay in Nairobi before our return flight to the ship didn't work out. Yesterday our tour escort was told by Silversea central that our plane will be delayed by several hours. Thus, the ship would leave Mauritius before we arrive. That's a problem. The solution was to take the earlier flight, which … Continue reading Mauritius