The first half of May was blissfully spent abroad on our Honeymoon. Ben planned it swimmingly and we had the most AMAZING time. While I am posting loads of photos- you are spared most of safari ones as I happened to delete the entire memory card the last day of the safari. I was devastated. At that point I figured I could no longer be mad at Ben for losing his wedding ring the FIRST day in the ocean in Mauritius. Luckily he was able to find a $5 replacement in town. He claims it means more to him. I'm still simmering - but then again- I was the one who deleted the pictures...
After a complete flight change and delay- we made our way from LA to Cape Town for 24 hours. In order to get used to the time zone and make the most of our time there, we forced ourselves to take in a whirlwind tour of the area. First we went to the top of Table Mountain- named due to it's flat nature. Then we went to see the penguins- which were adorable and tiny. From the penguins we went to the Cape of Good Hope- which was beautiful. Ben a very big wave and was getting very excited- I didn't think it looked that big. We took a long nap and had dinner at a great little place called the Savoy Cabbage. After dinner it was lights out. We had to rest up for our flight to Mauritius!
In Mauritius - which is due east of Madagascar, we stayed at the beautiful Royal Palm Hotel, where literally all we did was eat amazing food. We tried venturing out to try local restaurants- but always ended up back at our resort because the food was too good to pass up. We did some water skiing, some swimming, a bit of boating... but really we just lazed about in the sun and on the beach. It was an incredibly beautiful island - but Ben was certainly stir crazy by the end to get to the Safari.
We flew back to South Africa and took a combination of tiny planes and buses to get us deep into the Kruger National Park. Truly beautiful country and the wildlife is unbelievable. We saw a hunt, we saw lions eating and mating, we got surrounded by hundreds of elephants babies and grown, we saw leopards, giraffe. We even had an elephant come directly to the window of our room. The lodges we stayed at were beyond incredible. The first lodge we stayed at was Simbambili. It was smaller and "rougher" than the following one, but we saw the most incredible game, and the people running the drives were phenomenal. The second lodge we stayed at was the Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge. This one had a larger spa component- which we definitely utilized, and perhaps better food- but I still think we preferred Simbambili- and we definitely saw more game at the first. The food, the service - it was amazing. I wish wish wish I hadn't deleted all the pictures. Some that survived follow.
Note the elephant - he nearly came into our room! The long-tusked elephants are really rare now due to poaching. This fella is well known in the park as being one of the oldest elephants living there.
When we got back from our honeymoon- it was straight back to work for me. I flew straight to Vegas for our ICSC conference. Ben came to meet me my last night and we drove home together. We were supposed to go to Davis and Stacey Noell's wedding that weekend, but my poor Grams got very ill- so I decided to go up to Grass Valley to be with her, while Ben went to Naples, FL for the festivities. I was so sad to miss the wedding, but think it was best to be there for Grams. She's doing much better now thank goodness! Some pictures from Davis and Stacey's wedding below. I hear it was a big of rager with late night swimming in the ocean and everything!
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