Take a Virtual Safari through Kruger National Park for a bit of Happy

Going a bit crazy staying at home? Take a virtual safari with us to spot some beautiful wildlife in South Africa’s famous Kruger Park.
No, it’s not real time! It’s from our last visit about a year ago. With the world and our lives in turmoil with Coronavirus a bit of happy is very much in order. Grab a cup of tea and sit back as you take a virtual safari with us.

Enjoy Photos and a Video on Your Virtual Safari

We start our day before sunrise. The Crocodile Bridge Gate opens at dawn and were ready to spot some wildlife driving our trusty old Land Rover.
Our first sighting… a lone Giraffe and his passengers. How many Oxpeckers do you see enjoying ‘breakfast’?

A bit hard to determine in the light of dawn. We’re no experts, but it appears to be a Tawny Eagle watching for his breakfast.

The sun begins to brighten up the bush.

There’s just something about silhouetted trees isn’t there?

More Giraffe. A curious youngster. See his passenger?

And mum… and of course, her own very own oxpeckers.

A drive in the Kruger is never complete without seeing Impala. What’s this with all these Oxpeckers?

Unless really close these Black-Bellied Bustards are hard to spot. Unless they’re vocalizing of course.

A Warthog.

Must be time for a mid morning nap! This lone Wildebeest is enjoying the warm sunshine.

In the Kruger National Park you can only get out of your vehicle in designated areas. This is at a hide.

Spending time in a hide is both peaceful and exciting.

You never know what you’ll spot in a hide. We sure weren’t expecting this Boom Slang right next to the viewing area.

A Lilac Breasted Roller. A bit more serene to spot.

Then there’s always a Crocodile!

Once on the road again we spot Zebra.

A lone Elephant bull. Best to keep our distance.

Along the river we find the most wildlife today.



Even one of our favorite… the Goliath Heron. The largest heron.

Right there fishing from the bridge we find a Giant Kingfisher.

Moving away from the river we spot a Vulture nest.

Its getting warm now. This Kudu bull is resting and chewing his cud in the semi shade.

A Spotted Hyena also escaping the heat.

We reach Skukuza Camp and its time for us to have some lunch in the shade.

Hope you enjoyed your Virtual Safari with us.
There’s more coming. For the first time ever we see Cheetah in the wild. And Leopard? Well, almost.

Go ahead relax some more and enjoy the VIDEO version of our Virtual Safari.

The post Take a Virtual Safari through Kruger National Park for a bit of Happy appeared first on Nikela: Helping People Saving Wildlife.


* This article was originally published here

Day 2: the one with the small towns and all the wine.

Ah, what a great day: wine, small towns and tons of learning.  But so sad to hear that Notre Dame is burning in Paris...that was the one place I had on my list to see....after so many years reading Le Bossu to grade 9s, I just wanted to go inside.  Sigh.

We all had great sleeps after zombietravel day and were pumped to see some small towns...which is definitely not something I ever say.  Can you imagine touring small town Saskatchewans? Wait- maybe we should make that a thing.

Anyway, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the boulangerie (fancy croissant sausage thingies) (we're totally fancy french) for our small group tour of wine and small towns.   Nothing like getting day drunk before 10 am.

We hit up 2 estates, or domaines and enjoyed all the wine.  Did you know that rosé is the specialty in this region? I did not.  Thankfully most of the wine was white and they were all really good and left us giddier than normal.   I'm still breaking up with red wine though, just in case you were wondering.
Important information of course.

The second half our day was spent town hoping- we went to three very beautiful small towns that were so very different.

The first was Lourmarin where we ate a very french meal (in that we didn't recognize any of the foods on the menu and ordered them anyway and the waiter was very aloof and kinda shrugged us off when we asked what he recommended) and then we browsed the shops and Abbie channeled her inner Abbie and found some amazing pieces and I didn't shop (shocker) but facetimed my cute kids instead.  Also,  at this point I was sobering up from our morning adventures and needed some headache meds.
Anyway, Lourmarin was enchanting with its tiny streets, colourful buildings and it had a very calm vibe with people just sitting around enjoying the beautiful day.

Second town was Roussillon which is right on the ochre cliff sides and the most beautiful rustic colours- seriously felt like we were walking around in a painting. Also almost bought a painting but didn't and took a picture of it instead.   We had a hard time deciding which of the small towns was our favourite but in the end, this one was mine.  It was magical and we had crepes  (Michelle had two and got a funny look from the waiter.  Sorry dude, we're the type of girls who eat).   Also, there was a cat wandering around like it owned the place, which he probably did.

Last stop was the hillside town of Gordes which is built into a cliff and was pretty damn cool but at this point we were cold (okay mostly stay-puffed marshmallow Jordan who wears 22 layers of clothing) and ready to go home for 2nd supper.

We came home to the news that Notre Dame was on fire and spent a sombre 2nd supper out for moules and pasta and now we're sharing photos, singing songs and breaking open a bottle of wine that we brought home from our touring.    Bonne nuit!

you can read my thoughts on turning 40 here
Day one: travel day is here






* This article was originally published here

Day 3: We drank all the wine and bought all the things

We completely embraced the french life today and did a number of things:
- we walked around the beautiful city of Aix-en-Provence.
- we shopped and picked up some "France-inspired" pieces.
- we put our phones away and enjoyed the day.
- we sat around and broke bread.
- we drank all the wine.  Literally.

Today was actually my favourite day.  There were a lot of really long meals embraced by great conversations about everything from faith, to parenting to sex to relationships.  It was one of those days where friendships were solidified and we were able to open about and share.  Almost better than therapy.
Then there was the wandering and shopping and just enjoying a french town.

Needless to say, too much wine was had and this post will have to cut short because, well, let's be real- I'm seeing double and it's really hard to type.

Gotta be a sign of a good day, non?

* This article was originally published here

Day 5: We covered so much ground

I am almost too tired to write this post because it was a jammed packed day and I'm about done.

We started in Versailles with a whirlwind tour- covering everything and learning as much as possible in a small amount of time.  Also, renting the golf cart to cover the grounds when you don't have all day was superb. Eating macaroons is also wonderful.

If I could do our day again, I would have known and found out about the bike rental, found a baguette and just spent the day exploring the woods.  If I have solidified any belief in myself during this trip, it has been that I am a wide open spaces and no crowds type of girl. 

We got to our flat in Paris (right on the Seine across from the Louvre) in the afternoon and kinda just wanted to stay in it because it is the cutest place (see it here) but we decided that we should adventure, so we walked a billion miles up to Sacre Coeur.  I loved the Montmartre area and definitely could spend some more time exploring it.   

We did a quick look inside, climbed the 300 steps up to the dome for the view and then headed out to find some food.

I think the food may be a huge highlight of this trip.  Abbie has a wonderful french friend who recommended some restos and holy crap it was great.

Seriously, I'm way too tired to add any intricate details to this post so this will have to do.  We're just settling in for the night before our last day in Paris!

Bonne nuit!

* This article was originally published here

The Last Day: All of Paris. Wine included.

If you were to have a day in Paris to cover the essential- what would you do?

Well that was our day and I think we killed it.  Here's what we covered:

We Good Fridayed at Sainte Chapelle. I could worship in a church that has stain glass like that everyday.  Although, we weren't too thrilled with more claustrophobic spinny stairs than necessary. We saw three amazing spaces of worship in our stay: an oldass cathedral built in the 13th century while in Aix, Sacre Coeur and Sainte Chapelle.   It was Notre Dame I wanted to see the most, after teaching le Bossu de Notre Dame...you couldn't even get close to it.  Sigh.  Some day.
But Sainte Chapelle was pretty damn beautiful- mostly cause of the stain glass.  But it came in second place for me.  In third was Sacre Coeur but only because it was soooo busy.  The cathedral in Aix was my fave- it was simple and beautiful and super old.

After Sainte Chapelle we had the most delicious breakfast à la French right down to the people watching.   Fresh croissants, jam, fresh pressed OJ, coffee, baguettes and cheese. Seriously. I think the food may be the thing I miss the most.  If there weren't so many pretty old things to look at we could have spent all our time eating and people watching.

We did wander and look at the pretty, but also we did get distracted by shopping and pretty things like white sneakers and blue pleated skirts.  When in Rome....

The Louvre was covered...kinda quickly- we saw the essential: the Mona Lisa (which was bigger than I had pictured it) (and also way too annoying with people) the Egypt stuff and Venus de Milo and then Jordan, Abbie and I got real tired and found the little things way too funny and ended up doing our own tour (and of course narrating it on instastory).  We are clearly overtired.

Our perfect day (I mean it was also my 40th so there's that) was ended with a boat cruise supper up the Seine which was lovely.

Here are the things I loved most about this trip...which I feel are going to eventually get their own post once I wrap my brain around my thoughts.  But anyway:
- the conversations
- the food
- the old things
- the friendship.

And now I'm 40 and I am so perfectly happy and life is good, people.

* This article was originally published here