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After about 1 hour in, the true African scenery began to appear. 
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Our guides met us at the 'gate', and we watched our little plane takeoff.
On the ride back to our hotel, we had our first experience with the bush, which, as you can see, is aptly named.
Our first animals -- a group of zebras.
A closer look. This guys I'm sure is sick of all the visitors checking out his 'great lines'.
..and then, some gorgeous warthogs.
On our way to the hotel, we caught our first of the Big 5 (elephant, leopard, lion, rhino, and buffalo)
..and the first, of many, giraffes
We arrived at our lodge, and the scenery from our back porch was impressive. A few good shots below --
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We then headed out on our first of two safari runs on the trip. First animal on the safari-- the first, of many, wildebeest
the Kudu
We then found a family of elephants, and our guide shared a few stories of their intelligence and family structure, a main reason they are so respected throughout the country.
One of the teenagers, who was 'raging w/ hormones' in the words of our guide, separated from his family and ventured our way; our guide was careful not to provoke him.
His family was off in the distance ..
..and they eventually crossed the road behind us, so we had the opportunity to get a clear look
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Eventually, the teenager strutted back to his family.
We then stopped for a quick snack and a few drinks in the bush. Our 22-year old guide, while holding her gun, shared a few stories of her past year as a guide. Clearly, this was no average 22-year old girl.
After a hectic week, Sue and I were thoroughly enjoying some down time.
The sun was setting and the scene was somewhat nostalgic.
I decided to get a little artistic with my beer bottle. For me, this is as good as it gets in the artistic arena.
The color in the sky was great.
...and then the real fun began! On our way back to the lodge, we heard a call over the radio that there was a lion kill and 2 lions were in the area. Our guide turned to us, and explained that the lions were about 45 minutes away, and we have to bust to get there and get back to the lodge in time for dinner.
So we started moving quickly, ignoring other animals in the area. No later than 2 minutes after we started moving quickly, we saw the 2nd of our Big 5, a female rhino ~100 yards down the road. A male rhino then surprised us, and stepped in the road, about halfway between us and the female rhino. Our safari came to a screeching halt; we were stuck. The stanoff lasted for ~5 minutes, and the two rhinos finally ventured off.
We were then moving again, and rapidly. The blurriness in the photo below accurately captures the bumpiness of the road, and the speed which we were moving.
..but it was worth it. Our guide found our way to the kill, and we saw the 3rd of Big Five -- a lion! This was definitely a highlight, although the lion was sleeping. His stomach was huge, fresh off a recent kill.
It was clear he was not going to wake up.
We pulled in for a closer look.
..and I zoomed in. At about this point, I made a potentially fatal mistake. Realizing this lion was not going to awake, I decided to grab Sue's leg. She jumped as I expected, but made a louder screech than I was anticipiating. The lion kept sleeping, but it was my mistake. Our guide was not happy. We pulled out back on to the road, and the guide curtly informed me that this not the smartest thing to do at the sight of a lion kill. Agreed.
..but the fun was not over yet. About halfway back to the lodge, we got a flat. 8pm, pitch black, and stuck in the middle of the bush in South Africa -- a truly memorable moment.
Our guide proceeded to change the tire, while Sue was instructed to strobe the area with a bright light.
We were all instructed to make a lot of noise to scare away any potential intruders.
The light duty was eventually handed over. After ~20 minutes, we were back on the road, and all was good. Many told us that a brief ~24 hour trip to the bush was not enough. This experience alone made it all worth it.
We made it safely back to the lodge, and shared our stories. We spoke with one group that had been at the lion kill as well, and they showed us a video of the same lion we saw getting up, letting out a huge roar, and going back to sleep. Hmmmm... we were fortunate
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