eRachel11's photostream  

Finding a leopard is considered a pretty big deal in Kruger (though my group actually had more luck with leopards than with cheetas which are much more rare in the Sabi area). Several teams were searching high and low for this beautiful girl after she was spotted late one night by a watering hole. When we finally found her it was a pretty exciting moment! Our truck followed her for quite a while and watched her stalking a group of guinea fowl.

I couldn't believe how oblivious the leopard (and lions) were to the safari trucks! My camp had a good policy of allowing only 2 trucks to observe any of the Big 5 at one time, and we literally ran over trees and crashed through rivers etc. following the leopard - she didn't even seem to notice us! I could swear that she did look me right in the eye once as she walked past the truck :-)

Better on black!

Greetings all! After a SUPER long flickr absence, I'm finally back :-) I just took a 2 week trip of a lifetime to Botswana and South Africa and thought it was about time that I start posting some pictures! I spent the first week on the Okavango River in Botswana on a Bird photography workshop, and the second week in Sabi Sands South Africa on safari. I had an absolute blast and can't wait to return someday!

I was THRILLED to see an entire pride of lions one day in Sabi - the group included 2 adult males, 3 adult females, 3 "teenage" cubs, and this tiny baby cub! The lions are not scared of the safari trucks at all and occasionally came so close that I could have reached out and touched one! (of course that would be a bad idea ;-) This is one of my favorites from the trip but there are more to come!

Looks better on black!

I've been spending a lot of time at the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary over the past few weeks searching for birds and enjoying the views. Well, the birds haven't been going very well, but I did get to experience this amazing sunset last weekend which made the trip worthwhile :-) And I figured, sunsets are pretty cliche!

HCS!

My sister will understand which movie I'm referencing with this title!

On the 4th of July some of my family came to visit me in my new city of St. Louis. A lifelong fan, my dad bought us tickets the the Cardinals game that day. The game was moving slowly, when suddenly this rainbow came out over the stadium. At literally that moment, the Cards scored the first and only point of the game!! I'm not making this up :-)

I thought that this nice symbol of hope and promise was perfect for today when we remember the horrible event of 10 years ago. It is my hope and prayer that we never experience anything like that again.

Happy Sliders Sunday!

If you've ever been to the Bellagio in Las Vegas then you know that they decorate for each season in some extravagant way. This summer's theme was Americana and these huge balloons hanging from the ceiling were part of the decor. I always love seeing what over the top idea they will come up with, and this has to be one of my favorites!

I thought this worked perfectly for the "Balloons" scavenger hunt category.
HCS!