Rifkin Africa Trip

african queen(s)

TWO THOUSAND TWENTY THREE

celebrating the YEAR of our fearless leader 19.6510° S, 22.9059° E

there is a place out there called Africa, and it really does exist

ChobeNationalPark

Chobe is a beautiful, hot, dry reserve straddling the border between Botswana and Namibia, split by the Chobe River. The river acts as a lifeline, drawing animals from the bush, to the river to cool off. We saw large groups of elephants playing, swimming, and acting like big kids in the fresh water.

This was our entry to safari, we had just come off of 48 hours of traveling and landed smack in the middle of Africa. We are a pretty tough gaggle of gals and went straight to camping - sleeping in lux tents and showering with a bucket with water heated from the fire. All of our meals were cooked on open flame and we sat around the campfire at night looking at the stars and chatting with our guides and other travelers. We were however escorted via an armed guard in case any animals were hiding outside our tents.

18.4559° S, 24.3657° E

The result of Amarula for breakfast

Sandibe

A rather bumpy 30 minute bush plane, followed by a quick helicopter ride put us in the heart of the Okavango Delta at Sandibe Camp. It was an incredible lodge with buildings that mimicked the incredibly rare pangolin. We spotted our first leopard of the trip and a male lion that climbed a termite mound just a few inches away from our car. Our guide, Diane was a real speed demon and popped a tire the same night we encountered the pride of lions.

Stranded in the pitch dark, listening to all the sounds of the bush while our 2 guides changed a tire faster than a NASCAR pit crew was something we’ll likely never forget. Fortunately, the gin an tonics eased our nerves and we ended up laughing at our luck. Mom offered to flee the truck to act as bait for the lions and tigers.

it was 95 degrees out, and our man was dressed for winter

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba -the circle of life

The speed racer, Diane, himself and his comrade and master tracker, Sengale.

Nxabega

We journeyed to our third camp of Safari further into the Delta. Our camp was set just behind a watering hole and we spent our afternoons drinking cold African beers and escaping the mid-day heat from the cold pool. We were greeted with constant visits from elephants, warthogs, and water buffalo enjoying a reprieve in the swimming hole.

This camp had by far, the best animal viewing of the trip. We saw so many leopards and even tracked a few into the trees at night and watched them feed. It felt like every event outdid the next.

19.4860° S, 22.7961° E

BANDANABABES

No one tell her the lens cap is on...

TheMotherCity

Cape Town is also known as the Mother City of Africa and the first formerly established city in all of the country. The beach community where we stayed, Camps Bay, had incredible kelp filled coves where locals would flock to watch the sunset dip into the south end of the world. Table Mountain and the 12 Apostles were more incredible in person than any photo.

We then carried our trip to Stellenboch, to an amazing farm-centric hotel called 8Babylonstoren9 We went to an unbelievable barbecue and we danced to a local band. The spa was outer-worldly and we spent our day wondering the property attending tastings and tours to learn about all their homemade products.