One of the great things about living in South Africa is being close to amazing wildlife. It's the land of lions and cheetahs and hippos and even some really groovy birds like the red hornbill, and the most irritating one of all because of the way it screams all day long--the hadeda!
We live really close to the Johannesburg Zoo and sometimes we drive past and see from the zoo walls the lions chilling out!
Every April holiday mostly every family in Johannesburg goes on safari and stays in the one of the national parks, like the Kruger, which is the most famous and is about a five-hour drive from Johannesburg. Think of it as one giant open air zoo with no cages! This year we went to another national park, Pilanesberg, in the Northwest Province just two-and-a-half hours away.
We live really close to the Johannesburg Zoo and sometimes we drive past and see from the zoo walls the lions chilling out!
Every April holiday mostly every family in Johannesburg goes on safari and stays in the one of the national parks, like the Kruger, which is the most famous and is about a five-hour drive from Johannesburg. Think of it as one giant open air zoo with no cages! This year we went to another national park, Pilanesberg, in the Northwest Province just two-and-a-half hours away.
What's really cool about Pilanesberg is that there is no malaria there.
Malaria is a big problem in Africa and some areas in South Africa are
infested with malaria. So I was glad that this time I didn't have to
take any anti-malaria tablets which are yucky and sometimes make me
feel sick.
Anyway, we stayed at a lodge called Bakubung (which means people of the hippo). And this was divine, because just outside your sliding door, there is the Pilanesberg right in front of you.
As soon as we arrived we parked our car (as we drove there) and
unpacked our bags. At 15:00 we went back in our car and drove through
the park. We saw elephants, giraffe, rhinos, and hippos. Sadly we didn't
see any carnivores but we tried. At 17:00, we went and had a shower and
got dressed up for dinner.
The next day we went to Sun City nearby, like an African theme park built to resemble an ancient African kingdom, and spent the day at the Valley of the Waves (a pool that can make huge freaky waves). My dad, my sister and I changed into our costumes and put on sun cream. Since this was the last time I was going to swim before winter arrived, I thought it would be best to get a tan and so I did. After half an hour I went on all the water rides and they were so awesome, some of them were dark, bright, long, short, steep and leveled.
We saw lots of vultures!
Next day we went on the zip slide and did archery. The zip slide was 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) long and the average speed was 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) per hour so that was pretty fast. After lunch we went and did archery, which by the way I scored five bulls eye, so just think I may become the next Robin Hood! Then we went to the game arcade and scored 393 tickets so we spent it on sweets.
On the last day we spent the whole lazy time by the pool at the hotel, but we couldn't swim, because it was way too cold I think below zero degrees in fact! So we had to spend the lazy day by reading and I had a lot to read--two books exactly--so I read and read and read, until three hours passed. So I went to watch the soccer game between Barcelona and Chelsea, I am obviously supporting Chelsea--that's my dad's team as well. After that we had a very filling lunch. My dad had fish and chips, my sister had spaghetti, and I had sticky ribs. After that we went to take another drive through Pilanesberg. Ah hah, but this time we did see carnivores. three in fact! Hoorah! We saw the lion, the hyenas, and the jackal. By the way have you ever seen South Africa's Big Six? If you haven't well there's the Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo and the best for last--the Johannesburg taxis!!! Hahaha that was a joke!!!
So if you're coming to Johannesburg for the Soccer World Cup in 2010 why not go to on safari?
Anyway, we stayed at a lodge called Bakubung (which means people of the hippo). And this was divine, because just outside your sliding door, there is the Pilanesberg right in front of you.
As soon as we arrived we parked our car (as we drove there) and
unpacked our bags. At 15:00 we went back in our car and drove through
the park. We saw elephants, giraffe, rhinos, and hippos. Sadly we didn't
see any carnivores but we tried. At 17:00, we went and had a shower and
got dressed up for dinner.The next day we went to Sun City nearby, like an African theme park built to resemble an ancient African kingdom, and spent the day at the Valley of the Waves (a pool that can make huge freaky waves). My dad, my sister and I changed into our costumes and put on sun cream. Since this was the last time I was going to swim before winter arrived, I thought it would be best to get a tan and so I did. After half an hour I went on all the water rides and they were so awesome, some of them were dark, bright, long, short, steep and leveled.
We saw lots of vultures!Next day we went on the zip slide and did archery. The zip slide was 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) long and the average speed was 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) per hour so that was pretty fast. After lunch we went and did archery, which by the way I scored five bulls eye, so just think I may become the next Robin Hood! Then we went to the game arcade and scored 393 tickets so we spent it on sweets.
On the last day we spent the whole lazy time by the pool at the hotel, but we couldn't swim, because it was way too cold I think below zero degrees in fact! So we had to spend the lazy day by reading and I had a lot to read--two books exactly--so I read and read and read, until three hours passed. So I went to watch the soccer game between Barcelona and Chelsea, I am obviously supporting Chelsea--that's my dad's team as well. After that we had a very filling lunch. My dad had fish and chips, my sister had spaghetti, and I had sticky ribs. After that we went to take another drive through Pilanesberg. Ah hah, but this time we did see carnivores. three in fact! Hoorah! We saw the lion, the hyenas, and the jackal. By the way have you ever seen South Africa's Big Six? If you haven't well there's the Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo and the best for last--the Johannesburg taxis!!! Hahaha that was a joke!!!
So if you're coming to Johannesburg for the Soccer World Cup in 2010 why not go to on safari?
I can't belive you live so close to wildlife that must be so cool!!!
I love wild life. i always watch national geographic channel its soooo interesting.Gosh!! u r so lucky
You r sooooooooooooooooo lucky that you live so close to see that!
LOOKS FUN.