Lion King

We had been living in Africa for almost ten months and hadn't seen any
of the large mammals so associated with the continent, except for one
surprise hippo sighting in the Zambezi on our first trip to Tete. This
isn't unusual considering most Africans never see any safari-type
animals during their whole lives. Luckily for us we were able to visit
South Africa's Kruger National Park and see everything you would
expect from watching National Geographic channel. The park is the size
of a small country, like Belize, and full of animals - so many
animals! As soon as we entered the park we saw a leopard, which are
usually very hard to spot. The next morning we were a little worried
our lucky omen may have been a fluke since it had been nearly half an
hour and all we'd seen were some impala; maybe we weren't safari-ing
correctly? Then the impala jumped to attention at some ominous
crunching sounds and a mighty bull elephant was right there, ten feet
from our vehicle! He just strolled right across the road in front of
us. From then on it was just like the Lion King with wildebeest,
giraffes, zebra, rhinos, hippos, buffalo, antelope, tons of birds and
all the rest of the Circle of Life crew parading around us. We slept
in luxurious round, thatched huts with running hot water, beds with
fancy bedding and personal kitchens. South Africans love to 'braai',
or barbecue, and we joined the culture with sausages and veggies each
night. At Skukuza camp, overlooking the Sabie River, we could watch
the sunset as elephants came to drink and play in the water. At Satara
Camp, surrounded by lowveld grassland, we took a night drive on one of
the big safari trucks. Elvis, our guide, bent the rules and drove off
the road to take us right into a pride of lions with 11 little
3-week-old simbas. We watched them for 45 minutes as the light
disappeared. One cub came right up to our vehicle to check us out; the
thrill almost made Janet cry. With all the pictures we took, our
holiday slideshow will look a lot more African to everyone back home.