african road trip

a road trip in south africa = lots of adventure.
we took one last little road trip after christmas with my parents
and our friends the knudsens who were also visiting. we packed it in
with a visit to kruger national park, some bungee jumping, waterfall
chasing, and enjoying time together before we headed back to europe.
we drove along the panorama route, which includes a stop at
the gorgeous “God’s window” lookout. i was so happy we could
drive this route with chase, since i went on a similar trip with
my parents last year when i visited solo and loved it so much.
my parents have an area of their mission up north which is
along this route near kruger, & since they had a commitment
in the ward there that weekend, we gladly headed up together!

and cue the most terrifying part of the drive…when chase did
the craziest bungee jump/swing! i actually want to bungee jump
sometime, but something about this one was holding the rest
of us back. it was so terrifying watching people fall backwards
off that creaky deck into the widest canyon! chase is the brave
one and so he went for all of us. you can see a video of it here.
more panorama route beauty ^^
we did some off-roading to get to debageni falls. worth it!
we made a stop at the three rondavels which was one of the prettiest things, i think.
it almost didn’t look real! ^^
haha caught my dad mid-photobomb ^^
those drakensberg mountains are pretty unique to see ^^
more waterfall beauty ^^
we have an inside joke about how my mom loves rhinos,
so chase had to snap a photo of my mom by this cool mural ^^
i spy chase casually sitting above a huge waterfall ^^
between this and the bungee, he was making me nervous!
after all of this came the main event: animal spotting!
i think it’s so fun to drive your own car through kruger
park and find animals without a guide. as amazing as
the safari experience is, this is so cool in its own way.
kruger park & pilanesberg game reserve were both great.
we definitely heeded that warning! ^^
nothing quite like having some zebras cross the road in front of your car..
they are beautiful.
speaking of beautiful, this cheetah. ^^ wow.
a little snack stop with some giraffe spotting ^^
^^ love these three more than words.
warthogs graze by kneeling on their knees!
it is the funniest/strangest thing.
kudu antlers are like a work of art ^^
speaking of giraffes ^^ i gave my mom this shirt and i think
it was good luck attracting even more giraffes to us!
^^ we spotted this wild dog which is actually rare to see here.
there are closely related to a hyena, but a different animal!
^^warthogs are the best. they make us laugh so hard.the marabou stork –– craziest bird that we saw everywhere.
its head looks scabbed or injured, but it is normal! 
sunset in kruger ^^
as we drove out of the park we spotted two hippos
in the water with a bald eagle swooping overhead!
it’s a little dark but you can see the eagle on the left..
it was the most beautiful scene in the river at dusk.  
we played some jokers and marbles that night 
(and during our entire visit). these are our good
family friends brent & kathryn knudsen who were
in town visiting my parents and overlapped for a
few days of our visit! brent served his mission here in
SA when he was young, so it was awesome he could return.
we were starved when we finally got home from our whirlwind road trip,
so we headed straight to my parents joburg favorite: rocomamas!
these are all over the city, but this is the town square location that
we love. it’s a build-your-own burger joint that hits the spot. 
just look at that burger piled high ^^
burgers taste even better to me when abroad
because i don’t realize how much i’m missing them!
big shake fans right here ^^
every road trip should end with a milkshake!

xo