Africa 2024

Going on an African safari has been a lifelong dream, and I finally made it happen in July and August 2024. My friend Mary Ann and I put together an itinerary that included a few nights in Cape Town at the beginning, nine nights at three different camps in Botswana, a visit to Victoria Falls, treks to see the Mountain Gorillas and Golden Monkeys of Rwanda, and five nights at the end with our friend Tom and his daughters Annee and Tricia in Nanyuki, Kenya.

This couldn’t have been a better plan. In Cape Town we did a day on the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus, a private tour to the Cape of Good Hope, a walking tour, and a winery tour. The three camps where we stayed in Botswana had distinctly different characteristics. One was mostly desert, one was on an island in the midst of the Okavango Delta, and one was on the banks of the Linyanti River in the northeastern corner of the country. Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe was magnificent; the primates of Rwanda were miraculous; and in Kenya Annee planned a whole slew of awesome activities that included an overnight in Samburu National Reserve.

Along the way we managed to see all the animals I could have hoped to see, including all of the “Big Five” (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and African buffalo); the “Big Seven” (the Big Five plus the African wild dog and the cheetah); the “Samburu Special Five” (giraffe, zebra, ostrich, oryx, and gerenuk); the “Ugly Five” (wildebeest, warthog, vulture, marabou stork, and hyena); and two of the “Small Five” (Buffalo weaver and leopard tortoise).

This was a trip that absolutely lived up to all my expectations and exceeded most of them.

Photos and Videos

My favorite photos and videos from each day are included in the blog posts below. But if you want to just enjoy the pictures without the stories, feel free to peruse these albums.

Blog Posts

I didn’t blog during this trip. Instead, I brought a notebook and kept a journal. The blog posts below are transcriptions and embellishments from my journal with photo illustrations.