Lions and Cheetahs and Giraffe.. oh my!

A day of driving through the lion den's and playing with the cubs was truly amazing.  The white lion featured in the award winning movie 'The White Lion' was there to stare us down.  What a beautiful beast!  He is absolutely huge.  These creatures are fascinating in all their glory. 

Playing with the lion cubs was a highlight of the day and not to mention feeding the giraffe's.  Their huge purple tongue slobbering all over your hands.  There was a baby, too, keeping in the shadow of her mama.  She wouldn't eat from my hand though, which seemed a little odd but nonetheless, the ability to touch and play and feed and spectate all of these amazing wild animals was truly the treat of note and something I will savor until next time.

NAUGHTY LITTLE GUYS.....

GAMBET AND BABE

MY LOVE.....

SNUGGLE TIME

THESE GUYS WERE NOT HAVING OUR CAR MOVE FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES

WiFi a little bumpy and such .......

Wifi hasn't come easy, that's for sure!  One minute I have it, the next it doesn't exist.  All my great intentions of blogging each day in Africa were vaporized after day two!  With that said, here is a synopsis of my trip so far.

My night flight over to London was smooth and uneventful, however, no sleep for me!  Having never had trouble sleeping on a plane prior to this trip, I was surprised at how restless I was.  Having been awake since 3am on that morning (Brett leaving for Florida that day too) and a full day at the office, I was convinced I would benefit from a great nights sleep for sheer exhaustion.  Not so!

I arrived in London in the morning and was greeted by Brett's brother, Bruce and his girlfriend.  Such a wonderful sight to see family you haven't seen in years.  We drove to Surrey to another brother of Brett's, Craig and his family for the day.  After a wonderful meal, I headed back to Heathrow to embark on the next leg of my trip to South Africa.  I fell asleep after our in-flight meal and woke up to only 1 hour and 49 minutes left of the flight.  This means I got at least 9 hours of sleep. Hooray!!

After landing in Johannesburg, my brother and niece were there to collect me and drive to their home where I would stay for a few short days.  It was this day that I was to meet the newly discovered sisters, Cathy and Daniella.

Meeting these precious girls was amazing.  We all spent the day at an amazing outdoor restaurant together.  It was easy flowing with no awkwardness, which I have to admit, I wondered about on my flight over.  Together at last.

Cathy, Chris, T & Daniella

A Little History?

It all started somewhere, right?

It sure did!  And here's a shortened version of it.  From my paternal side, it all started on the Seychelles Islands way back when, however,  for me it began when I visited the island with my little family (Brett and Nicole - no Shelley at the time) in 2002, for the first time.  I hesitantly looked up (kind of stalked) the family I had only  heard about once before.  

My grandparents were both born and raised on the island and married in 1938.  After two years of marriage, my father was born.  A short time later, my grandparents divorced and grandmother left the island along with my father, never to return.  I found myself hesitant to reach out to the family and feeling unsure of their reaction to my presence on the island, I waited.  On a small island and in the 1940's, divorce was not a welcomed act and therefore, leaving the island for sake of shame, never to return, may have some consequences for later generations wanting to return.

How wrong I was! All the while I was procrastinating making contact, they already knew (from my maiden name in my passport) that I was on the island.  I went to the lobby at the hotel we were staying at and asked the reception clerk if she would mind looking up a name in the telephone directory (yes, telephone directory!). When she asked for the last name, which I willingly gave to her, she looked at me with a puzzled expression.  She prodded with a couple more questions and at the end of our conversation, and before she gave me the phone to dial the number she had found, she said "And, I'm your cousin"!  Did I mention small island yet?  The rest is history.  The next evening we were surrounded by family at my aunts home in Beau Valon on Mahe island, having dinner. Overwhelmed does not justify the feelings rushing through my veins. 

Since then, we have returned for vacations and maintained amazing relationships with all our family on the island.  My older brother and his family have since visited and spent time with them, too.  And so our generations story begins......

My father left us when I was nine months old and we never had any contact thereafter.  He remarried, a few times I believe, and died roughly two years ago.  It was at that time that my siblings and I learned of two wonderful sisters we hadn't had the opportunity to meet (or know about).  While I have had constant contact with them both since his passing, it is only now, on my upcoming trip to South Africa, that I will finally meet them face-to-face.  

I am about to embark on a trip that will fill me with all sorts of emotions.  From being in my homeland - amazing Africa, reuniting with my siblings and larger extended family after five long years, to meeting my two beautiful sisters for the first time, I'm not sure how or if I even should, contain the excitement and overwhelming anxiety I feel.  So, on this note I say, let the fun begin this Friday.  I can honestly say that after this trip I have experienced all the wonderful things in my life and I have not one regret.  Not many people get to say that - I am one fortunate girl.

Watch this space ....

T minus 11 days!! And counting .....

Just like birds in the Winter.....I'm heading SOUTH!!!

Not only am I already disliking these cooler days that are sneakily creeping into our space here in the North East, but I'm feeling slightly cheated of a Summer since much of mine was spent lying on the sofa, leg in a cast, and being entertained by marathons of Scandal on the "tube".  Where best to reclaim the warm air and powder white beaches (and elephants, lions and my all-time favorite: giraffes) other than sunny South Africa.  Home to the roaring lion, the forever loved Madiba and, well, me!

For as far back as I can remember I have had a passion to write just about anything, although the lack of free time and solstice in my day-to-day life prohibits much of it.  The days leading up to my trip and during my time in South Africa, I will be blogging about my summer days, endless adventures and entertaining you with pictures (only the good ones!).  I am banking on good internet service at most locations, however, if it's 'spotty' it will be written at a slightly faster pace and grammar and spell-check may, or may not be a priority ;)

I shall name this trip It's all about T time since my hubby and two girls will stay home in Boston while I gallivant.  I depart for London on Friday, November 7th.  While there I will get to spend the day with Brett's two brothers and their adorable families.  Later that night, I will board a Virgin Atlantic Airbus 330-300 flight for a long 12 and a half hour journey in the sky (nothing movies, a book and red wine won't fix).  Let's all say a prayer together that T gets a great neighbor to sit next to.

If you feel so inclined, you can subscribe to this blog (thanks Andrew for being the first!) for my daily updates and pictures.

~T