africa safaris: Transfrontier Parks Destinations

Shortly after my Iceland visit, the neighboring volcano struck with a vengeance and disrupted air traffic across Europe for more than a week. Shortly thereafter, I left for Johannesburg, but not before rearranging my air schedule in the last minute. On April 27, I found myself on a non-stop 17 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. Was I ever glad to finally get off that plane and inhale the smells of Afreeekah again.

After a few days around Johannesburg, I joined a group of travel agents on an educational safari to the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, in Mozambique, bordering Kruger Park in South Africa. We stayed at the beautiful Machampane Wilderness Camp.

The highlight here was a visit to the local village and school at Massingir Vehlo. The classroom consists of a teacher with a blackboard under the shade of a tree. The kids are so happy and well behaved. It was such a pleasure to be their guest for an hour.

Just look at these smiling faces! Some are shy, some full of miss-chief and some just adorable.

From Mozambique, we travelled back via Johannesburg to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, bordering Namibia & Botswana. Here we stayed at !Xaus Lodge, located above a salt pan.

Here we met Timone, a most adorable little meerkat. The local bushmen found her abandoned in the desert and brought her to the lodge, where she is thriving and delighting the guests. She has a great sense of humor and talks up a storm!