After a flight to Atlanta and then a grueling 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, I was there; and I knew that I would find Brad waiting for me on the other side of Passport Control. I could not wait!

Once we were together we found our hotel driver, outside the terminal, who was taking us to The Capital Empire in Sandton. We confirmed with him that we were safe to wander at night, so once we were settled into our room and headed back down stairs to and out the lobby to find dinner and stretch our legs a bit. After my extensive travel time, my appetite was minimal. However, I knew if we didn't get something that I would be up at 4 AM feeling starved. With this is mind we headed toward Sandton City, the mall. Before, we settled in to a restaurant for dinner, we wanted to find Mandela Square. Brad had been there once before, but couldn't remember how to get there, so wandered down various streets all around the mall trying to figure out how to access it. The struggle was really real! It felt like we would never get there. Finally, we found the back way in. What we later realized is that it would have been just as easy to get there had we entered the mall first. haha.

Once we were through looking at the gigantic recreation of Nelson Mandela we began looking for a restaurant where we could get something fairly simple and easy. We settled on a Tasha's Cafe inside where I got a grilled cheese, and Brad got a salad... With our bellies full and bodies overcome by absolute exhaustion, we headed back to the hotel to sleep. Thanks to Brad's job, he didn't have to adjust to a different time zone. I was the only one that had to suffer from jet-lag!

The next morning we were preparing for what we thought would be a full day. When I woke up before Brad, I didn't feel like laying there waiting on him, so I went to work out for about an hour. When I returned, he was still sleeping so it gave me some time to get showered and start getting ready.

The first thing on the agenda was breakfast. It was not included in our hotel, so we had to find something. When we reached the end of the sidewalk outside the hotel, we turned right. We wandered a little ways down the road, and found a very enchanting cafe that I believe was called the Tea Garden with indoor and outdoor seating. Naturally, we wanted to enjoy the beautiful outdoor weather and the environment. It reminded me a little bit of Alice and Wonderland or Disneyland, purely whimsical . We proceeded to have some delicious omelettes and toast before we wandered the grounds a little bit.

A little bit after, we continued up the road a bit to see what else was there. We found a couple other small cafes as possibilities for the next morning, but we realized that it would be a good idea to head back in order to get on with the next activity. We gathered our essential belongings and headed back toward the mall to the Thrifty car rental to pick up our borrowed ride.

With both of us finally in the car, after waiting extensively to pick it up, Brad was on the right driving, and I was riding shotgun on the left. A new experience! We were ready to take on the British-influenced streets of South Africa in an attempt to get to the Cradle of Humankind which is ranked as one of the best things to do just outside of Johannesburg. It was great for the science-loving, fact hunting, museum enthusiast that is my husband. …and I had a great time watching him! I thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride. Yes, a boat ride... A boat ride exhibit of how the earth has changed over the millions of years. ...and there was a spinning starry tunnel which was kind of trippy. Following the walk through/riding tour, we were able to take in the incredible views of the South African valleys that surrounded the museum. It was far better than we anticipated!

We had a fairly long drive back into town, and thankfully, it was easier getting back into the city than leaving it. We returned to the hotel to drop off our car and headed back out on foot to find ourselves a tasty meal. We marched back in the direction of the mall because of the concentration of restaurants there, and had a late lunch at Wangthai where we both indulged in a some delicious Thai noodle dishes. We sat on the patio overlooking the square. It was nice to just be able to sit and relax for a little bit with out any further plans hanging over head for the day. But eventually the check came, and an obligation to move on.

We spent quite a while cruising through the mall, and checking out some of the shops. The mall felt like a giant maze filled with all the usual things, but some unique brands. A few hours later, we found ourselves hungry once again for an evening meal. We wandered all over and eventually discovered what I call "the best Indian food (aka Chicken Korma) I've ever had" (granted, I've never been to India) at a lovely restaurant called The Royal India.

Once again, un-adjusted from the jet lag, we headed back to the hotel for an early bed time. The next day was a big deal, and we were extremely excited about it!

We were up and at'em bright and early, and soon enough back in the car for our 2 hour drive headed to Bela-Bela in the Limpopo province. What awaited us was way more than we we bargained for. We were headed to Bambelela to interact with Vervet monkeys, and learn about them and the organization that operates as a Vervet Monkey & Wildlife Sanctuary for the young and injured.

Getting there proved to be a minor challenge as the dirt road was incredibly rough. I didn't expect a dirt road, and neither did our compact vehicle. We made the best of it; well, Brad made the best of it. Eventually we reached the gate, where we gave our name and were let through. We followed the signs pointing us in the direction of the sanctuary, and it was quite an intriguing drive. There were several large private homes along the way that seemed like a dream to be in.

Eventually, at the end of the road we found Bambelela, a big giveaway was the large amount of monkeys running all over the grounds. Not just Vervets, but also Baboons. We were pleasantly surprised to see that we were the only guests there (...and it stayed that way). Once we were out of the car, we were greeted by Sue. She was great to "work" with. She was very pleasant and informative. You could tell that she was truly passionate about her work, as well as the animals.

After our informational tour, it was time. Time to get in the cage with the "cheeky, naughty" (as Sue calls them) youngsters. What a thrill. We removed anything loose or valuable and handed them over for the 15 minutes that we were in the cage. The little guys lived up to their reputation. The amount of spunky spirit that was jumping around was sensational. It was really something to have these tiny primates jumping all over from person to person. From 5 feet away I would suddenly feel a gentle thud on my body... At one point one crazy Vervet crawled up inside my shirt. and out the top. They were biting my wedding ring, and occasionally my fingers (all in good, somewhat gentle, fun). They were completely fascinating by my bun of hair, and also felt the need to open my mouth, inspect the inside, and check my eyes for any issues... One little monster even stole my hair clip, which I had forgotten was there. The volunteer that was in the cage with us (also, our designated photographer), went to get it back by grabbing the monkey by the tail and offering it a disciplinary action (as would be done by an adult Vervet). As they instruct, you never take from a monkey, unless they know you are in charge, or else you'll be engaging in a battle with an irrational creature.

Eventually, our play time came to a close, the bill had been paid & we were back in the car. Thankfully, I had packed hand wipes... We were filthy, and we even had bits of monkey poo on our clothing which we were desperately trying to remove with a pack of Wet-Ones. It was no-matter.. We had another wildlife encounter ahead, and as we found out it was also, a bit messy.

From Bambelela we made our way back down the extremely bumpy dirt road to Adventure with Elephants. I had arranged an elephant encounter, where we could learn and interact with African elephants, the largest land animal. When we arrived, we got checked in and had to wait for them to bring the elephants around, which seemed like the perfect time to take advantage of the bathrooms to try and remove the monkey-poo. Once I removed all that I could, we headed back to the patio where we were able to observe some natural wildlife on the grounds below.

Eventually, 4 large beautiful African Elephants & 1 baby made their way to their covered stand. They were put in their places, and we started from the right and began working our way left. With the first elephant, we got to see how intelligent the elephant was. First they introduced us by name. (I don't remember her name). Then we each gave her a shoe. As she was instructed, and according to her smell, she was able to return each shoe to the correct individual. Next we got to meet the baby... one big baby. It was beautiful, but didn't have much of an interest in hanging out with us. It wanted to hang out with mom instead. We got in a couple pets, and then decided to let it do its own thing with its mom. The next elephant we gave treats to, and got to learn a little bit of the basic elephant anatomy. We got to inspect its tail, touch the pads of its feet, and examine its eyes, such big beautiful eyes. Finally, we moved down to our last elephant. A very handsome fellow, who I believe was in charge of tricks. He offered us kisses from his trunk, sprayed us with water, and even kicked a ball back and forth. He was wonderful!

Here is my little Elephant Gallery, please enjoy, and disregard my monkey hair...:

After our tour came to a close, we watched the elephants wander back off to their side of the land, and within a minute or two we found Trouble, the adopted Meerkat who was taken in by the founders. He was much too busy hunting for bugs to want anything to do with us which was unfortunate because apparently he is quite the socialite with guests...

We stayed on the property for a while because we were waiting for our USB drive of photos that they took for us. While we waited, we were able to get washed up again, and just relax. As we waited we had the delightful experience of seeing a couple giraffes come up near the complex. We just watched them for a while, until we felt it was time to get back tot he city.

We hadn't had a proper lunch, just snacks that I packed for the drive, and we were both famished, s when we got back into town, we quickly cleaned ourselves up before we dropped the car off at Thrifty. Free of our compact vehicle, we hunted for dinner, not literally, but could not commit so we ended up back at Tasha's for an easy meal before we just cruised the mall again. Eventually, we headed back to the hotel because we had to get packed. We were being picked up the next day by our guide for Krueger National Park, who was supposed to meet us there relatively early.

The next morning proved to be a bumpy one. During getting ready, I had a little bit of an accident. My bottle of foundation (aka makeup) got knocked to the floor and smashed. There was liquid and glass all over the hotel room floor, which thankfully was tiled. Anywho, I began to panic at the thought of going the next 2 weeks without it because I was not blessed with perfect skin... My survival instincts began to set in, and I quickly messaged Neil (our guide), and asked if we could delay our pick up time by 1/2 an hour. With Neil’s blessing, we headed back to the mall... but not just for makeup, for breakfast too. We found a really yummy cafe, Doppio Zero, where we had an exquisite breakfast. I knew we were on a mission, so as soon as the shops opened, and we were done with our food, we headed toward one of the "department stores" to quickly grab what I needed, and then get back to the hotel.

To our surprise, it actually worked out perfect because we ended up having to wait a little longer for Neil, than all three of us anticipated.

…to be continued in USSUE 20: Kruger Area, South Africa 2016

ISSUE 19: Johannesburg, South Africa 2016