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Journal
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Thursday, June 25, 2009 Greetings from South Africa, specifically, gate A19 of OR Tambo International Airport. We arrived this morning after two back to back red eye flights that began Wednesday night in Chicago. The Chicago-London flight included a passenger who became ill somewhere over the Atlantic - never good when the flight attendant makes an announcement asking if there are any doctors on the plane. It apparently was not life threatening because we did not make an emergency landing anywhere, but after speaking with the flight attendant sitting near us during the approach to Heathrow we learned a lot about medical emergencies (for example, you are really never more than an hour and a half away from somewhere to land, and they have a pretty well equipped bag of goodies assuming there is a doctor on board who can diagnose the problem and assist). On arrival in London, I needed to obtain a boarding pass from British Air because when I checked in at O'Hare the agent said that she couldn't print one. After waiting in line for about a half hour at the transfer desk the agent informed me that he couldn't locate me on the flight. Hmmm. I had my confirmation, and had confirmed this, say, a dozen times since I made the reservation a year ago. After much back and forth with the ticketing folks it turns out that American removed me from the British Air flight sometime around 11pm London time on Wednesday night (which makes absolutely no sense). Then it took a while to get me back ON the flight, and longer to get me back in the coveted bulk seating. Sheesh ! With the ticketing chaos behind us, we cleared immigration (and the officer actually wished me a happy birthday when she noticed my birthday in my passport) and headed into London. With about 4 hours to kill, we took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station and then took the Underground to Waterloo to see the London Eye (a landmark we had not visited on previous trips). The weather was absolutely beautiful so we had lunch as a nearby cafe before returning to Heathrow and taking some much needed showers at the British Air lounge in terminal 5. Our flight last night departed a little late, but we did make up some time in the air so we arrived on schedule. There was one interesting event when a passenger standing near the galley just passed out and hit the floor. Luckily he seemed to be ok but ENOUGH with the in flight emergencies people ! We landed this morning to a beautiful South African sunrise. Deplaning we were quickly reminded that it is winter here and I am certainly glad that I packed lots of layers because we're a bit underdressed as is. I was a little worried about the international transfer because we only had e-tickets, but it wasn't a problem and we got through just fine. I am quite tired of carrying around my camera gear bag (which weighs in at 26 lbs compared to my checked bag of clothes which is only 20). Fingers crossed that the checked bags make it all the way from Chicago to Livingstone, Zambia ! We are currently occupying the one plug in the gate area and getting a bit of a dirty look from a woman wanting to vacuum :) Our flight to Zambia is at 10:40 and the itinerary says we are supposed to go on a tour of Victoria Falls today however I think we both want to do absolutely nothing other than chill at the lodge. Not sure where the next internet connection will be so no worries if the blog is silent for a while.
Friday, June 12, 2009  I was repeatedly amazed by our ranger's spotting ability, especially at night and especially the tiny creatures. I'm sure it's just part of their "day at the office", but being able to spot a chameleon from a moving vehicle dazzled the heck out of us. I got to hold this little guy so you can see how small he is, but then he didn't want to let go, gripping my palm with his little pinchers.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 On my way to South Africa, I had a nightmarish nine hour layover in London. Intent on staying awake so that I had a chance of sleeping on the 11 hour overnight flight to Johannesburg, I decided to kill the time by venturing into London for a bit of sightseeing, but instead I wound up fascinated by the motion in Paddington station.
Monday, June 08, 2009 As many of you know, we went to Mala Mala because it is known for its above average leopard sightings. Prior to going to South Africa, our leopard sightings were limited to a few tails dangling from trees about a quarter mile across the wide open plains of the Serengeti. In three nights at Mala Mala we saw leopards on all but one game drive, and only one set was not really photographable (and that was a pair that was about to mate but was chased up a tree by two lions - an absolutely INSANE sighting that left even the rangers giddy).   
Saturday, June 06, 2009 Beginning to go through some pictures - here are a few of my favorites so far...  
Tuesday, June 02, 2009 Another thing we experienced several times at Mala Mala was lions roaring at close range. This video features a male from the Eyrefield pride and you can hear a lioness from the Styx pride responding from nearby off camera.
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