Tuesday 30 September 2008

Action-packed September

Baboons on the moove!!


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Early September saw the return of the Stichting Gehandicaptenreizen from the Netherlands. The 14-strong group arrived in stormy Cape Town where we entertained them at our new guesthouseThe Blue Tangerine over tea & coffee. We also showed them the wonders of our Mother City, and then departed from Cape Town for yet another glorious Kruger Tour for 8 days.

Savannah poses with the Stichting Gehandicaptenreizen group

"It was indeed great to meet you in Cape Town. I really love South Africa and I was all happy with how you and Alfie accomplished the trip. Again thank you for your dedication. With full trust I am looking forward to offering this trip in 2009 again."
-Barbara van Eck, group leader Gehandicaptenreizen

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A new Gehandicaptenreizen group will be back for another tour in April 2009 lead yet again by Barbara!
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This month also saw Moira Lipshaw returning for another holiday with us, this time with Anne Larkin (who is, apparently, still on a high from her trip…). They toured the Kruger Park with us and then flew down to Cape Town to be pampered at The Blue Tangerine for a week while they enjoyed the sights of our city (please see the "Into The Wild" tour blog from 29 September!)

Moira with a furry friend

"Just wanted to thank you all for making the trip really great - I had a nice relaxing time and Anne thought everything was absolutely amazing!!! And is already working out how to come back again!" - Moira Lipshaw

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Thank you Anne, Moira, Drew, Mary, and Anna for all the fun!

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But that wasn’t all…September also marked the return of the Procap group from Switzerland. The 14 members of the group took in the sights & sounds of the Kruger Park for 8 sunny days before heading south to the Cape for more tours with Epic!

Procap Group from Switzerland at Cape of Good Hope

It was truly good to meet so many of you on tour this month - you have been a great inspiration to us!

- Sabine & Alfie

Monday 29 September 2008

Into The Wild

What do you get when you cross 5 travellers from the 4 corners of the world with a safari in the wild?






-->Best mates!





On tour this month were Anne Larkin (pictured, left) & support worker Moira Lipshaw (repeat offender Sept. 2005 tour), who are both from New Zealand, Anna Jackson from the UK (pictured, right), and Drew & Mary Arnold from the US.

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Happenings on tour:
This tour provided hundreds of photo opportunities with our travellers hardly able to put their cameras down! We spotted and got up-close to leopard, buffalo, lion, as well as bushbuck, dassies which ate out of Anne's hand, warthog, zebra, elephant, giraffe and hundreds more. We also got to see our beloved Jessica the hippo and Savannah the cheetah once again.
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Zebra and wildebeest drinking together, watchful of a large but lazy pride of lions resting with their cubs under a marula tree...

...suddenly a large herd of buffalo move in
and scare away the lions:
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Drew & Mary Arnold from Wyoming, US,
are avid "twitchers"
and managed to see
over 100 different bird species!






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We also got to watch some elephants enjoy a soothing mud bath:


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Anna & the group went to meet the caracal in the rehabilitation program:



"It is difficult to describe the feeling it brings for someone who had only dreamed of going to Africa. The smiles just got bigger and bigger.” - Moira
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Anne and Moira continued on to Cape Town where they were treated to luxury accommodation at The Blue Tangerine
while they enjoyed day tours with Epic Enabled and did a few excursions of their own...

It was a pleasure to meet you all and trust that you had a marvellous time! We know we will see you again...