Hi All from Hazyview...as our guide Anthony said, we have to stand on one leg, stick your tongue out and say a little prayer to get an internet connection...mission accomplished!

Today we drove from the city of Johannesburg out into the low-veld (lower elevation grassland). On the way, we stopped in Dullstroom (town) at the Raptor Rehab Center. During that time, we walked around looking at the owls and raptors that are there for some physical (ex: busted wing) or mental (ex: due to concussion) issue. If they can fly free after some care, they set them free...otherwise they stay there and if they can mate they raise young - they set the young free when they are old enough. Anthony got us a private showing of a barn owl and black eagle by Adian (Dullstroom crew member). Each of us got a chance for the owl to land on our gloved hand and pose for a picture (so light and cute) and pose for a picture next to the eagle (not something to pass around).

We continued on after a lunch of burgers (veggie burgers included) to Hazyview and hit the first rain in Hazyview in 6 months (they are nearing the end of the dry season and about to enter the wet.) On the drive, we saw an eland (large deer/elk-like animal) and a pair of monkeys (vervet monkey - small like a cat and gray) along the road. We are staying in bungalows in Aan de Vliet with a fenced in area that connects to the Sabie River with hippos and crocs in them. We are awaiting the hippos to come up and feed on the grass on the other side of the fence tonight. They came through about 7/7PM last night...and it is almost that time. Zach thought he found one on his thermal camera app, but it turned out to be a bush pig (like a wild boar). Food is on - tonight's menu is a stew with meat and veggies over rice (and a veggie option for those that don't want the meet.)

As Anthony says, we are slowly easing ourselves into this African experience, but tomorrow we "hit it with a big stick" with a trip to see a snake demo (see some mambas, puff-adders, pythons, cobras!) and then to next to Kruger Park where the big game is plentiful.