SOUTH AFRICA TRIP DAYS 5-6: SEMI-SAFARI!!!

Off we drove to the Magaliesberg for a few days driving through one of the many national game reserves. (I received no end of an earful for calling them 'preserves' in that Indians don't live on Preservations.) This one is closer to Johannesburg and has the advantage of not being in a malaria zone, unlike the larger, more famous, more crowded, and better populated Kruger. This one supposedly had all of the "Big 5" but we didn't see any cats. Disappointed fellow-tourists would stop us and cycle through several languages before hitting on, "Have you seen de lye-on." Anyway, we saw everything else, and up-close to boot - elephants, giraffes, hippos, warthogs, rhinos, zebras, wildebeast, baboons, monkeys, etc. The best moment was when we were driving down a road and it turned out the van headed our way was, in fact, an elephant, which kindly stopped and started eating dinner right next to our car. One night we drove to the nearby Sun City resort casino for dinner, mandatory arcade games, and a pretty lame 'thundering bridge'. The other we settled in for a South African style 'brai' (BBQ) at our surprisingly well appointed chalet.

HAKUNA MATATA: It's always nice to see the stars for once. Truly though, the highlight is when we got stuck in the game park late one night and, rushing to beat the gate closing, Justine turned on the James Bond driving skills, blazing her little manual transmission through hairpin turns on dirt roads with no lights on the street and the possibility of smacking into a rhino at any moment. Justine quote half-way through, "I'm not going to lie to you, I'm enjoying this immensely."

OH....AFRICA: Apparently, Chinese tourists are infamous for getting out of their cars at game parks and getting eaten by lions. Kind of like German tourists getting shot in Miami. Moreover, South African radio and TV advertisements harp on this theme, employing hilariously un-PC stereotyped Chinese voices without remorse.

WORLD CUP ATTENDANCE TIP: There's more to the host country than soccer. Take advantage of it.

JUSTINE'S ADVICE ON SOUTH AFRICA: The best time to visit South African game parks is August, after they've burnt the veld. In addition to removing the long grass from blocking your views, the burning process crowds the animals into smaller areas, which leads to more opportunities to view them all at once. And no you won't be overheated - remember, August is winter down there.