Welcome, Million Mile Secrets readers! Daraius’ blog was one of the first ones I read and his ideas have helped me immensely! Take a look around and please enter my drawing as noted below.

Dear Readers, Miles Traveling Teacher is ONE YEAR OLD this month! It’s gone by so fast and I can’t believe how much I enjoy writing my blog! To celebrate, I’m giving away one $25 Visa gift card and two United Club passes (expiration 2-28-15). To win, please subscribe to my blog (only one email per week!) and enter a comment about YOUR dream destination! If you can’t use the United passes, just say “NO UA” in your comment, and you will only be entered in the Visa drawing. I will select two winners, one for the gift card and one for the two passes on Sunday, December 7, 2014 at 9:00 PM Central time. So don’t delay, enter today!  (:

(This is the last of a trip report to Africa, flying United Global Business/First, costing $87 and 120,000 miles which were Ultimate Reward points from my Chase Ink card, transferred to United.)

Lions are truly the king of the bush and we saw lots of them in Mala Mala, South Africa. This was on the sandy river bank just before sunset.

 

Lions sleep 17-20 hours per day, and following is a progression of that. (Note, different lions, different days, but you get the idea)!

 

 

 

 

One afternoon, we followed a leopard most of the day. After the other vehicles left, we just sat by the riverbank and watched him, and that is when I fell in love with leopards!

This male leopard is eight years old and lost his eye in a fight. He’s the father of the twin babies from a previous post. He literally came within touching distance of our jeep – I could reach out and touch him (but I didn’t)!

He is one of a set of twins and was raised (abducted) by his grandmother. One thing I loved about Mala Mala is that the guides know all about the animals on their property!

Note the print at the bottom of the foot. Our soap at Mala Mala had a leopard print on it ~ great attention to detail, since they are known for their leopard sightings!

 

 

 

Our very last morning, we saw lions feeding on a “kill,” a baby giraffe. They’d killed it the night before and they eat a few hours, then sleep. When lions kill, the process of dying can take awhile, whereas the leopard is a quick kill. (I’m not sure I could have handled watching a kill). Caution, some photos are graphic, but this is mother nature at work.

 

 

 

 

 

We were VERY close and could hear them chomping, chewing, grunting, and growling as they ate. At one point, some of them stood and started fighting/growling loudly, and I literally jumped out of my seat and grabbed Joe, our guide. His response, “Just some family squabbles.”

 

A few years ago I thought only rich people could go on a safari, but I’m glad my travels have shown me that many experiences are affordable to us all! Our Africa trip was arranged with Fish Eagle Safaris; Bert Duplessis is the owner of the company. Bert is from South Africa and has been in business for 30+ years. What I really like about his service is he will tailor your trip with what YOU want to do, based on what YOU can afford. All of our bookings and transportation was arranged by his company, and there was not a single problem. Check it out –  http://www.fisheaglesafaris.com/

This is the last Africa trip post. I read a quote recently that sums up my trip, “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better,” Albert Einstein. I saw nature up close and personal and it was very moving. Writing about it all has helped me relive the memories, so thanks for coming along on the journey!

Next up, Chicago…