The final post - THANK YOU!

I have to admit I'm close to tears sitting here typing the final post. The Serengeti Trip 2011 journey has been everything and more that I had hoped for and it was a privilege to share it with you all on the blog. I want to thank every single person who read the blog, commented on our posts and made contributions to our Satphone data! For those of you that were wondering - you, the followers, donated a total of R7025 towards the data fund and it ended up costing R7146.81. It couldn't have been much closer!! Thanks AGAIN - you were lifesavers!

And then to our sponsors. I can't thank you enough for your support right throughout the trip. 

Shana from Sat4Rent - you are a star! If you ever need a satellite telephone (and believe me, it's worth it) there's only one place to go to and that's Sat4Rent! Their prices are the best, the equipment is phenomenal and the service is top notch! The website is www.sat4rent.co.za

Stephen from GoPro - thanks for all your effort, man! The GoPro Hero HD video camera is my new favourite travel toy and I won't go to the bush without it ever again! The website is www.goprocamerasa.co.za

Hedrus from Outdoorphoto, baie baie dankie vir daardie lens wat jy vir Ji geleen het! If your shopping for a new camera, lens or any other piece of photography equipment there really is only one place in South Africa that you should contact and that's Outdoorphoto in Pretoria! The website is www.outdoorphoto.co.za

Thanks also to Megan, Daniel, Clive and rest of the Clive Morris Productions team for your help, support and of course the video camera equipment.

Then I'd like to thank every single person that helped us and made us feel so welcome on the trip itself! Marlize and her family in Lusaka; Kayanda from Selous River Camp; Gilbert from Chitimba Camp; Shaun and Elcke from Tarangire Treetops; the whole Serengeti Migration Camp team; Bobson, Caroline and the rest of the Mashatu Main Camp team...and every one else that we met along the way! The Serengeti Trip 2011 was definitely about so much more than just wildlife...

Thanks to those of you who linked to our blog - Ali and the WegRY team, Andrew and the Moya-wa-Tenga Safaris team, and all you Facebookers out there! You boosted the number of followers tremendously!

Last, but by no way least, I'd like to thank our families and friends for the tons of emotional (and other) support right from the word go! We love you dearly!!

If you have any other questions or comments about the Serengeti Trip 2011, don't hesitate to contact me directy on villiers@absamail.co.za or 0827988817. You can also visit my website: www.visionphoto.co.za

Oor en uit

Villiers

PS: If I have left anyone specific out, please forgive me

Team Serengeti Trip 2011

Final words: "So when do we do it again?!!"

Thanks for coming!

As you may know, last night was BRAAI-night! Ji and I decided to invite our close friends and family for a relaxing braai in Pretoria and as always we had a wonderful time. Thank you to everyone who came! Since the tiny photographs on the blog really doesn't do justice to the images we used a projector to show a loop of 300 of our favourite trip photos. throughout the evening As you can imagine we ended up standing in front of the screen for hours watching the series of images over and over again, explaining exactly what had happened or how we felt at that stage... After last night one thing is for sure - we want to do it again!!...and next time, we're taking more people with us!! :) Enjoy the Cricket World Cup final!

Ji tells some friends about our wild campsite at Lobo

This is what it's all about!

To all our friends: You really are the most wonderful people and Ji and I are extremely lucky to have you in our lives! Thanks for supporting us all the way!! We love you dearly. This goes for our amazing families as well!!

Cheers

Villiers

PS: Sorry for not taking more photos, but the truth is - my mind was not on my camera! :)

My favourite campsite was...

Hello! It's great to see that so many of you (over 100 people) are still following the blog even after the trip has ended! You make it worth the effort of posting. I decided to quickly share with you a few of my personal favourites of the Serengeti Trip 2011. As some of you would have noticed when you scanned through the previous posts - it's nearly impossible to choose favourites! But here are some of mine...and I know they will change every time I look through the photos...

My three favourite campsites were:

In 3rd place: The public campsite in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

In 2nd place: Simba A public campsite, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

In 1st place: Masuma Dam, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

If you click on the "Itinerary" page in the side bar, you will notice that I have deleted the rough itinerary and replaced it with a list of the actual places we stayed during the trip. I have linked all the places that have their own websites, so you can simply click on that specific day(s) to read more about the place and its accommodation.

My three favourite trip photos are: (and this was a near-impossible task of choosing them)

In 3rd place: Ji with elephant in our campsite in Tarangire

In 2nd place: The two guys with the Hyena in the Makgadigadi Pans

In 1st place: Team Selous River Camp - taken after our football match

My three most memorable moments:

In 3rd place: Speaking with Martin Bester of Jacaranda 94.2 on our 2nd day

In 2nd place: Spending a day with the Maasai

Fimly in 1st place: The hot air balloon safari over the Serengeti!!!

My three best sightings were:

In 3rd place: The relaxed elephants of Tarangire National Park

In 2nd place: The stalking lions of Lobo, Serengeti

In 1st place: There could be no other! The 16 lion cubs in the road, Seronera, Serengeti

And finally, my three favourite natural features:

In 3rd place: The magnificent Matobo Hills, Zimbabwe

In 2nd place: The crystal clear water of the Kapishya Hot Springs, Zambia

In 1st place: The one and only Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

I hope you enjoyed my list of favourites. I could go on and on about the special places, animal and people we saw and met on this trip, but for now I have to say goodbye. I will, however, post again tomorrow. There's the big BRAAI tonight, remember?! :)

Cheers
Villiers

PS:  For those of you who don't know me, please remember that I photograph much more than wildlife and nature on a day-to-day basis. My company Vision Photography also does weddings, corporate events, personal shoots and much much more. I also present photography courses for beginners, so please don't hesitate to contact me with any photographic queries! My website is www.visionphoto.co.za