ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

Once again, we scrambled into the front of a safari truck and headed out into the wild for a new adventure. Remember, we have a goal this year to see all of the big 5. Out of all the animals in the animal kingdom, Laleinia was yet to see her favorite, the elephant. Hopefully we would be able to get that accomplished. Pilanesburg National Park is one of the best places to see animals in all of South Africa. Within about two minutes of entering the park, we came across six rhinos! It was interesting to learn that the father rhino has to keep its distance from the mother and children, because rhinos are territorial, and even a father's male offspring could threaten its dominance. Many father rhinos have killed their own sons! How many giraffes can you spot in this picture?! If we were to have taken a panoramic picture, you would have been able to see twelve! We dubbed it "the great giraffe migration." Unfortunately, Alastair didn't get kissed by any of th...

Today, we nipped up to Hartbeespoort to visit a Monkey Sanctuary. There are over one hundred monkeys, most of which have been donated to the sanctuary by people who once owned them as flamboyant pets. It was a great place for them to monkey around and be almost free in an almost natural environment.  We spent a while walking around inside a massive enclosure (Jurassic Park sized), most of the time walking along a raised, wooden walkway. The wooden path even included the Bridge of Courage, a suspended bridge that was 35 meters (115 ft) above the ground! We were hoping that some of the monkeys would attack us, or at least jump on our shoulders or something, but it wasn't to be. However, we did see a monkey hopping from branch to branch right in front of our heads, carrying a frog that he was busy dismembering. Also, Alastair grabbed a poo covered handrail, but it wasn't that bad! Another great day in South Africa. We are having an absolutely wonderful time o...

We had always wondered when Alastair would get kissed by a giraffe, and January 18th, 2014, was the day. We drove just a few minutes up the road to the Lion Park, which also contained a petting area for some of the smaller and/or more harmless animals, but we sure did get Alastair's dad's money's worth! Not only were we able to see some lions, including two that climbed up a tree, we were also able to chill with some ostriches, play with lion cubs, see meerkats, and kiss giraffes. It didn't start too well though, as Laleinia wasn't able to summon the giraffe, even though she scrounged a handful of tasty treats to reel it in. No matter what she did, or how much she pouted, the giraffe was not interested. However, before leaving, we decided to give it one more try. Hey, presto! We finally got the big guy's attention. (This is when Alastair got his smooch.) We fed the giraffe some bread, and were able to stroke its horse-like head, while getting...

One of the great things about Johannesburg is its proximity to other countries. Since we were so close, we piled in the car (Laleinia, Alastair, McKee parents, and Connor), and drove over to South-Eastern Botswana for the weekend! One relatively long drive and a confusing border crossing later, we arrived in Lobatse. An unbelievable number of cows and goats, along with a few baboons, lined the roads as we left South Africa and traveled around in Botswana. While we were there, one of the main goals that we had was to play football with some local children. About five minutes after crossing the border, we were able to reach our goal. On the side of the road, we saw a very African football pitch, about eighty percent dust/sand/dirt, and twenty percent grass scattered in little patches across the dirt. The pitch was massive and pretty flat, but it also was home to some smashed glass and the occasional cow pat. After separating into Alastair's shirts and Connor's skins teams...

Before Logan heads off to Rexburg for university, we went on one more McKee family outing. We spent the day on Segways and at the swimming pool in Sun City, a massive resort about two hours away from Johannesburg. The weather was fantastic, and we came home a little sunburnt, but had an incredible day in one of the most beautiful valleys that we have ever seen. We began the day with Segway training, which was more of getting a feel for the thing than it was learning about it. It was pretty simple, push down with your toes to go forwards, and with your heels to stop or go backwards. After about three or four minutes of that, we were ready to get going! Segways are really interesting things, and the whole time we were on them we were just amazed at how they were standing upright. Our guide set the speed and when you tried to go too fast, it would almost tip you off the back. I (Alastair) tried to see what kind of limits I could push, and tried to skid in some of the sandy...