Some pictures

Here is one of the sharks going after the bait.

From the bush

We are now deep in the heart of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana. Basically, it is us, a few guides, a few more guests and a ton of wildlife. The sights have been truly amazing. Last night, a female lioness killed a young giraffe about 200 feet from some of the cabins. We are escorted to our rooms each night by guards because you never know what is watching you. It is fantastic! At our last lodge a group of hippos walked right by our room each night as they headed back to the water. Jen yelled at me in the morning for snoring loud, and I have yet to tell her that I was wide awake as I want her to be able to sleep the rest of the trip. We were able to see a white rhino and a black rhino today, of which there are only about 20 in the entire country. Currently, Jen is tracking the leopard and the cheetah...the hunt continues. I could start to try to list all the things we have seen up close and personal but I think there is a word limit with this blog.

We made it, part II

Mr Cheney, your daughter survived the sharks! Today Jen and I went cage diving with great white sharks off the South African Coast. I wish that I could post pictures now, but unfortunately it will have to wait till I get home. Let's just say that their teeth are as brutal as you would think them to be. Jen knows, as she has two that she is bringing home with her. I will let you guess how she got those (they were fresh from the beast's mouth!)

In all reality it did not seem as dangerous as I anticipated. The cage was very safe as was the crew we went with. And the sharks seemed as curious about us as we were about them. They really are majestic; they just lazily swam around the boat, sometimes going for the chum that was on a bait line, sometime ignoring it. When they really wanted the fish head, however, they would attack and take it so fast you could hardly make out what was happening. We were able to see a total of about 9 sharks, and the largest was probably about 11 feet long. One even breached and came clear out of the water chasing the bait. The water was very cold (low 60s), but once the sharks start coming at the cage you completely forget.

Cape Town overall is exceeding out expectations. The people here are so very warm and friendly. I have never seen more genuine smiles. Yesterday we were able to go to the top of table mountain, which overlooks the city. We also went to Robben Island, which is an Alcatraz type prison that housed Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners for many years. I expected your typical run-of-the-mill tour and was completely surprised to find that our guidewas a former inmate. He spent 5 years on Robben Island after being arrested at the age of 16 in the late 1970s for being a student protestor. The man was truly amazing. After describing some of the horrors he was subjected to (I will not go into detail) and losing all sense of hope he has learned to put aside his anger and forgive those who imprisoned him. By any normal measure he had all the reasons in the world to seek vengence, but he explained to us how he came to learn that in order to break the cylce of violence he had to forgive, else it would perpetuate indefinately. I hope that no one who reads these words ever has to learn to forgive someone for trespasses of such a degree, and I don't know that I ever could. Still, it is truly inspiring to see love and humanity triumph in the hearts of many of those who suffered under apartied. Our guide now runs a leadership institute aimed at helping troubled teens overcome their own anger and become functioning members of society.

Tomorrow we fly to Joburg to begin our safari. Hope all is well to our friends who are at home and to those who are travelling.

We made it!

Well, Jen and I made it to the bottom of the world. The trip was long (one night to London, a few hours in London, then a night flight to Cape Town) and I don't even want to start adding up how many hours it was as I am trying to get myself adjusted to this time zone. The trip was overall pleasant, except for the fact that Jen seems to be coming down with a cold so she had a rough first night. A few interesting things I noticed: 1) the international service on American Airlines was much better than expected; 2) the food in London was surprisingly edible; and 3) no one seems to have told people from Eastern Europe that the mullet went out of style about the time the iron curtain fell.

South Africa is awesome so far. We have already been shopping twice (shocking, I know) and have bought a few really neat paintings and a few other gifts. The word ketchup seems to apply to something akin to sweet and sour sauce (much to Jen's dismay) so tonight we are going to go in search of sweet and sour sauce and hope that it resembles ketchup. We are now trying to stay up till after 6:00 so we can get a full night sleep, and will visit Robben Island and Table Mountain tomorrow before our shark dive on Wednesday.

in 24 hours....

I'm writing this first post from the comfort of my desk on my last official work day before we depart on what is sure to be an amazing journey. I've thought a lot about what I'll miss while I'm away and it's made me realize just how blessed I am. I wake up everyday to a fiancé that I love and adore and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with. I have a family that I appreciate and love so much. I have the absolute best set of friends a girl could hope for! I work for a company that breads creativity and have colleagues that truly inspire me. And now I have an opportunity to see the world over the next three months. Stay tuned for our first update from the road...