What I did on my summer vacation.

[Rain Man]

So for those of you who don't ever look at me, I wandered away for a while. A sample of vacation photos will follow.

[Donger]

I keep waiting for the Hilton. Where's the Hilton?

[Rain Man]

You gotta like these guys. They're way cool to watch.

[Rain Man]

Cape Buffalo about to be carried off by a bird.

[Skip Towne]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Cape Buffalo about to be carried off by a bird.

That is the epitome of optimism.

[Rain Man]

We hit paydirt on the evening of the second day. These guys are really hard to find, and we saw a big one.

Unfortunately, we saw no lions or cheetahs. Our park didn't have them, so we spent one day in a nearby national park where they exist in numbers, but for some reason they were all in hiding. Nonetheless, leopards are much more difficult to see than the other big cats, so it was a victory of sorts.

[cdcox]

So going to South Africa is like a very expensive trip to the zoo?

[Rain Man]

Recall that we were in an open land rover. We were like, "Hey, uh, how fast does this thing accelerate if we need it to?"

The rangers hadn't seen this leopard before, and estimated it to be in the 180 to 200 pound range.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by cdcox

So going to South Africa is like a very expensive trip to the zoo?

Pretty much. Except you're in the cage.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Another exciting part about the trip was wandering to the bathroom about 12 hours into it and seeing a guy with robes and leather cords chanting next to the emergency exit. I snuck this photo and hope it's not disrespectful to do so, but it was really interesting. Someone else said he was a Hasidic Jew, but I've never seen dress like this. If you look at his arms, he had a long cord wrapped around them. Fortunately, he didn't blow up the plane or anything.

The 'robe' is a Tallis Gadol and the 'cord' is Teffilin and, yes, it's disrespectful to take a photo.

I forgive you.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Recall that we were in an open land rover. We were like, "Hey, uh, how fast does this thing accelerate if we need it to?"

The rangers hadn't seen this leopard before, and estimated it to be in the 180 to 200 pound range.

Awesome! Well told.

[DeezNutz]

Thanks for sharing your photos, Rain Man. Very cool stuff.

[Rain Man]

This giraffe was about 100 feet from the leopard, and was keeping an eagle eye on it.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

A random street scene from Durban, South Africa, on my first day. My hotel was apparently in a predominantly African American neighborhood.

Originally Posted by Adept Havelock

Are you sure they weren't South African Americans?

Originally Posted by kstater

Wouldn't they be called African African's?

I was all ready to lay it down and kstater beat me too it.

[Logical]

Originally Posted by L.A.Chieffan

I thought the flight to New Zealand was the longest in the world. Like 20 something hours.

I think they all say that, try to keep you from complaining. I think it was 22 hours to Taiwan (bad, bad headwinds)

[Logical]

Really great trip Kevin, too bad DaFace is now in charge of what used to be your company, via a hostile takeover.