We are about to begin our long awaited trip to Africa! 

     We will be leaving after school on Wednesday, October 27th and fly to London.  After spending a whirlwind day and half sightseeing we will head on down to Africa.  The following is our schedule and we hope to update our travel blog as we go with tidbits of info and pictures of our travels.  We will definitely update when we get home!  So come along on our trip if only in spirit :o)

     After the kids get home from school on Wednesday, October 27th we will depart Chicago O'Hare for London's Heathrow airport.  We will arrive about 10am on the 28th and head out to our hotel.  Our plan is to take the double decker bus tour to see the highlights including, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben,Tower of London, oh and not to mention a pub or two...
We will be leaving London on Friday, October 29th on BA and arrive in Johannesburg South Africa on Saturday the 30th.  After collecting our things we will head out on the left side of the road for a 5 1/2 hour trek to our Safari Lodge at Zulu Nyala in Zululand.  Some of the things we hope to do and see are:  many jeep safaris with lots of animal encounters, visiting the cheetah rescue reserve, a Zulu culture show, SCUBA diving (for Bill and I)in the St Lucia Marine Reserve ( I of course am hoping to avoid seeing the Great Whites...).  After 5 days here we will then drive back to Joburg. We will be staying near the Pillansburg Nature Reserve and have booked a 4 hour elephant back safari!  After we return we will then participate in a Drumming circle.  We also plan on visiting the Lion Park.  This is a place we hope to have close encounters with Lions of all ages.  Finally we will head way south to Cape Town for 2 days.  Here we plan on taking in the famous sights as well as visiting a South African Penguin colony!  The only thing left now is the LONG LONG flight home! 
So there you have it....our basic trip itinerary.  We have lots of room for changes and additions as we go.  So stay tuned and we will attempt to update as we go complete with pictures!  This all depends on the Internet service available and how tired we are at the days end!