You no longer run into rhino,
sleeping in waterholes,
visited by a friend.
There is no need to break for baby waterbuck,
crossing the road to mama,
protected by papa, and watched by a drifting hippo.
And of course you no longer see the elephant herds,
with all the happy babies.
Thank you for coming with me to Africa. I hope we can go back there someday.
Cheers to you from Africa’s wonderful wild creatures~
What incredible photos of an amazing trip, Cindy. Wonderful memories. I must admit, I thought the rhino in the first picture was dead and thankfully you clarified that. I particularly like the picture of the male waterbuck giving you the eye.
Isn’t that waterbuck gorgeous. These animals are so incredible. The thought of hunting them for fun or trophies is so remarkably cowardly~
What an incredible adventure, I can see why you miss it. Every place else seems kind of dull compared to it!
It does, although I was shocked by the wild animals I encountered next in London and the golden eagles carrying on at The Holler right now. Thank God we have the wild things!
I loved this series. It made me happy.
Ohhhhhh, this makes me happy! <3
Lovely, Cindy. Maybe someday we can go. What a wonderful experience.
Leslie
Let’s go! Please……. <3
Wouldn’t that be fun, Cindy! I did a painting of some mating lions. I’ll put it out at some point.
Leslie
oooooh yes! Please!
Another incredible journey, Cindy. Thanks for taking me along! π
You are the very best traveler Bette! Where are we going next?
You have posted a lot of unbelievable photographs, it’s no wonder you want to stay there a little longer! π
So kind Ranu and I am so glad you came along with me. It made the experience richer my friend~ <3
Such wonderful photos, Cindy, thank you so much!
Awwww, thank you more for appreciating the wild things!
Aw, yes indeed it’s hard to say goodbye to this and hope that you’ll take us back to Africa again in the future! By the way, those waterbucks are beautiful. This is the first time I’ve seen them and hadn’t any knowledge of their existence until you shared this post Cindy! I just love the markings on their fur! <3 ~Lynn
Yes, I never knew of them until my first trip to Africa, where I was leafing through the guide book trying to identify them! π Aren’t they gorgeous. Thank you so much Lynne for sharing my love of these wonderful creatures. Blogging is rewarding because of people like you.
Cindy, It has been a glorious visit! π
I am heading up to your territory next Resa, gotta find me some bears!!!! π
It’s amazing how far elephants travel too π
How far can they go?
Apparently miles upon miles to the nearest water source, across fields π how do they always know where to go though? wow π
They are very intelligent in ways that humans are not!
Wow, so wonderful!
Awwww, so happy you like the wild things too! <3
I sure do!
<3
Great series and it looks like you have enjoyed Africa so much, and getting the best of your last days there ~ the waterbuck shots are my favorite, beautiful animals. Safe travels ~
Thank you my friend and so glad you traveled along with me!
Amazing photos Cindy. I hope to visit one day.
I can’t wait to see your fotos when you do!
Will we still be blogging then? π
Of course, why ever not! π
I’m sad to see Africa in your rear view, too!
Darn it, we need some of your fairy dust to take us there right now, as soon as your kids go to sleep…….
Your pictures are all the fairy dust we need. π
<3
It was wonderful to go with you to Africa! π
Alison
I cannot wait to go with you Alison!
Cindy, thanks so much for taking us along on your trip. Your photos made it seem as if I was actually there.
Thank you and I wish we both were now! <3
I have enjoyed your photos from Africa so very much and Ty for taking us along with you in your photos.
You are a joy to have along my friend!
Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos. π
Thank you more for appreciating them!
Looked like an amazing trip. So sad to see the poached rhinos. The animals are all so unique in character and habitat, and every one poached or parts taken for souvenirs like the ivory from elephants is a sad reality.
It takes such cowardice to approach peaceful, grazers like this and shoot them with rifles. Remember Bungalow Bill? “Went tiger hunting with his elephant gun. In case of accidents he always brung his mum. Hey, Bungalow Bill, what did you kill?” Yuck.
Such stunning photos! It makes me want to get on a plane.
It is amazing to agree 100% considering how much I hate flying…. π
Thanks for the fabulous e-tour (*βΏ*)β
Thank you more for coming along!
That’s really hard, I know. Thanks for all the wonderful pictures from your trip, Cindy!
I think all the time about my friends like you who actually lived there and left. It must be the penultimate homesickness. But at least you were lucky enough to live in a place that inspires such feelings.
Photo-safaris are the best safaris Cindy π
Thank you very much for sharing your adventures π
I suppose if I encountered trophy hunters in Africa, I would take a bunch of photos of them and post them online, hoping they would get the reaction they deserve.
I think that you are right Cindy.
I do know some people who made a business with only photo safari and it became very popular with animal lovers π
Cindy, lovely pictures. Hope you will go back some day. Africa must be so interesting! Hugs! Veraiconica
Hugs & cheers back to you my friend~
Thanks so much for this beautiful series! Bravo, dear Cindy!
Ahhh, thank you more for appreciating the animals my friend~
Will look forward to returning there with you, Cindy π
I can’t wait!
You are the best travelling companion, Cindy. Where next please?
Visa versa 2 U X 2 Anne. Next is Yellowstone, Glacier and Waterton National Park in Canada. Looking for grizzlies and wolves! Hope you are coming along. You bring me luck.
Sure, count me in. π
Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful adventure Cindy!
Thank you more for joining me!
But how very wonderful to have been! π I love that last backward look over his shoulder!
Aren’t wild animals incredible. Every time I first spot one with my camera, they are already looking at me, evaluating…….
I’m so pleased I was able to travel along with you on this fantastic journey Cindy. Now I wait in anticipation for the next destination… π
It wouldn’t be the same at all without you Pauline!
These have been some of the most wonderful photos I’ve seen on Africa, such a treat to find them every day.. you are so skilled with words and pictures, its been a most moving journey with you, thank you Cindy
Awwww, people like you Valerie, are the reason I love blogging. <3
I love all of these photos Cindy! The Waterbuck family are my favorites!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful Africa photos! Huge Lisa and Bear
You are Bear are really the best of traveling companions my friend!
Especially when you were born there and lived there all your life. Glad you enjoyed Africa, Cindy. Thank you for your wonderful images.
Yes. I think of this every time I post on Africa. The homesickness engendered by leaving such a birthplace by my friends like you who lived there. It causes me grief leaving, and I have spent a month total there. I think that maybe the best way to look at it is how incredibly lucky you were to have lived in a place that inspires such grief upon leaving. “It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.” Still I feel for you. I can clearly feel the nostalgic pull in the written comments from my blogging friends who lived in South Africa, and left, and I fully appreciate it Don. <3
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Cindy Knoke has been in Africa for the last few weeks with her camera of course.. and here are some of her final shots of her trip.. If you have not yet visited Cindy’s blog then please do so but be prepared to stay a while as you marvel at her photography.
You are so kind and such a wonderful bloggin friend! Thank you~ <3
Thank you, Cindy, for taking us to the long and interesting trip to Africa.
It has been a wonderful whirl hasn’t it! Thanks for coming along~
Thank you, Cindy for taking us along! You took so many special photos letting us enjoy seeing these majestic animals that we won’t have seen otherwise.
Imagining a world without these magnificent creatures is imagining a world without hope.
Stunning photos!… Wild natural life is perfect…
All my best wishes, dear Cindy π π Aquileana :star:
Gracias mi amable amiga! <3
I don’t know about you but that sleeping rhino looks dead. That was some trip!
Until he wakes up! π
What an amazing experience
and I forgot to say I think that your photographs are great
I think the same about yours!
Glad you are heading home though…and more tales from the holler….
Yep, The Holler critters put on quite a show, which I will post, to let me know they are just as important, in a more subtle way! π
Thank you for carrying me away to Africa, if only in my mind, via your photos! I hope someday to go there, but until then, your blog is the closest I’ll come! Your travels bring the world closer for so many of us — your work is wonderful!
Awwww, such a lovely comment that moves and motivates me my friend. Thank you~
Cheers Cindy, and glad you enjoyed the African trip.
It really was a trip! π
amazing photos – thank you for sharing.
cate b
Thank you more for appreciating~
I’d never seen a waterbuck before — what a darling baby!! And I just can’t get enough of photos of elephants. Such splendid creatures; such a shame what poachers are doing to them.
If I think too much about poachers, I get despairing. so I don’t. I wonder how animals differentiate among humans and forgive us? I was reading documentation of all these deep sea dolphin rescuing humans. I wonder at their capacity for forgiveness~
Excellent captured, Cindy… π
Merci beaucoup mon ami~
Cindy, you obviously will be reliving this experience and its multi-layers for many moons. It must be humbling to see such creatures as well as a land with such strong culture, history and politics.
It is a spiritually mind expanding experience that never leaves you. Africa has so much to teach us, ion so many levels, and I barely scratched the surface of one tiny part. Humbling indeed. Majestic too~
A poignant farewell! Lovelyβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ
Such a happy gift to hear from you Rebecca!
What a trip! Beautiful photos as always. π
Mil grazi!
What a magical journey. So delighted you shared this with us. Not sure you’ve seen it, but it’s been making it’s way around FB. They are dying rhino and elephant tasks pink. It makes them unsalable on the black market.
I haven’t seen it, and it is a brillant concept. So simple, like all great ideas. God, I hope it works!
Glad you enjoyed it and hope you get to return some day. See ya later alligator. (I’ll have a crocodile sandwich, and make it snappy) π
They served crocodile at a boma we went to. Needless to say, I didn’t snap it up!
I visited Africa 3 times in my lifetime, each and every time I wanted to stay longer. Have a safe trip back home.
You’ve done one trip more than I. I have no idea if I will go back, but I fully appreciate why you went three times! If we keep on going, I wonder if eventually, we will not return. I could see this happening to me. The pull is so strong.
I was born and raised in Europe, right between Austria and Italy. A trip to Africa wasn’t so dramatic then, as a matter of fact it was the #1 tourist attraction in the 80’s.
In Europe I can imagine it was. It is an 11 or so hour flight from Europe. A one way trip to South Africa takes me 22 hours, still I grew up in La Jolla, and remember my grandfather’s home movies of Kenya, and of Treetops Lodge, the Masai. I still have the wood carvings he bought. He went and it must have taken him even longer. This was probably 1963 or so. It was unusual then. 90% of people who visit Kruger are South Africans which surprised me. Most American tourists go on led safari experiences, at super expensive lodges, and do not self drive. They pay a lot more for this and are not free to do their own thing, and they don’t develop their own skills and confidence. Plus, since it is so expensive, they only stay for short periods of time. On each trip to Kruger we encountered one American couple self driving, but many self driving Europeans.
I’m going on a South African photo safari in September by way of Cape Town. I can’t wait! So glad I found your blog and your gorgeous photos. I’ll be scrolling through all of your posts. π
Oh how wonderful. I know how excited you must be, but your excitement now pales with how you will feel once your feet touch the ground in Africa. I look very much forward to hearing about your experiences!
Thanks for sharing the journey and the beautiful photos.
Thank you for being someone who appreciates the magic of Africa~
They are precious images. Thank you for taking us to the virtual trip to Africa!
I am so happy you came along with me Maiko. You made the trip a richer experience!
thanks again for taking us with ya on your adventures…beautiful photosππ»πΊπΈπ πππ«πͺππππππππππ
Oh I so love your icons and thank you for joining me! You made it more fun~
I love those emojis…I’m an emoji addictππππΌI’m glad I made it more fun..that’s a huge compliment to me, much thanksβπ½οΈππ½π
Ok, now I googling emojis!
it’s been a wonderful trip Cindy – thank you so much for taking us along. I do like the quiet story you tell, you’ve given us the best of the best. A very special visit ~
Awwww, people like you are why I so love blogging Mary~ <3
Thank you so much – we have a great community.
What a wonderful adventure Cindy. Fingers crossed, my daughter & I hope to visit next year!
Oh my, I am so excited for you both. I hope you do go and I look forward to tagging along virtually!
It seems like you had a fabulous trip! There is something to be said though for coming home and sleeping in your own bed. π
Yes, with my own hawks and hummingbirds! We know each so well~
Thanks, Cindy. It was fun revisiting and I hope to go back in person one day!
I hope you do and I want to go with you vicariously!
It was an amazing series….!! It was like enjoying Africa through your lens… π
Awwww, makes it so rewarding to post! Thank you~
I shall miss them too. Thank you for the vicarious delights.
It is a wonderful trait in human beings that we can travel and marvel with our imaginations. I do it everyday!
Those events will be missed for sure. I love that picture #6 from the top down.
I know isn’t his expression priceless. He’s saying, now come on lady, don’t push it, so I didn’t! Laughing…….
Thank you for shearing the images from your adventures. It has been remarkable. Thank you!
Awwww, you made it so much more rewarding!
Wonderful pics, Cindy. What an adventure you’ve had! π
It was a culmination of a lifetime of fascination with Africa and it was even better the second time around!
Thank you for bringing us along! Great series, Cindy!
For you my dear, I would do most anything and I mean it! <3
Gracias por habernos mostrado la maravillosa fauna africana al natural. He disfrutado mucho con todas las fotos que me han transportado a esa naturaleza virgen. <3<3
Tu es un amiga tan encantador! Gracias mi querido y vΓtores para ti~ <3
sad >
He’s sleeping and hopefully will continue to be okay, but it would be terribly sad if he were to be killed~
Liebe Cindy einen schΓΆnen Mittwoch wΓΌnsche ich dir es sind wunderschΓΆne Fotos sei ganz lieb gegrΓΌΓt Klaus in Freundschaft
Danke, dass du mein lieber Freund Klaus! <3
Beautiful photos – What an adventure! =0)
It was a wonderful whirl!
Thank you for the wonderful trip! What a land!
It is pretty incredible and thank you for traveling with me Inese~
Where next ? π
Laughing, we are going to Yellowstone, Waterton and Glacier in Canada in September to look for wolves and Grzzlies. Jim just booked us on a last minute, super cheap deal to Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Budapest while I was out grocery shopping. It is an amazingly cheap flight and we leave in November. I was looking at hotel prices in these parts of Europe in early November, unbelieveable deals! Eeeeeks this is a lot even for me, but there are all these places we haven’t been too, and think of all the great food! Laughing…….
Wonderful pictures Cindy please keep taking them and sharing π
I can’t help myself, it is so much fun, sharing this with awesome bloggers like you! <3
Thank you Cindy and it is such a joy for us to see your beautiful pictures π
<3 <3
This post is wistfully sweet. I mourn the loss of these wild creatures as if I had seen them in person. Which I never have. Only in my dreams :*(
Yes, there is a deep connection between humans and wild animals, at least there should be! We have lost ourselves, truly, if we don’t feel this kinship. Thank you for knowing this~
Thanks for your lovely photographs, Cindy.
You are most welcome. <3
Never been to Africa but I do know the pull of certain places I have visited and the way they hold you so you never want to leave π
Yes. They tend to be the places you go back too, despite distance or hardship! Patatgonia, Africa, and Antarctica are like this for me. Canada too, although minus the hardship!
The pictures are amazing!! And it was indeed a wonderful journey π
Awww, thank you! Consider how many said journeys are available to us all on this amazing planet if we can just manage not to destroy it!
Exactly! That is so true…..its a blessing we have……and its very sad to not recognise it.
Thank you for the beautiful photos:)
Thank you more for appreciating them!
Cindy, I nominated you for a challenge: http://suburbanhobo.com/2015/07/09/lovehate-challenge/
Awwwww, so touched and grateful. People like you Erica, are why I love blogging and bloggers so much! <3 <3
Ditto.
Aww π It ended so soon. We were having a nice vacation in Africa from the comfort of our homes. Thank you for the beautiful tour . I enjoyed every bit of it. Especially the two headed giraffes.
There is alot to be said for virtual travel, no air flights, no mosquitos, no time change or jet lag! I am so glad you came along with me~
I simply adored your doing all the hard work, Cindy! Traveling far, enduring heat and being close to danger: All for our entertainment! I liked the rhinos, waterbucks, and especially baby elephants in this last leg of your adventure. Have a safe and lovely trip home, Cindy! β‘
Virtual travel, like reading blogs and books, is alot of fun isn’t it!. I love doing it too, just like I love reading your blog posts Robin~ <3
This was a wonderful trip.
Where are we going to next?
I want to make sure I pack the right wardrobe for the location. π
Jeans and boots please. We’re heading to Yellowstone, Glacier and Waterton in Canada to look for bears and wolves! So glad your coming along my friend! <3
Thanks. Me too! π
<3
What an extraordinary trip it’s been. Those photos, those gorgeous animals, the vistas. You’ll never be the same.
Yes, it is true. Africa changes you in some profound ways…..
Amazing photos, what an interesting journey!
It certainly was that and more! Thanks much & Happy Friday~
Wonderful photos from your trip, Cindy, no wonder it’s sad to leave. I bet arriving in London, exciting though it may be, is a bit of a bringdown! RH
Well, that’s where the foxes come in! π Plus I went to a tattoo/barber shop and got a very severe haircut that looks just awful but it was a completely novel and very fun experience. I have never been in a place like that and it was most fascinating, and, no, I didn’t get a tattoo! π
What an amazing trip. Safe Travels.
We are Holler home now but we did travel safely and I appreciate the concern my friend~ <3
Not sure how I missed this. Such beautiful photos. Such wonderful memories! π
You would love Africa Linda, but you would probably rescue and bring home a lion cub…….
I would love it — but I wouldn’t bring home a lion cub (I’ve got too many cats now) so I’d have to settle for an elephant! π π
The elllies are always a good choice!
Black Rhinos are now extinct http://inhabitat.com/africas-western-black-rhino-is-now-officially-extinct/ π
So horrible to contemplate the reality of actual extinction of a sub-species particularly when we knew about it and had time to take action. Unforgiveable. Period. As you know there are about 8 or so subspecies of Black Rhino, the Western is now extinct as you sadly point out. In Kruger,southern black rhinos are making a small but hopeful recovery, but are still very endangered. It makes me weepy, after walking amongst these gentle grazers.
Thank you Cindy. Sub-species. Yes. Hooray for Kruger.
<3
Gorgeous photos what a wonderful snapshot of Africa you’ve given me βΊοΈ
It is such a special place and hard to get that across in photos as it is such a multi-sensory experience~
I almost missed your photo of the elephants – the one advocacy program Tom remains active in is the protection of elephants from ivory poachers and jewelers against the use of ivory.
Tom applies his energies in an important direction. Thank him for me. <3
I will.
I’m half Nigeria and I’ve had short visits to six countries, but I could never get enough of Africa, it gets under your skin doesn’t it?
It really does, and when you see photos or read about it, it brings up this bitter-sweet nostalgia and thougths of , “Oh, I want to go back!” π
Cindy, have you read the story about the dentist from Minn that killed the lion is Zimbabwe? Very sad story. I hate to see these beautiful animals hunted even though the authorities use the fees for conservation, I still find it heartbreaking.
Yes. I read several stories about him. He paid $55K to lure a collared lion out of a protected reserve with meat. He shot the lion outside of the park with an arrow. The lion was injured. He found the lion 40 hours later and shot him. He skinned the lion and took his head, hid the collar. The lion was well known in the park and was the patriarch. Now all his cubs will be killed by rival lions wanting to assume his place. This dentist has photos of himself with rhino, leopard, and big horn sheep he killed slowly with his bow and arrow. He has a criminal conviction for illegaly killing black bear in the US. I went to his yelp page and left a rude comment which I never do. I said he was a little man, with big arrows, and no heart. I am sick about these kinds of actions. I read that he most likely won’t be prosecuted. Leopards, rhinos, big horn sheep, lion, are vulnerable species in the wild. America’s gun and kill culture is just revolting. You can tell I am bothered by this. Seeing these animals in the wild, it is just impossible to understand how someone would want to kill them slowly and painfully.
I agree. I have joked that man/woman can eat and kill anything he can drag out of the wild with his/her bare hands. This story made me so sad for humankind. I know we are capable of great moments, but their are times that our destructive nature is overwhelming.
Yes, it getting to a critical mass, if we don’t do something, we as a species will have failed with the greatest gift of all, our world.
I hope this man is brought to trial to answer for his actions but I doubt the US govt will cooperate with Zimbabwe.
I agree with you. He was already convicted for illegally killing a black bear.
So this guy is a poacher, plain and simple.
Yes. He is an American poacher. He tried to hide the tracking collar, so he knew what he was doing was wrong.
Marvelous shots Cindy. Waterbucks are sooo elegant.
I am pretty awed you grew up in this place. I wish I did.
I think I grew up inside the book. I would read the jungle book, about Nag, the evil cobra Rikki-Tikki-Tavi fought. I closed the book, and there would be a snake in the garden. To me, it was normal. I lived “inside” the Book. (Add to that I was born in India…)
ππ»
But the book is still there. You can go back inside just about any time. Grab a plane… Oh. Not yet. Next year…
I finally met lots of very big Rikki-Tikki-Tavis a few years ago. They were living under a place we stayed. Rudyard Kipling was one of my favorite authors as a child which is one of the reasons I felt so enchanted with Africa and seeing places in the book, like the “The great grey green greasy Limpopo River all set about with Fever Trees.” I even saw the trees!
God, the Just So stories. My father read them to us in Africa. Then bought us a wonderfully illustrated book for us to read. I still have the book. Must read it to my grandson soon.
So you saw the Limpopo river? ππ»
I did and Oliphants and Sabie which were amazing. My father bought me the illustrated Just So Stories too and I bought it for my children. I don’t still have my original book but I remember it well. I already read The Elephants Child to my two year old twin grandsons. What a wonderful legacy for us to pass down the generations!
Meetings of minds. (It is one of favourite sories in the book, along with the rhinoceros and the Parsi) I will start reading it to Grandson G.
He will be so happy you did α
He’s coming tomorrow, but it’s school time. On- line. so we generally spend most of the day running and helping him with the computer… If not tomorrow, another day.
Take care Cindy.
Grandchildren are proof of God. Stay well and safe my friend α
U 2