{"id":345,"date":"2014-04-21T21:03:27","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T21:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/?p=345"},"modified":"2014-04-28T17:14:33","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T17:14:33","slug":"day-14-an-african-safari-before-capturing-the-tsa-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/?p=345","title":{"rendered":"Day 14 – An African Safari before capturing the TSA in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I write this update, we’re screaming across the clear blue South African sky at 35,000 feet en route to Johannesburg. We’re looking forward to South Africa, however I’m still reflecting on the past two weeks and all that we accomplished and witnessed.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>In my opening post I wrote about the great Africa plains where animals roam, so I thought it would be appropriate to come full circle with this last blog post from Zimbabwe and share something of the amazing experience the team had when we visited a place called Antelope Park.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Antelope\"<\/a>
\n<\/span>Antelope Park is located 21 kms west of Gweru, just off the main road to Bulawayo. Driving west and at the appointed sign, we turned right and drove for 6 kms down a dusty, bumpy, and pot-holed road. Like a mirage in the middle of the desert, we came upon Antelope park, home to myriad African animals but best known for its international ‘Lion Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild Program.’
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lion\"<\/a>
\n<\/span>It was an oasis. We exited our vehicle only to see a crowd looking towards the waters edge. There, to our amazement, were four gigantic elephants, quietly eating and drinking as a couple dozen tourists looked on. That was the start of our few hours at Antelope Park.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Elephants\"<\/a>
\n<\/span>Following a delightful lunch and the best Americano coffee I’ve had since leaving London, we climbed aboard our land rover, just like in the movies, and set out on our African safari adventure.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Our guide, Carlos was excellent. He was knowledgeable and engaging and certainly knew where to look for the animals, no small feat in ‘3000 acres of open savannah grassland.’ We crashed and banged our way along the rough dirt pathways and even ventured into the tall grass on several occasions looking for animals. We were successful!
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>We saw a giraffe gently grazing on tree leaves several meters above the ground. The young male giraffe was happy to stand and pose for photos. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Girafe\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A few minutes later, we came along a herd of wildebeest and according to our guide they are the ‘dumbest creature’ in the African animal kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Widabeast\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We also saw lions, zebra, antelope and scores of vultures. It was an afternoon we will never forget. The team was thankful for a few hours of relaxation and for the majestic experience that was ours.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Zebras\"<\/a>
\n<\/span>Now, back to the flight. \u00a0We’re excited about the next few days of filming in South Africa. A quick glance out my window and I see that the topography is very different in South Africa to that of Zimbabwe; similarly, our experiences in Johannesburg with be unique and special. \u00a0 I’ll keep you posted.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Thanks again for reading.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Blessings!<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Major John Murray, Communications and Literary Secretary<\/span><\/p>\n

\"John<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I write this update, we’re screaming across the clear blue South African sky at 35,000 feet en route to Johannesburg. We’re looking forward to South Africa, however I’m still reflecting on the past two weeks and all that we accomplished and witnessed. In my opening post I wrote about the great Africa plains where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":412,"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blog.savn.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}