Weddingbee boards

Hello bees! Thanks to some help from @bakerella, I've finally been able to resize my honeymoon pics in order to share them with you all. Our honeymoon was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I hope that the pictures manage to convey even a small bit of that. 

Our first stop was South Africa. We landed in Johannesburg after a 16 hour flight and had to hop on this plane: 

This was probably the worst ride of our trip (and we took about 11 flights by the time we got back home). But it was worth it because we were greeted by the beautiful and rugged South African landscape. 

We went on two game drives a day (the first one left at 6am--5:30 wakeup call!). We drove around in open top jeeps and got insanely close to the animals. Here's some proof :) 

The animals really did not care at all about our presence--as long as we stayed in  the vehicle and didn't get between them and their baby animals. When we got too close to a herd of elephants, they started rounding up the babies:

But as you can see, most of the animals continued to do what they were doing--and for lions, that means sleeping:

However, we were lucky enough to see some lionesses and their cubs enjoying a recent kill (we could literally hear the bones cracking and smell the meat--kind of gruesome):

I also discovered that giraffe are possibly my favorite animals. I had no idea how beautiful and graceful they are:

At the end of every afternoon game drive, we were treated to a "sundowner"--basically the South African version of happy hour, complete with champagne, wine, caviar, brie, etc:

We spent three days on safari, which doesn't sound like a lot, but is actually plenty--we saw the Big 5 (rhino, elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo) and it's pretty exhausting. But we were very sad to leave our safari guides and South Africa, which is such a beautiful country and has such amazing wildlife. We really really hope to return one day! 

Up next, Zambia! :) 

Oh my god, amazing pictures! I loved your wedding pictures, and now I'm in love with these. A safari is definitely a must on my to-do list, hopefully in this lifetime :) Btw, how did you resize the pics and still make them so clear? I always struggle with mine.

@bakerella: So glad you like them!! thanks so much for the tip on resizing :) 

@melisslp: Hmm most incredible...Seeing a 3 week old (estimated by the guide) baby elephant was pretty incredible--actually brought me to tears (I'm such a mush , lol). It's just so amazing to see something so new. Seeing the giraffes drinking by the lake was also amazing--they're such feats of engineering, you can see how they have to bend so far down to reach the water and they're so vulnerable like that. And of course, seeing the big cats was just beyond cool. Our guide was super impressed by the cheetah as well--apparently they're very elusive and difficult to find. 

@meliss: Thank you so much!! You MUST go--you would love it for sure. As for the pics, Bakerella suggested a pic resizing software--faststone photo resizer. I also ended up just saving some of them from a picasa album we had created. 

@UpstateCait: I never would have though that we would go to South Africa--it was never on my list either. But I got it in my head about 5 months before the wedding, and that was that! not gonna lie, the plane ride was tough, but we were honestly so beat from the wedding that I slept most the way there. The way back was a bit tougher, but I did get to catch up on movies. And it's so worth it!

@Aubergold: Nope, they really just ignore you as long as you're in the jeep. They know the jeep won't harm them so they have no reason to have an interest in it. However, the guide said that if we stepped out of the jeep or stood up, that would be a different story. None of us tried that :) 

@sassy411: Thanks SO much!! We bought a new camera especially for this trip and I really tried to learn it as best as I could before we went, so I'm super happy the pictures came out so well :)

@Mrs.KMM: I'll definitely PM you today...we did safari in South Africa, at a place called Singita Boulders. It's in the Sabi Sands Reserve, which is on the edge of Kruger National Park. And a cruise to Antarctica is one of DH's dream trips as well...might be too cold for me :)

@mrs.peters.to.be: I"ll definitely PM you today as well!

Wow, amazing! An African safari is on my list of must-do's before we have kids. What a great honeymoon!

Wow.  What an life changing experience.  I'm so glad you had a great time on safari!  It looks amazing.