The possibilities are endless with the variety of Duct Tape® patterns and colors available. Linda Peterson, host of Creative Life TV shows you how to create fashion “rock star” earrings inspired by guitar picks. Add a words or other icons, sprinkle with a little glitter and you’re good to go! PS – your TWEENS are gonna love this! Materials: Duct tape (zebra print and silver) Plastic container such as from a peanut butter jar or cup Non-stick scissors Puffy Paint (we used neon pink) Glitter Glue silver Hole punch (1/16”) Earring wire Jump ring Create a guitar pick template on a piece of paper. (a triangle shape with rounded corners) 1. Apply duct tape to outside of jar. Cut out and apply to back side 2. Cut shape from template 3. Apply glitter glue and let dry. Punch hole for earring wire 4. Add any extra lettering or paint as desired and let dry. Attach earring wire.
Mystery lies around every corner………watch out there’s lions!…
Natacha is waiting here for us with drinks in hand 🙂 What a nice surprise….but it gets better….
I really didn’t think about this area being much more than a “sign”. Until I looked behind me – down that path and saw a lion walk across! I got chills…um actually…. REALLY….. BIG …….GOOSEBUMPS! Maybe I needed that drink to calm my nerves huh??
Natacha told us that they wanted to add some atmosphere to the camp, so they bought three lions…
If you come to my house and I tell you I added atmosphere…that means you’re gonna get a candle at your place at the table…lol….not lions!!!
The intimidating thing is that at first you don’t see the fence….just the lions. The thought of walking about with lions, rhino’s, cape buffalo in the area brings a whole new level to the hiking experience. Natacha and staff have set up a beautiful area for us to enjoy our appetizers while watching these beautiful animals. (Unfortunately I don’t remember what we had for appetizers…I was too busy with the lions)
Look at the glare in this lions eyes. If you look really close you’ll notice that the hair on his back is standing up. He is hunting us…………If there were no fence…we would be dead…they haven’t eaten in two days…
They eat once every three to four days. This is to ensure proper health and also that they don’t get too fat. Their enclosure is approximately 2 acres and the surrounding fence is electric. Below the ground are concrete walls 20 feet deep to ensure that the lions can not dig their way out.
These lions have never been handled by humans, but they were born in captivity. They are fed only dead carcasses. This helps them distiguish between food and moving people when they are fed. If they were fed live animals, this would pose a risk for those that maintain their enclosure and those that feed them as they would not distinguish between moving animal food source and moving human.
SAY CHEESE!! ROOOAAAAARRRR!!!!
This was an experience really beyond words and I new that I wanted to go back and get some more pictures of them and tape some video.
So a couple of days later, I stayed back at camp while the guys went hunting and strolled off to the enclosure.
I shot some video and took these photographs…………………..but remember when I said – there’s mystery around every corner? Sometimes ignorance is bliss…..
I dilly dallied around the cage, feeling totally safe….I even walked the perimeter and the lions followed me. They call this “walking the lions” – it gives them exercise because they’ll follow you…totally cool….
What I didn’t know was that while all this was happening, Marlet and Natacha had just rescued lion cubs that had walked into camp….and we didn’t know where their mother was.
So after, I found out about the lion cubs, not knowing where the lioness was…my thoughts were racing…Can you just imagine how protective a lioness with cubs would be…and I was with the lions?? I really laid awake all night thinking about what could have happened …and it gave me bigger goosebumps!
We would hear the lions roar every night and about 4:30 am on the dot every morning. It’s loud…and its DEEP!…They were more predictable than roosters….
But the morning that all this happened, we all mentioned how loud the lions were roaring and that it was much louder and they seemed much more rowdy. Little did we know…
It’s hard to say exactly what happened or just why the cubs found their way into camp. But, we suspect that, since the cubs were skinny, they were not being fed because the mother hadn’t made a kill in some time. She can only nurse so long if she doesn’t make a kill and afterwards she will wean them early.
At this point we didn’t know if she was on the property or not.
The next morning Trackers were sent out to look for tracks. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the cubs, they didn’t find fresh tracks.
Either the mother abandoned them and sent them on their way, or something happened to her and left the cubs orphaned. Either way, the roar of the lions brought them into camp.
However it was that they found themselves without their mother, they wouldn’t have made it a week. They were too young to hunt and so they would have been hunted. It’s the circle of life….
Thank goodness though, they were rescued and given to a local breeding project where they will be cared for and given a good quality lion life. One day, they’ll have cubs of their own ensuring the continuation of these gorgeous and magestic Kings of the Wild.
Getting settled in and getting Ant’sy
Inside our Chalet was a welcome package for us laying on the bed. I really felt like I was on a “land cruise” with the elephant towels.
We also received welcome gifts and hats. No detail was left undone!
The view on the other side of the chalet. It’s a huge KUDU…duh..I just noticed that I’m standing in the mirror..
We hop aboard our safari mobile and head to the shooting range to site in their rifles….
Hold your ears….IT’S LOUD!!! – But Dana is a great shot and hits his target every time!
The area around the bush camp is reserved for bow hunters. It has a variety of animals, lots of impala…tons of birds, kudu, gemsbok and more…..but we live for danger….We head to the next property over….DID YOU READ THE SIGN???? BUFFALO, RHINO, and LEOPARD! OH MY!
At this point, I’m thinking (the great photographer that I am) I’m going to get some really AWESOME photos of animals. Beautiful portraits…the animals are going to smile…stand still and have their photo taken…WELL… NOT! I don’t know what the heck I was thinking….the animals have their colors for a reason…they’re camoflauged perfectly…and they don’t stand still….and so…I got a little wake up call that this wildlife photography high I was on, was not going to be a breeze…
Yes, I know this is a HUGE RHINO….and you would think…how in the world could you not see something so huge? Their color suits them. We stopped the safari mobile for this photo and it took me a while to find the animal. It’s was like playing “Where’s Waldo” with dangerous animals.
There are roads throughout the property as you will see in more photos as we go along. The drive is slow and our PH Etienne, sits on the back bars scoping the landscape for animals and looking for fresh tracks….
Along the road’s you will see alot of these active ant mounds. They are huge!!! And I’m told that this one is about 25-30 years old. Ants amaze me……Inside these mounds the temperature remains a constant temperature. They have a way to vent the hot air out and bring the cool air in and they do it all naturally…..fascinating!!
Dana is so giddy about now……..I think I pinched him to make sure he wasn’t dreaming…
In South Africa, everything is on survival mode….everything is out to get you…whether its the bushes with 2″ long needles, poisonous snakes, spiders or animals….while you are hunting….you are being hunted as well….
Etienne and the tracker Joe – are following some fresh Impala tracks. Unfortunately the animals ran, so I think this is Dana’s first wake up call as to how fast these animals react and that this hunt is not going to be a walk in the park…..
I remember at one point, we stopped the truck. Etienne whispered “Kudu” and pointed….I looked and looked…no KUDU! I really thought he was playing with my mind until I caught the slightest twinkle in the sun…ever so slight…looked like a tiny piece of glitter….and there it was…the very TIP of a Kudu horn. We couldn’t see the animal, but thru all the brush Etienne saw the twinkle of the tip of the horn….MAN THESE GUYS ARE GOOD!!!
So, we came out ZERO on our practice run, but it was a good warm up to know just how fast everything reacts.
We ended each day with gorgeous scenery and sunsets! I’ve never seen such beautiful colors in all my life…..
BTW – the photo below is not edited. The sky was rich with purples, pinks flowing into oranges and bright yellows….
Tomorrow….we will hunt……………………………..and be hunted!….
I’m taking you to Africa………..
So here we are….all settled in for our enormously looonnnnggggg 16 hour flight to Johannesburg, SA….
The guy poppin in the photo is Larry…..Dana’s friend who came with us. He’s a lot of fun too and I think he was really excited….I knick named him MuFasa, since he was going on a lion hunt.
I don’t watch many movies, but I did watch “WE BOUGHT A ZOO!” on the plane…I loved it. That little Rosie captured my heart. It’s a really cute movie if you haven’t seen it…great family movie…
The flight was miserably long…and I couldn’t get off the plane fast enough.
Dana’s proudly showing you his first stamp in his first passport….I think we should call it his “Dream Stamp!” Welcome to South Africa Baby!!!!
We left home on May 1 at 6am. Caught our flight to Atlanta at10:30 am. The flight to Johannesburg was at 8 pm that night and it is now Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm when we got off the plane…exhausted….
We spent the night here at the Afton Guest House. An older couple own it and it is a really sweet and comfortable bed and breakfast. It will set you back about R1300 which is equivalent to about $89 US dollars. They grilled steaks for us and once our tummy’s were filled, the food coma set in and we went beddy-bye……
Love- love- love- waking up to the smell of breakfast….except I didn’t get to…Dana woke me up LONG before breakfast with the “too excited to sleep routine”….lol… I think he might have slept in his safari clothes.
Breakfast was delicious…a little steak from last night…couple of eggs, and that sprinkly stuff on the potato round…which I “thought might be lemon pepper” wasn’t …it’s Aromat…a South African spice that they like to put on just about everything….and now I put it on just about everything….
We still haven’t reached our final destination…the Limpopo area and more specifically, Laphalele, is still four hours north of Johannesburg.
I always find traveling in foreign countries fascinating – even in the smallest of things. In the US we have stop signs….and they do too… Some of theirs are for tall people? I dunno!?!?!?!
but they also have DON’T stop signs…….
And beware of the warthog signs…………………………… how cute is this? They did run out in front of us several times. They are adorable….so ugly they’re cute!…
Pick N Pay – also known as P N P is their local grocery store chain. They are open till the “hoo” hours of the morning……. 🙂
And you might have to stop for gas too. The price here is 93cents (rand). Everything is on the metric system. It’s a little over 3L of gas to our Gallon and will set you back about $3.50 US. About these same as it is here at home, with the exception that gasoline prices only rise once per month.
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