Ben & Lindy's Travels: South African "Safari"

In search of the "Big 5" (the five most ferocious beasts to hunt), we left the relative safety of Cape Town and headed up the east coast. We understood from the jungle drums that elephant had been spotted near the town of Knysna, a six hour drive from Cape Town.

From the relative safety of the balcony of the B&B where we "camped", we could see the famous Knysna lagoon and Heads, a gateway to the Indian Ocean.

We ventured into town and discovered Dr. Mama had a remedy for all of life's problems.

We were also relieved that commerce was alive and well in Knysna.

We boarded the requisite safari transportation to go in search of the wild things of Africa.

First on the Big 5 list is the lion. This guy was very laid back, probably not informed about his status as a member of the elite five.

We were glad Ellie was so relaxed as we were very up close and personal with her. She even allowed us to tickle her behind the ears for this magical shot!

Ben decided to offer food instead of becoming lunch.

This eight hundred pounds of mean old water buffalo was taking an afternoon nap

The rhinos on the other hand were alert, so we kept our distance.

Although the zebra is not a member of the Big 5, they were very cute.

Technically, the leopard rounds out the Big 5, but on this safari we had to make do with cheetahs. They looked as if they were sizing us up for lunch.

The ostrich is considered the dumbest bird alive, with a brain an eighth of the size of one eye!

Known for being shy animals, this lovely specimen didn't hesitate to pose for the camera.

Although very cute, we were warned about these mischievous monkeys. We were told to hang onto our car keys, wallets and sunglasses.

Our guide told us monkeys are particularly partial to high end cars and recounted the story of how one monkey stole the keys to a BMW. The monkey returned the keys a week later, but the unfortunate tourist had already spent over $1,000 to have a new key shipped from Germany.