A Birds-Eye View of South Africa
As I mentioned in my previous post, I am really f-ing lucky.
A couple of weeks ago I spent the weekend at Leobo Private Reserve, one of the most amazing lodges in South Africa (in my opinion at least). I traveled to Leobo in my colleague Theresa’s brand-new Landrover, which was pretty luxurious. But as if I weren’t already lucky enough, I got to travel home from Leobo in a helicopter.
My new mates – Gaye, Kirsten and Lin – and me, ready to take off in the chopper.
The drive to the Waterberg, which is in central Limpopo Province, took 3.5 hours. The helicopter ride home was just over an hour. I had my camera lens glued to the window for pretty much the entire ride.
Other than a very short ride at the Grand Canyon a few years ago, this was my first trip in a helicopter. What struck me the most was how much we saw. We flew low enough to see all kinds of details – people, houses, animals, etc. (By the way, giraffes look really cool from above.) It was a great cross-section of South Africa.
Here are some photos.
Airborne. Our pilot was the charming David Simelane of UltimateHeli.
Wild hills. Unfortunately I didn’t get any shots of animals, although we saw lots.
Copter-shadow Instagram.
Farm.
Small town.
Sprawling township.
Graveyard.
Soccer game.
Power station.
Train station outside Pretoria.
Waterfall in the Wonderboom Nature Reserve outside Pretoria.
Gautrain station. Not sure which one. Hatfield?
Church Square, Pretoria.
Downtown Pretoria Instagram.
Jozi.
Grand Central Airport in Midrand, north of Jozi. I was a little airsick by the time we landed, probably from looking too hard through my viewfinder.
I’m f-ing lucky.
On another note: My luck ran out yesterday. I dropped my camera on the pavement and broke my beloved 10-22mm lens.
This was very unlucky.
I’m not sure yet if the lens is repairable but the prognosis is not good. So my pretty wide-angle shots might be missing from the blog for a while.
I’m still f-ing lucky though.
Comments
A broken lens Is worth the overall experience!
I suppose I might feel that way if I’d dropped the lens on the helicopter ride. But it actually happened two weeks later outside an Indian restaurant in Norwood :)
I’m sooo jealous! Great pics. BTW the Gautrain station is Centurion.
Of course, Centurion! Thanks.
What a great ride. Thanks for taking us along.
My pleasure Debra!
How fantastic! By looking from above, I got the feeling I was looking through the heli window. Thanks for the ride!
Very jealous, would do just about anything for a flight of any kind. Thanks for sharing though.
Thanks Rory!
Incredible post. Love the pics.
Sorry about the lens. Maybe the folks from Canon can hook you up?
W`ow thats so nice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Uapindika.
THanks for this post! I like your style
Fabulous shots, I always reckon best place to get an overview is from the air :-) Terrible about your lens though……maybe we could petition Canon to give you a new lens?
Great pics Heather, but now I feel so bad about your lens. What a sad ending.
This is beautiful - you lucky girl……. Amazing pictures here. i like pictures of PTA of the square and the old buildings
Thanks Eileen!
Reblogged this on Fotografía de Calidad.