Well, I arrived here in Phalaborwa about 3 hours ago, and am comfortably settled in at Sunbird Lodge for the night, before taking the family to Kruger Park, and then on to Thornybush and finally, to hunt the last week of our trip.

I must say that Marita Dyason of Spear Safaris has done a fantastic job of organizing all the details of our trip. When I told her that this would be a family vacation as much as a hunting trip, we talked about a few of my interests, and then Marita suggested I leave everything to her. As time went on, she and her husband Ernest came up with suggestions and asked for my approval before confirming any arrangements. We'll spend about a week touring Kruger and Thornybush game reserve, and then finish our trip off with some hunting on their Limpopo Province hunting areas.

After a 36 hour trip from California, my family was quite tired and didn't need any difficulty at the last legs of the travel. We were met by the Afton Guest House, who assisted us with clearing our firearms, and that went very smoothly. All I did was send over the paperwork ahead of arrival and they took care of everything else. That service is the only way to go if flying into Jo'burg. Upon our arrival in Phalaborwa, we were met not only by Marita, but also by Robin, the lady whom she'd hired a rental vehicle from for us. They then took us to Sunbird Lodge and we finished the evening off with a very nice dinner and am now ready to turn in for the night.

More tomorrow.

Enjoy your holiday. You'll have a great time.

This is the sort of report we like to hear from our friends going to Africa.

have a great time, and tell us all about it when you get back.