Going to our assigned Land Rovers, we were loaded and ready to roll by 5:45am. Jeffrey was our driver/guide, and Kenneth was our tracker, who got to ride the seat on the front of the vehicle. Both fellows are from local tribes, and have been guiding for a few years at this bush camp. Of the three drivers and three trackers, we think they are the youngest.
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Kenneth getting vehicle ready for us
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| Sabi Sand Wildtuin Gate |
The camp we are at is part of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve. It is so big, that it is divided into several parcels, all bush camps. Some are extravagant, while others are more conservative. We can say our camp is somewhere in the middle, more family-oriented, because it is family owned and run. It is described well by their brochure as an intimate safari lodge, a jewel within the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, one of South Africa's finest natural sanctuaries. We strongly agree.
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Kenneth seated in front, Mary Ann in shotgun seat, and Jeffrey driving
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On with the morning game drive, which lasted until 9am. The list of animals we saw were a herd of impala, wildebeests, and a lone female leopard around 16 years old. Never expected to spot the leopard so soon...great surprise. She was on a mission, probably looking for a cool spot to sleep the day off after a night of hunting. Just as quietly as she appeared, she slipped back into the bush, and soon disappeared from sight.
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| Female leopard....lucky sighting |
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| Beautiful big cat |
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| Will look for a cool spot to sleep all day |
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| Could care less about us and the Land Rover |
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| She never stopped walking |
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| Probably on her way back from hunting all night |
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| On the road again |
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| Following us |
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| Stopping for an itch |
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| Resting |
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| Cleaning |
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| Done |
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| Better get moving |
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| That's enough of these people |
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You will not see me again, and we never did
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Continuing on, we saw eleven Cape buffalo. In person, these animals are built like brick houses, solid as rocks. And we understand they are mean as they come, capable of killing anything in their path without warning. That makes them the most dangerous of the Big Five.
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| An "obstinacy" of buffaloes (not a herd as you might expect) |
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| Two mean-looking Cape buffalo |
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| Obstinacy of buffalo |
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| Red-billed oxpecker birds |
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| Powerful animal |
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| Not to be messed with |
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| Birds do not fear them |
Smaller animals are just as interesting like the francolin birds that choose to run the road in front of the vehicle instead of flying.
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| A francolin |
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Like to hide in the grass
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The small dwarf mongoose have a habit of popping out on the dirt roads too, in search of bugs or lizards to eat. On the other hand, the four spotted hyenas we found fighting over an old piece of rhino hide, were as vicious as they come.
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| Another lone hyena |
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| Oh no, he had friends |
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| Fighting or playing, you guess.... |
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| Mean hyena |
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| Also dangerous |
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| Their bite is worse than their bark |
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| Actually, they do not bark at all |
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| They make loud cries at night |
White-backed vultures soared overhead and were perched in trees near the hyenas. They were waiting for their turn at the rotten stinking hide. We were glad to be gone from here. Phew!
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| Carrion scavengers....the white-backed vulture |
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| A tree full of vultures |
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Not the prettiest of birds
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More vultures
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It was time for a coffee break at a spot where there was a clearing, and a few trees and bushes for a comfort stop.
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Kenneth, our tracker, serving coffee
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Lynn and Jack & Freida and Keith were our first jeep mates
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Think you all get the picture. However, this is why we only had a small cup of coffee early this morning......to avoid the inevitable. This is easy for the fellows, but not so much so for the ladies. As well as coffee, they served hot chocolate and the rusks. They even taste better out here.
On our way back to the lodge, we saw kudu, a male and female giraffe, and a duiker, a very small antelope.
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| Kudu, a large antelope |
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| Female kudu |
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| Pretty face |
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| Giraffe |
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| A male giraffe has stout dark horns |
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| Looking for thorny acacia trees to eat |
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A grey duiker, a small antelope
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Many birds were spotted, but the prettiest was the lilac breasted roller, a colorful bird with a lilac breast, blue underparts, and greenish nape. They like to perch on tree branches and even power lines, then tumble in flight while spreading their turquoise and white wings in flight. Really a treat to see.
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| A hawk |
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Lone Cape buffalo
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Back at the lodge by 9am, we were ready for a hearty breakfast. Everyday we are offered a bush breakfast, which included eggs any way you want and bacon, ham, sausage, and/or, chorizo. Omelettes and French toast are the other two hot entrees. While you wait for your order, they bring a tray full of sliced fruit, yogurts, cereal, freshly-baked muffins, soft boiled eggs, toast, and plates of sliced meats, even sliced avocados. Juice is in the form of a fruit smoothie, and coffee or hot chocolate are served. Local jams and honey and the largest bottle of ketchup were on the table as well. With all this delicious food, we did not need to eat for the rest of the day. Eventually, you learn to taste a little of everything, especially if you like a ham/cheese/mushroom omelette.
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| Breakfast foods |
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| Set for mostly two people |
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| Breakfast time...note the tables are separated during the day |
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| Lower dining room seating |
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Fireplace in the dining room
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We met a young couple that also joined yesterday by the names of Emily and John from Georgia. He is from England originally, and they were assigned to Margaret and Keith's vehicle. Lucky them.
There was barely enough time to stash our stuff and wash up for the bush walk at 10:30am. It is optional, but a fun activity here. Joseph, their most experienced Shangaan guide and tracker, took four of us today. Emily and John joined us, although their perception of this hike may have been different than what we did.
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Joseph leading the bush walk well-armed
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| Our bush camp from the back meadow |
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Our camp as viewed from the pond in the meadow
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Of course, we remember this walk, since we did the same one last year with Joseph. This was not like a game drive, although we could have run into some of the predators. For that reason, Joseph packed a powerful rifle and plenty of ammo with him.
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| Meadows of the camp |
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| Many trees are dead from over grazing...cut and used for firewood |
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| Male impala |
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| Waterhole in meadow |
So what did we see? Mostly working ants, termites, birds, native trees, dung beetles, and some impala. Joseph advised us that more people in Africa die from the small critters than the Big Five. That would be snakes, scorpions, spiders, and of course, the mosquito that carries malaria and yellow fever among others.
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A dung beetle
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| Good color |
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| Another wildflower |
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Wildflower
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He emphasized that we need to be aware of our surroundings in the bush at all times. Even though we did not see the dangerous animals, be certain they did see us. Joseph also added that the most important thing to remember was we needed to give the big animals plenty of space between them and us. If we got charged, we should climb a tree. Oh, sure......like that is easy? Well, who knows, if an elephant was on a dead run at you, you may be able to perform miracles, like what happened last year on this same walk. Only one of us was there at the time, but they ran right into a bull elephant, who did charge. Escaping that one, they ran right into a second bull, and had to slowly retreat behind some trees. A memory to keep forever.
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| A hawk |
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A vervet monkey at the waterhole
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Brown snake eagle
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| Savannah |
It was getting hot by now, and conveniently, we came across an ice chest full of waters and sodas, left for us by one of the trackers earlier. Even though the hike was only an hour and a half, we were parched. The ice tea and waters went down in a hurry. We looked forward to another walk tomorrow, because Joseph was full of bush stories and a pleasure to be with. Got back to the camp by 12:30pm or so.
Finally, time to relax at our room, or perhaps go to the pool. Frankly, we were pretty tired with all the continuous activity, that staying on our lounge chairs on the balcony was a much better idea. It was also a good idea to take a shower and shave, since this would be the last chance to take advantage of the daylight in the room. Did we mention there is an outdoor shower, as well as one in the large bathroom? It is located so no one can see from the outside, unless they were really trying hard.
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| Antelope wood carving |
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| Comfortable deck chairs on our balcony |
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| That our gate entry that keeps out the hyenas at night...no kidding |
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| The "boma" pit fireplace and table |
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Landscaped pathway to our room
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Lunch was served before the game drive. Tomorrow we will describe what we were served.
While we were away from the ship, this is what was happening. Archbishop Desmond Tutu delivered his first speaking engagement in the Queens Lounge at 10:15am. Half of the guests had received admission tickets in order to split the group in two. Tomorrow, he would give an identical talk to the other half. The Soweto Gospel Choir performed an excellent show after dinner in the Queens Lounge. They are winners of 2 Grammy awards, an Emmy award, South African awards, and gave a performance at the Oscars. All of this was accomplished in a 10 year period. Pretty impressive. Sorry we missed it.
But hey, what could be better than going on another afternoon game drive? Nothing. We met the group at 3:30pm and left 15 minutes later. The first animals we spotted were the cute, but pesky vervet monkeys at the lodge.
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Vervet monkey on the roof
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They are smart dudes, stealing food and even sunglasses and cameras if you are not careful. But we sure seem to remember that there were dozens more of them last year. What happened to them? In a word........leopards, according to Dale. One of their favorite food items, the monkeys had been picked off, reducing the size of the troop by three-quarters we would say. Dale mentioned it was a good thing, because with so many monkeys at the lodge, the leopards were coming too frequently and too close to the guests. OK, we got it.
There is a huge pond near the camp, and that was where we saw the terrapins, or fresh water turtles, sunning themselves on a huge rock. Jeffery pointed out a nest where the frogs lay their eggs in the tree branches. When the eggs hatch, the frogs naturally fall directly into the water below.
This pond is also a great spot for the herd of impalas that hang out in a meadow here. Two elephants were browsing, with a bushbuck nearby.
Dwarf mongoose ran out onto the dirt road, then disappeared quickly. White rhino were grazing anywhere they liked, and refused to move if they were on the road. We just had to go around them.
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| Lone rhino |
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| Herd of impala |
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| Stately impala buck |
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Young impala buck
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At the airplane landing strip, we saw more kudu,a larger type of antelope, and a female elephant with a baby she kept hid quite well. Nothing meaner than a protective mom elephant.
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Elephant
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Crossing a creekbed, we saw a moniter lizard swimming in the current.
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| Rock moniter lizard |
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| They swim very well |
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| Sunning on the rock |
Then we came upon the best sighting of the day........seven lionesses laying in a sandy creekbed. Talk about lazy, they barely had the energy to raise their heads to take a look at us. Guess they are so accustomed to these Land Rovers, they ignore them most of the time.
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| First lion sighting |
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| A pride of female lions |
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| Checking us out |
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| Too lazy to bother |
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| She smells the insect repellant someone used |
Daylight was fading fast, and our tracker had to put his spot light on them for us to take photos. Better than none at all, they did not come out great. We hope to see them again while we are here, that is, if we are lucky.
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| Yawning |
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| Nice teeth |
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| Trying to rest |
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| Tracker's flashlite on the lion |
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| Must have bugged them |
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| OK, we'll go away |
Time to head back. Since we were so late in getting to the lions, we missed the sundowners (cocktails in the bush).
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| Getting late in the bush |
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| A black-backed jackal hiding from us |
We could have stopped, but getting in and out of the vehicle in the dark could be dangerous. And not being able to see animals creeping up on you is a bad thing too. We would make up for the lack of beverages back at the lodge. We did see some roosting owls, and a scrub hare as we sped back to camp.
Managing to have doubles for cocktail hour (two beers each), dinner was served at 8pm. Fine wines were offered as we sat down at the long table. The starter was tomato soup....delicious. A small salad of asparagus spears with a stick of fried mozzarella cheese followed the soup. Dale had a huge BBQ fire going in the pit at the end of the dining room.
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Fire pit at the camp
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He was cooking sirloin strip steaks, and asked how we liked ours. After filling our plates with the sides of assorted veggies and baked potatoes with sour cream, Dale served us as much steak as we liked. It was better than any beef we have eaten so far on this trip. Of course, being in this fresh air, and getting so much exercise, sharpened our appetites to the max. Finishing the meal, they served us a chocolate pudding with chocolate candies in it. Amarula made the meal even more pleasant.
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Another dinner setting
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The funniest thing happened while we were eating dinner. There were two little eyeballs watching us, but also looking at that platter of steaks Dale was stacking near the BBQ pit. It was a spotted genet, a small cat-like animal with a raccoon style tail.
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| A large-spotted genet - the size of a housecat |
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| But cuter |
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| He was neat-looking |
He was there to beg for a piece of meat, which he gladly gave him. He kept sneaking back many times until the platter was removed. Must be the camp mascot.
We were dead tired by 10pm, but there was more to be seen when we got back to our room. Awaiting us was a hot bubble bath with champagne on ice and a pile of chocolate candies, all arranged n a mat by the tub. Surrounded with small lit candles, it was a romantic setting.
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| Champagne on ice on a decorated mat with chocolate candies tubside |
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| There is the tub with bubblebath waiting |
We could not do it justice though, because the water was steaming hot. And getting in and out of a slippery, soapy tub was not do-able. nice touch anyway. In bed by 11pm, we needed the rest to start again tomorrow on another adventurous day.
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Ready for bed
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