Our Safari Continues at the Lion Sands Game Reserve

Day two of our safari adventure and we are up at 0500 for our three-hour morning game drive (sounds real relaxing, doesn’t it?). We get ready and head to the main lodge for some needed coffee, then board our vehicle for game viewing with Mark and Emanuel.

On the prowl

We were about 20 minutes into the usual impalas, elephants, and giraffes when Mark gets a call over the radio. Another group has spotted a leopard, one of the “Big Five”(the 5 most difficult to find: lion, leopard, water buffalo, rhinosceros, and elephant). Mark almost popped a wheelie reversing course and accelerating toward the reported location (and we thought yesterday’s dog chase was wild! He slowed down as we went off road but did not hesitate to try and put the vehicle in a good viewing position.

Who are these people?

The cat, a healthy, beautiful middle-aged specimen, was moving so fast that the positioning of the vehicles was constantly changing. Emanuel was in the front tracker seat flagging a passable course. Mark stopped the vehicle just as the leopard was coming along our side, and after she passed, he angled us to a new position where she crossed in plain view to our front. Amazingly, she just pawed along as if she was oblivious to all of the commotion around her.

Describing a rhinoceros midden

Our total encounter time with her was probably not more than 30 seconds total, but everyone got good shots due to Mark and Emanuel’s skills. We pulled out of our position so other vehicles would have a chance. There were high-fives all around.

The next morning we did our pre-game drive routine and headed out with Mark, Emanuel, and our game-drive mates.

A dung beetle and his poop ball (left)

We rode for about one-half hour, spotting a number of animals we had already seen. Mark stopped the vehicle next to a hollowed out spot in the ground with animal spoor scattered around it and asked us if we knew what this was. It turns out to be a rhinoceros midden. The dominant bull male digs a depression in the ground and defecates into the depression before covering it up with his feet.

Our white rhinoceros

The females that are following him defecate all around his midden and in this way the male marks his territory for other males. Then Mark pointed out a dung beetle that was rolling a ball of dung away from a pile. He said that the beetle will locate the ball to another area, deposit an egg in the ball and the larva will feed on the ball when it hatches. It was really interesting to watch. Well, so much for the poop lesson of the day.

We drove a little further when Emanuel signaled for us to go off-road.

Gettin' a little close aren't you?

We had no sooner made the turn when we spotted the spot of the day—a huge bull white rhinoceros. He was grazing away as Mark positioned the vehicle. He was a magnificent animal and somewhat scary as he was only about 12-15 yards from us. Being the first to find this specimen, Mark radioed the other guides who would soon be approaching. We snapped several pictures. At one point the animal came closer to us and started grunting as if he was agitated with us.

The Sabi River weir

Mark started talking to him and backed away just as other groups were convening on our location.

Back on the road we drove down to the Sabi River and to a weir that was installed to measure water flow. We observed a pied kingfisher hovering and diving on the river below.

A pied kingfisher (center)

This kingfisher is the largest hovering bird, and we enjoyed watching it do its dance. On one of islands we spotted a saddle-billed stork, a very beautiful bird with a saddle-shaped dip in it bill. We drove on until we happened upon a memory of elephants heading for the river to cool off.

Saddle-billed stork

It was mostly a female group, but as we rounded a curve, we ran into a huge alpha male standing in the middle. He was the biggest elephant we had ever seen, and mean looking.

The big alpha male

We watched this elephant for 20-25 minutes, and then decided that it was time to move on as other cars were arriving. We left this spot and were examining the rest of this memory, when we came upon a relatively rare event—a juvenile elephant lying down on the ground with its mother standing guard.

A memory ready for a swim

Junior lays down next to mama

We drove back to the main lodge just in time to catch a number elephants attempting to head for the river to drink and cool off in the hot afternoon heat. We got to our room and were able to count 30 elephants entering, rolling and spraying in the water.

The evening drive was rather uneventful with the exception of the spotting of a herd of male kudus on way the the dried up Sand River. At the riverbed, Mark and Emanuel spoke to some of their co-workers who had been looking for signs of a lion. Mark and Emanuel decided to explore one section that the others had not examined.

A herd of male kudus

They came back to the vehicle, got the rifle, and told us that they would be back in 15 minutes at the most. They also told us how to alert the others if they didn't come back or if we heard a rifle shot. Off they went. Fifteen minutes by and no Mark or Emanuel; 20 minutes; 25 minutes and still no one. Just as we were discussing sending an alert, they came bounding in. Excitedly they told us that they had found fresh tracks of a lioness.

Another beautiful African sunset

She has cubs which she likely hid nearby, and went hunting for her cubs. She was joined by another lioness and would likely return to the cubs sometime that night. Chances were good that we might spot them in the morning. The day was almost done so we left the area and found a spot for our sunset happy hour. As dark rolled in we headed back to the lodge. It was a good day.

We Start Our Safari at Kruger National Park

We were up early to finish packing our suitcases and have breakfast before heading for the airport to begin the safari portion of our tour.

Our plane

We had a short bus ride to the airport, and a fast group check-in. we were at the gate almost 2 hours before our flight. The skies were overcast and rain was predicted for Cape Town which might help alleviate a very severe drought they were suffering. Our flight would be to the small village of Skukuza located inside the Kruger National Park.

At Skukuza airport

Our accommodations would be at the Lion Sands Game Reserve, a privately owned reserve inside the park. A regional airline would take us to the Skukuza airport.

After landing, the Lion Sands staff quickly collected our bags, and we were whisked off for a 15 minute ride to the lodge.

Collecting our bags

Those 15 minutes stretched into 45, because no sooner had we left the airport than we begin spotting wildlife. A tower of giraffes was spotted grazing tree branches right next to the road.

A tower of giraffes

The cameras were blazing away as we thought this was indeed a unique moment. Turns out that these gentle giants are very common and we would hardly take another picture of them for the remainder of our stay.

A lone elephant

We drove on so the cameras could cool down and 3-4 minutes later a dazzle of zebras was spotted. This is a rarer sighting, but capturing images of these creatures proved a little more difficult as they were more concealed than the giraffes, and they were moving constantly. Their striping in the thicket brush always seemed to conceal as better portion of their bodies making it difficult to get a good shot.

A dazzle of zebras

Driving a little further we spotted a herd of impalas, another animal commonly sighted in the park. More pictures of these which would also be about our last.

A herd of impalas

We drove on, crossing the Sabi River, which has not dried up for over 60 years and is the lifeblood of this ecosystem, and onto our lodge.

A bushbok

Arriving at the lodge we were stunned to find how luxurious the accommodations were in the middle of this rugged environment. Situated adjacent to the Sabi River, the lodge is luxuriously rustic in amenities and is designed for constant animal viewing with expansive, river-facing decks and an elevated walkway to the guest units.

Our bed

We were escorted to an al fresco lunch on the deck where we enjoyed a fabulous lunch and bushbok and elephant viewing along the river. It was at lunch that we started to establish new friendships as we chatted with our fellow lunch mates.

We were assigned to unit 8 which turned out to be about as far from the main lodge as one can get (we need the exercise!). We entered our unit and our mouths went agape.

Our sitting room

The place was unbelievably furnished: king bed with mosquito netting; two showers (plus another outside) and huge soaking tub (Jane was all smiles); free mini-bar with a liberal stocking of beers, wines, liquors, and mixers (even a fresh lemon!); coffee and tea service and snacks; a private deck and spa overlooking the river; and free Wi-Fi in the middle of nowhere!

Jane's tub

We found all of the furnishings and décor to be elegantly casual and culturally adapted to the locale. But we only had a short time to soak this up as we had to get ready for our first game drive.

Our deck and spa

Reporting back to the main lodge dressed in our safari gear (Jane is so cute!); we found that we would be riding with Dave and Linda from Canada, and Paul and Sharon of New York. Our driver was Mark and our tracker Emanuel, both from South Africa. Two three-hour game drives occur at 0600 and 1600 each day.

The main lodge deck

Each Land Rover Defender can carry 6 guests in a theater seating configuration for best viewing. The drives are conducted on dirt roads maintained in the reserve, with off-road pursuit when an animal is spotted.

Maybe don't need quite that many!

Every drive has a .458 caliber “if all else fails” rifle that he or she must qualify in each year. Drivers and trackers all must pass courses and tests to be certified in their trade.

After introductions were exchanged, Mark gave us a quick rundown of the “do’s” and “don’ts,” all practiced for our viewing enhancement and safety, and we headed out.

Now we're talkin'

Mark was headed for a place where signs of a pack of African wild dogs had been spotted earlier that morning. We got to the spot and did find the dogs, but they were lying around the base of a tree surrounded by thick underbrush.

Lookin' for dem' dawgs

After Emanuel had chopped some of the brush away, we did see them, but they blended into the shadows and none of us could get a good picture. We left after 20 minutes and set out to find something else. Mark told us that the dogs are a rare spot, because of their wide ranging habits, and said that he had probably only seen them perhaps 15 times before.

A memory of elephants

We moved on riding a circuitous route along which we saw our first memory of female elephants, some giraffes, and birds that Mark and Emanuel pointed out. Suddenly, Mark got a report on the radio that the wild dogs were on the move. Off we went tearing along to the reported location. Arriving near the location, Mark veers off the road and crashes a trail through the thick brush.

Running African wild dogs

We spotted the dogs running along the river, but they were moving so fast it was hard to keep up with them (they have the advantage in the brush). Another vehicle reported that they left the river and were heading our way. Mark stopped the vehicle and waited. Sure enough, the dogs passed by us on a fast trot.

Ready to start serving

With the cameras in burst mode we shot many pictures, but their speed, the brush, and the autofocus focusing on brush around the dogs only yielded a few fairly good images. But the chase was worth everything! With the sun low in the sky, Mark returned to the road and drove us to his favorite spot for viewing sunsets.

Sunset over Kruger NP

He and Emanuel quickly broke out some liquor and set up a bar on the Rover’s bumper. Emanuel produced some snacks and it was a sunset happy hour. We drank to the sun and the day’s viewing as we watched the sun set. We returned to the lodge and were ushered to dinner replete with dust, sweat, and mosquito repellent, and enjoyed a delicious 3-course dinner on the lodge’s deck. Everyone exchanged stories about the day’s events, and after dessert, we headed to our unit, cleaned up and turned for a fitful rest.

Apartheid, Dassies, A Wine-Pairing Dinner, Two Capes and Penguins- We Finish Cape Town

Our first day in Cape Town started with breakfast followed by a lecture in the hotel’s library on apartheid. We were vaguely familiar with this topic which made sensational news in the 50’s and 60’s, but as teenagers then, we were thinking more about the opposite sex than racial oppression and protests in South Africa.

The District Six Museum

Our lecturer proved to be very interesting, since he actually lived through this time. Spending 14 years in exile to avoid imprisonment, he detailed the apartheid history and the laws and enforcement that proved to be one of the darker periods in South African history.

Table Mountain

The tour originally had been scheduled for a trip to Robben Island, South Africa’s version of the U.S. Alcatraz, where Nelson Mandela and other black leaders were imprisoned. Even though the island lies only 4 miles from the mainland, the seas in this area are generally difficult to navigate. After a ferry took on water this past summer necessitating the emergency evacuation of passengers, the tour company decided to change the itinerary in the interest of tour group safety. In its place we toured the Sixth District Museum, a museum dedicated to the apartheid displacement of several thousand blacks and coloreds. The museum is located in an old Methodist church and chronicles the government’s removal of blacks and rebuilding the area for white families. While the museum enlightened us on apartheid’s severity, we don’t think it would be as interesting as a visit to Robben Island. We were treated to a quick city tour of Cape Town. Established in the late 17^th to early 18^th centuries, Cape Town was established by the Dutch West India Company as a refreshment station for ships sailing the long route between the Amsterdam and the East Indies.

A dassie or rock hyrax

We saw many statues and memorials commemorating Cape Town’s history and walked through a botanical park known as the Company’s Garden. While the company originally maintained large gardens to supply the ships, today this park is just a remnant of the original.

View of Cape Town from Table Mt.

No trip to Cape Town is complete without a visit to Table Mountain whose main feature is 2-mile wide level plateau rising 3,563 feet above sea level.

Flanked by the two peaks, Devil’s Peak and Lion’s Head, the formations form an impressive backdrop to the city and Table Bay harbor. A visit to this national park which extends down the entire Cape Peninsula cannot always be guaranteed as the formation orographic clouds often enshroud the mountain, limiting visibility, or high winds can prevent the cable lifts from operating. As we ended our museum tour, our guide decided that conditions then were as good as they might get.

Steenberg Vinyards grounds

We rode to the mountain and took the lift to the top. The views were spectacular, blocked only occasionally by cloud formation. Table Mountain has an unusually rich flora biodiversity with over 2200 species of plants forming part of the Cape Floral Region protected sites, a World Heritage Site. We saw several types of lizards and the mountain’s most common mammal—the dassie or rock hyrax. We descended the mountain and rode back to our hotel to spend an afternoon resting and napping.

That evening we were treated to Cape Winelands wine-pairing dinner at Catharina’s Restaurant in the Steenberg Vineyards.

Ready for dinner!

Located in the Constantia Valley about 20 minutes from central Cape Town, the vineyards were the first farm established on the Cape Peninsula in 1682. The restaurant is named after the original owner, Catharina Ustings Ras, who was the first woman to have title to land on the cape. We were given a short tour of the grounds, before enjoying an excellent four-course dinner and wine pairings. We also enjoyed lively dinner conversation with our fellow dinner mates as well as an entertaining story about Catharina, her 5 husbands, and the start of Steenberg Vineyards. This was definitely one of our more memorable dinners.

View of Hout Bay

We rode the bus back to the hotel and got ready for our final day in Cape Town.

We're here!!

Coordinates for Cape of Good Hope

We arose early the next morning to get ready for a full day of sightseeing. Today we are going to go all the way to the end of Cape Peninsula to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope all of which are in the Table Mountain N.P. We had breakfast and boarded our bus which took us on a highway that ran along the western Atlantic coast of the peninsula. The road was carved into the sides of the mountains and was quite twisty, and it reminded us of the Big Sur Highway in California. Jane didn’t like the sheer cliffs, but it was reassuring that driving on the left side of the road kept us close to the mountains with a lane to buffer us, even though we never saw any part of that lane from our window. We passed through the expensive seaside communities of Camps Bay, Bakoven, Llandudno, Hout Bay (where our guide lives), Nordhoek, and on down to the Cape. Arriving at the Cape of Good Hope presented a photo op jam at the marker.

Beach near Cape of Good Hope

View from atop Cape Point

Our guide solved this by everyone lining up, giving your camera, running behind the sign and having your picture taken, and then he gives your camera to another guide who holds it while you come around the sign to retrieve your camera while the next person follows in behind you. Brilliant! We tied up the sign while all 25 tour members had their picture taken with everyone else standing around waiting for us to finish. While the common perception is that the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet at the Cape of Good Hope, this actually occurs at Cape Agulhas some 60 miles to the east. However, two ocean currents, the cold Benguela current of the Atlantic Ocean and the warm Agulhas current of the Indian do meet here. The Cape of Good Hope is advertised as the most southwestern point (Cape Agulhas is further south) of the African continent.

After the photos were taken we took some photos of the beach and ocean and then proceeded to Cape Point. Cape Point lies to the east and a little north of the Cape of Good Hope. It is here, though, that is home to the lighthouse that lights the tip of the peninsula.

Lighthouse at Cape Point

A beautiful (and tasty!) eland

After getting a warning about not taking food outside the bus, because it attracts aggressive baboons, we hopped a funicular which took us to the top of the mountain where the lighthouse is located. We had some spectacular 360° views at the top. As we left Cape Point, we spotted two eland, the largest and perhaps most elegant of all antelopes.
We were fortunate that one of them elected to pose for us.

Our final stop for the day was Simon’s Town where we would have lunch and then view a colony of African penguins.

A group of penguins

Lunch was good, but the penguin viewing was fantastic. Of the 18 species of penguins in the southern hemisphere, the African penguin, an endangered species, is the only species that is indigenous to Africa.

Cooling off!

We found the African penguins to have approximately the same size and markings as the Magellenic penguins we saw in the Falkland Islands. However, charts posted along the walkway depicted the differences these penguins have with other similar species.

Singing or sun gazing?!

These penguins mate for life and breed in January. The Boulders Beach we visited is one of three sites in South Africa that attract these birds. What we found interesting was that this colony lived within 100 yards of a beachside residential neighborhood.

After viewing the penguins, we headed back to our hotel. We had a drink at the whiskey bar (over 500 kinds) and then headed to our room to begin packing for checkout tomorrow. We settled our account and turned in for tomorrow’s flight to Kruger N.P. and the start of our 4-day safari!