Safari day 2

Today we are moving from Kruger National Park to Karongwe Private Game Reserve. On are way we visited a Planeterra sponsored children's day school. The children were ages 18 months to 4 ½.

They were learning their alphabet, days of the week,numbers, months of the year, family members etc in English as well as in their native language. It was a very basic building but through G Adventures help they had running water, flush toilets and cooking facilities.

 The children are fed breakfast, lunch and snacks. While we were there they came outside to play with us and have their morning snack of bread and tea. We played soccer, and pushed them on the swings.

We arrived at Karongwe which was a 9000 hectare game reserve with 4-5 guest lodges. Our lodge was had 24 raised tent units which were very luxurious and spacious each spaced out along a pathway. The main reception and restaurant/ bar was at the front.

My kind of tenting!







Our first game drive was at 4pm after high tea. While we were here we were assigned a team to look after us. Gilbert was our guide and driver and Johannes was our shangaan tracker.  The vehicle was an open air land rover 4x4 with great suspension. Each row was raised so every seat had a great view. The back row was the highest but was also the bumpiest, kind of like a fair ride. Marcy was a little nervous so we put them in the middle of the truck and we took the back row taking turns sitting with the sisters in the front. We were told to stay seated at all times as then the animals saw the vehicle as one large mass and were comfortable with that. If you stood up it broke the mass and they could attack. Everyone had their bums glued to the seat.  Bill decided to wear his buff, rather than a hat.  Marcy took an Instagram picture with a caption "Safari bound"!

On our first ride we were looking for the elephants. All the trucks were equipped with radios so the guides talked to one another throughout the trip. The elephants had been spotted south of the lodge so that's where we headed. We had a slight delay as the jeep had a flat tire, so we all had to get out of the vehicle which was not recommended but necessary.  Gilbert and Johannes worked quickly to change the tire and we were back on the road. The reserve has many dirt roads, none of which are marked but all of them have names. Gilbert has been working here for 16 years so knew the roads like the back of his hand, even in the dark. It was amazing.

Along the way we found giraffe, zebra, bushbuck, kudu, warthog

Then we started to see signs of a lot of elephant dung and broken trees. This was a sure sign we were getting close. A few more turns and Johannes spotted a whole herd of about 8 elephants of various sizes including a baby and a gigantic male.

We stopped the jeep about 10 feet away and watch them feed. They knock big trees over by simply leaning on them with what appeared to be very little effort. Then the younger ones maneuvered in to eat the branches and leaves.

 A couple moved out of the bush and into a clearing of dirt, then sucked up the dirt with their trunks and sprayed it all over their body. Gilbert explained that this was to help keep the flies off of them. They also sometimes roll in the mud and when it is dry they rub against a tree trunk to scrap the mud off which also takes the tics and parasites off as well. There was also a small bird that road on the backs of the Nyala that fed on the tic and parasites on their back as a well as cleaning any wounds they might have to help heal the would. The animal kingdom is an amazing thing.  The baby elephant was tired so laid down for a sleep. Most elephants sleep standing up as it is difficult for them to get up from the ground.



The largest male came over to stand guard and protect the baby while he rested. Elephants only sleep 6 hours a day sometimes just for 20 min at a time. The rest of the day they eat.

Due to the flat tire and the distance we traveled we arrived back in camp after dark.








Karongwe day 2

This morning Gilbert told us we were looking for lion. I was so excited.

We looked for a long time before one of the other vehicles found him. As we approach both guides and our tracker got out of the vehicle to confirm the sighting. Gilbert then radioed in to ask for permission to leave the road and take the vehicle into the bush closer to the lion. He was asked if the lion was static which confirmed and then was give permission to go in. My heart was pounding as we approached. He was lying down in the grass but as we approached he got up and moved away from us. The other vehicle then left us and moved over to the other side. Gilbert then re positioned the jeep and as he was backing up the lion came back toward our jeep. Joyce, Bill and I were in the back row of the vehicle so as we turned to look this 400lb lion was sauntering toward us about 10 feet away. It was so cool I could hardy believe my eyes. He stopped and lied down again. Gilbert turned the vehicle to everyone had a good view.

It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. What a majestic animal. He had a magnificent maine of various shades of gold to dark brown. We watched him for about 20 minutes until we had to leave to let other vehicles have a look. They only allow two vehicles in at a time. I had definitely lived the dream today, it was so amazing I had to pinch myself. We are so luckily to have experienced this.

After we had breakfast we went with Gilbert and Johannes on a bush walk outside the lodge fences.  This time Gilbert had a rifle just in case as we were on foot. He showed us many unusual things including a bush whose branch could be made into a toothbrush, dung beetles rolling dung into a ball for the female to lay her eggs, a bush whose leaves were soft enough to use as toilet paper, bark that could be used as dye and a knob off a tree that could be used to fill the hole a tooth left when it fell out. Marty, the dentist was a little skeptical. Then a whole herd of warthogs circled around us but were very tame. We wondered when we should get nervous, but Gilbert's gun was lowered so we decided we were safe.


The next activity was a giraffe dung spitting contest. Bill and Brian were the only willing participants.  Giraffe dung is a round ball the size of a large marble. Gilbert demonstrated and then handed a ball to Bill and Brian. They lined up popped it into their mouths and blew it out. Brian was the champion with the longest spit. The rest of us just had a good laugh.

 The next activity was termite eating. This time Gilbert had no takers. Johannes took a branch from a bush and gathered about 15 live termites. He then caught one of the larger termite very carefully as they bite, killed it by squishing its head on the branch and then popped it into his mouth. Crunch. Crunch !  He said they taste like peanut butter, which sparked Brian's interest but not quite enough for him to try one. He was still a bit skeptical. The walk took about an hour and was very interesting and entertaining.

We were all still full from breakfast so we skipped lunch and went to find the pool which was a short walk to the next resort. It was very lovely and nice and refreshing after our bush walk. After we cooled off we continued our walk to the watering hole and sat and enjoyed a bottle of wine while we watched the hippos snooze in the water. Other animals arrived to drink but we had to leave to get ready for our afternoon safari.

We headed out again in search of a cheetah . All the trucks were communicating with one another and we lucked out. They had spotted her in the southern quadrant. When we arrived there were already two jeeps viewing her so we had to wait. When it was our turn Gilbert instructed us to get out of the jeep. This was unusual as we had been told to never leave the jeep, not even stand up so we were a little leary. We were then told that this animal had been a rescue cat that they had reintroduced back into the wild so she was habituated and would allow us to view her as long as we stayed about 12 feet away. She had a collar but it was not active. They had been tracking her and she was doing very well in the wild, hunting and staying alert to the lions and leopards who were her preditors.  As we stood there she flopped over with her back towards us. She repeated this behavior 3 times as we moved to view her. We walked away from this safari a little skeptical as it appeared to be too good to be real. This had us questioning the lion siting as well. Which was kind of disappointing

We ended the day by stopping and having happy hour, safari style. Stainless steel wine goblets filled with good South African red liquid or cold beer.

Gilbert and Johannes put our a linen table cloth with snacks and happy hour was complete.

Had a great time on the ride back to camp!







The next morning we had a National Geographic representative join us for our final safari. Vincent was a cheetah specialist who was creating a data base on the cheetahs in South Africa. He was very interesting and cute!  So we took this opportunity to question him about our cheetah sighting. He assured us she was reintroduced into the wild and they had great hopes she would survive. He said she was very habituated and that’s why she allowed us to get so close and the reason she flopped over was because she knew humans were safe so there was no danger on that side so she rolled over to watch the other side for danger. We were also told not to crouch down as she would see this as a sign of weakness and we would be in danger. That is why they don't allow children or injured people to view her.  He assured us that all of the animal sittings were legitimate and they lived as any other wild animal. The only difference was they were used to the jeeps and did not see them as a threat. That made us all feel better and the excitement returned.

As we left camp this morning at 5:30 Johannes spotted a hyena.  He was wondering through the bush and looked similar to our coyotes but much larger. Nothing like the ones in the lion king movie!  He was on the move so we only caught a glimpse. Our goal this morning was to see if we could find a leopard. They do a cross grid search with the jeeps in the area of the park they believe he is in. Johannes also looks for tracks in the dirt. We got lucky again and Johannes found tracks. He believed they were from the day before as other animal tracks were over top of them, but they hoped he was still in the area.

 A little while later Gilbert spotted him and he walked across the road right in front of the jeep. But he also was on the move so we only saw him for a short time.

This morning we had time to stop for coffee and a muffin beside a watering hole. These guys are great, most outings we either stopped for coffee or beer and wine depending on the time of day. We felt safe at all times and having Vincent there with his third party knowledge from National Geographic was an added bonus.
We headed back to Joberg to Malikana Guest House where Soekie was waiting for us. This time we stayed in the upstairs suite with a lovely balcony and a double bed instead of two twins pushed together. Soekie cooked us a wonderful Sunday dinner of baked chicken and all the fixings. Too bad we were leaving in the morning as this would be a great place to relax for a few days