The Big 5 in the lap of Luxury

We flew from Cape Town to an airport just outside of Kruger National Park.  We were told to limit our luggage weight to 44 pounds, but our tour manager was able to group check us in and weight was not an issue.  The airport is at Skukusa.  We boarded our safari jeeps for the 15 minute ride to our first lodge, Lion Sands.  There were 2 different lodges, Tinga and Narina.  Half the group was at one and the other half was at the other.  This lodge bordered the Sabie River.  We had lunch, and then went to our rooms to get ready for our first safari.  Our driver/guide was Willie and our tracker was Lucas.

We were lucky to see many animals.  Because it is hard to remember what we saw on each safari I will recap the 8 different drives we did.  We saw many zebra 🦓, lots and lots of giraffe 🦒, some with babies.  We saw a giant pool of hippos, which we had to walk in to see.  We saw several white rhino 🦏, but no black rhino.  We learned the way to tell them apart. We saw lots of impala, water buffalo, springbok, eland, ngala, water bucks and many other deer like animals that I unfortunately do not remember the names of.  We saw leopards and lions. Amazing. We saw lots of amazing looking birds.

Here are some of the exciting/interesting things we did. We stopped in an area that has elephants. We sat and waited and they slowly approached us. Abby was nervous that they would get too close. We were able to follow a leopard as she hunted impala. We were able to go into the bush to actually follow the animals. We watched a herd of elephants grazing on a hillside and then coming down to head to a water hole. The adult elephants were able to walk down but the juveniles and babies ended up sliding down on their butts. We all got a good chuckle at that. We had been tracking Lions for several days. Then we got a radio call, lions! We rushed down the rough dirt road and there were 2 lions. They were hunting an injured baby water buffalo. We watched them sneak up on the buffalo and then they attacked. As soon as they attacked the entire herd turned and chased the lions off the calf. One of the buffalo hooked the lion with its horn and flung it up in the air. The lions rushed off and the buffalo surrounded the injured calf. Our guide said that the lions were circling to get another attack under way, but by this time night had fallen and we could not see. The next morning we saw that the calf was still alive and that the buffalo and lions had fought again. We tracked the lions for quite a while but did not see them again. One day we were riding down a road and a lioness and her cub were just walking along. The last safari ride was coming to an end when we stopped at a waterhole. Soon a herd of water buffalo came up and surrounded us as they got to the water. Then from the other direction another herd came rushing at full speed to the waterhole. There must have been almost 400 animals slurping up water.

After 2 days at Lion Sands lodge we were driven to Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge. This was another fabulous place. Each room here was also a small suite with outdoor showers, a living room and a bedroom. This lodge was more “hotel” like. Our dinners at both lodges were elegant either served in the dining area or in the lodges boma, an outdoor barbecue area with fire pits or other methods to keep us warm. At Sabi Sabi our driver/guide was Jabu and our tracker was Samson.

On each safari ride we either had coffee or tea (morning) with pastries or cocktails and hors d’oerves (evenings). Quite a treat.

A typical day was a wake up call at 6 AM. Coffee or tea and pastries and then off for a 3 hour safari. Back for breakfast and then to our rooms to shower and clean up. Before long it was time for lunch. Most days there was a lecture of some sort. Soon it was time for afternoon tea and then off to our afternoon safari at 3:30. After 3 hours we were back and it was cocktail time and then dinner and then off to bed. We had to be escorted to our rooms each night because there could be animals on the path. One night when we got to our room there was a big branch over the last bit of the walkway. Our guide moved it and we then saw a big hole in the wood – the work of an elephant. When Jen and Abby got to their room, there was the elephant and her baby munching away on tree branches. Sunny and Jacob woke to some “deposits”the next morning. The only one not hit that night was Michael.

We also got to try some unusual foods: crocodile, impala and ostrich.

We had a blast!