We knew we wouldn't be home on Easter morning so we had an Easter egg hunt for Piper before we left for our Safari trip on Friday morning. This is her first egg hunt. It was fun getting to watch. She caught on really fast to the fact that there was something in the eggs. Of course it was just vegi puffs... no candy!
Then we loaded up the car and headed on our adventure. The Madikwe game reserve is about 4 hours Northeast by car. It is along the border of Botswana. This is some of the housing along the way. There are also goats, donkeys, and other animals grazing along the highway.
About half way to our destination we stopped at a mall to have lunch at a place called Spur. It is a very popular place that they consider a Southwest type restaurant and menu. So they have pictures of Native American Indians everywhere as their logo.
You can see the waiters all lined up ready to serve us. Just like Fat Willy's. I can't believe how many servers are in the restaurants. And believe me they are there to serve!
Can you tell what Sunday's special is? And by the way the 109.90 rand is equal to $10.90 US. I had a quesadilla which was probably the most Americanized food I've had so far. Not too bad!
We arrived at the gate of the Game Reserve. You have to tell the guard where you are staying and they call ahead to the lodge to make sure you are a registered guest before they will let you in.
Then just a couple of miles into the park is the lodge where we are staying. It is called the Bush House. It has only 6 guest rooms. When we arrived we were just in time for the 3:00 evening game drive. Our guide JR wisked us into the jeep. Paul stayed with Piper. We are all going to take turns staying with her.
The other guests at the Bush House were a younger couple and their 2 young girls from Spain and a middle aged couple who are originally from the US now living in Johannesburg.
Then he spotted this dung beetle. He explained to us that as in every other species the female goes for the guy with the biggest balls! Or in this case ball. So, they roll up as much dung as they can. Then when they find a lady beetle she lays eggs in the dung. The adult beetles die. Once the eggs hatch into larvae the dung ball is their food source until they turn into beetles themselves. Then the whole thing stars over again. The whole process takes about a year. So now you know the whole shitty story!
We also saw some zebras.
Half way through the drive we stopped & had some snacks and drinks. Yep.. right out there where the lions could eat us!
JR tells us when your driver gets his camera out you know it's something good because they have seen it all. So I guess this must be something really good! Ya....just a little cocky!
On our return to the lodge at about 7:00p our dinner is ready and waiting. It was set up outside with a big fire pit, torches, and candles. Our menu was salads, vegis, and misc. bbq.
After dinner our cooks & wait staff did a little song & dance for us. I really wanted to get up & teach them the electric slide.
When we retired to our rooms which was pretty early considering the next game drive was at 6:00am the next morning our beds had been turned down for us.
A chocolate Easter egg was even placed on our sheet. Gotta love chocolate! We were also shown where the bug spray was incase we encountered any creepy, crawly things we needed to dispose of. Which I did find 3 spiders in the bathroom when I pulled down the shades! I made good use of that spray.
The 5:30 wake up call came pretty early but it was my turn to stay with Piper. Their room was just across the hall so we kept both of our doors open when they all left so I could hear her when she woke up. Since we were in our own section of the lodge with a door at the end of our hallway it was not a problem. When Piper & I got up & ready we ventured out to check out the rest of the lodge. It was quite beautiful and very quiet since all the other guests were out on the game drive. There were about 8 people on staff waiting to get us anything we needed. We walked down to the watering hole which is just at the end of the grass. You can either sit up on the patio at the lodge or walk down and sit right in front of the water hole. It was pretty cool. This is a view of the water hold from the deck.
Breakfast was served out here when everyone came back from the drive. You have a great view of the water from here.
Piper & I sat on these chairs and watched the elephants come in for water. She was really excited watching them. And very quiet too so we didn't chase them off.
There is a ditch with an electric fence just past the long grass that you can't see unless you go to the edge and look over.
These are some of Donald's pictures from the morning game drive. One of 4 lions that had taken down a wildebeest the night before resting from the kill and the feast.
The hyenas were there to snack on the remains. The lions bite is not strong enough to crush the skull but the hyena can easily crush it and eat the brain.
The Jackals are also there to get their share. Everyone in the jeep watched as they tried to chase each other away from the kill.
This is a Wildebeest that wasn't served up by the lions today.
They also spotted a pack of wild dogs which according to JR are not seen too often.
We think we have some termites.... check out this termite mound. They are all over the bush.
After the morning drive we had breakfast over looking the watering hole. The elephants came in again.
Just on the right side of the hole is a tunnel that goes under ground to a Hide (like a hunting blind) where we all can go to watch the animals up close and personal. Paul stayed with Piper the night before and a group of Baboons showed up. Of course we had left him with no camera & that was the last anyone saw of the baboons on our trip.
It is dark inside the Hide so it was difficult taking a picture of anyone inside and the animals outside at the same time.
Then the Warthogs showed up. You can see how they get down on their front knees to eat the grass.
They are ugly suckers!
We loved watching the elephants. Both from inside the Hide & out on the lawn area.
This sign is at the entrance to the Hide. There is a heavy grate you can close if you feel uncomfortable or if the cats show up and get a little too close.
We spent a few hours of relaxing around the pool (it was too cold to go in), playing with Piper and watching the Zebras come in.
Then they served us afternoon tea (which is what they called the small meal we had at about 2:45 each day) and we headed out on the afternoon drive. This time it was Dawn's turn to stay with Piper. These are Safari Ants.
Then we came across the giraffes.
Hard to tell this is a baby when it's all by itself.
Next were the White Rhinoceros.
Mean looking Dudes!
We saw many of these Impalas. I finally got the name right. First I was calling them Chevrons & then Malibus. :)
The field guides from all the different lodges would talk to each other on CB radios & let each other know where certain things were happening. There was some type of pecking order if you were the first to spot something of interest & then everyone waited their turn so as not to scare away the animals or have 20 jeeps there all at once.
When our guide JR spotted all the action at this large watering hole he let everyone know. It was quite spectacular!
JR got his camera out again for this action. He said you rarely see the elephants actually playing together in the water.
More Rhinos.
These bushes are covered with very sharp thorns. You have to be sure to lean inside the jeep when you go thru them as to not get all scratched up.
We had our snack at the top of the mountain almost at dusk overlooking this whole valley. It was beautiful!
On our way in we spotted this black Rhino in the distance. They are supposed to be highly unpredictable so we did not get too close.
The sunrises and sunsets here are really beautiful!
Tonight dinner was served out on the lawn in front of the water hole. We ordered what we wanted at the afternoon tea so that it would be ready shortly after we got back from our drive. I have to admit that the food here was pretty good. While we were having dinner with the other world travelers discussing the food in different countries (Italy, France), I realized I am just a simple small town girl. However I did tell them I was quite a fast food connoisseur myself. Anything they wanted to know about McDonald's, In-n-out or Burger King just ask. I don't think they appreciated or maybe even got my humor. Oh well!
Next morning (Easter Sunday) I stayed with Piper again. The evenings are cool but the mornings are just plain COLD. First thing they did was go find the lions again. The four females were still lying around after their feast with the Wildebeest.
Donald got a close up of this BIG spider hanging in a web in a tree.
We spent another lazy afternoon watching the waterhole.
We were lucky to see the elephants come in again. As well as many Impalas and Warthogs.
As we were sitting on the veranda...
Watching the elephants...and Piper.
And the Warthogs.
And the squirrels.
We spotted this guy run up a tree. I wasn't all that thrilled about eating dinner out on the lawn last night after seeing him roaming around. :(
Then it was time for our afternoon Drive. This will be my last one since tomorrow morning is Donald's turn to stay with Piper. It's not that I don't trust him.... it's just that he doesn't think about her putting her hands in the gardens to pick up rocks when there are scorpions and other things that she could get hurt by. So I will be taking his turn.
We went on the hunt for the Leopard. Here was a sign they had been there at some point. What is left of the carcass of a wildebeest.
Then it was my first time to see the lions. They had only been spotted in the mornings up till now. You get such a false sense of security when you are only 10 feet away and they look like you could just get out and pet them. JR told us not to make any quick moves because it takes only .4 seconds for them to be in the jeep.
They decided to have another snack on the leftovers.
JR got a call on his CB that another guide was going to follow some tracks of 2 male lions & he didn't want to go in alone. So we went & joined them. As they took off on foot we and the other jeep load of people were left sitting waiting. I think maybe we were meant to be bait!
Especially since they had a rifle and we had nothing. They eventually came back with no site of the young males.
So off we went and found these Water Buffalo.
They sure don't look like the buffalo in Yellowstone.
As I said earlier... it's cold in the evenings. I look like I'm in Alaska. The French ladies are wearing shorts and just one jacket. I have my sweatshirt, my jacket, and Paul's jacket. He is with Piper tonight. Lucky for me!
We ran into another herd of warthogs.
Back at the ranch while we had dinner up on the veranda (yay... I can see if any lizards are joining us), a herd of buffalo came to visit the water hole. It is lit up all night long. Donald went down in the Hide to take this picture.
Next morning, Monday, will be the last game drive for us. As I said I stayed with Piper & the rest of them headed out on the hunt for the lions... I think they were on the trail...
It was a beautiful morning & only Dawn, Paul & Donald and the 2 French ladies. A mother & daughter from Paris had come in the day before when the couple from Spain left. The 23 year old daughter had just gotten her license to fly and she flew her mom in for a Safari. The daughter lives & works in Johannesburg and the mom owns a hotel called the Atmosphere in Paris.
Last snack in the Bush! Good thing the snack wasn't them.
Especially since they tracked down the 4 cheetah's that live there.
They were just taking a nice snooze.
Beautiful kitties!
Then they found the 2 young male Lions they were hunting for.
They didn't look too hungry either. According to JR he has a video on you tube of 2 lions taking down an elephant. He says its only the 4th one on record in SA.
Then back to the lodge where Piper & I had been sitting watching the elephants for most of the morning.
Do you remember the sign when we came in that said entering Big 5 Country? The big 5 are: Lion, Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, and Leopard. We saw all but the illusive Leopard. But we saw many other wild animals and lots of interesting country. I guess we will have to return at some point in search of the Leopard!
OK... Donald insisted I put this picture from the side of the road on our way home. He thought it was interesting that they are giving free circumcisions. I'm just glad that they specified they were only for Males! :)
If the cones don't keep you off the side of the road they are working on maybe all the rocks will.
It was a Fabulous 4 days! Dawn picked a great place to stay and a wonderful memory for us with Piper. As you can imagine we took hundreds of pictures. Many too many to put on this blog. I just skimmed the surface for you all. When Dawn gets her pictures all online I will send the link if any of you are interested in seeing hers. She and Paul are birders so there are many bird pictures as well as the rest of the animals. Her pictures are incredible.
These are great pictures. Thanks for blogging it is a lot of work but I have enjoyed it. Have fun with Piper she is adorable..
ReplyDelete