May 26th, 2025

We had a wake up call to our room at 6am :(. You can either do a wake-up call or a knock on the door and we opted for the call but had gotten up earlier thanks to setting an alarm. Kathy had coffee in the room and then we headed out to the safari vehicle “dock” area.

They have bays for all the vehicles for easy step into the trucks. Each truck has 9 viewing seats but they never fill the middle. Waiting in each seat is a blanket and a hot water bottle for the morning game drive. This morning it was 49 degrees when we left but as soon as the sun comes out it warms up quickly. Each vehicle has a ranger and a tracker who sits in front of the vehicle looking for tracks and telling the ranger which way to go. Our tracker is Trevor. He is also responsible for making sure the vehicle is clean and well stocked with water, coffee & tea set up for morning runs and a bar with snacks for evening drive. Our ranger is the one who introduced herself to us last night and her name is Chania. Most of the staff actually live on the property in rooms provided to them. The trackers and rangers have a work schedule of 6 weeks on and 2 weeks off. It reminds us of a cruise ship because the ranger and tracker are up before 5:30 getting everything ready and having a quick briefing and the ranger has dinner with the people riding in their vehicle every night and walks you to your room which is usually around 9:30pm. The ranger and tracker are always paired together and we will stay with them for all our safari trips. They have 5 days left before their 2 week break.

The schedule at the Lodge is the following: 6am coffee & tea in main dining area followed by 6:30 to 9:30 morning safari, 9:30 breakfast and at 10 is an optional visit to a local community or a nature walk. 1pm is lunch, 3:15 tea time & 3:30to 6:30 is evening game drive and then dinner at 7pm. So when you look at it there is not much free time. We did have a certificate in our room for a spa treatment so we had an appointment for 11am today.

Kathy with the sunrise behind her and me taking a wonderful photo I am sure. We were the only 2 for safari in our vehicle this morning.

The Rangers head out in any direction they want and depending on the arrangement with other reserves sometimes they can cross boundaries following an animal and sometimes they cannot. There are no fences or signs just dirt roads that they have memorized. This am there was mention of a cheetah that had been seen so we headed off to see if we could find it.

Bottom line is we saw ton of animals on both game drives. There are so many impalas here that they don’t even bother to stop for them for you to take a picture. Not quite sure how to do the photos so thinking we will just group the animals together and combine the morning and evening game drive.

Rhinos were abundant. They are all white rhinos and they recently had a horn cutting round-up. They cut the horn all the way down using a chain saw on the tranquilized animal. If the rhino has a calf under the age of 6 months they will not do the mother’s horn because it would be traumatic for the calf not to have its mother for that brief period. The Ranger said that since they have started cutting the horns all the way off they have not had a poaching event in over 6 years. The horns have to be cut every 18 months and supposedly the South African government has all the horns secured away on a secret location.

We also saw giraffes

We also saw quite a few birds.

Cape Starling on the left and Red Billed Horn Bill.

The Lilac Breasted Roller which apparently in flight is beautiful because the wings are blue and turquoise.

We never could find the cheetah and they decided it had crossed over into the next property so we gave up the hunt.. The rangers are on the radios both talking and listening and there was lots of chatter about a pack of wild dogs that had been spotted and our ranger was very excited about that since this is a rare occurrence. After several attempts to find the dogs we finally did and it was a pack. They are called Wild Dogs but also called Painted Dogs which is more fitting. They were extremely rare but they are now making a comeback and this herd had a dog with a radio tracked collar on it. There are now almost 4000 in South Africa.

They hunt in packs and can run for miles. They usually chase their victim and tire them out, going for the belly and not an outright kill. They are adept at jumping fences or digging out so neighboring farms and neighborhoods are quite intolerant of livestock & pets being endangered, leading to extermination.

You can see the white bushy tail and the radio collar on the one on the left.

Wildebeest

After the game drive we went back to the lodge for breakfast and then we headed to the spa for our 1 hour “traveler” massage which included a foot soak and then full body massage. I fell asleep during the foot massage and woke myself up snoring.

While waiting for lunch we sat in the covered deck area watching the water hole in front of the lodge and there was lots of activity both before and after lunch. Also we had a Tauck tour come to stay at the lodge with about 20 people so we know it is good if it is on Tauck’s list.

A baby elephant came with a small herd to the watering hole.

The herd leaving

The antelope coming for their turn.

Before we knew where the time went it was 3:30 & time for the game drive. We were joined by a couple from France/Holland.

The evening drive is the opposite of the morning drive, starts off warm and ends up cold.

Kudu and Bull Elephant

The dwarf mongoose. It is about the size of a chipmunk and they live in abandoned termite mounds. As soon as they feel threatened they all scoot back to their holes in the mounds and hide. This guy was keeping guard while everyone made it back to the burrow.

Right after the sunset they pull the jeep over and Trevor, the tracker, sets up the cocktail bar. He took our preferred drink choice earlier and then brings it out in the evening along with snacks.

Trevor setting up the bar and then the finished product. You spend about 20 minutes walking around and talking with the other passengers, your ranger and tracker.

After everything is packed up we were off for 1 last surprise per our ranger, Chania. By now it is total darkness and the stars are out in full force. We went to a spot with 4 other jeeps already there and they had a few spotlights out from the other jeeps and there was Simba!

He was mostly sleeping with his head turned away from us but every now and then he would lift his head up. Our ranger said that lions sleep 21 hours a day on average so not surprising to find him sleeping.

We stayed there for 20 minutes and then we all left so he could get a good nights rest. Exciting end to a great day.

We were back at the lodge by 6:30 with a few minutes to go to the room, with an escort of course and then back to the bar for a pre-dinner drink and then dinner. This time instead of eating by ourselves they sit you at a table for 5. You eat with your ranger and whoever else is in your vehicle.

After dinner we came back to the room so we can go to bed and wake up in the morning and do it all over again.