May 28th, 2025
You already know the routine. Up at 6 and out on a game drive by 6:30. The couple we are sharing the vehicle with are leaving this morning so this is their last game drive. The goal this am is to find some giraffes to complete their wish list. Our guide likes to be the first out if she can but this morning Marie, the French lady, wanted a cup of tea so she stopped in the dining room. So instead of first we were second. I only mention this because right as we pulled out of the lodge the first vehicle was parked there because the leopard was sitting in a tree.
After we pulled up she decided to leave and wander down the street past the numerous vehicles that had pulled up and then into the brush.
Since we had spent a lot of time with the leopard yesterday morning we did not stay long to let some of the new arrivals get a glimpse of her.
On our way to find some giraffes we had sunrise and we also passed a lone male hyena wandering around.
It is interesting that almost all of the animals that you see on safari are female dominated. The males are used for 1 purpose and after that purpose is completed they are left to wander on their own until it is time to breed again. You will see several juvenile male antelope hanging out together. They have been kicked out of the herd but have not competed for their first female yet so they stick together. The only 2 animals that the males remain with them is the lion and the antelope. Both of these animals will pair with several females.
We spied some giraffe higher up a nice plain and went up for a closer look. They were eating in the brush for a bit but then decided to cross the road behind us and go out on the open plain.
There were 7 of them which is the most we have seen at one time.
We watched for a while and then Chane, our ranger whose name spelling I finally got right, told us that a pride of lions had been found and we were waiting our turn to go and see them. They allow 3 vehicles at a time to view the lions so one has to leave for another to come. Not sure who or how they found the pride because we had to go off road to get there and that is the other job of the tracker is to guide the ranger through the brush and tell them which way to go to avoid logs and rocks.
The pride had chosen a dry river bed in the shade to hang out for the day. When we were approaching the river bed we had to be very careful because a couple of the cubs were playing in the grass and were hard to see from the direction we were approaching.
The pride consisted of 14 lions. I am not sure how many adult females were with the Pride and we were told that 1 was out roaming around. There were cubs of all different ages and when we first approached the smaller cubs were playing around.
Several of the older cubs were sleeping in the sun. We had 1 medium size female get up and come very close to the jeep. We were all holding our breath, not because we were scared but because they have a rule that says animals cannot touch the jeep. If the lion touched the jeep it would have been an incident that would have had to be reported., since that signals a recognition which they will learn that it is safe to interact with it in the future, can’t have THAT! After a couple of seconds starring at us she finally laid down in the grass next to the jeep and went to sleep.
We watched for about 10 minutes and then it was time for us to leave to let other jeeps in for their turn.
After that exciting morning I am not sure we saw much else that was as interesting.
We had breakfast and then we had to get ready for our second nature walk. This time there were 6 of us and 3 guides, all with rifles. While the walk was interesting it was more about animal poop and how you could tell by the poop what they had been eating, how fresh it was and what animal it was. We also went over plants and how some protected themselves from being eaten by animals by their taste or their smell. The guide had us all bite into one leaf and it immediately felt like your tongue and lips were very dry, contained tannins.
Our 3 rangers and then us trekking through the brush. Our main guide in the middle.
All in all it was interesting but I enjoyed the tracking lesson from the day before more.
After lunch we had the afternoon free although by the time you finish lunch at 1:30 or 2 you don’t have long until 3:30 safari time. I forgot to mention that in-between lunch and safari they have tea time where they serve snacks. I don’t even want to guess how much weight I gained on this trip.
We thought it was just going to be the 2 of us for the afternoon drive but we had 3 surprise guests. We had 2 women who had just hired on to be receptionists and were in orientation and we had a gentleman from Cape Town who was a colleague of the lady we took out the other morning who works for the Sabi Sabi organization. They just bought a hotel in Cape Town, not on the waterfront, and they are re-doing it up to their standards and sending all their upper staff to their 4 lodges in Sabi Sands.
I was a little disappointed that it was not just the 2 of us but the group ended up being a lot of fun and there was lots of laughing. I did not think there was much more to see but they had another surprise for us. They knew where there was a hyena den with 2 pups and the last few times they checked to see if they were out of the den they were not but this evening they were.
There were 2 little pups and an older pup and 2 females. The pups were adorable and they are sometimes left alone, close to their burrow, which is also an old termite mound. The mom will go out looking for food and leave them alone for hours. There is also another female who stays with them, maybe mom’s sister?
The pup with its older sibling.
Next up was a small pond on the boundary of another Sabi Sabi property (Earth Lodge) that has both a crocodile and a hippo family.
The male hippo was definitely one of the largest we had seen. Most people don’t get to see the hyena cubs or the hippo because it is on the outskirts of the property and there are not usually a lot of animals along the way and most guests have limited time and want to see the big 5.
Sabi Sabi has it’s own airstrip for people with private planes or helicopters. We went up there for sunset cocktails and the view was spectacular
On the way back to the lodge Trevor, our tracker, found a Civit which is a racoon like mammal and also a white bushy tail mongoose. Unfortunately the white tail did not really show up in this picture.
We also had Trevor find us another chameleon just because they were so cute.
Dinner was just Chane, Kathy and me. The chef announces what the3 stations have for that evening. Chane said that the menu has a 4 night rotation and then it starts over because hardly anyone stays more than 4 nights.
The chef and the fancy outdoor chandelier over the salad bar.
Our outdoor dining experience (boma) every night.
I mentioned our young waiter, Last, in the first post. He is on orientation and is cute but his English skills need a lot of help. We asked why his name was “Last” and he said he was the last boy born. We did ask if the oldest boy born was named “First” but he said “no”, don’t think he got the joke… He also told us he was the last waiter hired.
By the time you get back to the room you are exhausted and after a nice hot shower you can hardly stay awake. We have 1 more game drive in the morning and then 3 flights to get us home. We will post on more blog update tomorrow after we get home.
Thank you again for following along with us.