The main reason for holidaying in South Africa has to be to
come on safari! It was totally the Boy’s choice, and in all honesty, I am not
even the biggest animal fan, but the whole trip to South Africa was a travel adventure
not to be missed so I was keen to have this as our honeymoon destination.
So, to finish off South Africa, we had three days of safari time, which means 6 game drives.
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| seriously close to this beautiful beast |
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| blending in with the wildlife! |
How would I sum up the safari….
…totally epic!!!
There are not many times I am quiet but this has to be one
of those rare times. Safari took my breath away. And not just seeing the animals
but the scenery, sunsets and the experience of staying in such a great resort
was all spectacular.
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| how gorgeous is this cheetah! |
Now my only issue with going on safari was that I got most of my ‘research’ from the likes of watching The Lion King and Madagascar (both great films) which means that I thought it would be flat, dry and beige grassland, going out in shorts and t-shirt (binoculars and safari hat optional) and that there would be loads of hyenas around which I hate (the ones in The Lion King try to kill Simba!)
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| this is kind of like the beginning scene of The Lion King, yea? |
Funnily enough though, if you base your knowledge on kid’s
films, you are going to get it wrong. Very wrong.
First of all, this was not the Serengeti which meant the
land was a combination of rolling hills, flat planes, thick bush, dry grassland
and everything in between!!!
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| pasts of the land was thick and dense |
Secondly, you safari at dawn and dusk, not the blazing
midday sun (of course, if it is hot enough for you to go out in shorts and
t-shirt then it will be too hot for the animals). Plus the fact the jeep is
open and goes at quite a speed means a wind will chill you. This was autumn for
the southern hemisphere. I would advise taking a proper coat, gloves and some
kind of hat.
Thirdly whilst there were (brown) hyenas there, they are
nocturnal so there was no chance of seeing them really.
Obviously the main reason to go to safari is for the
animals, and what most people want to see is fondly called the “big 5”…lion, leopard,
buffalo, elephant and rhino. We were lucky enough to see them all but the leopard
but there was only one on the reserve we were at so chances were slim to none.
But we did get to see two cheetahs who in my opinion are more marvellous a
creature. We were lucky enough to see it start to chase down their lunch
(although this time it missed) and a few hours we saw it again neatly munching
on its kill.
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| we saw a baby one that had just been born, umbilical cord still hanging out! |
One of the things that make the whole experience so
mesmerising is that you are there, in the wild, with the animals. This is real
life. Not some simulated pretending at the zoo.
This is their natural habitat and seeing the interact with
each other was incredible - We got to see a lion and two lionesses hunt, a herd
of rhino’s grazing (a herd is suitably called a crash of rhinos) and a pair of
male springboks (a type of antelope deer thing) lock horns and ruck.
I was most amazed though by the elephants we saw. Firstly we
couldn’t see them until we turned this one corner into a thick bush area and to
think that these massive animals are so well hidden is outstanding. Being no
more than just a couple of meters from one of them, we sat there for ages watching
her feed. Using her trunk and foot, she effortlessly upturned a tree to eat the
roots, using her trunk to pull and huge foot to break the roots.
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| we were lucky enough to see a whole family |
It was like that with all the animals really - you were so bloody close you just wanted to reach a cheeky hand out the jeep and touch one! Not one time was it scary even though at any time these powerful beasts would have the power to have us.
Our guide, Jacque, was a superstar when it came to tracking
the animals and that actually became part of the fun. This ain’t a zoo. You don’t
know where they are hiding in the 25 hectors of natural camouflage. On our last
drive he actually touched some rhino poop to confirm his suspicions that this
was fresh and the rhino was close. He was ninja at spotting them a mile off too.
He was pointing out things that I quite confidently was assuming was a rock or
tree – turns out it would be a rhino or elephant.
To be continued….
X x X
read part one of Cape Town here
read part two of Cape Town here
read about our amazing hotel in Camps Bay here
read about the winelands here
read about the fun with ostriches here
read about Plettenberg Bay here
read about my horrendous bungee jump here
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