391. Greater Kruger Park Area

Where: Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa
When: November 23 - 26, 2012
With: Dave, Nic, David, Divya, Divya's family

What trip to Africa would be complete without a safari? During my first week in South Africa, Nic and Divya had family in town as well, so we decided it was the perfect week for the big group of us to all travel east and head to the Kruger Park area. 

We flew all the way across South Africa from Cape Town to Johannesburg and rented cars. We made a quick stop at the Apartheid Museum (which was fantastic), and then began the long 7-hour drive north. As the outskirts of Joburg faded away, the landscape changed from crowded city life into a mixture of green mountains and rolling clouds, occasionally dotted with a township here and there. 

As we approached our hotel late in the evening, we drove along treacherous, hilly highways with potholes large enough to swallow an elephant and people that appeared suddenly out of the dark in our headlights as they walked along the edge of the road. Every couple hundred meters, the road was shut down to one lane for construction work that never seemed to be in progress. And all over, we kept our eyes peeled for one of the various animals that the road signs indicated may be crossing (my favorite was the "Hippo Crossing" sign). By the time the drive was over, we felt like we already had our first safari and the phrase TIA ("This is Africa") was frequenting most of our conversation.

The name of our first hotel was Hippo Hollow. While not the final destination, it was a good breaking point in the drive and as its name indicated, there was a promise of hippo sightings. 

Our rooms were perfect little bungalows to get us into the safari mood. They overlooked a watering hole, where Dave and I spent a good part of the night trying to spot hippos. Every rustle of a leaf was a potential sighting, and we waited anxiously with bated breath, expecting one to creep out from any bush (even though I can't imagine a hippo hiding itself long enough to "creep"). Sadly, the watering hole remained still and untouched all night.

So instead, the group of us relaxed and enjoyed our dinner in the lodge. It was actually Thanksgiving Day, and while we weren't eating the food you'd normally expect to, sitting around the big table together in a safari lodge in South Africa made the meal feel as festive as the holiday should be. 

The next morning, we were up and out the door bright and early, having not seen one hippo (Hippo Hollow, that is one heck of a ploy you have going there). We had another long drive ahead of us, that was made longer by a few more TIA moments, including construction sites and poorly marked roads. However, after a few hours, we noticed a tiny sign that said "Sabi Sands" and cheered that we'd finally made it (only 1 hour later than expected). When we turned down the dirt road and immediately spotted this guy, we knew it was safari time. PS - this is a kudu, and they are delicious.

After driving a bit, we approached a gigantic gatehouse that reminded me of the entrance to Jurassic Park. This was the gateway to Sabi Sands Game Reserve. While it's technically not Kruger Park, the reserve runs alongside Kruger, and the animals are free to roam between them. Sabi Sands has about twelve safari lodges that all work together to help each other locate and track the animals. Ours was called the Arathusa Safari Lodge. 

When we arrived at the hotel, the staff gave us one of the warmest greetings I've ever had in a hotel. They gave us ice cold drinks as we sat on big squishy couches in their open air lounge and learned what our schedule would be over the coming days. We could immediately see how hospitable the staff was and knew this was going to be a great stay. 

After our intro, they walked us to our rooms. The pathway was long and right through the middle of the bush. On our way, we ran across a herd of water bucks, and realized just how "in the wild" we were. 

The rooms themselves were beautiful. We each had our own bungalow surrounded by trees and wildlife, with a small infinity pool. After the staff dropped us off, we could hear the grunt of hippos and the rustle of trees from our patio. We were sure to enjoy our outdoor space during the daylight, because come night time, any animal could come wandering up (and potentially hunt us) in this open reserve. 

After settling into the room, Dave and I headed out to enjoy the rest of the property. Back in the main lounge area, there was a small pool and patio chairs overlooking the resort's own watering hole. So we ordered a couple of beers and enjoyed the view. 

Among the animals we could see: warthogs grubbing through the dirt on their knees, hippos trying to submerged in the water (finally), and herds of antelope munching on the grass. 

Soon it was lunch time, and the feast was incredible. We were served family style, and the food featured many of the animals we'd just watched grazing at the watering hole. The chef was incredibly eager to present our food, as he was for each meal we had thereafter. 

After lunch, it was time to start the real adventure: our game drives. We met our driver, Ryan, a young guy from Joburg who may have been more excited to see animals than we were. We also met our "tracker", Debeers. Debeers grew up as a bushmen herding cattle for his family and had learned all the habits of the animals over his years of chasing them off. He sat in the little seat on the front of our car, listening for animals, looking for prints, and directing Ryan when we went off-roading. 

Drive 1

Our first drive was, by the books, the most exciting. While I ended up thinking all our drives were incredible in their own way, this one was what our driver considered a "lucky" one. 

To start, we were driving along the road when we came upon a family of elephants chomping on leaves along the side of the road. We had of our first experience of parking the car and just sitting to watch as they grazed away. 

They were all looking wet and black after taking a dip in a watering hole and covering themselves in the mud. This helps them keep cool in the sun.

The baby of the herd was having fun pointing her trunk at us to check us out. We learned that elephant babies in a watering hole are just like humans - they hate to get out and their moms practically have to drag them away to move along. 

All that time we were paying attention to the baby, we didn't notice the herd had moved around and behind us. The relatively calm mom then started to puff out her ears and posture at us, and we guessed she had decided it was time to leave. 

When she started pointing her trunk at us and taking threatening steps towards us, we turned on the car and made it clear we were leaving. She literally scolded us on our way.

Alas, as we tried to pull off down the road, one of her kids was blocking the way, casually eating his food. We were stuck between an elephant and his angry mother. Luckily he got the word from mom and moved it along, and we were on our way.  

At this point, things got really exciting. A pair of male cheetahs, brothers, had been spotted on the edge of the reserve. Apparently, this is a really rare sight and if we wanted to make see them before they crossed out of our territory, we needed to speed along. So the race was on. It was so exciting and surreal, as David put it: "I am in Africa, tracking a cheetah. A year ago, I would have been like 'Baltimore?? But that's so far away'". 

And then, as the twenty minute drive passed in what felt like a second, we turned a corner and there they were. Despite being some of the deadliest predators, they were so lithe and graceful. It was clear to see from the build of their bodies why these are the fastest animals in the wild, reaching top speeds of 60mph. 

We sat silently in the truck as the two brothers crossed the road and went on their way, having our first up-close experience with a very large predator. We watched as they sat on top of a giant ant-hill, monitoring the land and determining where to hunt.

The reason it's become so rare to see these animals hunting is that they are endangered, though not from humans (shockingly). They are actually driving themselves to extinction. While skilled hunters, they are incredibly skittish, so any other predator can scare them away from a fresh kill (even a human, if you felt so inclined).  Therefore, they often end up starving and dying off. 

While they are able to be bred in captivity and successfully released into the wild, unless they MAN UP and start fighting for themselves, their numbers will continue to dwindle.

Now when we first started this drive, we had actually set out in hunt of rhino. By this point, with the sudden herd of elephants and the wild chase for cheetahs, rhinos had completely fallen out of our minds. However, once we decided to leave the cheetah brothers to their hunting, we literally turned around a bush and came upon our first sighting of a white rhino. Surprise!

This guy was huge. It was like seeing a dinosaur. With the power of his body and the size of his horn, we were happy to see how nonplussed he was by our presence. 

He was grazing on his own while a bird grazed on him. These small birds eat the ticks right off most large animals.

The sun had started to go down, so we decided to leave the rhino and head off again. We sped along and nearly ran right into another herd of elephants. As much as they surprised us, we had surprised them and this young female did not like it. She immediately turned on us with ears out and started to charge towards us. Luckily, our guide knew how to keep her calm and once the herd disappeared into the brush, it was safe to pass.

It was now time for the time-honored safari tradition of sundowners, a drink to toast the drive as the sun goes down. We found a safe bit of bush (as safe as could be, I guess), hopped out of the car, and toasted champagne under a beautiful African sky.

After drinks, it was time to start making our way back to the lodge. However, the excitement wasn't over yet and we spotted a pride of lions waking up from their sleep to start hunting. 

This was our first Simba sighting. A young male came right up to the edge of our truck and plopped himself back down again. He was completely not bothered by us (those were yawns, not roars). 

Eventually, they made their way to the watering hole. Simba and Nala? Can you feel the love tonight?

After that, it was time to head back to the lodge for dinner. The chef had cooked a traditional South African barbecue (called a braai) and we enjoyed it while revelling in the amazing drive we just had. Our guide shared a beer with us, saying how even he was blown away by our day. An excellent start. 

Drive 2

The next morning, we were up bright and early at 4:30am for our first morning drive. We had a bit of tea and coffee before setting out, while the hippos honked away the morning in the watering hole. 

The nice thing about an early morning drive is seeing the sunrise.  

Our first spotting on the drive was a lone zebra, eating his breakfast. 

He then proceeded to scrape his body back and forth up against this tree. He apparently had an itch he couldn't scratch.  Once he finished one side, he flipped and did the other.

The scars on his backside showed evidence of a previous lion attack. However, a zebra contains some crazy kicking strength which provides his main form of defense (and a big reason that zebras have never been domesticated). 

On this slightly more leisurely drive, we were able to observe some of the beautifully colored birds that frequent the bush.

The main item on the agenda for this drive was fourth of the Big 5, the leopard. After about an hour of driving, we found our first one. She was just lazing around and was absolutely gorgeous.

The most exciting moment of the day was when she picked up the scent of some baby impala (little antelope). It's amazing how quickly we went from "aww, the impala are so cute" to "get them, leopard, get themmm". She crouched in the bushes and watched them for about 5 minutes before something suddenly spooked the babies and they took off running. She took off after them, and we watched as the impala leapt and darted through the trees and she sprang forth after it. While she didn't catch them in the end, it was exhilarating to watch.

The run for the baby impala had worn her out and for awhile she just sat in the shade and relaxed. The guides think she may be pregnant, so she was panting pretty heavily. Apparently she's lost her last 5 cubs to predators, so fingers crossed she's more successful with the next!  

While she laid in the shade, she started panting with her mouth wide open and eyes closed. Doing this opens up some additional glands in the back of her mouth that allow her to pick up more scents.  I liked the expression on her face when she did this (although, not when she watched us while making it). 

We left her to relax and continued on our drive. Off in the distance, we could see some giraffe and decided to make our way in their direction.  As we approached, the mom and two babies took off running. We drove alongside of them as they ran, which was one of my favorite moments of all our safaris because a giraffe looks fascinating when it runs.

We learned that the Afrikaans word for a giraffe translates to "camel-horse". This is because when a giraffe walks, it moves its two left feet, then its two right feet, like a camel. But when it runs, it gallops with alternating sides like a horse.  It's so weird.

Eventually they all came to a stop, and we watched as the family grazed and ate. 

This was the point when we decided to stop for our mid-morning snack. While we weren't alone, the giraffes didn't pose us a threat. So we sat and drank coffee and rooibos tea while enjoying the view. 

While we debated taking on the job of tracking, we decided it wasn't for us.  

After the break, we hung out with the giraffes a little more before moving along.   

A couple of impala on the drive home.  

 As we were about to finish, we came upon the pride of lions from the night before. However, at this point in the day, they were far more docile. It was time for them to find some shade and curl up for their 16 hours of sleep.

Only one big lioness was out in the sun, curled up on the side of the road grooming herself.  

When she yawned, we saw she was missing a tooth. This did not make me any less afraid of her.  

 Back at the lodge, we had  our breakfast and learned that we had killer catfish in the watering hole. When the staff threw bread in the water, large gaping holes of mouths swallowed pieces whole while the water thrashed and splashed.  

I guess the catfish have to be big to compete with other things in this water, like the hippos. You knew they were big, though how big was hard to see. They have to keep themselves underwater or they'll get a nasty sunburn. It is better this way anyway though - hippos are responsible for more human deaths per year than any other large animal in Africa, so the less they are out, the better.

Drive 3

Setting off on our next afternoon drive, we had settled into the routine of how things worked. We all just thoroughly enjoyed driving along and with the breeze in our hair bumping along the road. Right out of the gate, we came upon some herbivores, eating calmly, including a zebra, a couple of wildebeest and a one-horned impala.

I wonder if they would have been so calm if they knew that only a short distance away was the pride of sleeping lions. Or maybe they did know, but also knew that these lazy felines had a couple more hours before their alarm went off for the day. They had barely moved from where we left them earlier. 

We got a close-up look at the oldest female in the pride. She has a giant gash on her muzzle that may end up killing her if it doesn't heal up soon. She can't kill her own prey too much anymore, so she has to really try to stay with the rest of the pride.

We got so close to this pride that I was starting to feel like we were becoming buddies.

Since the pride would be quiet for a bit longer, we were off again to explore the bush.  

The main purpose of this drive was to spot the last of the Big 5, the buffalo.  We achieved this pretty quickly, spotting two old males wallowing in the mud. The buffalo, particularly old males, is a particularly ornery animal, and our guide said that of the Big 5 (elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, buffalo), this is the one he'd least like to run into in the wild. 

 

The big guy eventually got out of the mud and we got a glimpse of his sheer size and power. With those horns and that strength, here's to hoping he doesn't charge.

We left the old men to themselves and continued the drive. We next came across the "go-away" bird (there is a more technical name that I have forgotten). This bird chirps loudly whenever a predator is present, alerting all animals in the area to be on alert (funny story on that later).  

We then got a radio call about something very exciting, though our guide wouldn't tell us what it was. We were off again racing, and towards what, we didn't know. All we did know was that the action was occurring in private territory outside of Sabi Sands. While we were permitted to enter this area, we had to get in at a very specific time and get out within 15 minutes, as the owner of the property didn't want too many jeeps on his land at once. 

When we pulled up, the first thing we saw were these mangy creatures that were the hyenas. These things looked insane, and we were excited to see them, but they weren't the reason for our journey.

We drove our truck up onto the edge of a hill, literally driving over small trees to get into the thick brush and teetering on a downhill slope. That is when we saw her up through the thick leaves: a four month old baby leopard. Her and her mom had been feasting on a freshly killed impala when the hyena pack rolled up. Both leopards had to hurry up a tree to make sure the baby was safe from the crazy savages.

At least she didn't seem scared. The effects of the full meal were showing as she kept nodding off to sleep while she waited.  

After a few minutes, we moved the car around to catch a glimpse of mom in an opposite tree. She was also just resting with her full belly, but clearly vigilant of the situation around her. 

After our time was up, we pulled back and caught a second glimpse at the hyenas. These guys are second on the food chain after lions, and it's clear to see why. They hunt in packs, they bully other animals, and I think they may actually be insane. No wonder they were the bad guys in the movie. 

After that, the excitement continued as Debeers spotted some elephants in the trees along the side of the road. Different from the last sightings, this was not a herd, but a pair of male bulls. One was older and huge, and the other was younger and smaller. Usually, an old bull will take a younger one under his wing (or trunk?) to teach him the ways of being a bull and to keep him in line. We pulled right up into the bushes to check these guys out. They were not bothered, but kept walking closer and closer to us as they ate, which was awesome until it became mildly unnerving. 

After seeing 4 of the big 5 in one drive, it was time to celebrate with sundowners and a beautiful sky.

It was completely dark as we started our drive back and we got the chance to see how truly talented Debeers was. Driving at about 30mph, with nothing but a spotlight that he flashes back and forth across the road into the bushes (looking for the reflection of animal eyes), he found this chameleon in the branches. Seriously!? An impressive end to our drive.

That night, while we were eating dinner, a pride of lions was spotted crossing past the hotel's watering hole and into our camp. Now, our hotel grounds had nothing to stop animals from entering the grounds and as such, you were never allowed to walk back to your room at night without a guide. While the guides don't have guns or anything, they would know the best way to react to keep you safe if faced with an animal. Not completely comforting, but on our first night, we were feeling pretty relaxed about the walk back (even though the escort told us that if we saw an elephant at night by our room, it would probably kill us).  

However, seeing a pride of lions as you eat dinner will cause you some concern. Ryan was set to escort us all that night, and we set out huddled in a group, afraid to make too much noise. As we walked, Ryan pointed out the fresh tracks left in the road that crossed our path and said "well, let's hope they don't turn around".  

When Ryan went to walk Divya and her mother back to their room, Nic, David, Dave and I huddled and kept our eyes peeled for any sign of movement in all directions. At one point, a bird started chirping loudly, to which David yelled "Oh my god, is that the go-away bird!?". At least that lightened the mood...until Ryan came to collect Nic and David, leaving Dave and I alone on the path.

As Ryan brought Dave and I back to our room on the last leg of the journey, he was laughing and joking about how we shouldn't be scared since he was the one that had to walk all the way back alone. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks and asked "did you hear that?" All the joking didn't seem so funny as he froze in place and listened intently. Then very slowly, he started moving forward again saying that he thought the lions had made a kill cause he could hear them feeding close by. He left us that night with a "I would not leave your room for any reason this evening". It was the first slap of reality that being out in the wild here was not a game. 

Drive 4

The next morning started off a bit dreary and rainy, but we were all so excited for the drive, it didn't matter. We were given dry, warm ponchos, and continued on in perfect comfort. And right off the bat, we spotted an old buffalo relaxing on his own. 

  

This was a slower drive, allowing us to take in some of the calmer sights. Like a half-eaten snake on the side of the road. Likely an eagle or a hawk got the other half and would be back for more. 

The rain brought on some of the smaller creatures to be seen, including this giant snail. They were slithering around all over the ground. I thought it was funny to see this guy react to a fire ant the same way that I would - by curling up until it goes away. 

We then found the two young male lions from the pride playing out in the open. Like typical teenagers, they didn't want to pay attention that it was bed time. They were way to interested in fighting and wrestling over a rock like two kids with a toy.

You can just see the starts of a mane forming. This was the closest to a full grown male we would get to see. This reserve has a unique setup with its lions. A couple of males will rule over several prides of females. Therefore, they aren't always around in one area. These guys will stay with the pride for a few more years before they venture off on their own.

And some more wrestling.  Still for the rock.

We left the playing lions spotted our first vulture. 

 We next came upon what became my favorite title for a group of animals: an implausibility of wildebeest, including their babies. 

We then got to our next major spotting: a male leopard. Up until this point, we'd only seen the females. I thought they'd look the same as the females, just a bit bigger, but I couldn't have been more wrong.  

The females looked beautiful. I thought the male just looked menacing. Like the bad guy in a movie. 

This guy decided he wanted out of his tree, but he slipped and nearly fell, though this would-be comedic error didn't detract from the terror this guy struck into your heart.

Up until this point, I had this false sense that the leopards were like big, beautiful house cats and that they wouldn't really mind if you reached out and petted them. Then I saw him. And I couldn't ignore that leopards are killing machines. His body looked like it was pure muscle.

  
Eventually, the big guy padded away. But man, when he was wandering around our truck, I was definitely holding my breath.

After that, we drove for a bit under the guidance of Debeers. He had the track of something, and in order to properly find it, he decided  to do it how he knows best. He got off his chair and took off into the bush on foot.  What he was searching for, we had no idea, but he didn't take the gun with him. We all sat quietly waiting and speculating. After a few minutes, Ryan started to call Debeers softly on the walkie-talkie. He kept asking "Can you hear me?" and then would rev the engine of the truck. The tension was palpable as we all watched, hushed, waiting to see something pop out of a bush...Debeers? an animal? We didn't know. 

Finally, Debeers emerged, alone and unharmed. Apparently, he'd been tracking a rhino, but it seems the rhino tiptoed just out of our sight and we missed him. While we didn't see anything in the end,  we were all thoroughly excited by the hunt we got to witness.

To end our drive, we found our good old pride of lions and they were sleeping. Surprise! The treat on this viewing though was the three baby lion cub that were out and about, feeding away. Usually, when the lions are hunting or sleeping, their mom will keep them hidden away so we hadn't had the chance to see them before. 

After finishing his meal, this one went up to each of his aunties to give a nuzzle before stretching out to sleep.  

He's working on his roar. 

 Apparently, lions are just like humans - they like touch. 

Remember when I said I felt like we were bonding with this pride? It was a sobering moment when we turned on the truck and the entire pride jerked up to stare at us. Suddenly, I didn't feel as comfortable with them. 

Bush Walk

On our last day, in between drives, we had the opportunity to go out on a nature walk in the bush around our hotel. While it's fairly safe since most of the big predators are sleeping, there's no messing around. Ryan carried a big gun and he shot to kill. We had to walk single file and make no noises, and under no circumstances were we ever to run, no matter what we saw.

We were glad to get the walk going since the fire ants were really going crazy that afternoon, crawling all over our feet and legs. Everyone sought refuge on a log, though I preferred to dance around trying to keep them off my feet. 

A few things we saw on our walk were spider nests, trees ravaged by the tusks of elephants  and several types of bugs. One in particular was the millipede. He felt so cool when you held him, like a slight tickling all over your hands as he walked. 

We also got the lovely experience of seeing this skull of a kudu. Ryan said that no matter where he hides this item, it always ends up in a different spot. The animals must like to play with it.

While we were trekking along, we suddenly heard a weird noise. At this point, we had learned to identify an impala's warning snort, a noise the herd will make when they sense a predator nearby. It sounds like a short blast on a steam whistle. The sound was loud and all around us. We all froze and suddenly three impala came running right at us. We stayed in place and they leapt right in between us. We waited for a bit, hoping the rest of the herd didn't follow or that the thing causing the impalas to warn each other wasn't either. This provided some unexpected adventure on what was supposed to a relaxing afternoon walk.

Drive 5

We all were feeling a bit sad as we started on our last drive. The weather was cloudy, the viewing conditions weren't going to be great and we didn't want our time at Arathusa to end. But what ended up being our "least active" drive still provided us with plenty to see and left us all eager to plan a future safari.

Among the things we saw: 

A male kudu with great horns.

A dazzle of zebra.

Baby impala.

Impala AND a dazzle of zebra. 

A crash of rhino...that started running when we approached, which was scary for a second. Luckily they didn't direct their run towards us. 

The mom rhino had one heck of a horn on her. 

 Eventually, we left the group to carry on their way. 

The clouds and impending rain cause most animals to seek shelter. As you can imagine, with the wind blowing and rain, they have a hard time keeping an eye out for predators. We searched for a while, but after awhile, we decided to head back to our old favorites - the pride of lions. At this point, we knew who they were, and it was a fitting end to our safari to see them off. The cubs were still out and about, so we just parked the car and hung out with them while they slept. 

Getting ready to hunt with a good long stretch. 

Mom feeding her cubs.

This one has mischief written all over his face. 

A lot of yawns going on, which gave excellent views of their teeth. 

This was a funny series of events. First, mom was using this cub as her arm rest. Then the cub's aunt came over and decided she wanted his spot. So she just sat on him.  Sucks to be the bottom of the pack.

At least his aunt gave him a "tail hug" as the little guy moved along.   

After feeding for awhile, mom was tired of her position and rolled to her other side, sending all the cubs scrambling. 

 

Ryan was hoping that the mom of the two male lions we saw earlier would give a roar to call her sons home. She didn't, but instead just kept staring at us with her crazy looking eyes. It was uncomfortable.

Finally, she rolled over for some more sleep.  

After no roars and the night coming, we had to say our farewells to the pride and head off for our final sundowners. We toasted Ryan and Debeers on an excellent 5 drives and looked around at our last view of Sabi Sands.

I can't even begin to describe how incredible and amazing this experience was. The Arathusa Lodge was the most accomodating, wonderful place I've ever stayed. When we left early the next morning, Ryan and Debeers woke up to say goodbye to us (even though they had no drives to go on) and we found a packed lunch from the kitchen for our drive back to Joburg. I am so excited for my next safari, but it's going to be really hard to do it again without these wonderful people. I feel like I got to know the animals, and need to go back and see how they're doing. I cannot WAIT, but at least I can follow them all on the safari's blog: http://blog.arathusa.co.za/

For the rest of our trip in South Africa, click here.