White rhino grazing five yards away from us!
I was quite ignorant of how many different species there are of African deer. Here are the ones I can remember that we saw: Springbok, impala, water buck, nyala, kudu, gazelle.
The beautiful Nyala
Male Kudu
Oryx or Gemsbok at waterhole
All too soon the drive was over and we were back at our lodge. Sabi Sabi consists of three lodges several kilometres apart from each other. We are in the most modern called Earth Lodge, which is a wonderful piece of architecture. As you approach the lodge you cannot see it at all as it is set into the side of a bank overlooking a large waterhole and the unspoilt bush. There are thirteen individually domed roof apartments, made out of a mud coloured concrete which has been mixed with grass to imitate a termite mound. From the front you see a low structure which very successfully 'melts' into the background.
Our 'termite mound' apartment at Earth Lodge, Sabi Sabi
The other two lodges are very traditional with grass roofs and one has only oil lanterns for lighting. They are all five star luxury lodges with impeccable service.
The highlight of our three safaris was the afternoon/evening, drive, when just after dark, we came upon a pride of nine lions lying in the road! We stayed with them as they slowly moved along the road and then into the bush. Always in single file, it was the most fantastic sight as we filmed and took photos. Unfortunately, as you are not allowed to have mobile phones with you on safari, I wasn't able to use the mobile phone's camera to take a photo of the lions. I am using my mobile phone to post photos to the website and so photos of the pride will have to wait till our return to the UK when I will post them to the site.
Back to the lions. They didn't mind Sven's spotlight which enabled us to see them so clearly. At times they walked alongside our Landrover and we could have touched them! Finally, we watched them disappear into the darkness of the bush. Thirty minutes had gone by in a few seconds.
It has been a most wonderful experience to see African big, and small, game in the wild. Tomorrow we drive halfway through the Kruger, a distance of 250 kms, on our way to our last overnight stop in South Africa before heading north into Botswana.
The highlight of our three safaris was the afternoon/evening, drive, when just after dark, we came upon a pride of nine lions lying in the road! We stayed with them as they slowly moved along the road and then into the bush. Always in single file, it was the most fantastic sight as we filmed and took photos. Unfortunately, as you are not allowed to have mobile phones with you on safari, I wasn't able to use the mobile phone's camera to take a photo of the lions. I am using my mobile phone to post photos to the website and so photos of the pride will have to wait till our return to the UK when I will post them to the site.
Back to the lions. They didn't mind Sven's spotlight which enabled us to see them so clearly. At times they walked alongside our Landrover and we could have touched them! Finally, we watched them disappear into the darkness of the bush. Thirty minutes had gone by in a few seconds.
It has been a most wonderful experience to see African big, and small, game in the wild. Tomorrow we drive halfway through the Kruger, a distance of 250 kms, on our way to our last overnight stop in South Africa before heading north into Botswana.
Another elephant, this time close to the lodge
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