South Africa Day 5

Our last full day on safari was really a mixed bag. This boy up above was big and WILD, and very aggressive. I wouldn't want to run into him while on foot. He gave us one good stare down and then thundered off into the bush.

Above is my favorite little creature, a jackal. She wasn't scared of us at all, but perhaps irritated that we interrupted her sunrise nap.

Olaf wanted to see hippos, and luckily we did. Big, lazy ass hippos rolling around in the river.


The first hour or two of our evening drive was pretty uneventful. I had made the choice of where to go on our drive, so if we saw no wildlife it would be pinned on me. While the four of us were looking for leopards in the trees, Brett stopped the Cruiser and jumped out. Apparently we almost ran over a very important snake. I'm not sure of the name, but I know A. it is the fastest striking snake in Africa/ the world/ or whatever, and B. it is responsible for the highest percentage of fatal snake bites. Ick.

Brett, our snake-loving guide, jumped out of the car and pursued the dangerous snake with MY CAMERA. Actually, I was glad he did, because his pictures turned out great :) Looked like a total mad man laying on the ground, supposedly "just out of striking distance." Right.


The evening picked up nicely. We saw a few rhino and a brown hyena carrying an antelope head (awkwardly, uh, because of the big antlers).

We stopped for our sundowner in a nice little meadow, but our party was quickly crashed by two big, hungry rhino. We opted to take our beers in the car and watch while they mowed the grass.

South Africa Day 4, Wild Dogs and Elephants

We were so pleased after seeing the wild dogs the night before, we really didn't expect to see them again. Lucky for us, the pack killed an antelope on a road early in the morning. Because we were in the car, the dogs were very relaxed and didn't mind us observing them.

With what was left of the kill.

The dogs were gluttons- look at that big belly! They all were walking around like they were pregnant ;)

On our evening drive, we noticed a herd of elephants walking single file across the road. I thought it was cute and very organized- I knew I liked elephants. Thankfully we had our smart ranger with us who interpreted their movements much better than I- the elephants were headed to a waterhole!

The elephants picked up speed as they neared the waterhole. They were so excited! Lining up single file, they drank their fill before having a little play time :)

The baby elephants were having an absolute bawl, rolling around in the water and getting good and muddy.


This was definitely my favorite part of the week.

South Africa Day 3, Wild Dogs and More

Our third day at Madikwe was great! The reserve is known as the best place to see wild dogs, which are endangered. We were constantly looking for the dogs, while the rangers were trying to track them by looking for paw prints in the dust.

Finally, we ran into a ranger from a private lodge where the dogs were last spotted with a kill. Lucky for us! The lodge was kind enough to let us into one of their suites, where we could stand on the balcony to observe the dogs.

The wild dogs were very social with each other, but seeing us on our feet made them very nervous. We stayed for a good 30 minutes, just observing the dogs.




Babies babies! Our visit coincided with the beginning of the rainy season and the animals giving birth. We saw many mini's stumbling around, trying to stay upright and master the art of walking on four legs.

South Africa Day 2, Evening Drive

On our third drive we were joined by another couple, Luigi and Carol. The managers did a great job of matching guests together for the drives, as we got along really well. Luigi and Carol are from Panama and were in the middle a month-long honeymoon. We ended up going on the remainder of our drives together, and enjoyed a couple dinners with them and our ranger, Brett.





The little jackal below was very sweet and one of my favorite animals that we saw. She walked on her toes, like Hazel.

When our ranger asked what animals we were most interested in seeing, I said 'big cats.' While we saw a few lions, that was about it. However, one night this little African wildcat ran across the road while hunting at dusk.

South Africa Day 2, Morning Drive

For our first morning drive, we were up at 4:45, enjoyed a quick coffee while the sun came up and then were on the road. Olaf and I were trying to be good passengers, using our binoculars to scour the trees for leopards.

Around 7:30am we stopped for a coffee break. We jumped out of the car and kept up our leopard search while Brett began to set up a little table for the coffee. I looked around a bush, and here comes a big bull elephant down the road, heading straight for us! We hopped in the car and watched while he literally crashed our party.

Here he comes!

Knocking over the table.

Pulling out and spilling our coffee.

Curiosity satisfied, he's off to scratch against a tree.

These next photo's were taken only for Mr. Adam Kolibaba, who likes insects. We saw so many of these millipede's on the walkways around the lodge. Some of them were 1/3in. thick.

South Africa Day 1, part 2

We got so close to the lions! They were playing with each other and largely disinterested in us (thankfully).
This girl has got a fully belly!


Lion climbing trees, pretending she's a leopard.





The lions were so cat-like, it was crazy. The sisters were stalking each other, jumping on each other, and rolling around in the grass.

South Africa Day 1

Olaf and I were just in South Africa, where we went on safari at the Madikwe Game Reserve and visited the seaside city of Cape Town. (http://www.madikwe-game-reserve.co.za/). We took an overnight flight from London to Johannesburg, arriving at 6am. Of course neither of us slept, because we were so excited.

Upon arrival we were met by a representative from &Beyond, our local travel coordinator in South Africa. He transferred us to the private Federal Air terminal, which operates small flights to game reserves in southern Africa.

Our flight got canceled because the heavy rain had washed out Madikwe's dirt runway. Luckily, the company organized a driver to take us five hours north to the reserve, hopefully getting us there in time to go out on an evening game drive.

Above is Olaf waiting in the lounge for the driver. In the photo below I am playing with my camera and reading the instructions so I can be prepared to capture some good photos of the animals.

Madikwe Game Reserve is located in northern South Africa, and juts up against Botswana. It's a huge huge area (300 sq. miles) and takes hours to drive across. Upon arrival we were met by our ranger Brett, who would be taking us on all our game drives. This evening we were lucky to go out with just the three of us.

Now here is the first exciting thing we saw, a magnificent dung beetle, rolling around the female on her little ball of fertility. Not so much.

It rained non-stop for our first three game drives, including this one. The evening drive lasts from 4:30 to 8:30/9, depending on how easy it is to navigate the roads. One night a massive herd of elephants blocked our road for an hour and a half.

The giraffe's were surprisingly gorgeous. From the lodge you can see their long necks and little heads swimming through the trees. All the animals seemed like dinosaurs to me, because they were so big once you got close.

The animals, for the most part, were not bothered by us so long as we stayed in the car. Brett says that they have become comfortable with the vehicles, but that the moment you step outside, you freak them out. No matter how comfortable they were with us, it was still very difficult to find some of the animals, like the rhino and African buffalo.

Before we arrived, a black rhino died (of old age). The carcass was around for a couple of days, attracting lots of hungry lions. We got a special opportunity to watch them feeding and playing :)

Below is our approach to the rhino, slightly blocked by a possessive lion. She wasn't too bothered by us, and even put on a little show with her sister. Usually lions sleep all day (like Hazel and Luca), so it was special to see them being active.