Safari in South Africa

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When we left Livingstone in Zambia on Monday the 29th Ocotber,, we flew to Johannesburg where we picked up a bus and went directly to Nelspruit. When we left many years ago, Nelspruit was a little sleepy hollow near Kruger Park. NOw, it is a thriving metropolis, 400,00 people. We were picked up by our hosts Mari and Daan, who looked after us for the next 5 days. First they took us to a lovely pub for a quick meal ( we arrived at 8 pm, after a 3hour journey). When we finished our meal, they picked us up and took us to our lodgings, Chez Vincent, a beautiful B and B. The next morning, after a lovely breakfast we were picked up by D & N and started on our new adventure.
We visited the Blyde River Canyon ( the third largest canyon in the world), Molholohol private Game Reserve which had a wonderful rehabilitation centre where among other things we fed vultures and where we overnighted in a private little chalet, and went for a game drive in the evening and a game walk in the morning; Pezulu Private game reserve which has tree houses, game drives etc (we stayed in the honeymoon tree house), and then to a Cheetah rehabilitation centre and finally to Kruger Park. There we overnighted at Satara and Skukuza, both wonderful Rest camps. We saw many wonderful sights and lots and lots of animals. The highlight was when a leopard stepped out of hte bushes in front of us ( at 11 in the morning) and proceeded to walk across the track and down to the dry river bed. Other exciting moments were sightings of the big five - leopard, lion, buffalo, rhino ( we got too close to black rhino when we were on a walking safari) and elephant. Also hippos in abundance at various water holes.

At the end of our safari, we were again taken to the Chez Vincent B&B and the following day we returned to Joburg for the final phase of our trip: the private car and our own touring...I'll tell you about that next time.

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Photos

Citybug
Roman and I travelled on this to and from Joburg, very comfortably.

Blyde River Canyon
A very hazy day travelling around the canyon - but very spectacular.

Feeding vultures
If I looked a little nervous, that's because I was!

Warthog on bended knees
Warthog were plentiful, but I never realised that they liked to feed on their knees!

Walking safaris
The guides always carried rifles just in case!

Treehouse
Well that's the bedroom!

Leopard on the river bed
This was taken at a fair distance, after he walked away from us ..

Game drive
This was the type of vehicle we went game driving in.

Water buck
I think he wanted to say hello!

Fast Food
Impala are considerd fast food for the animals, and they have the right logo!

Satara rondavel
One of the places we stayed in Kruger park. Can you see Roman in the shadows?

NYALA buck
Looks like a kudu, but hey, it's a Nyala!!!! Thanks to all who have corrected me - I thought it was a pie in the sky, but realise that to many, it's serious!!

Storks
Just in case you think we didn't take any bird pics!

Sunset game drive and drinkies
Well you can't go out for a drive without celebrating!

Comments

[Weggs]

Animals
Hi Lucy, Looks like you got awfully close to some of the animals or did the zoom lens come in very handy? The hippos photo is my favourite. Bet the weather was warmer than it is here in England!

[Mandys]

Whatever the weather!
While we on safari the weather was generally warm in South Africa, while in the rest of the places ( Namibia and Botswana, Zambia and Zim) it was hot as Hades - over 30 and often in the high 30s and early 40s. And yes, it would have been slightly warmer than where you are! Our camera Nikon, did a good job - while my Canon took the photos that Roman didn't get around to taking or the ones that when he had his zoom lens on, he couldn't take.

[KA Shufran]

kudu pic is really a nyala
The animal you have labelled as a kudu is actually a nyala.

[Mandys]

Kudu/Nyala
Sorry - I got all caught up with the photos and didn't notice my wrong label. Lucy

[Nicolien Erasmus]

Kudu buck wrongly named
Just want to let you know that the kudu buck photo you have is not a kudu but in fact a nyala bull. Regards

[Kris]

Not a kudu
This is not a Kudu. It is a Nyala. Kudu are not as hairy as Nyala.

[Stretch]

Nyala
Sorry guys, but your Kudu is actually a Nyala. Kariba; Zimbabwe.

[Stefan]

Haha
This is a bushbuck ram. Google to see what a kudu looks like. Anyway, we refer to the males as bulls, not buck

[Stefan]

Haha at me
Sorry, yes, it's a nyala!!!! :)

[Lena]

Kudu
Nice picture ... for your own interest - the antilope on your picture is a Nyala Bull. Smaller than the Kudus, with a darker coat and it is a very secritive antilope in the same habitat range as the Kudu.

[Ramzy ahmed]

Sudan university of science and technology- wildlife departement- teching asisstant
Actully good thing in my life to see wild animals just all my comment

[anonymous]

sorry to say this to you and you probably heard this befor but the animal ons this photo is a nyala

[Marile Nieuwoudt]

kudu buck
Good day , I do not know you but would like to tell you that the photo is actually of a Nyala. they look very similar to the Kudu and can be easily mistaken. regards, Marile

[Willem]

Kudu?
I think this picture isn't a Kudu but a Nyala