Singita Lebombo

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One of the toughest thing in planning travel for a family is to take them to a place when you have never been, arrange travel, hotels, restaurants and workout the last details and make it so that it wows everyone’s, meet all the expectations are met and arrange everything remotely. That is a tall order!



My son wanted us to go on a African safari!! The first place that came to my mind was Kenya/Tanzania and the Serengeti. So when I told him that ok, let's go the safari in the Serengeti he said, well no, he was thinking of Singita Lebembo. I didn't even know where Singita Lebembo was let alone which country it was in. I found out that Singita Lebembo is located in the Northern part of Kruger National Park in the Lebambo Mountains. Now with a specific destination in mind, I got to planning our trip. The nearest international airport to get to this place is Johannesburg. So with that information, I booked our tickets on Delta - from Detroit to Johannesburg. At $1263/pp roundtrip, I think that was a decent airfare. Next step was I had to book for Singita. If you book from the hotel website, you will pay a full price without air transport to Singita. So I searched around and found this travel company called Guided Safaris Inc. They offered us a four night deal with roundtrip flight from Johannesburg to Singita Lebombo. The flight from Atlanta to Joberg (Johannesburg) was to land at 5:00pm on August 16 and out flight to Singita was next morning at 9:00am. Since this was basically a short stay where we needed to sleep for a few hours and a shower, we booked a guest house near the airport (Airport Modjadji Guesthouse).



Our flight started off in Detroit via Chicago to Atlanta and onwards to Johannesburg, pretty uneventful. I found that taking the "No Jetlag" homeopathic pills (available at Whole foods) did help in getting over the jet lag on this very long flight. After we landed at Oliver Tambo International airport, the owner of Modjadji Guesthouse picked us at the airport and after a good night's rest and breakfast he dropped us back next morning at the Federal Air hanger for our flight to Singita.



The flight to Singita was roughly one and a half hour in a Pilatus PC-12. We landed on a unpaved/dirt airstrip about half an hour away from the Singita's main lodge. We are greeted my Morris, one of the friendly Singita staff members. He was ready with fresh wet towels, beer, soft drinks and biltong (delicious dried meat). After our bags were loaded on to a Singita van, we left the airstrip and headed for the Singita lodge. As we were driven, we got the first glimpse of Kruger National's wildlife, a giraffe crossing the road, There were abundant Impalas and a large heard of Cape buffalos.



Singita Lebombo is located in the middle of nowhere on a 38,000-acre concession; how they manage the logistics is another research subject. The main lodge is designed to blend in with the surroundings. Once we got to the lodge, we were welcomed by lively Lucky. We settled in at the long bar with soft drinks and beers to take in the views of Singita. In about an hour or so, we were escorted to our lodge/rooms. The path to the rooms is a sort of boardwalk constructed through the bush. The setting is rustic but once you are in the room, it is very modern with all the amenities. Our room had a king bed with indoor and outdoor shower, a balcony with outdoor bed, bath tub and all the accessories including stocked mini-bar. The kids had two full beds and similar setup. After unpacking, we were back at the long bar at 4:00 pm, which is usually the place where they serve morning and afternoon tea. It is also the meeting place before you start off on a game drives. At his point we were introduced to our ranger Colin who would accompany and guide us for next four days on our game drives. After we finished our tea, we walked to the front of the lodge to board our designated Land Rover. Colin introduced us to Soli, our tracker and spotter. Soli was seated in the front of the modified Land Rover on the spotter seat.



Aug 17 - Our first ever game drive started off by seeing lots of Impalas, Zebras, Giraffes, Guinea fowl, White crested Helmet Shrike in that order of numbers. We also spotted Kudu, Waterbuck, a mother rhinoceros with her baby, a hippopotamus that had ventured out of the water, a massive crocodile and a small heard of wildebeest. After sunset, we spotted an African cat that looks like an ordinary house cat and a lone elephant close to the lodge.



When we returned to the lodge, we headed to the long bar for some South African wines and drinks. After drinks we headed to the dining area, our maître d’ was Boike. Upon request for wine our sommelier showed up with a list of South Africican wines. After dinner we were escorted to our lodges, as it is Singta policy that after dark you must be escorted to your room. From our room balcony, i sat sipping some more wine from our stocked bar watching the stars and Milky Way for the first time in the southern hemisphere. Except for the stars in the sky, it was pitch black, there was no other ambient light. The night sounds came from occasional snorting by the hippos in the river nearby. It was a quietest and serene night ever.



Aug 18 - Next morning, we were woken up by a wake up call at 6:00 am. After freshening up we gathered in the long bar for morning tea and coffee with light snacks and promptly headed out to our designated Land Rover for the early game drive. There was a chill in the air so Soli had arranged ponchos and hot water bottles to keep us warm and comfortable. As we started out on the game drive, the Impalas and zebras were always present and plentiful throughout the game drives, these animals later became background objects that we paid almost no attention. We spotted an African Fish Eagle perched high on a dead Leadwood tree. Next, Soli showed us footprints of a lion, which must have passed that way sometime in the night. We then came across a young bull elephant and as we got closer to the elephant, he charged towards the Land Rover with his ear flaps erect and trunk raised to make him seem larger. Once he was convinced the we were not going away and were no threat to him, he walked away in the bush. Next we spotted a couple of rhinos with yellow billed oxpeckers perched on their backs and a lone warthog scurried away as we drove by.



The young bull elephant that we had spotted earlier had now joined up with a larger group of elephants. As we started following that small group, this group then merged into a much larger group and eventually there were close to 70 elephants moving towards watering hole. This group had everyone in it, mothers, babies, aunts, uncles and matriarchs. We just sat and watched this spectacular site, it reminded me of a scene from the movie "Jungle Book" where the elephants marched in a straight line to the orders of Colonel Hathi.



Next, we spotted a lone hyena and little further, there were more of them. This was one sure sign that there was a kill nearby and possibly the lions would be close by. We saw another hyena chewing on a hoof bone of a wildebeest and jackal waiting patiently for hyena to move on so it could finish what food hyena had left behind. As we searched, we found what we were looking for, a pride of 18 lions resting under a tree after a delightful meal of wildebeest they had killed last night. After spending time with the lions, we drove a short distance to find two male lions resting. After the successful morning game drive we returned to the lodge for brunch of venison burgers and salads.



After lunch, we were off to archery and BB gun target shooting by the river dam with Colin and then on to lodge store. Once we returned to the main lodge, it was tea time and time to head out for another game drive. For this game drive, we headed northeast towards the edge of Kruger National Park and towards Mozambique. As we crossed the dammed river, we saw the water teaming with hippos that I heard the night before snorting all night long. There were some mid sized crocodiles in that water. Just above the river we could see the lodges facing eastward. As we drove, we saw the usual sightings of impalas, zebras, kudu and waterbucks. We came upon a kill site where a waterbuck was killed couple of months ago. All that remained of the waterbuck was the bones and horns. In the stretch of Kruger National Park where we were, the border with Mozambique is fenced, mostly to keep out people crossing over from Mozambique during its socialist days. We briefly crossed into Mozambique through breached fence just for pictures and then back into South Africa. Along the way on a rocky hill, we got a glance of a small rock-climbing antelope (forgot the name). As the sun was setting over Kruger, chill set in. Colin drove us to a hilltop to view the sunset and opened up the back of the Land Rover for a surprise picnic complete with beer, wine, soft drinks, nuts and biltong. The sunset view and the picnic was a nice touch to end the days game drive. As we drove back to the lodge, Colin gave us a brief sky and astronomy lesson of constellations of the southern hemisphere, complete with laser pointer. This was the first time that I saw the Southern Cross and learned a way to find southerly direction using the stars. Soli was a sharp spotter, with spotlight shinning side to side, he could easily spot animals and in the process he spotted an owl sitting in grassy area.



Aug 19 - The next morning we were up again at 6:00am and by 6:15 am at the long bar lounge area for coffee and snacks and by 6:30 am were out to the game drive. This morning there was chillier than usual but the ponchos and hot water bottles kept us comfortable. It was also unusually quite at the start of the game drive as there were hardly any animals - even the usual impalas were absent. As we kept driving we spotted the usual zebras, giraffes and impalas. At one point we came up on a heap of large bones. Colin told us that these were of a giraffe that was trying to get a drink of water and in the process it broke its leg and was drowned as it fell in the water and mud and later was eaten by scavengers. This morning was rather quite for game drive. We did spot few sporadic elephants and hippo tracks. Hippos from same family group follow a set trail to forage at night; in the process they create a "hippo highway" of tracks. We returned to the lodge for brunch.



At 4:00 pm were back at the long bar for afternoon tea and back on the game drive. We had requested Colin to take us on a walk through the bush instead of the usual game drive. Colin had Soli drive the land rover to a meeting point above the river dam and he led us on a walk through the bush. He carried a loaded rifle just in case we were in danger of an attack from a wild animal. It was refreshing to really walk instead of driving all the time. The main feature of this walk was a river full of hippos and to really appreciate the beauty of the bush country. It is amazing to observe as to how quite it was, there were no jets overhead, no contrails just gentle breeze and tranquility. We joined Soli at the top of a hill from where we could see the sun set over the bush country. Colin had again arranged a picnic with wine, beer and soft drinks along with snacks and biltong. We wrapped up our picnic after sun set. As we were driving towards the lodge with Soli in the tracker seat, he suddenly saw two eyes reflecting the spot light. It was what we had waiting to see, it was a leopard. We had never seen a live leopard before; it is really a beautiful animal. Colin radioed other fellow rangers about the location of the leopard. We tracked behind the leopard closely in a dry riverbed. It then climbed out of the riverbed and started walking up a very rocky hill. Our land rover followed behind. I was truly impressed with Colin's driving capabilities and performance of the land rover. This vehicle could really climb the rocks - a true off road vehicle. We were soon joined by two other land rovers carrying fellow game watchers. After about 50 minutes of watching the leopard, we left the area. Along the way we spotted a porcupine with its barbed armor in full defensive mode.



Aug 20 - We woke up to a beautiful sun rising over the Lebombo mountains, we freshened up and headed to long bar for usual tea and snacks. This morning we were more relaxed since we had spotted the most elusive one - leopard. As we headed to the northeasterly direction, we heard a lion roar in a distance. Colin told us that a pride of about 26 lions had crossed the Kruger park - possibly into Mozambique and could be them returning. As we drove up a hill, we heard the roar coming from the other side. We tracked the lion and noticed that there were four of them climbing the hill to get on the other side. It looked like a mother with three of her grown ones. They were young lions, the manes of young lions were not fully grown. They would walk a short distance and then sit in the shade and rest. As soon as they got a cue from their mother, they would start walking again. Finally after about an hour we left the lions. As we were driving near the river, we spotted a small heard of cape buffalos. This was the same spot where earlier we had spotted a hippo out of the water. The huge crocodile was out of the water and glided in as it sensed us. By this time it sun was strong and we headed back to the lodge for lunch and bit of rest and our final afternoon game drive.



Today's afternoon game drive started off more relaxed than usual. As we drove and saw the usual assortment of animals, Colin informed us that the other group in the land rover had spotted cheetahs. We drove to the spot where the cheetahs were last seen and sure enough there were three of them. Sleek and gorgeous, they were just laying in the grass or they would occasionally stand and walk around. They were not afraid of the vehicles and pretty much ignored that we were around watching them. As the sun was setting, Colin seemed to be in a hurry to get to a hilltop. He said we would watch sunset from a special place. As our land rover climbed up the hill and came to spot where you could see the bush country below, we were surprised to see two of Singita staff members waiting for us with fresh wet towels. They had arranged the paraffin lanterns around the hilltop and had a table spread out with complete with champagne, wine, snacks and soft drinks and ottoman seats. We were totally surprised with this hospitality and pampering we were getting at Singita. The sunset was even more beautiful with a lone bull elephant walking across the bush in the plains below. It was surely an evening to remember. As darkness fell, we drove back to the lodge. This evening was more special since instead our regular dinner, the lodge had arranged for Boma. Boma is where the guests are treated to African foods and meats cooked over a grill or braai as they call it in South Africa. The food was good and was followed by staff members of the lodge performing dance while singing. Most, maybe all of the staff members came from Shangaan tribe and were well versed in their dance steps. After this wonderful evening we went back to our lodge. At our lodge, we were treated to more surprise, we had bottle of champagne and lit candles waiting with flower petals laid out in a heart shape. After the wine, champagne and entertainment I slept in the outdoor bed practically under the stars.



Aug 21 - Our last day at Singita. We were at the long bar for tea and snacks. After tea and snacks we headed out for our last game drive. On this game drive, we spotted a family of elephants with a cute baby elephant trying to mimic its mother. Later we came upon a huge bull rhino and followed it for a while. Then we came up on a huge bull elephant. He was feeding on the braches and leaves of the acacia tree. We then found the three cheetahs we had spotted the night before. They were laying in the morning sun in a neat row. We ended our game drive a bit early since we had a flight to catch to Johannesburg. At the lodge we packed our stuff, had our lunch, said our thanks and appreciations with tips and headed out to the airstrip. Colin accompanied us to the airstrip and to pick up next set of guests arriving at the lodge. The aircraft came around 2:30 pm in the afternoon and we were onboard soon after to Johannesburg.

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