Blogs from Thornybush Game Reserve, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa

When you come to Africa and go on safari, everyone is supposed to want to see the Big Five, this is the elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo and rhino. Not always easy apparently, but we did it today! Another early start, and very cold, and again we set out to look for the rhino! Headed to the north east of the park where rumour had it there were rhino to be found. Up till this point, the game drives appeared to be randomly driving the tracks that criss cross the park, accidentally coming upon animals, or going where others had sighted something. Today we saw the tracking skills of our ranger/driver and our tracker. They first saw rhino tracks headed to an area we were not allowed to enter. (Thornybush is a private game reserve, one of ... read more

Apparently "Cape Town is crying, because we are leaving"! This just means that it was raining and cold as we headed to Cape Town Airport for our flight to Eastgate Airport near Hoedspruit, the closest to Thornybush Game Reserve, our home for the next three nights. (It does have it's own airstrip, but only for tiny planes.) We appeared to land in the middle of nowhere in the African bush, and 36° was a little warmer than Cape Town. Three mini buses ferried our group (of 26) to the Thornybush Game Lodge, with a giraffe and elephants spotted on the way. Wow, and we hadn't even been on a game drive yet. We were met in the outdoor reception area with cold towels, and cold drinks. Very nice! Then lunch, and a briefing of what to ... read more

Oct 10-12 Shambulala Game Lodge in Thornybush Since each day is fairly the same (with different animals), I'm just going to use one entry for each location. Daily schedule at Shambulala: 5am - wake up call 5:30am - tea/coffee and leave for morning drive 8:30 - breakfast 9:30-11 - walk 11-3:30 - time to rest/relax 3:30 - High tea 4 - evening drive with a stop for wine/drinks and snacks 8ish - dinner which usually lasts 3 hours or so Our first day, Oct 10 and we saw ALL of the big 5 (leopard, buffalo, lion, elephant, rhino) in 1-2 hours!! The other 4 guests said we are good luck, and our guide said this is only the second time in his two years here that he's seen them all in one drive.We saw: Baboons, Wildebeests, ... read more

After a pretty monster drive along back roads and sandy tracks we were greeted at Nsele Lodge by Afrikaans Olaf and Stephanie, their friendly staff and crazy dogs. Another hidden gem of a place to stay thanks to Acacia. We each had a small thatched chalet with mosquito nets which were turned down for you and an ensuite - ahhh nice! As we were in a malaria area we were both dripping with deet and armed with numerous mosquito repelling devices - Neil swiping at any insect that came anywhere near. Nsele lodge is like a home from home. There was a big long table stretched out for shared dining, the dogs now calm were tucked up on their beds and we enjoyed pre dinner drinks round the open fire before the drum boomed that dinner ... read more

Animal time!!! Soon after we left the mountains we reached the area where Kruger and the surrounding private game reserves are located. In fact, had the visibility been better in the mountains, we could have seen Kruger from some of the lookout points we stopped at. You basically come down the mountain, pass some farmlands, and then there you are surrounded by game reserves . Before we went to Kruger we did one night at the Pezulu Tree House Game Reserve. This place was out of this world!!! Because there are no big five animals (lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards, and buffalo) in the private game reserve that Pezulu is on – you don’t have to have fences surrounding your camp. So we were literally walking around amongst the animals. We saw giraffe, zebras, monkeys, warthogs, ... read more