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Published: June 17th 2017
02 View
A view of the surrounding area as seen from the garden.Geo: -28.5306, 30.8958
This morning we met at the guest house's dining room at 8am for breakfast. On the way to the dining room I noticed that the weather was still looking very average. The wind had died down, but the sky was quite grey. Our breakfast was delicious. There was a great choice of food. After we had eaten we agreed to be ready to leave in fifteen minutes. I then did a quick walk through the gardens and took a few more photos. I quickly finished packing and met the others at the car. By now the sky had cleared and was blue and sunny.
The drive today was not a long one. We were driving in a south easterly direction to Ithala Game Reserve. This is where we were staying for the next few nights.
We left the guest house just after 9am. The drive was scenic. We stopped at Pangola to buy a few more groceries. We arrived at Ithala Game Reserve at about midday. This game reserve seemed hilly and very dry to me. This was a Big Five reserve, so there was a chance of having many great sightings.
It was a short drive to our accommodation
03 Garden
A view of the guest house's picturesque gardens. at Ntshondwe Camp. Along the way we saw quite a few close sightings of giraffes, burnt grassland areas and a herd of female kudus eating by the road. Paul also noticed lots of evidence of rhinos being around as he saw many rhino middens with fresh droppings on them. Ntshondwe Camp is on the slope of a plateau. There was quite a bit of fresh elephant poo around the camp area, as well as broken branches. This camp is unfenced and we assumed that a herd must have recently visited. We were staying in the Lodge and from the deck and all the rooms there is an amazing view of the game reserve.
While we were busy enjoying the view from the deck, we were attacked by a couple of Vervet Monkeys. We heard a noise and it was monkeys stealing food from the kitchen! They had taken advantage of us leaving the front door of the lodge open, had walked through to the kitchen and helped themselves to some our food! Such a silly mistake we had made. Luckily they only took some bread and bananas as most of our food is stored in sealed crates.
After I prepared lunch
04 Garden
A view of the guest house's picturesque gardens. for us we got ready and left at about 3pm for an afternoon game drive. The weather here was very warm and I was tempted to stay and enjoy the swimming pool. On the way out of the camp we stopped to watch a troop of Vervet Monkeys. Even though they stole our food, I still enjoy watching them.
We stopped again and got out of the car near reception to identify a few bird species. They were actually quite pretty birds, especially the one with a bright red head. Then finally we were on the road and ready to explore this game reserve.
The reserve is very dry and the hilly landscape is a beautiful golden colour. This afternoon we were driving the Bergvliet Loop. I enjoyed driving around and then finally we saw some wildlife – a single wildebeest. The others were excited about seeing a little ground bird with a yellow throat. Our guests were aiming to tick many birds off their list during this trip.
We continued to enjoy the scenery in between the animal sightings. Finally the sightings improved as we came across a couple of animal herds. There were zebras, impalas and wildebeests grazing
05 Bright Pink
Beautiful, bright pink flowers. on the dry grass. They were a bit far from the track and lucky we had a much closer sighting with a couple of female impalas and their young that were on the track.
Our next stop was at a lookout on a hill. Here we were able to get out of the car and walk along a little track. It was good to stretch my legs after so much sitting. The view was quite breathtaking over the hills and into a valley. I could see a great deal of the reserve, but not one animal was visible! This disappointed me. I was hoping to see some wildlife from up here. Although I shouldn't complain, as this is just the start of the trip and there are many more game drives to come and the light did look magical as it was dusk.
It was now time to start heading back to the lodge, as for the guests and animals safety the gates close at 6pm. As soon as we got back I went to the kitchen and started preparing our dinner while Paul made the fire. We enjoyed a delicious meal outside on the deck.
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