Safari New Year

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If you have never been on Safari before - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? This was simply one of the best experiences of my life! (if you discount one tearful break down following an unpleasant argument with a spider...)



We left Plettenberg in the morning and drove east. We stopped in Jeffreys Bay and Surfer's paradise for some photos and ice cream.



We arrived at Lalibela around lunch time and were greeted by Craig who was our ranger for the next 48 hours. Craig is a young African with a wicked sense of humour and an endless amount of knowledge about animals and birds. Safari would not have been the same without him. To our relief a party of 11 Chinese tourists who arrived at the same time as us decided they didn't want to stay after all and left the reserve before they even walked past reception. It meant that there were just 6 of us at Lentaba - one of the three lodges at the reserve. Our lodge houses just 16 people in 8 individual huts - each with a thatched roof, a veranda and a small colony of spiders.



Mike and Sue - a couple from yorkshire - were also staying at our lodge. Sue is lovely while Mike is larger than life - you know the type!! Natascha and Frank are from Argentina - Natascha is a model who works in television (how can anyone look this beautiful at 5 ocklock in the morning!!!) and Frank is a a real character who just wanted to know what each of the animals we spotted on Safari would taste like... It was quite entertaining.



Each morning Craig would wake us up at the unearthly hour of 5am. After a small bite to eat we spent 3-4 hours driving around looking for animals. After the drive we returned to the lodge for breakfast before taking a well deserved break followed by lunch. Late afternoon we went on another 3-4 hours game drive before returning, refreshing and then... well dinner of course. Hamolis had sent enough food to feed a small army which meant the crisps mark bought 'just in case we get peckish' were left untouched while we started thinking the staff at the lodge paid Hamolis to fatten us up to feed us to the lions.



We saw many rare animal which we haden's even heard of before, and were lucky enough to spot the Cheetah and her two cubs hunting on three occasions. We saw the giraffes (my favourites) and the elephants (Mark's favourites), the Hypo and the rhynos (who decided to charge at us - Thank you Craig for the quick thinking!!), Ostriches amongst many others. Sadly we didn't get to see the lion who was always a few fresh paw prints ahead of us. Oh well... we will just have to go back another time.



Even a three and a half hour game drive in the pouring rain in an open vehicle (we learned that rain mac's can only hold so much water before they are no longer water proof!) could not dampen our spirits and we loved every minute.



During the evening game drive we got a flat tire - there is something exhilirating about standing in the middle of a game reserve feeling somewhat like bait for the lions and leopard while Craig was desperately trying to change the tire. Really not a good time for the jack to be rusted stuck and refusing to budge and lift the car. Thankfully - yours truely is ALWAYS prepared. Having watched Craig fail to free to the jack with water I handed him the bug spray from my trusty ruck sack. This did nothing but fumigate the place and leave us all choking. Next I tried the sun cream lotion which proudly announced "grease free" on it. I was delighted to find out the manufacturer had lied and the jack was sliding up and down freely within seconds of being sprayed. We were back on the open road.



On new year's eve due to the unexpected space at our camp a Swiss couple, a South African couple, a Dutch couple and an American couple with their 25 year old son moved to our lodge from one of the other camps. It added to the festivities of our camp. After dinner Craig announced that we were to all dress up warm as we were going out again. It was late at night and it was pitch dark. You could barely see past your own nose. Thankfully the rain had stopped and it was quite warm. Craig had an incredibly powerful torch which would help us to spot some unusul night creatures. Late night game drives are very rare but it is New Years eve so...



After some time we arrived at the top of a hill where a fire was roaring and the bar staff from each lodge had set up a massive bar. Everyone from the three lodges had gathered together under the most beautifully star lit skies. We were also joined by African dancers who entertained us with singing, dancing and even getting us all to join in on our own individual African drum. At midnight we all celebrated together by which point we were all rather merry.



After a spot of star gazing (it was the clearest night sky I have ever seen) we headed back for a few hours sleep before Craig again knocked on our door for our final morning game drive.



We spent most of the 4 hours trying to find the Lion which was sighted the previous day by another group. Along the way we watched the cheetas hunting, the zebras crossing the road and we followed many a fresh lion foot prints. But unfortunately it was not to be. I guess we will just have to come back another time...

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