Blogs from Sabi Sands, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa - page 2

5:30am Morning drive, and last, at Shumbalala. We will miss our guide Ryan and tracker Herman, they really made these a great 3 days and went all out trying to make sure we saw everything possible! Saw: giraffes, elephants, warthogs, impala, red crested heron, buffalo, nyala, dung beetles, white and black rhino, termites, and found the CHEETAH!! Elephants have very little instinctive behavior, everything is learned. At about 15 years old, the males go off on their own (they are pushed out of the breeding herd because their testosterone has increased) and try to find other males to learn from. They know each other and remember dominance should they encounter each other again even if they haven't seen each other for a long time. They live to be 60-65 years old. Most of how elephants communicate ... read more

Lots of photos from today - be sure to scroll down past the ads to see them all. As expected, we were awoken at 6am, by a knock at our door pleasantly alerting us that it was time to get up for the game drive. We fumbled about for a bit, but eventually got ourselves dressed, cameras and binoculars packed, and out of the room in about thirty minutes. We had coffee and a few light snacks and were off for another drive. We chatted briefly with another American family and compared our lives in the US and our experiences in Africa. After we left for our game drive Lauren confided that she was pretty certain that she knew the daughter in the family from camp a few years back, and we later confirmed that she ... read more

We flew from Cape Town to Nelspruit Mpumalanga and drove for two hours to Dulini Lodge in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. We have been lucky enough to have four nights in this rather special place, so instead of the usual combination of ill-informed opinion and schoolboy humour this episode will (rather gloatingly) depict the highlights of a typical day. In Sabi Sands the animals have become used to the open safari vehicles driving around. They regard them as neither a threat nor as prey, so they ignore them. This lets the vehicles drive very close to the wildest animals. Of course, if you climb out of the vehicle you could immediately become a leopard’s luncheon. Safety is taken seriously, and each ranger carries a rifle and is regularly trained in its use. So yesterday, for ... read more

It's strange how flippant you get about what you see here. We now take no notice of Impala, Waterbuck and Elephant. I'm even getting used to seeing buffalo and Lion. The Big 5 have been ever present, but not there on a plate for you, we've had to work hard to find them. The last couple of days have brought more lion sightings. Great one today of 2 females sitting in the shade. We had a slow puncture at the time so there was still an element of danger!! We chased across the plains last night to reach a herd of 150 buffalo drinking from a lake. We then drove amongst them and watched them come towards us with the sun setting behind. You couldn't have staged anything so good. We were in the only vehicle ... read more

I insisted on sitting in the front of the land rover for the journey back down to Safari Lodge. No way was I clambouring into the back of the Puma with my long dress and heels! Once back here more champagne was opened and we sat in the lounge area with Kim and Dane. All the guests were out on a drive and it felt that this beautiful impressive place was all ours. It was nice to just chill and relax. Our dinner with in the wine cellar, and it had been decorated beautifully for the occasion. The meal was great, you couldn't fault it and PJ the Chef certainly delivered. We had 6 courses in all including scallops, Springbok and a chocolate dessert to die for. When the others came back from the drive we ... read more