Safari so good

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It has been a dream of mine to see the animals in Africa since I learned that such animals existed in Africa. So it is fair to say that four days spent at Madikwe Safari Reserve nestled in the Madikwe National Park were a dream come true. The rooms were fabulous darling, with our own plunge pool and outdoor shower on the deck where we watched the local wildlife sauntering around. The lodge was incredible, the delicious meals, the cocktails and warm flannels on arrival from evening drives and champagne candle-lit baths were out of this world. And the game viewing wasn't too shabby either! Now, how many trunks does an elephant have? One, right? Wrong! Whilst the female indeed has only one trunk, the male has two and let me tell you now: they're both moveable, both dextrous and both ginormous! How do I know? Well, after summoning the nerve to slowly 'plunge' into our ice-cool pool I was treated to a spectacle of nature. On hearing a great trunk call and scuffle through the bush, one elephant came bounding towards me, closely followed by another elephant who was charging up behind her. And before I could blink, the male elephant had mounted her and was treating her to a little afternoon delight! Good for you world's largest land based mammal! Good for you! But there was not even time to think about a cigarette for after as another huge elephant appeared, clearly unhappy and charged at them angry lover style; elephants caught in the act! Have a look at the video, which we felt slightly wrong about taking....

The animals of South Africa didn't hold back on the game drives either; although we saw no more lovin', much to my pity. I asked our ranger if he saw much sexual activity, after which followed an awkward silence, then my husband breaking it by reminding me that was a very personal question. I justified it by saying I only meant with animals, which seemed to make the situation worse... The variety and amount of animals we saw on the drives was spectacular, and being up close in an open top Land Cruiser was just incredible. You can see individual hairs of a lion, the eyelashes of a rhino, birds on the back of a giraffe's neck. To share space and time with these creatures was just exhilarating, and humbled me greatly. Our ranger gave us lots of wonderful facts about each animal which again were almost too much to take in; the impala has two colours of hair, and in the morning when the bush is lighter it bristles and the lighter hairs show, whilst in the daytime the darker ones take over. And the giraffe's neck is just a wonder of evolution. It was better than I had hoped. Magnificent.

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Photos

A pair of hornbills perching
The male hornbill seals the female into a nest, where she will stay for weeks unable to leave. She malts all her feathers whilst guarding their egg, whilst he fends for food. If he dies or does not return, another male will hear the female's distress call and take her on as his own.

Plains zebra
After giving birth, female zebras ward off other females so that they are entirely alone with their calf. This is to enable their newborn to imprint their mother's stripe pattern to enable them to recognise their mother in a crowd.

Giraffe and calf
The female and male giraffe can be identified by their ossicones - the 'horn' like bumps protruding from their heads. The male has hair on their ossicones, whilst the female does not.

African elephant
Elephants regulate their temperature through the network of blood capillaries in their ears, which rise to the huge surface helping cool the blood.

Female lion
Lions do a lot of lion around as they sleep for 18 hours a day!

Lion cub
This little fella spent a long time stalking out his brothers and sisters from this mound, them jumping on them only to be knocked back with one swift, yet gentle, strike of a claw.