shamwari game reserve

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Had the most magical time in Shamwari game reserve, again it was pretty luxurious and we stayed in a small lodge with only one other couple -who were sound. You leave on a game drive in the morning at 6.30am and then again about 2pm until after dark. We were uber super lucky to see lions and their cubs, we saw them sleepy and chasing a hyena! Incredible, they actually take your breath away. We saw white and black rhino - very rare, warthogs, loads of cool birds, zebra and giraffes, both alone and in big herds. We were also lucky enough to enjoy about 45 mins in the middle of an elephant herd -about 30 of them, you are right in amongst them and it is amazing. There was all sorts going on, too much even to take in all at once -youngsters play fighting, the bull one cruising about being HUGE and horny, an female running and trumpeting -just unbelievable, what a privelage. And we also saw not one but three leopords!! They are really elusive and in 11 years of working at the reserve our ranger had never seen three at once and we did?!! How mad is that? Male, feamle and cub chasing away a hyena from their kill on a cliff face - just stunning. We have LOADS of pics and video footage (with me yapping away in the background) to show you, will try and get it on the blog. Think this could well be one of those things that I bore people with endlessly once we are home! Utterly mind blowing though, such a treat to see these beautiful animals in the wild, also quite scary -just a real rush, an awesome few days, still trying to process all my thoughts on it actually.

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Photos

saf5
our ranger rodger looks for black rhino