Safari and little white balls in the North of South Africa...

Africa » South Africa » Limpopo » Entabeni Game Reserve
July 21st 2017

Published: July 24th 2017

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Maisondubonheur

A tradition, cocktail hour on the afternoon safari ride...and yes, we had it for ourselves!

Don't ask if we love our new home....my only regret, is that we didn't move here earlier!

We had to do some administration duties in Pretoria last week. so after three full weeks of school holidays and diving with Tiffany, we dropped her to school on Monday and drove the next 5 hours up country to Pretoria.

We stay a total of three nights at the Sheraton Pretoria. As explained before, the hotel is a bit of a joke when it comes to service....but let say they start to know us and are a little more cautious...making it a cheap and decent stay.

on Tuesday, I ended up playing Pecanwood. The course has been designed by Jack Nicklaus, 45 minutes West of Pretoria, and ranked in the top 40 of golf courses in South Africa....green fee was not cheap, I paid 35usd....as you have also read before, South Africa is by far the best deal these days when it comes to great golf courses.

Next morning we drove up north, to the province of Limpopo, a first for me! Entabeni game reserve is just two hours and half from

We had a pretty comfortable room

Pretoria...and the 40 last kilometers are a dirt road...mainly a very sandy one. So imagine everything you see on those pictures...had to be brought in on crappy sandy "roads"....

The reserve is roughly ten kilometers on twenty. the have around 10 elephants, 4 lions, few rhinos...Sadly, we didn't spot any cheetah or leopard, but they have them too. There are clearly less animals than at Pilanesberg...and here, you cannot self drive. Whatever, I managed a deal that woas not to be missed. For 185usd, for both of us, we had a night in a gorgeous room, 3 full meals, and an afternoon safari drive plus a morning one....both where we were the only ones with our tracker/driver/guide! I don't think any other safari deal has beaten that one!

Golf wise, you may have seen this place on television for a simple reason. They have built a crazy 19th hole...a 400 meters par 3! You take the helicopter up the mountain...and hit on a green below that has the shape of Africa. I didn't do it...well...next time maybe, but as you can guess, that is not cheap! We saw the helicopter going up 4 to

Female lion and a white rhino....on the same pic!

6 times each day.

The first day, I play the Tribute golf course. It's a 10 holes course, all par 3 in immaculate condition. Each hole is a copy of a well know par 3 somewhere in the world. You had holes from Augusta, Troon, St Andrews, Royal Melbourne, etc. The experience is clearly not one for a beginner golfer. It's a super fun challenge, and I'm happy to write that I did a birdie on the 16th hole of Augusta!

Before leaving, I play the main course, the Legend Golf Course. Each hole has been designed by a well-known golf architect or golfer. This place is a solid challenge....just see the pictures. I'm happy I didn't play too bad, it was sunny, and windy...and shot do get lost pretty fast around here!

It was already time to go back home....Tiffany had Saturday school till lunch, so we drove back home for a Saturday morning dive for me...full of hammerheads, than drove to pick her up to celebrate her birthday at home with diving friends that evening. That was Saturday. I'm writing this on Monday morning, from Dubai lounge, with some