Blog Archives
Proper African Sunset
Today is Thursday the 23rd and our final full day at Shindzela Game Preserve. We finally had a rather warm day yesterday with some sunshine — so YOU get a proper sunset. All is well here. An encounter with a sassy baby Ellie and some lions. Preparing to head back to Bush Baby Haven tomorrow for a final weekend which includes a Brie (South African for Barbecue) and a spa day at the Kapama Lodge which means massage, facial and lunch! Maybe one or two more posts, depending on anything exciting going on.
I will see most of you in person very soon and I am almost fully in the ‘I’m coming home” mode anxious to reunite with my family, my tribe and my stuff!! It has been a blast!
African Moon and More
Happy Monday from Hoedspruit South Africa. If you are a fan of “Chopped”, I say — today I have for you a beautiful Africa moon, a young vulture in its nest, and a beautiful picture of some giraffe.
We are laying low today resting and basking in a warm African day. We go out tomorrow for our 3rd and final 3 night excursion to a camp called Shindzela. Looking for a plethora of hippo and leopard. I am also going to get some beautiful photos of the African landscape for you.
This time next week we will begin our journey home. We take an Airlink Flight from Hoedspruit to Johannesburg, hang out for several hours and then board a 15-hour non-stop United flight from Johannesburg to Newark. I have a little anticipation of the homework journey beginning to bubble up!
By the way, Covid is kind of low-key here. People are being vaccinated and mask wearing is required in stores but never while on the reserves!
Finally a Leopard
We finally saw our first leopard — at night but nonetheless! Today is Saturday, September 20th and we are still at the Tree Camp and still pretty darn cold! Our game drives start quite early and we get quite bundled up! We are here for 1 more night then back to Bush Baby Haven and then our third and final 3 nights at a camp called Shindzela…. One week from today we will be packing to return to the United States. Can’t wait to see you all!
Beautiful Bird of Prey
We have bid adieu to our Chacma guides Henry, Nadine and Collins. Such a wonderful time spent with them in the bush. We are back at Bush Baby Haven enjoying the porch on this very hot day at Bush Baby Haven. 91 degrees to day and 100 degrees tomorrow. May be time to enjoy the swimming pool. Today I offer you a few photos of this gorgeous bird of prey who is enjoying a Hornbill – a relatively large bird. Notice the legs on this thing! We are here until Thursday morning and then off to our tree-house experience.
Wild Dogs and More….
A very exciting day indeed! The endangered wild dog. Four of them eating breakfast consisting of a tasty impala (as you can see).. Also some wonderful birds and a few more lions. We are in search of a leopard tonight as this is our final evening game drive at Chacma. We go back to Bush Baby Haven tomorrow for a couple of days of doing laundry and bubble baths and then off to bush again for 3-nights someplace new. I hope you have enjoyed some of our sightings as much as we have.
Chacma Game Reserve
Blessings everyone,
Finally got a bit of wi-fi to let you know how it is going out here in the African Bush. We are currently at the Chacma Game Reserve which is about an hour from our home base at Bush Baby Haven. It is a rustic camp with lots of local elephants and it is just the three of us so is quite fun. We left camp this morning at 7am for a 3 hour game drive and ran across a pride of lions — 10 of them. It is quite unusual to see lions up and about since they hunt at night and mostly sleep all day. So it was fun to see them drinking water and moving about. The lions were sprinkled in with some buffalo, a giraffe and a few beautiful birds.
Every day is pretty much the same on safari. You wake early, have coffee, go for a 3-hour drive come back and have breakfast. Then until the 2nd drive at 3pm we sit around the pool, have lunch and take naps. Hard life right?
For our afternoon game drive, we will be heading out to a river about 90 minutes from here. We are hoping to see hippo and more elephant of course. We all have a crazy dream to see Wild Dogs so keep your fingers crossed.
Today is September 12th — we left the states on September 3rd so have been here 9-days. It feels quite far from home and I feel as if I have been away from home for a very long time. A little homesickness is creeping in but way too soon since still 2-weeks and 16 game drives to go —
I hope it is cooling off for you and that everyone is having a good time in the community. I miss you all.
Love,
Denise
Elephants
How beautiful is this elephant? We spent this morning at an Elephant rescue. Hands on with several ‘Ellies’ that lost their mums when very young. It is amazing how big, how gentle, how intelligent they are. Such a joy.
I am also including a few favorite photos of the amazing and beautiful Hornbill.
Life is good. We enjoyed a meal tonight of salmon, veggies and pasta prepared by our amazing Airbnb host Tanya and are packing to be picked up tomorrow at 11am for our first safari experience at the Chacma Lodge.
Missing everyone but of course enjoying the smells and sounds of South Africa.. Warm day, cool night!
Lions
For 950 South African Dollars (RAND) which equals $63 we enjoyed a 3-hour game drive on the Kapama property which is a world-class safari destination for the rich and famous. If that weren’t enough, we also enjoyed a 5-course meal which included 2 bottles of wine for our 4-person table. This $63 included all tips. It was really fun as evidenced by some memories captured below. In total for this trip we will experience a total of 19 game drives – so 18 left. Our total vacation is 23 days in Africa – 4 down, 19 to go!
