Johannesburg, South Africa
Today we have flight to Hoedspruit which is near the Kapama River Lodge. We met in the lobby at 9:45 am and boarded the bus to take us back to the O.R. Tambo International Airport.
The airport is massive and full of people. The security line did take some time to get through. Our gate was on ground level and we would be taking a bus out to the plane. The woman working the gate came around and matched passports to tickets. If they matched she wrote “OK” on your ticket. There was still lots of time before we boarded. All of the security in the airport was just broken at this point. It just shows that if some individual wanted to get on the plane but couldn’t pass security screening, here was the place.
The flight was about one hour. The airport was in the middle of nowhere. When we landed, we were in a field. There was a tiny terminal building. Bags were unloaded onto a wooden, U shaped shelf.
We grabbed our bag and boarded jeeps for the ride to the lodge. These were the same jeeps we would use on the game drives.
Unlike the Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana, this lodge had an electric fence around it. The road into the lodge had metal pipes over a deep pit. The pipes were spaced far enough apart that an animal would have to cross using the pipes. The pipes leg of the animal would fall between the pipes if it tried to cross. Quite ingenious.
We checked into our room and prepared for our first game drive at 3:30. The drives were three hours long. Proper clothing and insecticide plus cameras is what is needed.
TK was our driver. Her spotter had a seat over the front bumper. Communication between the other game vehicles was done by radio. The animals on this game preserve ignore the sound and the sight of the vehicles. These vehicles come through the preserve every day and the animals treat them like they are just part of the surroundings. No animal even flinches when a jeep is started. There is no threat.
The challenge of the game drive is finding the animals. Our goal at this preserve is to observe the big five. The lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and African buffalo. These are deemed to be the most difficult to hunt on foot.
At the beginning of our drive we spotted a group of deer and then a group of impalas. We did stop and watch a hippo and African Buffalo.
Maybe 20 minutes into the drive we spotted a giraffe eating the leaves off of a large tree. We parked right in front of the giraffe and watched. Every once in a while it would look at us and then continue on. The long tongue of the giraffe was extended to grab a branch and pull it in. The jaws did the rest.
We left the giraffe and drove on. Word of a leopard came over the radio. After much off reading, we did finally spot him. Difficult to get a photo. He wouldn’t pose.
The videos show what we saw on the first evening. We stopped just before dark in the park and had some drinks, compared notes with the other safari jeep and watched the stars come out. It started to get very cool and we were given blankets for the ride back.
We returned to the lodge for dinner. Great food and the 10 of us sat at one table. One of the sisters, Eve, stayed inside all day as she felt ill.
A complimentary massage is included with our stay and we booked that for 10 am tomorrow.
Game drive wake-up call is 5 am. Coffee and snacks 5:30 am and the drive starts at 6 am. Breakfast is at 9 am.…