C&L South African Adventure Oct 2018 - Day 4 - More Safari

[LN89]

Day 4

We were woken up at 5 by our ranger banging on the door. We had slept pretty well, being woken at 3pm (subsequently found out it was a hyena). The mosquito net was tight around the bed so made it difficult getting in and out when we both got up to use the toilet in the night.

We got up and got ready and went over to the main area to get a coffee. It was cooler today so we both wore jumpers and trainers, the truck also had blankets which I made use of.







We spent a while driving around and hadn’t seen much except for some kudo, then as we came around a corner we saw a leopard in a tree. It moved away quite quickly but it was amazing to see.





Our game drives were about three hours and we stopped for coffee at about 8. We didn’t have a hot drink but they also had some muffins which we did enjoy. I needed the toilet so it was my first time trying it out in a bush! I was mostly nervous someone was going to walk past.



Another ranger had found a different leopard with two cubs so we went and watched it for ages . We managed to spot one of the Cubs, it was feeding and then she looked like she told it off.







You can see one of the baby cubs in this photo with the darker coat





Some owls on our way back.



We got back about 9.30 and breakfast was served about 20 mins later. We had ordered our breakfast the night before. We both had bacon, eggs, hashbrown and chris had a tomato. They also brought toast around and we could help ourselves to fruit.

We went back to our tent and had a nap until 12pm, we were surprised how well we slept. We relaxed and lunch was served at 2.30pm, this was chicken, coleslaw and salad. It was nice, especially as it was quite light. I forgot to get a photo though.

Just as we were finishing our lunch, someone spotted two elephants walking into our camp. I quickly ran back to our tent to grab by camera and soon there were over 20 at the water hole in our camp! It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen, the little ones were running up to the pool and one even kept coming up to try to drink in the pool.















I am standing on our tent balcony

We had two come up to the pool 🙂





We were able to watch them for about 45 minutes and then went out on our afternoon drive. We firstly went around to the back of the water hole so we could look at the elephants more close up. As soon as we had left the camp the elephant who had been near the pool started drinking from it .













We spent time driving around but didn’t see much (although we were still on such a high from the elephants)! We got a good photo of some hippos though.





We then found some rhino . We had now seen all of the big 5.







We stopped for our sundowner, I had a g&t and Chris had a beer. The temperature had really dropped and it was windy and chilly. We got back about 6.50 and popped back to the tent to put some warmer clothes on. We couldn’t sit outside as it was too windy so they couldn’t light the fire.





For dinner we had butternut soup, pork and potatoes for main (don’t appear to have any photos though). The dessert was milk tart but I was given a chocolate moose. I had a wine and Chris had a beer. We finished about 8.30 and were escorted back to our tent, we relaxed with our books and an amarula.

Next - day 5

[Melbatb]

Another fabulous day - the elephants look amazing! And what great photos you got of all the wildlife!

[LN89]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Another fabulous day - the elephants look amazing! And what great photos you got of all the wildlife!

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Thanks, I would like to take credit for the photos but Chris took all the good ones

[Omega1]

Brilliant photos - you did well to have such good sightings of leopard. We’ve been to South Africa four times (going back in January) and never seen a leopard!