A day of elephants

There are many things we really like about this lodge, particularly that the owners of the lodge spend the majority of the profits on conservation and anti poaching controls. The Sabi Sands area has 400 anti poachers working full time, 200 hundred teams of two people who patrol the area, funded by the private game lodges. We have also enjoyed how the ranger does not only show their guests the big five animals, but also spends time explaining the habits of the smaller creatures, smaller birds, and information about the trees and vegetation - we have learnt so much about the entire eco system and how each animal contributes to it. A safari holiday is an incredible experience, one feels quite humbled when facing the magnificent animals of the bush. Humans can learn much from how animals behave!

Another early morning start, it was cold with a soft mistiness in the distance over the hills, it was quite beautiful. We saw so many rhinos, including watching two big bulls squabbling over territory. We watched a tiny striped kingfisher, and when our ranger played the call of this bird on his phone, a female immediately joined the male on the branch and they spread their colourful wings in a display in response to the bird call, it was rather cool. We then went to find a female leopard with a 3.5 month old cub who had made a kill. It's a rule that the rangers never visit any animal with a baby under about 8 weeks, to allow the mother more privacy and therefore deter attention from predators. When we arrived she had already dragged the dead impala high up in a tree, and was calling for her cub who was hiding nearby. The sounds she was making was so wonderful to listen to, a very gentle kind of sound. Her cub came out but unfortunately the cub has a damaged back leg. The rangers don’t know what caused the injury, and it was upsetting to see that the injury was worse than initially thought as the cub could hardly walk. The mother fed the cub and then tried to encourage it to go up the tree with her, but it was reluctant to go. See an extra of the mama leopard feeding her cub. We then left - they only allow two vehicles per sighting and we had spent quite a bit it of time there already so moved on to allow others to see the leopards, however we will hear from other rangers later today what developed there.

We were dropped off and did a bush walk to notice things from a close up view. By now it was so hot and it got to 35C again today. We walked for about 45 minutes and then arrived at a clearing where a bush breakfast had been set up for us. While we were enjoying a delicious breakfast we were visited by a large herd of elephants. I took so many photos of them as they had a few babies in the herd. Wee could not get close as although the animals will tolerate a vehicle, an upright human is something unfamiliar and we did not want to upset the herd. This photo was taken of that herd who visited us.

Back at the lodge it was too hot to do anything - everyone relaxed, enjoying a swim or just chatting. The lodge is situated on the Sand River and we were visited by an enormous herd of elephants, there were about 50 elephants, some who crossed the river and came right up to the lodge - there are safety fences in front of the lodge for elephants as they can be unpredictable. We also saw buffalo and many birds in the river in front of the lodge.

Sadly the afternoon game drive was to be our last game drive as we have to leave too early tomorrow morning to fit in another game drive tomorrow. We have to travel back to Hoedspruit, then fly from Hoedspruit to Johannesburg, and then another flight from Johannesburg to Durban. 

We saw many elephants again, some swimming in a watering hole as it was so incredibly hot today and they need to cool off. We watched the two sparring leopard males who are still fighting for territory, and we ended up at sunset at a pretty water hole where we watched the hippos.

This safari holiday has undoubtedly been the best holiday we have ever had, we have enjoyed the luxurious lodges, the knowledgeable rangers and trackers, the delicious food and the friendly and welcoming staff. We have soaked up learning all about the animals in their habitat. It has also been so wonderful to spend the time together as a family, we are very grateful for that, it is always a privilege to spend time with one's adult children.