Thursday, 1/13/11 at 9:45am:
Greetings from Sabi Sands private game reserve and Djuma Vuyatela lodge. I will try to express in words just how amazing this place is, but it might not be possible...
We arrived here yesterday after a 2.5 hour flight from Cape Town to Kruger Airport and a 2.5 hour drive from the airport to Djuma Vuyatela lodge. First I'll explain that Kruger National Park is located in the Northeast corner of South Africa, and is ginormous. Sabi Sands private game reserve is a private reserve, sort of within Kruger, but not associated with Kruger. Vehicles from Kruger can't go inside Sabi Sands, and vice versa. But, there are no fences, so animals can roam throughout.
Anyway, when we pulled up to our lodge we were greeted with warm facecloths and delicious lychee juice. We are two of four guests staying here for the next few days, and the last night we will be on our own. But, there is a full staff at all time. We were given a tour... the grounds are beautiful, amazing, gorgeous. A thatched-roof building comprises most of the indoor space, with a beautiful bar, sitting area, huge fish tank with local fish, and a grand fireplace with seating around it. A large deck surrounds the building, and the deck looks across the watering hole, where a hippo has been camped out since we got here. There are two other smaller thatched roof huts, one with computers and a television and the other with a gym. Everything here is decorated fabulously, with beautiful Afican artwork, mosaic tiles, and many photos. Our host then brought us to our villa, #1.
There are 8 private villas. Our villa is made up of two buildings, connected by a large deck and situated right on the watering hole. We also have a private plunge pool and an outdoor shower. When we first got here there were water buck hanging out outside the shower... incredible! Anyway, the villa is incredible.
At 4pm we made our way to the main house for tea and biscuits before heading out on our first game drive. We hopped into our completely open land cruiser with our new friends (the other couple staying here), from Arizona. Taxon is our driver and expert game tracker, and we also have a tracker in training who sits on a seat perched on the front of the truck.
This game drive was unreal. We saw so, so many animals, starting with a PRIDE of lions! These lions were absolutely demolishing a buffalo they had killed the day before. There were two males, three females, and two cubs, and we were no more than 10 feet away from them. These animals are just incredibly beautiful, and seemed completely unphased by us being there, so close. They were just taking turns chomping on this buffalo and when not eating, they were lying around and digesting. Honestly I could see a bit of Winston in all of them, as they stretched out and lay on their backs! The cubs were especially adorable. Photos to come (hopefully!).
Half way through the 3 hour game drive we stopped for sundowners and snacks. The guides set up a little table that flips up from the hood of the truck and made a little bar for us. They stopped in the perfect spot, right next to a pond full of hippos, plus one crocodile. On the way back to the lodge we saw some more animals, including 2 giraffes, wildebeasts, rhinos, zebras, antelope and buffalo (Our guide accurately described the buffalo as looking at you as if you owe the money). It is insane how close we were able to get to all of these animals and that we get to see them in their natural environment.
After returning we sat down for an awesome 4 course dinner before some final drinks and bed. We are liking this place..... Wild animals and lots of delicious food...
Today is our first full day on safai and it started with one of the staff members knocking on our door at 5am. We got up, found coffee waiting for us outside by the deck and got ready for the morning game drive. Only 15 minutes after being on the trails Taxon somehow spotted a leapard in the distance off to one side of the path. He turned into the bush and headed toward the animal. This female leopard was gorgeous, and just slinking through the bush around us. We followed her for about 25 minutes and then took off. We also saw a ton of zebra, more buffalo, and then came upon two hippos who had been duking it out over a watering hole. One was completely bloody... poor guy (we ended up seeing him again later making his way to another watering hole). In the middle of the drive Taxon stopped and made us delicious coffee.
A BIG treat today was completing our veiwing of The Big 5 (leopard, buffalo, lion, rhino, and ELEPHANT!!!!) Yes, we saw an elephant, and were about 3 feet away from it! He was by himself and just eating (apparently they eat 24 hours a day) and he came right up to our vehicle. Incredible! We have lots and lots of photos of him.
Another exciting moment was seeing hyena, which are tough to spot since they scare easily. We went back to the place where the lions had been eating the buffalo, and now vultures were all over what was left of the carcass. All of a sudden we spot a hyena emerging from the bush. He came right up to the carcass, grabbed a HUGE bone, and ran off with it (I thought of Enzo!). Another hyena came and did the same thing. Pretty awesome.
Anyway, we came back to the lodge to an absolute feast: a beautiful buffet of fresh fruits, meats, and cheeses, along with eggs made any way. Here's where the monkeys come in. There are monkeys everywhere. Sam and I both had some toast, and sam had just finished buttering and jamming his when I spotted an adorable monkey on the deck. Of course I started snapping photos and before I knew it he was hurtling toward as at top speed. I continued to snap photos while laughing hysterically, and he must have thought we were idiots, because he jumped right onto the table and grabbed the entire piece of toast off Sam's plate. Before we knew what happened he was out of sight. It was hilarious and I have an awesome photo of him in action. Don't worry about Sam... he had all the toast he wanted!
Welp, that's it for now. We are in LOVE with this land, this reserve, and especially this lodge!!!!
lots of love to you all!
Caitlin and Sam
omg, beam me there! I am here with wild animals of my own, i.e., Enzo (aka End Zone) and Max (aka Mad Max). I had a dream last night that Sam and I were in S. Africa--and looking for Caitlin who was nowhere in sight! It wasn't an unpleasant dream even though Caitlin was missing.....ha ha!
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