Lions, Leopards and Rhinos, Oh My! A week on Safari in South Africa.

Africa, and a safari in Africa, has always been one of those bucket list type trips. The allure of interacting with nature and seeing these incredible animals in such an intimate way, not in a zoo, but in their natural habitat, gives me shivers just imagining. Plus, when you enter the minds of 6- and 8-year-olds and try to imagine what adventures on a trip of this kind would resonate and create lasting impressions, a safari is hard to beat. Then you factor in the advantage of being halfway there, already in Europe rather than coming from Colorado, and well, the rest lined up. We settled on South Africa as Will has 2 cousins who live near Cape Town and the natural beauty of the country called to our nature-loving selves. Considering how long a Denver to Cape Town flight is when you look at a globe, we decided to dedicate a good chunk of time to the country, giving ourselves 5 weeks to discover and explore. Trying to beat the heat of summer we went right for the piece de resistance, heading straight into a week of safari. Our first 3 nights were spent in the Phinda nature reserve where the elusive cheetah and black rhino tend to reside before heading to Ngala, a park on the north of the Kruger, an area absolutely bursting with wild animals. It’s honestly hard to put into words the mind-blowing majesty and presence of the animals, many familiar in their ‘zoo forms’, but completely different when they are in the wild where their bodies are constantly at work. We watched the sun rise and set each day while out in the bush, habituating our bodies to 5 am wake-ups, which are a whole lot easier to do when the chance of spotting a cheetah lies in store… We saw lions, cheetahs, rhinos, giraffes, elephants, zebras and hundreds of impala, warthogs and nyala. On our last evening in Phinda we came across a mother lioness who had just been reunited with her 4 cubs after being separated for over a week. In the pitch black and the glow of our red light, we heard them purr and gruff, kiss, nuzzle and snuggle into one another relishing in their reunion. True magic. I also think we were the only guests ever to request to spend one of our days searching not for animals but for the best trees to climb. We were lucky that our 27-year-old guide, Hancke, was about as excited as the boys when it came to tree climbing and even had a few special ones in mind that we drove half-way across the preserve to find.  The rangers and guides were once again the best part of the trip, befriending the boys and bringing the bush to life.

Our final morning was perhaps the most memorable of them all in a wonderful interception of adventure and hilarity. We were just leaving the lodge at 5 am when a giant group of guinea fowl started squawking and running across the road. Hancke and Lwasi (our spotter) instantly were on high alert, quickly getting us all back into the car and as we followed the sound of the guinea fowl toward the bush. Lo and behold, 5 lionesses pop out and start sauntering down the road, not to be bothered and in no hurry to get anywhere. We followed them for about 20 minutes before they headed off the road and into the bush. Much to the boy’s glee Hancke rallies the Land Cruiser to follow after them, deeper and deeper into the trees. All of the sudden our front tire sank into a large water-carved ditch buried by brush. We tried going forward. Nothing. We tried reversing. Nothing. Hancke and Lwasi got out of the car and you could see it was not an ideal situation. Reluctantly they offloaded us (I’m sure against every rule in the safari handbook) and got out a jack to start lifting the land cruiser to free the front wheel. Meanwhile the boys and I are standing next to the car, half watching in awe as they jack up the completely unstable car and half keeping an eye on the bush for the lionesses we had followed in. Somehow by sheer luck there was a giant pile of elephant bones lying just down the ditch. Lwasi gathered them up and created a bridge under the recently elevated front tire. Back into the car we went and by some miracle the elephant bones held as we drove up and out of the ditch and managed to sneak ourselves back out of the bush and onto the road. Who needs traction boards when there are elephant bones handy!  Needless to say, even our guides were ready for the half-awful half-delicious morning drink they serve called a mocha-choco-rula which is a blend of coffee, hot cocoa, and a Bailey’s like liqueur from the Merula tree. Not for the faint of heart! We left Phinda with our hearts (and bellies) full, unsure how our next stop could possibly live up to the first.

We once again boarded a little Cessna caravan 8-seater to take us to Ngala, feeling a bit like stuffed pigs at Christmastime from the non-stop eating and spending 7+ hrs a day in a car, but excited for what animals might lie in store. We were definitely not disappointed! I am still in awe at the extent and intimacy of the animal encounters at Ngala. Within an hour of being there, a giant bull elephant sauntered up to our pool and started drinking and giving himself a bath. Just another sunset 🤣 🐘 .  Our very first day we saw 16 lions. That’s right, 16. We sat within feet of a pride of 10 female lions sleeping in the sun who didn’t even bother to raise their heads when we drove up to them, stopping about 5 feet away.  We saw both a female and a male white lion, 2 of only 3 alive in the wild in the entire world, and learned that they are not a different species, but rather the result of a recessive genetic gene, much like the spirit bear. At dusk we stumbled upon a male lion who had just killed a buffalo and watched from 10 feet away as he drank blood from the chest cavity and ripped off chunks of meat, feasting away. It was one of the most raw, unnerving and incredible things I have ever witnessed, feeling like we were catching a glimpse into something that humans aren’t meant to see. We were surrounded by a giant herd of 15 elephants, with babies, juveniles and grandparents alike, and felt the power of their enormous bodies moving through the space around us. On our last morning, we finally found the ever-elusive female leopard and started following her through the bush. She stopped, we stopped, she walked, we followed. At one point, she was hunkered down in the grass and suddenly jumped up and charged the Land Cruiser, growling and snarling. It was probably half a second but felt like 10 minutes, my mind going into fight mode, about ready to jump over the seat and throw myself onto Huxley who was sitting up front. Luckily she quickly swerved off and headed back to her spot, having sufficiently warned us to stay where we were, and needless to say, we were all mighty awake for 5:45 in the morning afterwards! We also stumbled upon a tall, long-limbed Merula tree where she had drug her freshly killed impala up into the branches to feast in peace. Imagining her climbing up the tall truck of that tree with an impala in her mouth was mind blowing… We left the week inspired by the power and beauty of nature and the giant animals that live on this earth. I still can’t quite believe the rawness and power of everything we saw and left feeling mighty grateful to be a tiny speck of life on this incredible planet.  

RANDOM RECS

We did our safari through &Beyond, a travel company with a mission to “Leave our world a better place” which resonated with our travel journey. We loved how our rangers focused on education as well as animal sightings and how conservation was at the forefront of every element of the trip. I highly recommend them and we will definitely explore other adventures and destinations with them in the future!