African Safari!
Lalibela
Steve and I left PE and drove to a private game reserve called Lalibela. The accommodations there was amazing and very deluxe (as they should have been for the price we paid! Around $400 Canadian for one night/two drives and some amazing meals.) Our ranger was a young guy named Alistair, who came from my Dad’s hometown of Kimberly! We shared an open jeep with a family from the UK and spent an evening and a morning doing safari drives. Alistair was four by fouring all over the place, over pot holes, down ditches and over trees – the drive itself was an experience. Along the way we saw some amazing sights! Stumpy white rhinos, striped zebras, small baby impala (so cute!), large herds of all sort of ‘bucks’, graceful giraffes!!, red hartebeest, water covered hippo noses, 2 wild dogs (close to extinct), a lion (so majestic), lioness and a couple of cubs climbing a tree!! We had a very very close encounter with a number of elephants, They were so close, I could have reached out and picked one of their noses! I won’t soon forget that! We also sampled a termite (leafy tasting – apparently high in protein) and picked up lots of interesting animal facts … like giraffes have the 2nd hardest kick, camel first, zebra third and that Rhinos walk in and spread their dung around to mark their territory. A group of Zebra’s is called a “dazzle”.
Addo Elephant Park
We weren’t able to book two nights at Lalibela, so we spent the next day at Addo Elephant Park. Addo is an amazing place for elephant sightings (200-300 live there) and despite the very up close elephant sighting we had already experienced I was amazed by the elephants at Addo. They have observation stations set up at two of the watering holes and if you go at the right time of day it is really a treat. We saw up to 28 elephants one time hanging out and playing together. The funniest is when they are stretching and kneel down. When you see them leaving, you run back and jump into your car and then watch them crossing the road right in front of you! It was pretty cool! The first day we went out in our own, covered, car so it wasn’t quite as intimidating as the open jeep. The second day we went with a ranger in a raised jeep and realised that the little lift helped you to see over the shrubs lining the roads and we saw a lot more wildlife. Addo seems to also have a lot of warthogs (think Poomba from Lion King). I was quite excited to see the first one, but not so much when we saw them every 5 minutes. We also saw kudu, jakal, meercat (timone from lion king), zebras and a poor lion that looked like it had just been mauled by something on it’s side. For travelers on a budget, Addo is highly recommended. We were able to book accommodations there, not quite as chic chic as the private reserve, but solid and with a kitchen for under $100 Canadian a night. You can also just pay for entry into the park and then drive around on your own and stay somewhere else if you like.
Speaking of seeing a lot of animals we also ate a lot of animals. I felt like I had OD’d on meat by day 4 of the trip, as I had eaten more meat in 4 days than in the last month. ostrich, kudu, lamb, beef, boerewors (sausages), billtong (dried meat sticks/pieces) …… you couldn’t get away from it. It was very good … just toooo much!
Steve and I left PE and drove to a private game reserve called Lalibela. The accommodations there was amazing and very deluxe (as they should have been for the price we paid! Around $400 Canadian for one night/two drives and some amazing meals.) Our ranger was a young guy named Alistair, who came from my Dad’s hometown of Kimberly! We shared an open jeep with a family from the UK and spent an evening and a morning doing safari drives. Alistair was four by fouring all over the place, over pot holes, down ditches and over trees – the drive itself was an experience. Along the way we saw some amazing sights! Stumpy white rhinos, striped zebras, small baby impala (so cute!), large herds of all sort of ‘bucks’, graceful giraffes!!, red hartebeest, water covered hippo noses, 2 wild dogs (close to extinct), a lion (so majestic), lioness and a couple of cubs climbing a tree!! We had a very very close encounter with a number of elephants, They were so close, I could have reached out and picked one of their noses! I won’t soon forget that! We also sampled a termite (leafy tasting – apparently high in protein) and picked up lots of interesting animal facts … like giraffes have the 2nd hardest kick, camel first, zebra third and that Rhinos walk in and spread their dung around to mark their territory. A group of Zebra’s is called a “dazzle”.
Addo Elephant Park
We weren’t able to book two nights at Lalibela, so we spent the next day at Addo Elephant Park. Addo is an amazing place for elephant sightings (200-300 live there) and despite the very up close elephant sighting we had already experienced I was amazed by the elephants at Addo. They have observation stations set up at two of the watering holes and if you go at the right time of day it is really a treat. We saw up to 28 elephants one time hanging out and playing together. The funniest is when they are stretching and kneel down. When you see them leaving, you run back and jump into your car and then watch them crossing the road right in front of you! It was pretty cool! The first day we went out in our own, covered, car so it wasn’t quite as intimidating as the open jeep. The second day we went with a ranger in a raised jeep and realised that the little lift helped you to see over the shrubs lining the roads and we saw a lot more wildlife. Addo seems to also have a lot of warthogs (think Poomba from Lion King). I was quite excited to see the first one, but not so much when we saw them every 5 minutes. We also saw kudu, jakal, meercat (timone from lion king), zebras and a poor lion that looked like it had just been mauled by something on it’s side. For travelers on a budget, Addo is highly recommended. We were able to book accommodations there, not quite as chic chic as the private reserve, but solid and with a kitchen for under $100 Canadian a night. You can also just pay for entry into the park and then drive around on your own and stay somewhere else if you like.
Speaking of seeing a lot of animals we also ate a lot of animals. I felt like I had OD’d on meat by day 4 of the trip, as I had eaten more meat in 4 days than in the last month. ostrich, kudu, lamb, beef, boerewors (sausages), billtong (dried meat sticks/pieces) …… you couldn’t get away from it. It was very good … just toooo much!
posted by Steve N' Ali @ 10:36 AM
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