Cavephar's ramblings

Day One

The weekend started off with a bit of a “bump in the road” so to speak with our driver that was going to pick us up, having a accident. luckily for us the ops manager of the transport company was there to assist and he took us himself on the three and a half hour drive to the game farm.

Dev driving us to the game lodge

and finally arriving at our destination

Arriving at the reserve

Once arriving, Roy the game ranger and our host for the weekend came to pick us up and take us on another 45 minute drive to the lodge itself over some really bumpy roads. One thing he explained to us while driving, is that the reserve had gotten some late rains this year, which sort off put the eco-system a bit out of wack, causing some of the animals to breed later than usual and the reserve having a lot more water than they usually do at this time of year

A lot of the rivers had burst their banks and cause some flooding

Once there we had some time to settle into our rooms before a welcoming braai

How cool is this shower, right out in the open

candle lit braai out in the open

Day Two

We were up nice and early at the crack of dawn for our first game drive around the reserve. This normally wouldn’t be an issue except that most of us had been drinking the night before while watching the rugby games and a few of us had a bit of a hangover.

Ow it hurts

Off we go on the first drive and its quite uneventful besides some animal sightings of the more common animals like impala and rhino

A family of rhino with young one

After driving for a couple of hours, we decide to stop for some coffee, and just as Jade asks Roy where all the warthogs are, we are treated to a family of them walking right past us

Warthogs

Chilling by the landrover

Having some coffee on a dead tree

So then we off back to the lodge hoping to see some lion or maybe the elusive leopard, but had no luck. We did however find some lion tracks but they where a couple of days old

Some old lion prints

But we did get to see some giraffe

Curious Animal

After a light lunch and a afternoon nap (again a bit hungover still) we are off again for another game drive, but this time the reserve seemed quiet and there wasn’t much too see besides the usual

A cool looking dead tree

And back to camp to a awesome 5 star dinner by candle light

really cool ambiance and really good food

Day Three

Im up early again for the last drive of the weekend still a bit disappointed that we haven’t got to see any big cats yet, jade decided to sleep in this morning thinking it was going to be a boring one. man was she wrong!

so when we stop for our morning coffee a herd of wildebeest come running right past us!

Roy then hears on the CB radio that a male lion has been spotted walking on one of the roads patrolling his territory. so we decide to get into the landy and take a hasted drive to the other side of the park.

We drive for about 30 minutes and as we cross around a corner….

a male lion walking up the road towards us

We decide to park the vehicle on the side of the road and he casually walks right within a meter of us. its a pity my camera kept trying to auto focus on a piece of the car instead of what i was pointing it at

About 5 minutes after it passes us and we decide to get on our way, we get another call that two males have been spotted by what they think is a kill. so back into the car and off to find them

we spot the two of them in the long grass a distance off and unfortunately my zoom wasn’t strong enough to get some clear shots of the duo. The nice thing is we got to hear them roar to each other, which i must say was loud considering the distance.

Lion off in the distance

And we back off to camp, and being we so far, it takes us a good hour to get back. and on the way we spot some bull elephants and some hippo chilling in the dam.

A bull elephant off in the distance eating on some bark

Back at camp we have a hearty breakfast before parting ways with the locals. a big thank you has to go out to the company and everyone that made this a weekend to remember

Jade having fun with Roy's daughter

The group with Roy the ranger and daughter on the left

So it seems the company has decided to give me a free weekend away to a game lodge out in Welgevonden in the northern parts of South Africa. its a three day outing in the bush with some other company employees and their partners. looking forward to spending those days with my better half doing some game drives and just relaxing, which will be a most welcomed change of pace from our regular frantic lifes

will post some photos and accounts when im back

Till then….

Wild Hyena in the park

oh and i forgot, the girlfriend bought me a new camera for our anniversary :)