The Morning Walk

Day 8 – November 26/Wednesday

We slept in until 8am this morning. Wow! That's a lot of sleep. The french doors in our room were open all night, the sound of the ocean right below no doubt lulling us into prolonged rest.

We headed downstairs for coffee and breakfast.

I have to say the food in South Africa is amazing. There's always a buffet with homemade granola and muesli, fresh bakery, tons of fresh fruits, interesting juices, yogurts and more. And then you order breakfast! We enjoyed ours on the back patio, listening to the waves and taking in the morning.

After breakfast, we hooked up with Matt and Marty for the walk into town. There's a pathway that winds its way among the cliffs of Hermanus and extends for some 15km. We only did a portion of it but it was a gorgeous way to take in the views of the bay, interesting flora and fauna (yes, I did just say that) and more.

The scenery often was so ridiculous that it almost appeared fake, like in this picture where it looks like Mike and I are standing against a backdrop in a studio.

One of the things we came upon was this sign, a memorial undoubtedly for a right whale who either washed onshore or beached itself. Cute, interesting and an homage to the animals that make this bay their home for birthing and raising their young (and one of the main reasons people flock to the area -- it's a huge source of tourism dollars for the area).

Mandatory flora and fauna shot since I mentioned it. Actually, there were little pockets of this kind of thing throughout the cliffsides. I love the play of the hard rock off the soft, lightness of the flowers that seemingly grow out of the rock.

We finally made it to town, a small quaint place that was a collection of restaurants and shops like you'd find in many small tourist towns - a mix of a few interesting things with ticky tacky tourist shops selling shot glasses and t-shirts -- everything with whales and great white sharks (the other big tourist draw) on them.

I hit a bathroom at a little shopping "center" and inside was a box with free condoms. As you know AIDS and HIV is a huge issue across Africa. Rather than taking an approach preaching abstention as our government does, Africa hits it head on, offering ways to prevent the spread of the disease. I like that!

We called the car from the hotel to come and fetch us and we headed back to enjoy the rest of our day.

Onward to Hermanus

We hopped on a our little puddle jumper and took a 20 minute hop over to Ulusaba, Richard Branson’s private game reserve. After picking up a British couple, we took another 20 minute flight over to Nelspruit, the main airport that serves Kruger National Park. This was a bit more of a real airport experience and from here, we would fly 2.5 hours over to Cape Town where we would pick up a rental car and drive 100km east over the Hermanus, a great little beach town.

To say that the Cape Town area is mountainous would be an understatement. Ridges of mountains, rings of mountains, they were everywhere. Flat plains gave way to huge rock formations, thrust up thousands of feet toward the sky to create a dramatic juxtaposition of earth.

Immediately upon leaving the airport, we passed by shanty towns once again, just as in JoBurg. But the shanty towns quickly gave way to gorgeous scenery.

A mountain pass takes you up over a huge ridge, revealing an almost alp-like setting, lush with fir trees and rolling hills set in a bowl. After traversing this area, we headed down the other side of the ridge toward Hermanus.



Another inn set in a residential neighborhood, this place was beyond gorgeous - a quaint series of small buildings with 14 rooms in all up above and little courtyards in between that contained everything from a pool area to tranquil places to sit and read.

The gem however was the back patio that was situated right on a small cliff overlooking the pounding surf of the oceans - the place where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet.

A small infinity pool seemingly dropped off the cliffs and into the ocean. We decided to hang out on the back patio and have a glass of champagne and enjoy the ocean air. What a change after being in the heat of the bush just a few hours earlier.

A picture perfect sunset followed -- I don't think I'll ever get over the sunsets and sunrises. No matter whether we were in Joburg, in the bush at Singita and now at the beach, the sunsets and sunrises were something to be cherished every day.

This place has all meals included as there isn't much going on beyond the small town of Hermanus. So we went to our rooms, changed and went down to a quaint dining room for dinner.

Upon retiring to our rooms after dinner, we found that turndown service should have been called artful turndown. A beautiful display of flowers had been created on the bed using fresh lavender and rose petals. A card on the bed read: "A happy couple share a certain smile that no one else quite understands." Nice touch. Needless to say, after a long day that started at 5:00 in the bush and involved three flights, sleep came easily.

Saying Goodbye to Singita

Upon our return to the lodge, we had a quick breakfast, then headed down to the village, a place with a number of small boutiques selling African goods as well as the spa and gym were located there. I guess village is a bit of an oxymoron.

We picked up a very cool Africa mask and a couple of other things. We then took the short five minute walk over to Sweni, Singita’s other lodge that was built right on the river. Only six rooms, this little gem had a feeling that was altogether different than Lebombo but so unique in its own right.

From there we walked back up the hill to our room to pack and get going. As we walked the plankway to our room, I was blessed (and I don’t get blessed very often) with a shot that was so typical of our visions of Africa. Updated for the times, it still represented one of those magical moments that you think of when you think of this country.

As we met Themba at the door who carried our luggage back to the lodge and we headed down the plank one last time, we savored the sights of Singita and of Kruger.

As we said our goodbyes, the entire team was lined up again, like a receiving line at a wedding. From the GM of the property who we met earlier, to the three Kates, to Themba and Edward our waiter, they were all there. Somehow, like everything else it wasn’t trite. This wasn’t like disembarking from the Love Boat. This was saying goodbye to people we had come to know, and who had come to know us in the short 4 days we were there. It was more like saying goodbye to friends.

We piled into an air conditioned van, with Dierdre driving us back to the airstrip. We talked about our experiences and Dierdre continued to educate us, right up until the end.

As we were driving, we came upon a bridge where a car was stopped. Obviously they were looking at something. And there it was, like an unexpected gift on Christmas morning, one that couldn’t possibly be true but indeed it was, a gift to us – an elephant.

A huge male simply hanging out, eating grass, allowing us to behold the sight (not to mention take pictures of it).

Some 45 minutes later, we were at the airstrip, our plane awaiting to take the four of us back to civilization.

Saying goodbye to Dierdre was like saying goodbye to a camp counselor. Bizarre? Yes, in a way. Here was someone that had taken care of us, that watched over us, that protected us and educated us, just like that camp counselor you had as a kid.


As we flew away, I realized in looking down at the vastness of nothing except the bush, that, in a lot of ways we all walked away with a new outlook. How can you not? What really matters anymore once you've had the chance to have this experience? Nothing really. All the trials and tribulations of our jobs, our hectic lives and world go away when you're at a place like this. No email, no phone, no messages, no real connection to the outside world unless you chose to have one. I didn't. Except to share these experiences. And that's what I'm left with. An amazing experience where nothing mattered except the experience I was having. Every minute. Every hour. Every day. And how often do we have a chance in our lives to say that.

The Last Morning Game Drive - Elephants!

Day 7 – November 25/Tuesday
Marty and Matt decided not to join us this morning so it was Mike and I and Kit and Erica along with Dierdre and Themba. The goal was to find the elusive elephant this morning. We had seen a herd at one point a couple days back across a river. But the minute we pulled up and shut the truck off, they had turned and beat a quick retreat into the safety of the tress. Dierdre explained that they had a large number of young and so it was to protect them.


As we headed down the road again this morning (we had to head north again to elephant land), that meant we had a roof over our heads. Not more than a couple minutes down the road, another lion sighting. They were just settling down for their daytime snooze. A beautiful lioness lay resting in the low light sun, filtered all around her except that a small sliver of light that sliced through, perfectly illuminating her in a soft early morning glow. You couldn’t plan this type of perfection. It just happens.

We encountered the entire pride of lion a bit further down the road, cubs and all. Just an amazing sight.

As we continued to drive, I snapped a photo of the truck as we were driving. Just the shadow of it along the grasses of the roadside, the image turned out to be much more like a twisted version of the Flintstones car than it did our truck. How apropos though given my constant feelings and writings of feeling at times as if we were back in the dinosaur age.

As I mentioned earlier, babies abounded everywhere. Here we ran into a junior giraffe. The mom wasn't close enough to grab a shot which would have helped you understand the scale, but this little guy was probably only 8-9 feet tall, half the size of a grown adult.

We happened upon a strange trail at some point a little later on. It was fairly wide but wasn't at all something that we've ever come across in our travels. I asked Diedre about it and so she stopped and backed up a bit. That was the great thing about her. If you wanted a closer look, to ask a question, to understand and to learn, all you had to do is ask. The trail it seems is an animal trail. Duh. But the interesting fact about it is that it serves as an animal superhighway. These trails typically lead to water and many animals come out of the bush wherever they may be and get onto the trail, like surface streets that feed to the interstate (which ultimately leads to water). So many animals use it on a daily, or nightly basis, from hippos to lion, a lot of animals have worn this wandering path from the bush to the river's edge.

Onward to small monkeys hanging out in the trees, their 4 foot prehensile tails sticking straight behind them for balance as they navigated a tree limb, or hanging downward, or gripping. And then baboons in numbers we hadn't seen. We saw a big male, and then a female with him, and then a baby nearby. And soon, everywhere we looked were baboon. Under the trees, near the bushes, in the trees. Themba estimated there were more than 75 in the troop, scattered about.


We had an early return to camp that morning as Kit and Erica had to catch their plane and we had to clean up and pack, ready for our next adventure. We never did encounter the elephants, but that was for another trip I guess and we certainly couldn't argue with everything we did get to see and experience.

Upon our return to the lodge, we took one last picture with Dierdre and Themba (and her rifle), a keepsake that will remind me everytime I see it of so many things about Singita. All it takes is that image to conjure up animals, and animal walks, African Rusk, a warm people, amazing sunsets, the hot sun, dung beetles and so much more. It truly was an experience of a lifetime.

I'm On The Top Of The World.

Mike's birthday events kicked off as sunset neared and Dierdre took us up, and up and up the side of a mountain. The steepest incline we had driven the entire safari was falling behind us, the tire kicking up rocks and even boulders in some cases, hurling them down the red earthed “road” behind us. As we approached the top, we rounded a bend and saw a fence stretching as far as the eye could see. On the other side of the fence lay Mozambique. We continued driving along the fence for a couple minutes and came to a point. Sunset point. Cocktail hour. And a special celebration of Mike’s birthday.

This setting was unlike an of the other sunset points we had seen. Stretched far below was the N’wanetsi gorge, carved out of the earth and we were on the precipice. I had arranged to have special cocktails made (usually it’s just the basic cocktails, beer and wine). I also had arranged for special snacks to truly make this birthday meaningful. So, out came two menu cards with “Mike’s birthday cocktails” proudly displayed on the table and the ingredients for Pimm’s Rangoon, a favorite drink of his and Cosmopolitans, a nod to Matt and Marty. Out came a mixed nut tray full of different types of African nuts as that’s a staple of cocktail hour for us. And then came the additional snacks the chef had prepared.

We sat at the edge of the gorge, enjoying the sunset and the forthcoming stars, feeling like we were on top of the world, and able to see the beauty of the earth below and the stars above. A place where the earth meets the sky.

After savoring our cocktails and snacks and the views, we packed up the truck and began the long trek home. Gone was the pride of lions we encountered, no doubt they had moved on to their evening hunt. But the big injured guy lay exactly where we had left him. Dierdre explained that he would be fine. That animals adapted. And then she recounted the story of a lion that had it’s front shoulder broken, most likely from the kick of a giraffe. The lion struggled to keep up with the pride for six months, but eventually redeveloped a whole new way of walking which countered the poorly healed shoulder. We still felt bad for the guy, watching him limp severely.

We arrived back at the lodge at around 8pm as there was a special dinner planned. Greeting us as we entered were the wonderful cool towels and then we met Christophe who explained that we would like us to join him to celebrate Mike’s birthday with a glass of champagne. Dierdre joined us as well.

The bucket of ice with the champagne in it and the glasses were on a table poolside as was a giant gleaming steel saber. Huh? Christophe asked Mike to help him open the champagne and was going to do so through a technique called Sobrage. So Christophe grabbed the saber and asked for Mike’s hands on the saber as well. With a one, two, three count, the saber popped the cork off the champagne bottle in one swoop.

But it didn’t just pop the cork off, Sobrage means you actually cut through the bottle. So he hit the bottle right on the bottle seam at the neck and sliced through the bottle right below the cork. The cork stays embedded in the glass and goes flying. The break is so clean that you pour the champagne right from the bottle into glasses. Pretty Amazing.

So we headed from there up to the Boma for dinner. The Boma is a livestock corral, made of rock or branches or other materials, it's built in a circle.

We headed into the Boma where all the other guests also joined in for a traditional African style dinner. We sat an individual little tables (almost like a TV tray but bigger) that had a white tablecloth and cintronella oil lantern on each table. Against the backdrop of the light colored Boma wall, and the large trees overhead, the entire Boma had a wonderful yellow glow about it.

We feasted on leg of impala, springbok, beef as well as traditional side dishes -- everything from corn to lentils and more. The dinner was delicious, especially when paired with South African wine, which we had grown quite fond of.

And then we heard music in the distance. Voices. African voices singing a beautiful song. Growing louder, a group of about 25 people came into the Boma, singing their lilting traditional village music. We learned from Dierdre that these were all members of the Shangaan tribe that also worked at Singita as housekeepers, as bartenders, as cooks and dishwashers and waiters and spa attendants. They voluntarily participated in singing to guests every three nights or so. And they didn't practice. These songs and dances they performed were part of their upbringing. Part of their culture. And it was something that was so ingrained that they just followed their rituals.

And then the group came out with a cake, and pulled Mike to the center of the Boma, to celebrate and dance. So here's Mike, cake in hand, dancing with the Shangaan village people (not to be confused with those other village people). We then feasted on the cake and other traditional south african (and American desserts) as the night wound down.

This could have been trite, like going to a luau in Hawaii, everyone in the their Hawaiian shirts and wearing leis. But somehow it came across as authentic. These weren't people putting on a show. These were real people, expressing who they are. Promoting their culture, their language, their heritage. These were people who worked here for six weeks, and then went back to their villages - the place they call home.

It's amazing that we had been in the bush only 48 hours, yet it felt like a lifetime given how much we had done and seen. Tomorrow would be our last foray into the bush.

Check out new videos just added

I just added more videos into older posts now that I'm a video pro.

Check them out.

Dung Beetle video

Airplane troubles - watch as we take off on our little plane to Lebombo

More to come...

Afternoon Game Drive – Lion Redux

Continuing on the game drive, Themba happened to spy a huge male lion right off the road. Since the afternoon sun was still out but it was waning, lions tend to sleep well into the coolness of the evening, stirring only after it’s cool enough to begin their evening hunt.

This male was content to just lay there. However, he did get up and move and was walking with a huge limp. Dierdre surmised that he got injured in a hunt and it could have been from just about anything. You felt so bad for the guy as he was the king fo the pride and lions, especially kings, have to keep up with the pride as it moves to retain their status. The other big issue is that another male could fight him for dominance given his injured state. We let the guy rest and moved on.

As we headed out further into the bush, Themba spied a couple of female lions and three of their offspring, all about 8-10months old.. Seems we hit the lion mother lode today. Dierdre knew something we didn’t and headed off road. The lioness’ were beginning to stir which means the rest of the pride would begin to wake up as well. As she pointed up the hillside toward another lioness making her way down, Dierdre told us to keep our eyes our for what was trailing her.

Trailing the female were three small cubs, no more than 3 months old Dierdre told us. So we had three females and five cubs. And then came a male. A huge male. This was the pride that the wounded lion belonged to as well.

As the cubs played and nuzzled with the other cubs and moms, we had a front row seat to seeing the pride come alive.

The male lion was less enthused, laying down. And then getting up. And then walking right toward us. Diredre told us to stop moving all together. No movement. If cameras were up, they stayed up. He stopped to mark his scent on a bush, no more than 10 feet away, looking right at us. This guy was just huge. And in one short movement, you knew he could spring right into the truck. He began walking on and we were given the all clear sign, able to raise our cameras again (and take a deep breath).

This guy was too close for comfort and it was another one of those moments of feeling alive. Of feeling one with Africa. Of feeling lucky to be able to have the experience of being on safari in this truly amazing place.

Evening Evening Game Drive - Hippos and Elephants

As we left the comfort of our room once again and headed toward the lobby, the sweltering heat of Africa smacks you in the face every time. Those 15-20 minutes you spend with your guide, having a little dessert during tea (or a cocktail) can be agony as the sweat begins pouring from within.

By the time you walk to the truck, which invariably has been sitting in the sun, your shirt is soaked through and you begin the mantra, “Must have wind, must have wind, must have wind.” And then you start moving, and although the wind is hot, you’re moving, and starting to cool down a bit.

We got in the truck and set out among the softer light of the sun. We rounded the first bend and immediately saw the unicorn. Well that’s what they call it anyway, a one-antler impala. Poor guy – he’ll never mate again as impala lock horns for dominance and since he can’t lock horns, he can’t fight. And since he can’t fight, the ladies think he’s a wimp!

As we drove over the concrete road that also serves as part of a small dam for the N’wanetsi near the lodge, we noticed the hippos who live in the water there (and the ones we hear every night) we quite close. Alas, another truck had parked across the river and they were walking toward where the hippos were in the water, which meant we couldn’t (too many people).


So we continued on, seeing a great little striped baby zebra. Their stripes actually help regulate their temperature as the dark stripes absorb sunlight while the white ones reflect it. Their stripes are their fingerprints, with no two sets of stripes alike. I’m a regular Dierdre now myself, having been imparted with so much knowledge.

I think Dierdre felt bad about the hippos so she asked if we wanted to do another wildlife walk. We were all game, so she parked the truck and we headed on a 10 minute walk slightly downhill into the bush, with Dierdre leading the group single file, rifle in hand. At one point Dierdre gathered us around and told us to be quiet and stay grouped together because as we were going to roiund the next corner, we were going to encountered hippo in the water and they would be startled by us so we should have our cameras ready.

I don’t think any of us knew what to expect as we’d always only seen two, maybe three hippos together. Rounding the corner, cameras poised for the shot, we saw the thick pea soup water and then, there they were, over 30 hippos grouped together, like buoys floating on top the water.

A few of them splashed and then settled down once they got used to us. And then they just hung out, once in a while doing their yawn, opening their mouths wide as a warning to us. But they were content to stand on the bottom, their heads slightly above water, covered in weeds to keep them cool. Silly hippos. They’re doing their thing again – “If I have this seaweed on my head, maybe the won’t see me.”

What do you call a group of…?

After our great sighting of the crash of rhinos, we learned that not everything is a herd or a pod or a pack. Here are some of the more interesting groups of animals we saw or learned about:

Zebras = a Dazzle of zebra

Giraffes = a Journey of giraffe

Baboons = a Troop of baboons

Hippos = a Raft of hippos

I'm sure there are more....we came up with one too. What do you call a group of gay zebra? A gazzle! Gay and Dazzling! Lame I know but we all got a laugh out of it.

A Crash Of Rhinos

We didn’t drive for more than 10 minutes when we happened upon a beautiful area with green grass everywhere, scattered among trees and bushes. It didn’t take long to find another two rhinos….and then there were two plus another mother and baby…and then there were two more. We had ourselves a crash of rhino which is what Rhinos in a group are called. And then there were zebra and impala co-mingling with the rhino and we were all amazed at this confluence of such a variety of animals.



As we traveled we learned about the Leadwood tree where the wood is so hard that when it dies, the wood takes years to decay, so you see these beautiful skeletons of trees amongst the green of the bush.

We watched in awe as a giraffe ran across the road in front of us and learned that they don’t run often as their bodies can’t support their neck while running for long. We also learned if a giraffe falls down, it dies because its neck is so heavy that it can’t lift it up off the ground.


We learned about this frog and builds a nest that looks like a snowball hanging from a branch and it’s actually made of foam. The tadpoles are safely protected there before they are dropped into the water to begin their life.

We learned all about buzzards and the hierarchy of buzzards who come to the kill and get first through sixth dibs based on which type of buzzard they are. And what a buzzard roosting in a tree means (I’m tired and resting) vs. circling above (I’m soaring on a thermal) vs. circling above in a group (I’m awaiting my turn to feast after then lions are done).

Another successful drive as we headed back to the lodge among the mid-morning 90+ degree heat.

Walking With Rhinos!

Dierdre had mentioned a wildlife walk at some point during our game drives and now seemed to be the time.

It was quite simple, follow her (her leading the pack, rifle in hand) and we were going in for a close up view. And follow her quietly. No cameras, no binoculars, nothing.

What did we do? Barrel down the hillside, making a lot of noise with our feet, chatting a bit. She stopped us and asked us to gather round. The rules were 1. Single file so she could defend us with the gun if need be (she couldn’t defend us if we were all over the place); 2. No talking so as not to alert the Rhinos whose huge ears along with their sense of smell is how they detect things; 3. Walk slowly and deliberately, avoiding stepping on dry, brittle grasses and sticking to walking on the rocky gravel. Plus, rolling your foot from the outside to the inside to minimize the noise your boot makes when stepping; 4. When she snaps her fingers, you stop – immediately; and 5. When she says run, you run. When she says climb a tree, you climb a tree.

Now that we had it all down, we continued downhill. We had probably covered 75 yards when Dierdre snapped once. We all looked up and stopped in our tracks. She motioned with her hand and turned around and mouthed “stand still”. The baby rhino had heard us and was intently looking, not sure where the sound was coming from. Baby Rhinos have much better eyesight than older rhinos so she would be able to see us while the mother rhino couldn’t. However, if we stood still, she wouldn’t be able to detect us. So after about a minute, the rhinos went back to feeding and we continued down the hill.

Not more than 10 yards later, Dierdre snapped again. We all stopped. Now both Rhinos were looking, not our direction, but looking. They knew something was up. We stood rooted, like 8 tree trunks spread out amongst a stand of trees. Not sure what was going on, we stood while the Rhino and baby moved around a bit. Hearts were racing, not sure if the rhino would charge our way to protect the baby or flee. This is the stuff life is made of. Exhilaration. A touch of fear. A touch of wonder. After a tense minute, mother and baby run down the valley away from us.

Dierdre explained that although they didn’t see us, they smelled us. And that was their first sign that something wasn’t quite right. Most likely they heard us as well. And those two things were enough for mother to protect her young by fleeing, the most common tactic used by rhinos when in danger.

So back up to the truck, uphill the whole way to continue on our morning drive!

Morning Game Drive – In Search of Black Rhino

Day 6 – November 24/Monday

Happy Birthday Mike! It’s Mike’s 42nd today and I have quite a few things planned unbeknownst to him.

Awhile back at a conference, I had met a guy from Singita who put me in touch with Jason, the Managing Director of Lebombo who helped arrange Mike’s birthday activities and it was going to be something to remember.

I did indeed sleep like a baby and awoke only when the 5am wake up call came. At least the phone ringing wasn’t some horrible jarring bell, but was more chime like - peaceful, like you'd expect to hear in the bush.

We headed down to the lobby to grab a little coffee and African Rusk and hooked up with Dierdre.

Today’s mission was to find black rhino and sable. To do that, we had to drive north about an hour to get to the part of the concession where these animals typically roamed. In order to shorten the travel time, we put a roof on the truck so we could drive the Kruger Park road and then hop back into the concession once we were further north, probably cutting off an hour of travel time.

This part of the concession was the most like Jurassic Park yet. Huge cliffs and mountains with lush grass growing. A fire had swept through this part from Mozambique which Kruger extends into, leaving most of the trees standing, but destroying all the ground brush. As a result of torrential rains nine days earlier, the entire area had come to life, with a lush green carpet of grass juxtaposed by jagged, hard brown rocks and cliffs.

As we drove on, I found six inch black sticks across the road. Inquiring about them, Dierdre told me they were millipedes. When the time was right, and we had enough open land around us (which meant we were safe from predators), we stopped to view them. They were incredibly strong and it was surprising how sticky their feet were, gripping incredibly tight to whatever surface they touched, like my hand here.

As we continued driving, we saw the usual menagerie of wildlife and then stopped for our morning coffee and snacks. Incidentally, these stops also served as bathroom breaks. So you found the closest tree or bush, stepped behind it, and did your thing. Not a big deal but at night, it could be quite eerie as you never really knew what was lurking 10 feet away. We’ve all seen to many movies so your mind tends to play tricks and you think about what’s happened in the movies. Just a tad bit creepy.

Since we hadn’t had any luck with black rhinos or sables, we drove up a rocky ridge with a great view through the trees to a lush valley below. Leave it to Themba. Down below a mother and baby Rhino awaited a close up view.

Evening Game Drive – Lion Hunt!

The afternoon was too hot to do anything except sit in your room. We did head to the lobby and played a couple games of cribbage in the “lobby” while sweating profusely. But that was about the only time we did anything mid-day.

We headed back up around 4pm for tea and to hook up with Dierdre again for the afternoon game drive.

The morning drive we had all hoped to see lion but after Themba and another tracker went out on foot (with rifles) for over two hours, they found the pride sleeping in an area that we couldn’t get a vehicle into. And we certainly couldn’t get out on foot to view them.

We set out to find another pride, given that lions sleep most of the day into twilight so we weren’t going to see any movement from the pride that morning until later. We rounded a bend and bumped smack into two baboons on a rock. The big male was being preened (groomed) by a female and they just sat there content to do their thing as we stopped to watch.

A bit later we found African Buffalo. They are huge and aggressive and not so nice looking. We happened upon two of them just hanging out about 50 yards off the road. Too far away for a good view, Dierdre took us 4-wheeling over rocks and ruts – this Land Rover could handle anything. As we got closer, Dierdre warned us to not make any sudden movements and to make sure we moved slowly. It seems that the aggressive nature of the buffalo often caused them to charge anything, event the trucks. So, we got within 10 yards or so, good enough for great pictures and to observe them.

We continued onward, viewing a variety of animals along the way. Soon enough, sunset was upon us. Another perfect sunset in a once foreign feeling place that had become more like home, like the place where visions are realized and where the sight of a sunset can bring forth a sense of wonder we seem to lose as part of living our everyday lives.

Tonight's cocktail hour was special in that it was Erica’s birthday. As we arrived at our sunset viewing point, we found a few of the staff there with lanterns and chairs set up for perfect sunset viewing. A small table had been set up with snacks and the bar on it. And champagne was popped as we arrived. What a perfect surprise for a birthday and one not soon to be forgotten. After hanging out for 30 minutes, we were on our way again, this time for the lion hunt.

As it was dark, the lions were on the move, and so we were. We were headed toward a pride that had been spotted earlier. In constant communication with another truck, they had found the pride as they were heading straight toward us. Dierdre quickly left the road and we found ourselves driving through the bush toward a place they should be walking toward. We saw the other truck in the distance, its headlights and spotlight shining our way.

And then it was lights out! And Dierdre cut our engine. And dead silence. With nothing but the sound of the bush as a backdrop, the excitement (and a bit of tension) was palable. We had no idea what to expect. A quick flash of the floodlight by Themba, and then it’s there. A lion….no more than 50 feet away. A quick follow and then it’s lights out again. As Themba continued to flash his light, we found at least 8 more lion, gently walking right across our path.

As they moved, we moved, always getting out in front of them for a (ahem) killer view – pun intended. So we had many shots of them as they stalked.

According to Dierdre, this was their stalk. They continued to walk, sensing for prey through sight, smell, sound. As they continued their walk, Themba shined his light elsewhere and uncovered eyes – Impala eyes! We were going to be part of a kill!

Then it was lights out for good. It wasn’t fair to give either animal an advantage. So we waited. It was quiet, and dark. And lions were everywhere. And there we sat in our truck, like little prey. We were told not to talk and not to move. This was a little scary.

Dierdre told us to listen for sounds….and then we heard it, the sound of running. Of dead grass rustling. Of branches being bent. Sometimes you can hear the crunch as the neck breaks. But there was no crunch. No roaring. No sounds of a struggle. The impala had escaped.

Exhilerated (and a bit disappointed) we began tracking the lions again and ran through the entire cycle. Impalas = 2, Lions = 0.

We headed back toward the road and continued on our nighttime journey through the bush.

Mountain Biking In The Bush? You Bet!

Upon our arrival back to camp, Dierdre asked if any us wanted to do anything else like Mountain Bike, archery, etc. I really wanted to experience the bush on bike. No one else on the truck did. So Dierdre and I made a plan to hook up at 10:30. She and I would bike and Themba would follow in the trucks with the rifle – no lie.

After some breakfast (we literally ate 6 times a day – three meals and three snack times), I relaxed for a bit in the room and then headed back to the lodge to meet Dierdre and Themba. We took off right from the lodge and biked. That plan was to be out for an hour as at that time the temperature was over 90 degrees. We ended up biking about 13km with Dierdre tiring out and trading with Themba, then later they switched back again.

It was hot! And it was tough work! But we pedaled through it. I got the chance to learn more about Dierdre and how they lived life in the bush. Beyond all the training I mentioned earlier, they work for 6 weeks straight, then have 2 weeks off. They live about 20 minutes away from the lodge in a little village of 164 people who work at both Sweni lodge and Lebombo. They are a mix of people from different parts of Africa – some from the city and some from local villages around Kruger including many who are Shangaan tribe as mentioned earlier.

Themba learned how to do what he does from living in the village his whole life. It was their way of living and those skills are passed from generation to generation.

As for the animals, we got up and close to zebras, giraffes and lots of impalas. But the animals were less used to bikes than they were the trucks. So for the most part, the animals were skittish around the bikes and tended to run off as we approached. Nonetheless, it was a different type of experience in traveling through the bush.

As we bicycled home, the last leg was up a hill for a good 10 minutes all the way back to the lodge. Not much but in the 90 degree heat, it was brutal. It took a 45 minutes to sort of cool down including a 15 minutes soak in cool water.

I later learned that I was the toughest mountain biker they had ever had (usually they take out families and kids) and later that day, many of the staff basically told me that they heard I “kicked Dierdre’s ass” mountain biking.

Morning Game Drive – Rhinos and Zebras and Owls Oh My!

It was a gorgeous morning as always. At 5:30am, it’s not horribly hot yet. Very pleasant as a matter of fact. We headed out today on a broad tour of the concession, looking for all kinds of things including any one of the four prides of lions that call the concession home. I think this is the day we’ll see all types of creatures big and small.

First up – an owl of some sort. I don’t want to minimize it since it was beautiful in its own right but I don't remember which type of owl it was. In fact, it was quite young given how furry it still was, molting its feathers as it came into adulthood.

Birds were all over the place and some of the most beautiful birds I’ve ever seen. They were hard to capture however without an extreme telephoto lens. If there was one regret about the trip, it’s that I didn’t buy a better camera to capture the animals close up. But next time!

Next up, on the side of the road, a big pile of dung. And that means dung beetles! I think these things are amazing and there at least six varieties digging through the pile of dung. Here’s the deal – they get up on two legs and roll the dung into a ball. They then deposit their larvae into the dung ball and bury the dung ball in the ground. The larvae then feed off the dung ball, and finally emerge as little dung beetles. This one was about 1.5 inches long and we learned that this was all over our room last night! You can see them in action in the video -- look at the earth "breathe" -- that's all dung beetles burrowing in shit!



Same as last night, these things would power up, then slowly take off and fly -- imagine...a 2.0" x 1.5" flying hard insect with dung all over it! Even better
was watching these things land. Since they were so heavy they would come flying toward the dung pile, then crash land into it since they couldn't slow down enough to land and sustain their weight at the same time.

Themba then helped us spot a white rhino mother and baby. We learned that a lot of babies of all types were born within the past couple of months so we should expect to see more. These Rhino really were quite stunning and something right out of Jurassic Park.

We continued on, finding other animals along the way. By 9am the sun was high in the sky and blazing hot, yet we continued on with the wind keeping us somewhat cool under our khakis and hats.

As we continued driving, we would hear a slight buzz that would get progressively louder until, sort of like the buzzing under electrical wires along telephone poles. Turns our they were cicadas, just not the 17 year kind like we have in the states. But just two cicadas calling to each other could be heard over the roar of the truck and just became a constant din.

Enough of the game drive, we're heading back to the lodge for breakfast!

Daybreak

Day 5 – November 23, 2008
We awoke early. Like 3:30 early. I’m sure it is still a bit of jet lag that wreaking havoc with our senses. I tried to go back to bed, which I was semi-successful at, but being father north than Joburg and even farther east, it seemed only a matter of minutes before the sky started getting lighter. And although the bedroom part of the room had a wraparound blackout curtain, it wrapped around 90 percent and left a doorway-sized opening that conveniently was where the sun rose, allowing perfect passage to shine on my face.

So, I slept on and off for the next 1.5 hours, covering my head with the blankets, turning away from the sun and doing my best Dracula impression to avoid that brightness rising from the horizon.

At 5am the wake up call comes. I unlatch the door, and step out onto the deck. The sun is beautiful, a giant orange ball casting an orange juice colored hue across the N’wanetsi river and Lembombo as it rapidly ascends. Savoring the view, I breathe deeply, inhaling the intoxication that is Africa and the experience that I’m having, relishing it’s ability to transform one’s mind.

Back inside, I’m excited at the prospect of what the day brings so it’s a quick brush of the teeth, donning of the sun cream as they call it here and heading toward the lodge to meet up with Dierdre for coffee, tea, and some light snacks before heading out.

One of the snacks is African Rusk. It’s sort of like biscotti only not as hard – kind of a flaky crunch. It’s baked like a sheet cake, then cut into bite sized squares and is really hard to describe the taste. It’s perfect for dunking in coffee!

Dierdre gives us the game plan for the day and we head to the truck.

BUGS!

We arrived back at the lodge to our trio of Catherine’s (there were three "hostesses" that were our point people for anything and everything we needed -- Catherine, Cathryn and Kate) there to greet us with cool wet cloths in that delicious lavender/citrus scent. After wiping our faces, we headed back to our rooms.

But since it was after darkness, we weren’t allowed to “walk the plank” alone. We had to have a night porter lead us anytime after dark since it was the bush, and animals lurked in the bush. And any animal could be there waiting to pounce if need be. This is a daytime shot of the plank but it gives you an idea of how it's situated and this is only a portion of it that we had to walk.

We arrived back at our room to find the bed had been turned down, the mosquito netting had been lowered and the entire place warmly lit.

And then we noticed it. A huge beetle took flight from the table in front of us. This thing sounded like a buzzing bee times 10 in terms of sound. It was like watching in slow motion as the thing powered up, slowly got airborne, then flew. It was bizarre. As we looked around, more bugs had been attracted to the light. And then our eyes were drawn to the floor where we found at least 20 more beetles, ready to create a buzzing nightmare.

Needless to say that Mike, the bug-o-phobe wasn't really digging the Africa experience at that point but he was a good sport about it all.

The whole scene reminded me of that Travelocity commercial where the family books a great vacation online with another website, then wakes up in the middle of the night to find their entire mosquito netting teeming with bugs.

We took showers, got changed, then called the night porter to take us to dinner.

We also alerted the Catherines about our bug issue and Marty and Matt said they didn't have the issue. Catherine explained that so many factors could have caused the bugs. From that moment on, we arrived back at our room each night to a very dimly lit, bug-free environment.

Dinner, and every meal was amazing. We meet Edward who was to take care of us for all of our meals -- similar to your guide and tracker, the philosophy at Singita was to connect you with your team of people who were going to take care of every aspect of the trip for you, and that creates a bond between the employees and the guests. We pretty much had the same night porter, housekeeping team, tracker, guide, waiter, bartender, etc. throughout the entire trip.

For every meal, you ordered from a menu. But you ordered whatever you wanted. Since all meals were included, you just did your thing whenever and however you wanted to, 24 hours a day. If it wasn't on the menu, then they'd make it for you. I love that!

Exhausted (remember, we had arisen at 5am that same morning and left the comfort of the Saxon in Joburg), we ate dinner and returned back to our room at 10:45 to find all the bugs had been swept away and the room cleared. We fell into bed, knowing that we had to awake at 5:00 the next morning.

Things that go bump in the night

As late day settled into twilight, Dierdre pulled the truck over in a clearing and asked everyone to get out for some snacks and cocktails. Out of the back of the truck came coolers full of wine, beer, ice and liquor for mixed drinks. And then three tins full of snacks – are we’re not talking chips and pretzels. We had vegetarian sushi rolls, small squares of toast with grilled springbok (a version of venison) and other stuff on it, and fresh fruit kabobs. Simply delicious and amazing.

After the quick cleanup, it was now dark. But the next show was about to begin as we would continue on our game drive for another two hours. Themba was given a spotlight by Dierdre and as she began to drive, he would move the spotlight back and forth 180 degrees, side-scanning in a straight arc but scanning up and down trees as well. The picture doesn't do it justice but you can see how far the spotlight reached. He was looking for eyes. Since most nocturnal creatures have special eyes that allow them to see at night, it also means there’s some type of reflective part of the eye that allows it to stand out among just about anything. It was these reflections that Themba was looking for. Themba was so experienced, he could identify what type of animal it was just by seeing the reflection of the eyes – and it could be hundreds of yards away. Themba's scanning was constant, like some science fiction cyborg robot - he had this uncanny ability to see peripherally without moving his head.

One of the more interesting things that Themba came across was a 10 foot tall bush with all green leaves except one yellowish leaf. That was enough for Themba to stop Dierdre and then she saw it too. She stopped the truck, got out and pulled a 8 inch long chameleon from the branch, resting it on her shoulder. The chameleon immediately turned dark brown/grey in anger as it was angry, Dierdre told us. After all of us got a chance to see, she put it back on the branch and we continued on our journey.

Now dark for over an hour, there not only was relief from the intense heat and sun, but it was quickly becoming cooler, where a jacket or blanket was needed.

As we continued our drive, Themba did a backward sort of scan and found something that was going to look pretty bizarre - a hippo out of water. Seems they only come out of the water at night to feed and we spotted one, covered in wetness -- a sort of sticky secretion that I can't remember what the purpose of it was. The hippo just stood there, almost deer in the headlights style with it's head hung low. It was almost as if it was saying, "If I don't move, and avert my eyes, then these people won't see me." Although we were shining the spotlight on it, it didn't budge. As we drove on we found two other hippos out of the water as well.

It was after 8pm as we made our way back to the lodge to get cleaned up before dinner after what turned out to be an exhilarating first game drive.

The First Game Drive

As Stefan drove us out to meet our truck, we prattled along on a dirt road through the bush. Sometimes wide open, sometimes running through thick brush, we soon learned more about the diversity of the some 60,000 hectares of land that comprised the Singita Lebombo and Singita Sweni land concession. All told however, there were only 42 guests staying in 21 rooms between the two lodges, so it would be rare to see another truck on the roads while on game drives. Kind of nice.

We soon hooked up with our truck and Themba (Tem-ba) our tracker and Deirdre our guide. Also in the truck were Erica and Kitt from Washington DC on their honeymoon, then Mike and I are our friends Matt and Marty who we were traveling with jumped from one truck to the other. The trucks are Land Rovers with tiered seating in three rows so everyone has great views and plenty of room as each row seats three although only two people actually sit per row. It was like being in a moving stadium seat. As customary in South Africa, drivers sit on the right. On the left front of the vehicle just in front of the hood was Themba’s seat, situated right out in front so he could track – and track he did – something so amazing that the only way to believe it is to see it first person.

Themba’s job was to look for signs of where animals may have been or where they are going. He does this by looking at tracks on the ground, in the brush, how fresh the animal’s dung is, what animals may be traveling together and more. At times we would be traveling along a road at 20mph and Themba would point to the left. Deirdre would stop, back up a bit and then it would become apparent what Themba had seen – a baboon 100 yards away in the shadows, an owl hiding in the branches or a tree, hippos 500 yards away – truly amazing in the daytime. His ability to find animals at night dumbfounded all of us over and over.

Deirdre was the resident guide. She drove and serve as the Julie McCoy of the trip making sure everyone was comfortable. More importantly, she worked hand in hand with Themba and then educated us. She had gone to school for a related field, then throughout her career had received certifications in all kinds of subject matter related to her job. We would later learn that she knew of geology, plant life, animal life, astronomy, and more. There never really was a question that she couldn’t answer. She, like Themba, astounded us over and over again.

Driving along, the terrain was simply astounding. The afternoon sun was incredibly hot but began casting beautiful shadows on anything it hit. This shot is the epitomy of Lebombo. Rocky outcroppings along the ridge, full of beautiful boulders -- I'll spare you the Lion King references but it was humorous that a lot of us used them to describe what we were feeling, thinking and feeling initially (that's like Pumba from the Lion King (to describe a wildebeast), that's the kind of place that the lions would live, etc.). Dierdre was a good sport about it all and said she's heard that a million times. What novices we were.

Until we started seeing some really dramatic animals like a journey of giraffe (as a group of them is known). What a beautiful site and so hard to put into the right context when all you've ever seen are animals in a zoo. Impalas are everwhere. They are like the deer of the bush. Skittish and more often in groups of 10-15, but sometimes in groups of up to 50, they were amazing when we spooked them enough to get them moving. Their ability to bound is dramatic and graceful and beautiful.