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.