Jeff’s mom has a friend, Jarrod, who was originally from South Africa, so when we decided that we were going there, she suggested we talk to him and find out some fun things to do. It turned out Jarrod has an uncle or business partner (confusing sources of information) who owns a private game park near Durban, and offered to let Jeff and I stay there for free if we made it down that way. And we definitely made sure we made it down that way!
After a confusing mess of trying to get to the reserve, we finally made it about an hour away, where one of the managers, Monika, was so nice as to come pick us up. We arrived at the lodge and were welcomed with cold towels and glasses of sherry, and were greeted and introduced to all of the staff. We got a tour of the beautiful common areas, including the dining room, the boma, the bar, the library and the pool, which all overlook a watering hole that was often surrounded by buffalo, zebra, kudu, impala, and warthogs. They explained to us that each room is a free-standing unit, and that the whole lodge is in an unprotected area (meaning any kind of animal can walk through at any point) so a staff member must drive us to and from our room in a golf cart every time for safety. Pretty nifty! They showed us our room and my jaw just about dropped. It had a large sitting area, a walk-in closet, dual sinks, two claw foot bath tubs, two indoor showers, two outdoor showers, and a huge patio with a plunge pool and deck chairs that overlooked the watering hole. The pictures on the website don’t do it justice. We had the Madiba Suite, which is decorated in the theme of Nelson Mandela. The whole thing was just unbelievable. We took a quick nap, freshened up for dinner, and headed out for the common areas (in a golf cart with a ranger, of course). We had a pre-dinner cider and chatted with Monika and another couple, who were from Johannesburg. Monika informed us that there was a wedding reception that evening and that everyone would be leaving the next day. That meant that for the remainder of our stay, Jeff and I would be the only guests at the reserve! The first night was a fantastic, intimate dinner of either leg of lamb or fish. Following our normal routine, Jeff and I each got one so we could share. Soooo delicious! There was also some chocolate fondant dessert. Quite the difference from our previous safari!
Typical meal setup
Our suite
The next morning we went out on an early morning game drive, complete with warm blankets and hot water bottles! Amazing. Our guide’s name was Andrew, and he was very knowledgeable. We weren’t too lucky that first drive, although we did see a pack of hippos grazing out of the water! That was super cool, because up to that point, we had only seen their ears and noses sticking out of the water, and the rear end of the one who ran in front of the car on the way to Kruger Park! Midway through the drive we stopped to have tea, coffee, and rusks (kind of like biscotti but softer). Again, luxury. We returned back to the lodge to be greeted by the staff and have hot towels, and were ushered into the dining room to have an insanely delicious brunch. The afternoon was ours to relax, and we did just that. Later on, we had an evening game drive and saw the normal spread of wild animals.
Family of Hippos
Buffalo right below us during lunch
Because we were the only guests, the staff organized a picnic for us out at a waterfall. It was less of a picnic and more of a dining experience outdoors, as they had prepared various sandwiches and cheeses, fruit skewers, spring rolls, dessert, and a bottle of wine. Their site even had a permanent table and normal, flushing toilets! Too funny. The water was a bit too cold to go swimming in, but we had fun wading and checking out the area.
That night, we had an amazing game drive. We hadn’t seen much beyond the usual animals and a couple rhinos (who are always super cool to see), and it was already getting dark. We began to head back to the lodge, and Andrew brought out a floodlight to hopefully catch some of the nocturnal animals. He suddenly stopped the vehicle, backed up and pointed out two female lions and one male! And they were up and walking!!! Huge difference from our other sightings. They were moving rather quickly and passed in front of our vehicle. Andrew followed them thinking that they were out hunting. They clearly were stalking something, the two females divided on either side of an area of trees, the male lagging behind. We radioed to let the other vehicles on the reserve know about this incredible sighting. We continued to follow them for quite a while, but gave up on expecting to see an actual hunt, and left the area for all the other cars to see. Then, not thirty meters down the road, a small cat sprang across the road in front of our vehicle, pounced on a mouse, and devoured it in front of us! Andrew told us it was a Serval Cat, which I had never heard of before, but it’s more rare to see than a leopard. It was a beautiful small, long, tall cat, with coloring like a leopard, but a much softer, glossier-looking coat. It was absolutely gorgeous. Jeff caught a couple blurry photos of it in the red flood light, haha. We returned back to the lodge ecstatic, and had a lovely, private, candlelit dinner set out for us on the terrace. The day was too amazing.
Our last morning we went on a quick game drive before we had to catch our bus back to Johannesburg. And guess what we saw? Another Serval Cat!! How did we get so lucky?? We saw it jump across the road, an insanely high jump, maybe five or six feet. It was clearly stalking something so we continued to watch. We had change our position several times, but it paid off. We saw it at the opening of a mouse hole, batting its paws around inside, trying to scare the mouse out. It worked, and the Serval Cat caught it, and bounded away with it. Andrew supposed that it did not eat the mouse right away because it probably had babies in its den and was bringing the food back for them. It was such a cool experience, and Jeff was great enough to catch several of the moments on video! We’ll try to figure out how to post it here.
Serval Cat
Serval Cat with its catch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avZUBh1kJWY
Serval Cat hunting video
We returned back to the lodge and once again had hot towels waiting for us. We enjoyed one last brunch at Lions Valley and sadly said goodbye. One of the managers drove us into town where we could buy our bus tickets and catch it back to Johannesburg. The lady running the ticket counter warned us about arriving there, saying that it was one of the worst areas of the city (the most dangerous city in the world, at that), and that people will kill you for 20 rand ($3). And we were arriving after dark. Holy smokes. We were a little nervous to say the least. We called our Johannesburg hotel and he agreed in a less dramatic way about the dangerousness of the situation. He sent a reliable car for us, and told us NOT to leave the Greyhound terminal, and that the driver would meet us inside with our name on a sign. Thankfully everything worked out per plan, because as we drove up to the bus station…we could definitely see what everyone was talking about. Scary!
Anway, we spend another couple days in Johannesburg getting last minute things together before we took off for India!
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