The end of our Great African Adventure

Morning coffee with giraffes

The Garden Route: day 20 part 2

It was a night drive, hurrah, the new guests, three ladies from the U.K. were happy to join us, so after an early dinner at 18.00 we set off, joined by our waitress and chef, we had space so why not? Just an example of the ‘family feel’ of the lodge we were in. Obviously the danger with night drives is the dark and the possibility you won’t see anything, but we were hopeful for something a bit different, though aware that there wouldn’t be photographs. It started slowly but then we came upon a spring hare, the first of many, this was new, he looked like a little kangaroo which was a real surprise, and what a cutie. Baby

On our night drive with hand held searchlight

jackals, three, playing with mum were new, then giraffes sitting down. They sit down to sleep, but still with their heads up, they only lower their heads to drink, engaging the valve in their neck to stop all the blood rushing to their brains! I’d wanted a porcupine and in theory got one, though all we could really see was a different style of movement before it vanished into a bush, so we’ll have to take his word that that was what it was.

Here's a photo of a Spring Hare. I didn't take this one as my camera just wasn't up to taking a photo of a very bouncy hare in the dark. I got this one off the Wikipedia website, it was taken my someone by the name of Bernard Dupont. I hope you don't mind me using it Bernard. Cute little things aren't they - and they hop around just like a miniature kangaroo

I became aware we were in the area we’d been seeing the lionesses, but before we saw them we came

Suddenly we came upon a lion wandering around in the dark. Scary!

upon the lion himself. As far as we are aware nobody had seen him for a few days, and yet there he was, gently ambling along, so not phased by us, looking very handsome. We followed him for a bit before having to divert round to where Oubiet assumed he might be going, and he was right, to the water hole, to be joined very shortly by the lionesses ‘wife’ and daughter who also hadn’t seen him for a few days. How lucky were we to see the loving reunion, head rubs and ‘stroking’ it was perfect timing, what a great drive. The final thing Oubiet hunted for was the hippo as all we’d seen were eyes and ears. Just about given up, and we came upon one, right by

Here's another photo in just the jeep headlights

the road, but not for long. He veered off, and you don’t want to come between a hippo and the river.....

So a late night, we weren’t back till after 22.00 and early breakfast would still be at 05.30....

The Garden Route: day 21

Our last drive on our last proper day. Only two of the ladies made it, but this didn’t seem to surprise them and we were off. Giraffes the only request. Rhino aplenty seemed to be the thing of the morning. They are very protective of their rhino, they are the most poached animal so we only know they have more than 10 and less

The lion meeting up with his two lionesses

than 100, (we totalled 7 today) if you put photos on social media you have to ensure the GPS positioning is off and there is a heavy APU (anti poaching unit) presence in each park. Oubiet had to radio in if he got out of the vehicle by a rhino footprint and left a footprint of his own so they knew it wasn’t a poacher. In the evening if the rhino were too close to the road as we returned home he radioed in so the APU could come out and steer them inland away from prying eyes. We met Zulu, an Alsatian, with his owner in the bar one evening, Zulu is a trainee ‘rhino dog’. Should the worst happen and a nursing rhino be killed Zulu would be sent into the bush to find the calf so it could be rescued and cared for. It’s all taken very seriously.

It was a special moment seeing them greet one another

Rhinos on our final game drive

A final glimpse of the cheetahs seemed to be on the cards, but sadly they eluded us, but we didn’t mind so much, we saw them moving around earlier. Giraffes then. It took a while, they seemed to be hiding, but then we found a ‘tower’ (the collective for a stationary group of giraffes, it’s a journey if they are moving) happily grazing away. “Do you mind if we stop here for coffee?” Oubiet asked. Silly question, it was the icing on the cake, coffee and muffins with giraffes.

This one was having a good scratch on a handy cable

We finally had to say goodbye and head back to the lodge for breakfast, we still had to shower, eat, finish packing and vacate before 11.00. We rounded a corner to come upon a beautifully laid table, linen tablecloth, the works, how lovely for someone, then realisation dawned, it was our waitress, our other guide Rogan, and our chef at the camp kitchen. 

The perfect breakfast was for us! It was so lovely, mum and I were quite overcome and emotional, hugs for the ladies before they served us coffee, fresh fruit and pancakes, followed by the full cooked English, in a beautiful setting, the cherry on the icing on the cake.

'Do you mind if we stop here for coffee?' Silly question! There were a total of seven giraffes nearby, the one you can see to the left was the closest, another three were off to the left almost as close and three more slightly further away. It was fabulous!

Coffee with giraffes. There's not many people who can say they've done that

What a way to finish, it was a joy. I told Carly in the office on our return that I didn’t want to know if they did it for everyone, I wanted to believe we were special. We do know the Germans didn’t get it in their last morning!

We’d just finished packing the car when Bill and Rose arrived to say goodbye, we hadn’t seen them the previous evening before the night drive as we were early and apparently they were at the airport. “Hope the night drive was ok, they can be a bit boring “ they both said, Bill to Brian and Rose to me. We assured them that the lion reunion had been very special and we were very happy. Though not happy to be leaving....

Look at this baby zebra! It was part of a dazzle of zebras (that's the name for a group of zebras)

Leave we had to do though to Port Elizabeth (location: Isango Gate Boutique Hotel), our final destination to catch the first of three flights the following day. ‘Proper’ packing, getting everything into one bag before a walk by the sea and a wave at some dolphins. Dinner and bed.

We had to stop behind this other safari truck at one point as a herd of Impala were running from the left across in front of us to the right. They were jumping high in front of us over the track and I tried very hard to get one in mid air as it crossed our path. It was very difficult and I have lots of photos with nothing in. In this photo the one on the left has just got airborne and the one on the right has just landed. That's how far they jumped...

The Garden Route: day 22 and 23

Here's another one just landing

All good things must come to an end, but three flights and 24 hours of travel is back to reality with a jolt. We were asked by a tourism lady in Johannesburg airport if we could answer a few questions. An hour later she probably regretted asking us, as we’d had to list what we’d done and seen in each province (and we had visited 7 of the 9), how many nights we’d spent, how much money we’d spent, how we’d travelled..... she didn’t get the standard answers from us! The flights were fine, we all got some but not enough sleep, the baggage all arrived untampered with, we ate curry and drank beer at lunchtime Emirates time, but that was about 09.00 U.K. time....

We rounded a corner and there in the bush was a beautifully set picnic breakfast.'How nice for someone' we thought. As we stopped we realised it was for us - what a fantastic surprise!

Oubiet parked the truck and we sat down for a full breakfast

Back in dear old Blighty, and there’s Dear old Abi, to collect us with a hug and deliver us home with a pint of milk. What a star.

We spent the weekend slightly vague, popping in on Sarah for a chat before roasting chicken and all the trimmings, a jigsaw and a Sunday afternoon film. It’s cold and wet, we’ve both got the dentist and he’s got an appointment at the skin clinic for a check up tomorrow . Africa already seems so far away!

Here's our ladies preparing our two course cooked breakfast with tea, coffee and juice

While we just sat and chatted in the morning sun. These are our two companions, Jen and Ann, old school friends originally from Kenilworth in Warwickshire. This area is not fenced off from the rest of the reserve, in theory there was nothing stopping lions, cheetahs and rhinos joining us for breakfast, but we assumed our hosts knew what they were doing!

She didn't put this in the notes, but this was the last picture as we neared the lodge at the end of the drive. This level bit of ground is actually a small airstrip and we drove out and back along it on each game drive. On most occasions Oubiet would say as he entered it 'Are you ready to fly?' With that he's accelerate hard and put both his arms out like wings of a plane, laughing. On this last run back we all did the same. I was in the back row and did the same but, from my position with everyone in front I realised a bit late that this was an excellent photo opportunity. I pulled out the camera a bit too late to capture Oubiet with his arms out, he had just grabbed the steering wheel again as we were nearing the end of the airstrip. Nevertheless, you get the idea