S. Africa: Part 3 Safari
Our next adventure we planned was a 3 day, 2 night Safari. We both had a great time. The weather cooperated for the most part, but it was really cold in the morning and at night. Any excuse to make a fire. We loved the cold since we so rarely get it in tropical Hong Kong.
The Dutch driver we hired decided to stay along with two of his Dutch friends that were visiting him from Brussels. They barely spoke English so it was fun talking to them over our stay. There are only 4 lodges total, so there is only a small number of guest at the lodge at any one time. Would be great to do a family trip and rent out all of the lodges.
Would have loved to used the pool, but too cold
This is our ride for the next few days
Our accommodations
The baboons know how to open these sliding glass door so they had to remained locked. Kinda freaky
Outdoor shower that I am sure would be heavenly in the summer
I would kill for a closet this big in HK
The Sanbona Reserve is also very big into flora and fauna preservation. You will see a lot more shots of flowers and plants in this post
After a quick lunch, our first tour begins. A little background of this reserve. About 10 years ago, a group of conservationist started purchasing land back from 19 different farmers. Over the last decade, they have been letting the land grow back to its natural state are reintroducing animals that roamed free here around 100 years ago. Reintroduction of locally extinct animals include: hippo, elephant, buffalo, cheetah, lion and various indigenous antelope species. It is the closest Big 5 Reserve to Capetown. Big 5 include lion, water buffalo, elephant, leopard and rhino. We saw all of the Big 5 with the exception of the leopard, apparently the hardest one to see.
This reminded me of a natural Great Wall
I don't really know the names to any of these antelopes...
Some of these pictures you have to look hard. Mother Nature doing her job to make these animals blend into their surroundings
These were the white lions. They were laying down in the grass so you can only see their heads pop up occasionally. Lions sleep about 18 hours a day so they are hard to photograph
Why didn't I buy a zoom lens?!
Great Wall of Sanbona again
Chilling out before dinner
Day 2 begins with a rainbow
More of the rainbow as we made our way out
By early afternoon, the skies cleared
We came upon the elephants. Look closely as they blend in. This one is right in the center, look for the tusks
This porcupine looking branch I learned was a popular treat among most of the animals
Local beetle hanging out with Israel
I think these are called Elands
Gemsbok climbing up
Springbok
Ah the giraffes. I gotta tell you, the giraffes were my favorite. They have magnificent coloring that doesn't even look real in the wild. My main reason they were my favorite is that they were very curious about what we were doing. They kept checking us out and were very interested in our group
Love this shot
Spotted in the distance, rhinos!
The rhinos are hard to see. Due to there serious threat of being endangered, they are highly protected. The day before on a neighboring reserve on the Eastern Cape, 20 rhinos were slaughtered for their horns. I had no idea they were still even poached. The main consumers of horns are buyers from Vietnam and China. To protect them, Sanbona maintains 24 hr security and they don't reveal how many rhino are on the reserve. So far, haven't had any poachers.
There was massive flooding the month before we arrive. Sadly this is a carcass of a rhino that was drowned. The hollowed out part of the body was created by a jackal eating the insides. The horn was removed to keep poachers away.
There are rules about tearing down existing structures that are over 50 years old. This was probably one of the farmers' quarters.
Zebras!
I was really fascinated by this natural wall structure
As we headed back to shower up, this Kudu antelope was outside our room. He was pretty cool running off.
More foliage outside our room
Most places you go on honeymoons, you get cheesy rose petals on the bed or something to that degree. Every hotel we staid at gave us, what else, a bottle of wine. More wine- just what we needed...
A pair of cheetah brothers were hiding under the bushes. Totally can't see them, but we could see them from binoculars. Still kicking myself for not buying a zoom lens for the this trip...
Checking out the water buffalo
Here we are with our guide, who we adored. He totally made the trip.
Our driver
The Dutch couple
As we depart, we see the lone ostritch. The cheetahs have eaten all the others.
We arrived at the White Lion Lodge in the late afternoon. The Lodge is located on 54,000 hectares in the privately owned Sanbona Wildlife Reserve. It is about a 3.5 hours drive from Capetown in little Karoo, along the longest Wine Route in the world. We could have hopped on a plane to head up to Kruger National Park where you think of the traditional, Nat-Geo-type safari, but we wanted to do one locally i.e. not get on another plane.
The Dutch driver we hired decided to stay along with two of his Dutch friends that were visiting him from Brussels. They barely spoke English so it was fun talking to them over our stay. There are only 4 lodges total, so there is only a small number of guest at the lodge at any one time. Would be great to do a family trip and rent out all of the lodges.
Would have loved to used the pool, but too cold
This is our ride for the next few days
Our accommodations
The baboons know how to open these sliding glass door so they had to remained locked. Kinda freaky
Outdoor shower that I am sure would be heavenly in the summer
I would kill for a closet this big in HK
The Sanbona Reserve is also very big into flora and fauna preservation. You will see a lot more shots of flowers and plants in this post
After a quick lunch, our first tour begins. A little background of this reserve. About 10 years ago, a group of conservationist started purchasing land back from 19 different farmers. Over the last decade, they have been letting the land grow back to its natural state are reintroducing animals that roamed free here around 100 years ago. Reintroduction of locally extinct animals include: hippo, elephant, buffalo, cheetah, lion and various indigenous antelope species. It is the closest Big 5 Reserve to Capetown. Big 5 include lion, water buffalo, elephant, leopard and rhino. We saw all of the Big 5 with the exception of the leopard, apparently the hardest one to see.
This reminded me of a natural Great Wall
I don't really know the names to any of these antelopes...
Some of these pictures you have to look hard. Mother Nature doing her job to make these animals blend into their surroundings
Why didn't I buy a zoom lens?!
Baboons scampering up the cliffs
I think this was called ghost aloe. It was so cool and it was everywhere.
Time for some sunset cocktails
Great Wall of Sanbona again
Chilling out before dinner
Day 2 begins with a rainbow
It is a chilly morning so we are bundled up
More of the rainbow as we made our way out
Lone male giraffe hanging out
Local beetle hanging out with Israel
A snake that recently ate slithering across
I think these are called Elands
Gemsbok climbing up
Springbok
Ah the giraffes. I gotta tell you, the giraffes were my favorite. They have magnificent coloring that doesn't even look real in the wild. My main reason they were my favorite is that they were very curious about what we were doing. They kept checking us out and were very interested in our group
Love this shot
A quick pit stop for lunch. Here is Matt searching for the rhinos as we finish up. We knew from the other rangers that they were nearby
These purple flowers were everywhere. Here is a close up
Spotted in the distance, rhinos!
The rhinos are hard to see. Due to there serious threat of being endangered, they are highly protected. The day before on a neighboring reserve on the Eastern Cape, 20 rhinos were slaughtered for their horns. I had no idea they were still even poached. The main consumers of horns are buyers from Vietnam and China. To protect them, Sanbona maintains 24 hr security and they don't reveal how many rhino are on the reserve. So far, haven't had any poachers.
There was massive flooding the month before we arrive. Sadly this is a carcass of a rhino that was drowned. The hollowed out part of the body was created by a jackal eating the insides. The horn was removed to keep poachers away.
There are rules about tearing down existing structures that are over 50 years old. This was probably one of the farmers' quarters.
Zebras!
One of the dams that was built years ago by the early farmers
I was really fascinated by this natural wall structure
More foliage outside our room
Most places you go on honeymoons, you get cheesy rose petals on the bed or something to that degree. Every hotel we staid at gave us, what else, a bottle of wine. More wine- just what we needed...
At dinner, our guide joined us (he is vegetarian of course). Didn't remember to take pictures the first night, but this was the set up for all the meals that we had at the Lodge
Mmmm more springbok
Morning safari before we headed out. More Kudus
A pair of cheetah brothers were hiding under the bushes. Totally can't see them, but we could see them from binoculars. Still kicking myself for not buying a zoom lens for the this trip...
Checking out the water buffalo
Here we are with our guide, who we adored. He totally made the trip.
Our driver
The Dutch couple
Accommodations:
White Lion Lodge
Sanbona Wildlife Reserve
Route 62
Between Montagu and Barrydale
About 3.5 hrs. from Capetown
Sanbona Wildlife Reserve
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