Date of Entry: November 25th 2016
Date of Writing: April 20th 2017
I’ve been waiting for this day since I got to Africa, or I guess since my first night there when Renata found absurdly cheep flights through TAAG airlines stopping in Angola and decided to come visit me for 4 days in South Africa. I fly in to Joburg from Livingstone a day early and the next day I’m at the airport early to pick her up and soon enough we’re back at our room in Johannesburg at very upscale hostel called Once in Joburg. It’s super comfy and a great place to stay though not the best budget option. Soon enough we head out to Nelson Mandela square for some pictures and a delicious dinner of thai food at Wangthai. Food in South Africa seems to be dangerously good. We head back to the hotel and go to sleep early, because we’ve got a very early start tomorrow
We wake up before 6 because we’re being picked up by our guide from the agency Footprints in Africa, because, for Renata’s visit, I’ve booked a 2 day camping safari in Pilanesberg National Park,just a few hours drive from Joburg, thus making it a better option than Kruger for the short amount of time Renata has. They’re a bit late but by 630 we’re in a van on our way out of the massive metropolis bound for animals. About 2.5 hours later we’re being introduced to our guide for the day and shown to our pre set up very cozy tent for the night. The sun is shining and I’m very excited to get going into the actual park, and so happy to have Renata here beside me.
Our driver for the day takes us in an SUV with a good amount of window openings and we head out into the park. The only problem is, we’re a little late in the year and the rains have come, meaning that the undergrowth is thick and hard to see through, making animal spotting quite difficult. Still before long we’ve found zebras, a waterbuck, and when we come to a small waterhole we find some resident hippos. I’ve seen this all before but I’m still excited, and Renata lights up at the hippos.
Eventually we leave the hippos behind and keep driving onwards deeper into the mountainous park. I have to say that for landscapes Pilanesberg might beat all the other national parks I’ve been at. It doesn’t take long before I spot a family of elephants some distance from the road and alert our driver who has missed them and we come to a stop watching the family group walking across the hillside below us. Elephants were high on Renata’s list so I’m glad we’ve found them so early on.
It seems like we’re crossing off the big animals one by one and we’re certainly off to a great start as we round a corner on the road and spot a huge rhino a short distance from us. I love the rhinos here and find the horns truly amazing here. It’s a shame that poaching is still causing there numbers to dwindle, and all because of that beautiful horn. Sometimes the world is a horrible place, but then again rhinos exist, so it’s an amazing place too.
Continuing with the pattern of Renata seeing new animals we come to a huge giraffe almost on top of us. I love watching them graze on the tree tops silently and take extra joy when I find a little bird seemingly making it’s home atop the giraffes head.
As we watch the giraffes two more rhinos sneak up nearby and watch us from the undergrowth. So far Pilanesburg is definitely living up to it’s reputation. All we need now is some big cats and some elephants closer by.
As we round a corner more giraffes appear with more birds playing hide and seek on their heads, we also manage to find some hippos in the distance alongside the biggest lake in the park. I’m like my dad, hippos might be my favourite. Renata is very jet lagged and I probably should have allowed for more sleep time for her but she’s still impressed by the animals.
Down by the lake we get out at an enclosed parking lot and take a walk along a protected boardwalk towards a hide where we can observe wildlife with installed binoculars though my camera’s zoom proves to be more impressive. It takes a while but eventually we find a family of lions hidden a few hundred meters away in the shade. It’s midday by now and stinking hot, so I can’t blame them for seeking shelter from the cursed yellow face.
I manage to get a few half decent shots of the family thanks to my camera and I’m the only one. Everyone in the group ends up looking at the lions on my camera screen. I’m a little sad our first glimpse of Lions is from so far away, as Renata can’t really see what makes them so great.
We pull up for lunch at the restaurant in the park which sits overlooking a waterhole. It’s the only thing not included in our safari experience which cost 2,300 rand per person. (About 230 dollars.). Though the Price has now risen to 2,500. At the restaurant waterhole there’s just some antelopes and wildebeest as well as a cool crested bird and lots of souvenir shops, but the food is surprisingly excellent and fairly reasonable cost wise. Restaurants in South Africa rock.
After a hearty lunch including a plate of nachos Renata and I split that was seriously 90 percent cheese and 10 percent chip (yum), we get back on the road. The early afternoon is absurdly hot, and we don’t see all that much, though over the next few hours we do encounter zebras, hippos, lions in the distance, a family of rhinos and a lone elephant. renata though is exhausted and glad to get back to camp, although she’s quite upset to learn there’s a late afternoon/sunset tour in an open national park vehicle.
Back at the camp we find another first in terms of my animal sightings and all over the campsite there are mongooses on the loose. Ialways remmeber the story from my childhood of the mongoose killing the cobra. We also find some velvet monkeys. Before the next safari though I change into my bathing suit and take a swim in the fun fountain pool, me still overly pleased about the cool mongoose. From there it’s a quick snack and an argument with Renata to try to make her come on the night safari. She does though she just wants to sleep, even if she doesn’t show it in the photos.
We’re nestled in the back row of the big open air truck with our guide who is employed by the national park. The man is passionate and good at what he does telling us so much about the park but I don’t pay enough attention to remember that much of it all. Quickly we find a rhino, a young zebra, some antelopes, and a young male elephant munching on leaves right beside the road. Seriously we could almost touch him. We also learn that Arnold Schwarzenegger was here recently, and that his car got chased by an elephant.
As the heat starts to die down and the burning hot sun starts to sink in the sky more life starts to venture out of their hiding spots. This in turn brings the predators out and we happen open a family of lions in various stages of waking up for the hunt. This is Renata’s first chance to see just how big and powerful they are, but she’s not in the best mood and them lazing around isn’t exactly an action packed display. Don’t worry the Lions will make us take notice shortly.
As the sun continues to sink lower in the sky in a somewhat spectacular fashion my attention stays with the lionesses who seem to be starting to think about some sort of hunt, assuming their yawn is some sort of sign of that.
As we watch the sun go down a lot of the vehicles about start to head back to the main roads out of the park, but a few remain, and we’re lucky our guide is committed, and that he seems to think the Lions might be up to something. Sadly as the light dies so does my photo taking ability, because it turns out he’s very right and what plays out in the next 30 minutes or so is truly incredible, even if it is poorly captured.
From just a few meters away we watch as the lionesses get up and pad along the open savannah near the big lake looking for prey. We follow them along, red lights shining on them so as not to blind them or affect their hunt. As they go a giant pod of hippos emerge, here in pilanesberg and indeed in most of africa, hippos only come out to graze and move at night. Now normally a hippo is far from an easy target for a lion, but these guys seem a little desperate. The tension in the darkness is palpable.
We watch as three lionesses make a dash at a young hippo that is lagging behind. One makes contact but can’t seem to get a grip on it’s prey and shrugs it off. Almost instantly three massive adult hippos are standing where the young one was, looking threateningly at the lions who slowly back down. I can almost hear the hippos challenge in their posture.
We follow the lions a while longer. We see a few at full sprint into the darkness, a few cross just feet from us, and even find one sitting beside the road giving a low growl. (somehow I’ve lost the video). I also manage one photo I’m particularly proud of before the guide informs us that if we don’t head back now the gate will be closed and he will lose his job, so off we go back to camp.
There’s a sunrise safari included in our package, but the fact that Renata and I don’t even stay awake for dinner (a delicious smelling barbecue by our guide), we decide it’s best to sleep in a bit and then get at it. I’m not exactly happy to be skipping a safari, but I do understand that jet lag is a hard thing to overcome.
