Our next stop took us roughly 100km North from Addo to another game reserve but this one wasn't a public National Park like Addo it was a private reserve called "Lalibela". It wasn't as big as Addo but was still pretty large at 26,000 acres (about the footprint of Bristol), most of the animals that we saw at Addo were here as well but there were much fewer people (around 100) and it felt more wild. We arrived around one in the afternoon ready for a game drive at 3pm and after being shown to our lodge and unpacking we mingled with our co-guests until we were called to our vehicles! Unfortunately it was raining, however this doesn't stop anything (the animals don't care) and so we all donned rain smocks and mounted our open 4X4 Toyota Land Cruiser to spend 4 hours driving around to see what we could see.
After about an hour we came across a pair of Lions, male (below) and female (above), they looked a little miserable in the misty rain but we stuck with it, the animals were really close (around 10 meters) which seemed a little scary at first but apparently they can't distinguish individuals in a vehicle, they just see a large object (too large to be interested in, prey wise) If you were to stand up though it many be a different story, anyone who needed the loo at this point clenched even harder.. Just as we were leaving we noticed another female lion hiding in the bush that you can see in the foreground of the photo above, amazing camouflage, no one noticed (not even our guide who had x-ray vision for animals!)
We saw quite a few things that afternoon, zebra, buffalo, various antelope and a Rhino family but to be honest we were all quite happy to get back to the lodge for a hot shower, change of clothes and a warm drink! (I guess it rains down in Africa, as the song goes)
The next morning we had a rude awakening, up at 5am for a 5:30am drive! As we drove off from the lodge the sun was just coming up (see picture at the top of this post) and our bleary eyes were only alleviated by the excitement for the morning and what we might see!
First up we saw half a dozen Giraffes, amazing animals, they all have such different patterns on their skin! Everyone in the group was thrilled to see them up close, the shock of waking up so early had almost completely worn off by now as we moved slowly among the Giraffe family. These huge animals look so improbable, but actually move elegantly and swiftly! Apparently (as our ranger informed us) they only live to about 25 years of age as their hearts give out after having to pump blood all the way up and down that enormous neck! Then, like most things they become Lion or Hyena food...
Excitement and anticipation in the back of the vehicle leapt as a distant voice crackled over the ranger's walkie-talkie, "we have Cheetah"...
We left the Giraffes to munch on Acacia thorns (their favourite food apparently) and headed up to a high plane above the valley. Resting up here were a pair of Cheetah (brothers) apparently just lazing around in the early morning sun they looked magnificent, such elegant beasts and perfectly hidden in the tall grass on the hill. Soon another crackly message on the radio, "Bull Elephant spotted, west of your location", our guide fired up the motor and off we went across country to see.
After a 10 minute drive across bumpy grassland (like an aggressive massage in the back) we came across this fella, he had a good look at us but lost interest pretty quickly and wandered off, by the way if you're wondering what the white orbs are in the background of this photo, they are termite hills! At this point we were far enough away from our lodge to warrant heading back for lunch and after another 30 minutes of back pummeling we arrived back to a sumptuous spread and some cold drinks. There was much chatter in the group about what we had seen (and not), pretty quickly it became clear that a wish-list was evolving, our guide was going to get some special requests for that afternoon!
That afternoon we headed off down a single track at the bottom of a steep valley, after 10 minutes we stopped as there were Elephants coming in the other direction! At first we thought there were only a couple (see above) but it soon became clear that there was a whole herd headed our way, at least 40 animals, our guide quickly reversed and backed into a small clearing by the side of the track, we waited with much anticipation as the elephants came closer and closer, as we sat there watching the herd pass I noticed some babies mixed in with the adults, so cute, I managed to get a shot before they wandered past us (see below)
After our elephant encounter the whole group was buzzing with excitement, we headed off up to the high ground above the valley and stopped for drinks. It was a little weird getting out of the jeep, nervously scanning the surroundings for lions or leopards etc. Fortunately our guide knew the place like the back of his hand and quickly put us at ease, serving up helpings of coffee, beer or wine according to our preference, very civilized!
After drinks we headed back to the lodge and were treated to a stunning sun set (see below) once back and after a quick shower and change we headed to the dinning room where a lovely spread had been laid out, everyone was eager to eat and full of chat about what we had seen that day, I can see how people get addicted to safari!
Next morning we awoke with the lark, again, off into the sun rise and after 30 minutes or so the message came over the radio, "Cheetah kill, to your East", a mix of excitement and trepidation spread through the vehicle, we headed East back towards the lodge.
Our guide quickly homed in on the Cheetah family (how that guy managed to see these things from kilometers away was outrageous!) Anyway, we stopped near the group (see above) and observed them finishing off their morning kill, a baby antelope of some kind, everyone commented on the "circle of life" but it was a little gruesome in parts. After the Cheetah family breakfast we headed off toward a sighting of a pair of lions that had just killed another baby antelope (it's amazing that any antelope manage to survive at all!) I'll spare you the video that I took, especially the part where the Lioness crunches down on the skull of Bambi (the sound of that will stay with me!) but here's a still shot (below) of the scene we observed..
It was amusing to see most of the Women in the vehicle with their hands over their eyes and most of the blokes leaning out of the side to get a closer view! Nature certainly is "red in tooth and claw", the worst part of it was that the mother of the deceased baby antelope was standing nearby, just looking on wistfully, there goes 9 months of investment, ah well, such is life on the savannah! Later on we saw (up close) a couple of Cape Buffalo (see below), these beasties are just about 2 tons of pure muscle, extremely bad tempered and about the only thing that Lions won't tackle! It was our last sighting before heading back to the lodge and checking out, a wonderful couple of days, we saw some amazing sights and made some good friends, we vowed that we would return to Africa soon!
Lalibela was great, we enjoyed it very much and I haven't mentioned half of the animals we saw which included, Hippos, Jackals, Zebra, Pumba's, Ostrich, antelopes etc.. Our next destination was a little different, we were off to spend a couple of days coming down from the excitement of the safari and relaxing by the beach at a place called "Plattenberg Bay" read all about it in the next episode.
