Into The Wild

Our time in South Africa seemed to be moving along all too quickly as we moved along to the bush country for our safari. Leaving the Lost City and the Palace, we headed toward the eastern edge of the country over the Escarpment with its canyons into the sun-baked savannas of the Lowveld.
We were met at the airport by Rocco and Yvonne Gioia, owners of the lodge we would be staying in. We seemed to hit it off and became friends as we traveled to Elandela (which means “tracking”).

The Elandela Game Reserve with its beautiful lodge was exceptional, quiet yet filled with life and adventure at almost every turn in the road.

The land here was so different from what we had seen, and yet again breath-taking in its own way.

We could sit on the front veranda of our room and watch wild boar, zebras and impalas graze as they passed by.

Again, there was the warning to keep the doors shut because of monkeys and baboons (as well as other animals we learned).

After settling into our room and having “high tea” in the main room, we got ready for our first safari adventure.

Coleman, one of the rangers who work on the reserve, got us up into the Land Rover, and we took off. Tracking on safari is a quiet and often slow business. But even leaving the front yard we saw a herd of impalas and zebras

and just down the road stopped to watch some giraffes grazing on some of the thorn trees.

Continuing down the road, we passed the pond with female hippos and crocodiles and another pond with the male hippo (who is quite aggressive in defending his territory).

Going up a rise we came on an open plain with a herd of rhinos and more zebras – so cool!

As we circled the clearing, Coleman noticed some vultures in a tree and headed that direction. We’d seen plenty of vultures in our lives so didn’t have much interest in them. As we approached, some more of the birds came to perch there. Coleman said they were indicators that something must have been killed, probably by either a lion or leopard, and were we interested in exploring what it might be.

Of course, I said yes (though not sure how Sue felt as we were in an open Rover). Heading down a gully, with a big thicket to the one side, we stopped the car and got out to check the sand. Sue chose to stay in the Rover. Looking, we discovered very clear, very large, paw prints.
When questioned if I wanted to look in the thicket, I had my first doubts, then hearing a low growl; we both decided it was best to get back in the Rover. He radioed Rocco, who said it was best to bring us back to the lodge, and then Coleman could continue checking things out. Rocco met us part way back, switched cars with Coleman, and we went back to the open plain to see the mom rhino and her calf.
By then it was almost sunset and we continued on for the after dark safari. I’ve “shined” deer before, but this was soooo much more an adventure. We learned that the animals don’t sleep at night (beside the lion, I wondered when the animals do sleep). The savanna came alive with a different kind of nightlife.

At sunset, we stopped to celebrate our 35th anniversary. (Don’t worry, Mom, it was only sparkling grape juice!) Of all the things we saw, one of the coolest sights was the hippo – he was enormous – out of his pond and up on the plain with the rhinos. As we watched he walked up to the baby rhino to check him out nose to nose as the little guy’s mom watched at his side. It was so dark there was no way to take pictures so we just watched.
Getting back to the lodge and an incredible six course dinner, Yvonne explained that they don’t sleep at the lodge, but if we got nervous about anything, we could walk over to Chris, the chef’s window, knock on it and he would check it out for us. We’ve lived in jungles before so were not too worried. Getting ready for bed, we heard a lion roaring, looked out the front glass doors, but saw nothing. For the next half-hour he continued to roar. I jokingly asked if Sue wanted to go outside, walk over the Chris’s cabana and tell him there was a lion on the loose.

We slept well, but were up dirt early for the morning safari. I’m not a “morning” person, forty thousand acres is a lot of land, and I was learning that it takes a lot of patience to track animals. With time, and Rocco’s patience and knowledge, we did track down a lot more animals, this time adding bushbok and wildebeest to our list. Over a delicious breakfast, I said that I wanted to see an African elephant, and we decided that the four of us would go to over to Kruger Park for the afternoon as it was pretty much guaranteed that I’d see one there.

Elandela Reserve boarders on Kruger Park, but the nearest entrance was an hour away. But it was so worth the trip!

Rocco was again patient, and sure enough we saw first one elephant off in the distance, then a group of four closer, and later a herd, but the greatest was the one we watched walk down to a pond, get a drink and take a bath and then just kind of play in the water while baboons and a giraffe watched in the background.

While watching him play, we heard a strange moaning sound and Rocco spotted an impala that got caught in the mud on the bank of the pond. We didn’t stay to watch, but were sure he would become either a lion’s or a crocodile’s dinner.

Over another incredible six-course supper (I didn’t know one could eat so well in the middle of the jungle), We talked about taking a sunrise hot-air balloon safari the next day, but calling, Yvonne found out that there was no more room, so that one was a no-go. But she told us about their neighbor who has an elephant reserve, and did an early morning elephant safari. We figured that we could ride in a balloon almost anywhere in the world, but how often can you ride an elephant.