Day 10 – Sabi Sabi Game Reserve

We had another leisurely breakfast and even had time to pack before the Thompsons folks came by to pick us up to take us back to the Durban airport. We had a flight about 1 pm, but arrived at the airport around 11:30. It seemed like we would have plenty of time to check in, but not so. Things were crazy and we just barely made our flight to Nelspruit. I used to fly there often when we lived in Johannesburg, but the airport had changed a lot. It was much bigger with lots of amenities for the 2010 World Cup fans. Like so many other places, the airport was torn up as it was under reconstruction for the games next year.

We went into Hazyview to get some money from the ATM before heading out to Sabi Sabi. All told it took us about 1:30 to get to the park and the last 20 kms or so were on dirt roads. On the way we saw elephants, rhinos and Cape buffalo. Everyone was excited by the time we got to the private game lodge where we were met by Jenna at the entrance. She was our hostess and organized everything for us while there. She was a girl of 25 from Durban who had worked there for 3 ½ years. She was cute and had loads of personality and both the younger boys (men, I should say) were intrigued.

We each had our own bungalow with living room, bathroom with both an indoor and outdoor shower, bedroom with mosquito netting over it, and a private veranda from which to view the wild game. All food and alcohol was included in the rate, so we lived the high life while there. However, we just had time to drop our things in the room and head out to the Land Rover for our first evening game drive. Instead of starting at 3:30 PM as the others did, we didn’t get off until about 5 PM. Dusk came quickly and then we viewed things with our tracker who used a spotlight. The exciting event of the evening was following a leopard stalk a duiker (small African deer about as big as a dog). Following close on the leopard’s heels was a hyena waiting to get the table scraps. It was an awesome and intimate experience for us all.

Upon return to the lodge we were all freezing! It gets really cold when the sun goes down. The Land Rover has blankets, but it was still cold. By the time we got back to the lodge I was freezing and they had a big fire in the fireplace at the lodge bar, so in I went and did not move for half an hour when they called us to dinner by blowing a Kudu horn. Dinner was buffet style in a boma (outdoors under the stars with the only lighting being kerosene lamps). There was plenty of wild game, but also beef, pork and chicken if you preferred. It was awesome and we had our own table with our own personal guide, Jonas, at the head of the table. An English couple were in our Land Rover with us, so they also joined us for dinner. All told, it was an excellent experience and we really felt like we were in Africa for the first time. The rest of South Africa was so much like the USA in so many ways that it didn’t sink in that we were in Africa until we saw the animals in the wild and ate out of doors under the stars.

We could not walk to our own bungalows after dark as there was no fence around Sabi Sabi. There were fears of leopards and lions as well as Cape buffalo or baboons while we were there, and in the summers the snakes come out and warm themselves on the stone paths to keep warm, so a guide is always necessary. That just added to the excitement! Sleep came swiftly after the exciting day we had.