Travel can be to take a vacation and relax, or to see history up close and personal, perhaps learn about other cultures, and experience nature. It can change you.  Sometimes getting away puts everything in perspective, you know what I mean? Buckle up and get ready for photo overload from our safari in Hoedspruit, South Africa! This was one of the best trips ever, and the photos barely do it justice.

Let’s back up and see how we got here, shall we? After visiting South America for the first time, we decided we were due to check off another continent- Africa! Anyone that knows Steve and I knows that we are cat lovers through and through. Really all animals, but cats for sure. So, a safari seemed like the perfect reason to see Africa (and big cats). Even researching which country to visit was daunting, but we decided to start with a well-known city and go from there. The best flight options pointed us to Cape Town, South Africa, so we built our trip around that. After way too many hours googling safari options, we settled on visiting Klaserie Private Nature Preserve in Hoedspruit, South Africa.

To get to the nature preserve, we had to fly another 2.5 hours-ish to Hoedspruit. We’ve been through some super tiny airports, and Hoedspruit ranked up there. The waiting area was outside in a garden, which was pretty nice! Fun fact about the airport: it’s an air force base and was earmarked for NASA shuttle landing in the 1980’s. There’s not much around the airport other than the nature preserve. And by not much, I mean we saw a roadside outdoor “restaurant”. This area, Limpopo Province, is somewhat near the borders of Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

WHERE TO STAY:

We opted to stay at Baobab Ridge, which is in the reserve, after extensively researching options. The lodge has an electric fence, but bears a warning that it does NOT keep out leopards, and they suggest keeping small children inside at night….We did feel safe, even with that warning, and the wild animal noises at night. Every lodge appeared to have similar amenities and itineraries, but we were really pleased with our choice. While all lodges are pricey, most include meals and twice daily safaris. Each day went something like this:

6am: coffee/tea

6:30am-9:30am: game drive with a pit stop for coffee

10am: breakfast, then work out and lounge by the pool

2:30pm: lunch

3:30-6:30pm: game drive with a pit stop for a sundowner aka sunset cocktail

8pm: dinner at a communal table under the stars

We spent 5 days there, arriving on a Wednesday afternoon and departing mid-day on Sunday, meaning we went on 8 game drives. Honestly, it didn’t get boring. While the excitement of seeing a giraffe or elephant waned a little, the prospect of spotting a lion or cheetah kept it very exciting.

Baobab Ridge is small, with only 8 houses, so we got to know the other guests over meals and on the safaris. We met a family from Italy (Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet’s balcony), a British couple with extensive safari experience who helped us learn all about the animals, a French family and older couple, Honeymooners from Canada, and an American family.  Imagine all these people, not necessarily speaking or understanding the same language, finding common ground and enjoying communal dinners exchanging stories.  Throw into the mix our safari guides, who provided their own insight on their very different backgrounds growing up in the African bush, and knowing these wild animals like the back of their hand.

Something I hadn’t even thought about was the fact we were in the Southern hemisphere, meaning the constellations are different. There was no light pollution, so we were able to clearly see the Milky Way, the Southern Cross, Scorpio and some planets. One of the safari guides pointed everything out and explained a way to locate the South Pole based on the stars. Cool! Our lesson got interrupted when we spotted a herd of elephants visiting the water hole next to us!

THE ANIMALS:

When we arrived that Wednesday afternoon, we made it just in time for lunch and the evening game drive. We piled into two open air Land Rovers and set out on the dirt roads to find some animals! We were able to see a number of different things, and as our first drive wrapped up, we started to head back to the lodge satisfied with day one.  The guide stopped to see one last animal along the way, and the safari vehicle died…  Being in the pitch black with no way to get away from lions, Buffalo, elephants, and the the like was mildly terrifying, but we made it back in one piece.  The excitement!

The mane attraction, if you will, are The Big Five: lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and buffalo.  Our guide did his best to locate all 5, and we were lucky enough to see 4 of them (along with many, many more animals). All the local safari guides work together and communicate over radio about potential tracks, sightings, etc. Most of it is in their native language, Shangaan.

We were hot on the trail tracking lion paw prints over the last two days of our trip before we finally spotted a lioness and her cub (in the last 10 minutes on our last day!).  The guides explained that she is a lonely lioness, and not part of a pride.  Her chances of survival are slim as she has to do all the hunting herself for her and the cub.  We had to keep our distance so she didn’t feel threatened or forced to continue moving away into another pride’s territory.  I greatly appreciated that they prioritized animal wellbeing over everything.  One point to mention that surprised everyone: the guides do not carry weapons or tranquilizers. Respect the animals, and they will let you be.

Speaking of big cats, the lodge we stayed at had 2 resident cats.  Apparently the last one was taken away by a leopard 😳, so these two have a strict curfew once the sun goes down.

While we didn’t see any animals eating their kill, the guide told us about a lioness (likely the lonely one we saw) who sneakily sought out a cheetah’s kill.  The cheetah dragged an impala carcass into a tree, and the lioness actually climbed up to try and get it, but then got stuck!  Lions don’t normally climb trees, and I guess big cats and little cats both share the inability to climb down.  But, the lioness was trying to feed her cub and what better way than to get the already captured prey!

Our closet unnerving encounter was with a hyena.  They are a scary looking animal, and bigger than your average pet dog. The guide left us in the safari vehicle to track some lion prints, and a hyena we had seen earlier came out of nowhere and strolled right up next to us.  Thankfully, we had learned earlier that they are only scavengers of already dead prey, so that was slightly relieving?!

Poisonous snake bites came up.  Well, wasn’t on my radar, and I’d rather not know what lurks out there. The guides explained there’s no anti-venom for some bites, BUT the severity of a bite is strongly tied to the way you react.  Stay calm, you could be fine.  Panic, get your heart pumping and overly stressed, and it’s not looking good.  Sounds like an apt metaphor for life, right?  

We learned so much about the symbiotic relationship of the animals on this trip. Elephants eating trees, termites setting up camp next to the trees.  Birds eating ticks off hippos.  The connections go on and on. Humans also tie-in to maximizing their resources. For example, Magic guarri is an evergreen shrub found in the bush. It can be used as a toothbrush, fire extinguisher, and as medicine for a variety of ailments.

Another, less fun, topic is poaching.  Some of the rhinos in this nature preserve have their horns removed to prevent poaching.  Every day, the reserve has anti-poaching units out trying to catch these thieves, who then sell the horns for an exorbitant about of money.  There are canine forces at the preserve entrance to check for contraband, but the poachers go to great lengths to escape on foot. The dehorning comes with a whole separate set of ethical dilemmas, but I’ll leave it at that.

It was very exciting to see so many rhinos, especially all together. You know it’s special when the guide whips out his camera! There are white and black rhinos, but the names are deceiving. They are both the same color, but have different shaped mouths, diet, overall size and horn length.

We saw so many elephants!  They are destructive beasts.  They like to eat the bark off trees, then step on smaller trees to snap off branches to munch.  It looks like a bulldozer flattened some areas after the elephants had their snack. Elephants can live as long as humans. They have 6 sets of teeth over the course of their life. The leading cause of death for mature elephants is starvation/malnutrition once the last set of teeth is no longer functional.

Each evening, we stopped for a sunset drink. One favorite spot was by the hippo’s watering hole. The hippo is a solitary animal who spends his days in the water, only coming out to eat at night. African folklore says that when God was giving each animal a place in the world, a pair of hippos begged to live in the water. God was doubtful; their large mouths, strong teeth, and big appetites would deplete all the fish. The hippos pleaded with God, who finally gave in. But He made the hippos promise that if they lived in the rivers, they must never harm a single fish and must stick to eating grass. To this day, hippos always scatter their dung on the river bank, so God can see that it contains no fish bones.

Zebras aplenty! Each has a unique stripe pattern. In Cape Town, a cross walk was referred to as a zebra crossing. I like it!

Buffalo: We didn’t get too close, as they are one of the most dangerous animal in Africa.

Did you know a group of giraffes is called a tower? We saw a variety of giraffes with dark spots, light spots, some tall, and others even taller. Male giraffes have bald horns, while females have more fuzzy ones. Apparently a giraffe can kill a lion with one kick. They are not to be messed with!

There are so many more animals we saw, but just to name a couple more:

Impala is similar to a deer. They are referred to as the McDonald’s of the bush. They are plentiful, and their hind quarters have a dark brown stripe shaped like an M on it.

We saw a number of birds, including vultures, hornbills, red-billed wood hoopoe, and bustards. The bustards do this crazy mating dance where they tuck in their wings and go straight down, giving them a nickname of suicide bird. It was the strangest thing to watch.

We saw a few warthogs at the watering hole. They are surprisingly little, and even a kind of cute.

Steenbok are petite deer-like animals with such innocent little eyes!

On the way to the airport, we spotted a black-backed jackal, which looked similar to a fox.

Kudu are a type of antelope with really cool stripes and curly horns. They also are great at posing for the camera.

Gnu are also known as wildebeests, another type of antelope.

I don’t recall what this is, but it is pretty cute.

We saw a few baboons from afar during the safaris, but the best spotting was on our way to the airport. Check out that piggy-back ride.

TIPS:

We went during winter, and the temperature was perfect. I can’t imagine doing this in the heat of summer. Also, the cooler temps meant there were no mosquitos to speak of, but we still took malaria pills as a preventative. The dreams I had from the pills were out of this world bizarre, but better than malaria!

If you do go in the winter, layer up. It gets chilly at night, and the safari vehicle is open air. A hat is ideal to keep the sun out of your eyes, too.

Most safari groups we saw were in the same Land Rovers, with 3 rows of seats in stadium-like tiers. The back row has the best view, but is the bumpiest (and there are low hanging branches and spiky plants). It may be harder to snap pictures while moving, but you’ve got a much better vantage point. One day, I sat up front with the guide. It wasn’t the best view down low, but I was able to ask all the questions I wanted, and listen in on the radio conversations about animal spottings.

Unexpected but excellent news- you can drink the water! Hooray! A trip without food poisoning!

A camera is a key element for a safari. iPhone is great for close-up, but if you want a non-fuzzy zoomed in photo, bring the real deal. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip worth the investment (or rent a camera/upgraded lens).

I’m so glad we decided not to do Kruger National Park after learning more about it from our guides. At the private nature reserve, we were able to go off-road to see animals in their habitat, while also respecting their space. We heard a hippo-eating-human story at Kruger due to the guides and guests NOT respecting the animal’s home and that’s not cool. We were also told how crowded Kruger is. At The Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, the animals were given space and the reserve was not over-crowded at all. We occasionally encountered another safari vehicles, but rarely. Nature was uninterrupted and we saw virtually zero pollution/litter anywhere.

TRIP TAKEAWAYS:

Three big take aways:

• Value of human connection (without digital distraction)
  When was the last time you disconnected?  Truly disconnected, with no email, phone calls, internet surfing, etc?  One of the most surprising takeaways from visiting a remote area was how liberating it felt to build connections with no digital interference.  You actually speak to the strangers you’re dining with, there’s no blue screen for mindless scrolling past your bedtime, and no interruptions.  Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to be so off the grid (read: work), but I think I’ll make a more concerted effort to do that going forward.
• Wild animals in their natural environment: incredibly powerful creatures that are not to be messed with As I mentioned, the guides were incredibly careful to not disrupt animals for our mere viewing pleasure. I felt good about our experience seeing animals in their natural habitat. We humans are small in the grand scheme of things.
• Better understanding other cultures and ways of life . We had a chance to meet people from around the globe with different backgrounds. It’s not often you can share a meal with someone who grew up in the African bush, and ask them about that experience.

Check out my recap of Cape Town here and stay tuned for day trips from Cape Town!