February 27

February 27

We woke up this morning to a beautiful South African sunrise in the bush.  At breakfast we were chatting with the couple from Belgium.  We had asked Claude (the owner of the lodge) if he could take us to see Jessica, a tame hippo near Hoedspruit, today or tomorrow.  He told us that Friday would be better as he had a number of people checking in and had to stay at the lodge.  Jessica is a hippo that we read about on the internet.  We had also seen her in a reality show on TV.  She is a tame hippo that you can pat and feed and Julie really wanted to see her.  Claude explained that you could visit her in the morning until 12:00 p.m., then again from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  The Belgian couple said that they would also like to see Jessica and since they had a car we could join them and we could all go whenever we wanted to.  We decided to go today, but Julie and I had to be back by 4:00 p.m. as we had booked an evening game drive.  Claude gave us a map and instructions how to get there and we left.  On our way out of Pezulu we ran into three giraffes blocking the road and about a million crazy Impalas leaping and running across the road.  Quite a site as we drove under the giraffes to continue to the main gate of the reserve.  

After missing the turn, driving several kilometers in the wrong direction on a very rough dirt road we turned around and drove until we found Hoedspruit.  We then drove around looking for the road to Jessica and had to stop and ask a police officer on the side of the road.  We eventually made it to Jessica’s farm . . . at 11:55 p.m. and they were closed!!  Despite our best begging techniques we couldn’t get in to see her.  We continued back along the dirt track to the lodge wondering how and when we were going to see Jessica . . . At 4:00 p.m. we met our Game Guide, Olaf, and his tracker to go to the neighbouring Thornybush Game Reserve to search for the Big 5.  The Big 5 includes elephants, rhinos, leaopards, buffalos and lions.  On our previous game drives we had seen four of the five, never seeing the elusive leopards.  Very few people, including locals and Game Guides have ever seen leopards because it seems that you have to be in the right place at the right time . . . we were!  We saw two leopards and they had just killed an Impala.

We also saw three lions, two females and a male (all from the same litter) who had also just had just killed a blue gnu. We also saw plenty of buffalo and lots of different antelope however we  didn’t see any elephants and the rhinos had made themselves very scarce but the fact that we were able to see the big cats in such close proximity, especially the leopards, dashed any feelings of disappointment.  In fact, to add to our exceptional drive, after dropping off the rest of the passengers, Olaf and his tracker had to drive Julie and I back to Pezulu in the Geurnsey Private Game Reserve.  Suddenly the tracker pointed to a small animal who was perched on top of a speed limit post.  Olaf stopped and allowed the tracker to shine his spot light on the critter and the excitement increased.  It seemed the little guy was a Spotted Genet.  They are a small nocturnal cat-like animal and it is very rare to see one!  All in all it was a great game drive!!


We arrived back at the lodge in time for a nice dinner in the open boma.  We had traditional African dishes including Impala chops.  During the day they managed to fix one side of the large 
sliding door on our tree house so we were able to roll the bed out onto the balcony and sleep under the African sky. The waterhole outside of our balcony is full of life at night as all the animals come in to sleep.  In the moonlight we could make out the shapes of the giraffes munching on the high tree branches, the zebras grazing and many, MANY Impalas resting in the grass. We fell asleep to the lion roaring in the background, the occasional zebra calling out in the darkness and the clacking sounds of the Impalas horns as they competed for the best sleeping spot.  What a way to spend a night, it makes you wish you could stay awake all night and take it all in . . . . 

February 26

February 26

We travelled to George and caught our flight to Hoedspruit, with an hour and a half layover in Johannesburg.  The flight out of George was good with a clear view over the mountains.  We had a pleasant trip and arrived in Johannesburg about five minutes early.  We quickly found an electronic store and replaced the video camera that we had stolen in Sedgefield and then carried on to our gate for the flight to Hoedspruit.  The second leg of our trip was in a much smaller, two propellor plane.  Again,the weather was clear and as we flew over several game reserves you could clearly make out various animals.  Several zebras were galloping down an open road as we descended into Eastgate Airport creating quite a surreal feeling as we were landing.  It appeared as though we landed miles away from the airport and were taxi-ing across Africa before we finally reached the tiny little terminal and were offloaded to walk across the tarmack.  We were greeted by Ronnie from Pezulu and he drove us the 40 minutes from Eastgate to the lodge, mostly on dirt roads (more closely resembling a 4x4 track!).  The Pezulu Tree House Lodge is situated on the Guernsey Private Game Reserve and the dirt track into the tree houses closely resembles a roller-coaster ride that threatens to take out the bottom of your car at every bump!.  The lodge is nestled away discretely in the bush.  We were staying in the Dream House and we gathered the key and headed down the road to our home for the next four days. 

We settled in to our new surroundings and relaxed on the balcony of our tree house.  The balcony overlooks the water hole and an open pasture area.  We had a large female ostrich hanging out at the water hole that was quite content just grazing there.  We watched her for a little while and were entertained by a family of baboons playing (and likely destroying) the tree house beside us.  We waited until three o’clock at which time we wandered over to the main lodge for “high tea”.  There were only five guests at the lodge when we arrived, one from London, two from Belgium and Julie and I.  A nice small group and we all introduced ourselves and chatted.  During dinner we heard a funny sort of howling that sounded a bit like an owl.  It was a hyena!  

One of the appealing features of the Dream House was that you could open the big doors and roll the bed out onto the balcony and sleep under the stars and listen to the night sounds of Africa.  Julie and I tried to open the big doors but the frame on one of the panels came apart, releasing the glass inside it (thankfully it didn’t come apart completely and the glass stayed in it).  We struggled to get it closed again, spent the night indoors and reported it in the morning.  We spent the evening sitting on the balcony and could actually hear the lions roaring in the neighboring Thornybush Reserve as we watched the moon come up, an awesome experience!!  Between the hyena howling and the lion roaring, Julie thought perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing that we couldn’t get the bed outside!

February 23 - 24

February 23 - 24

Outeniqua Pass looking towards George

Outeniqua Mountains

Yesterday we had a wonderful trip to George, up, over and through the Outeniqua Mountains and on to Oudtshoorn.  The scenery through the mountains was stunning, again hard to believe it is the same Africa commonly portrayed in articles in National Geographic or the Discovery Channel.  We began in George with it's beautiful coastaline and then headed north into the mountains.  The mountain valleys are extremely fertile and boast many hops farms and vineyards.  There are cattle farms, sheep farms and goat farms and you begin to see the presence of ostrich farms.  As you drop down the northern side the terrain becomes semi-dessert and ostriches are plenty!

Our first stop was at the Cango Wildlife Ranch. This is a breeding facility for many endangered species and is home to more than 47 species of animals and reptiles.  It is best known for its Cheetah conservation program and have successfully raised over 250 Cheetah cubs.  The purpose of the ranch, to quote their mission statement is "to promote and fund the conservation of the Cheetah and other endangered species through captive breeding, behavioural research and public awareness".  It's a very well kept and pleasant facility with lots of big cats (some not indigenous to Africa such as Bengal, Siberian and Snow Tigers), Lemurs, Crocodiles and even a couple of Pygmy Hippos.  The tour was well organized and informative.

Julie and I had an opportunity to pat one of the Cheetahs.  Unfortunately it was the middle of the day, was quite hot and the Cheetah was not very interactive. . . . Julie did manage to get a small purr out of him when she first patted him, but after that I don't believe he was waking up again for anything!  A little disappointing, but quite an experience none-the-less.  As you can see by the pictures, none of the cats were very active.

We left the Wildlife Ranch in search of an ostrich farm.  We weren't looking for any farm in particular, just a show farm where we could perhaps ride an ostrich.  We figured after shark diving and elephant riding since we were now in ostrich country, why not ride an ostrich?!  The Oudtshoorn Ostrich Show Farm delivered.  We had a feast of ostrich meat before the tour of the facility.  Ostrich meat is one of the best meats you can eat.  It is a red meat and is very low in fat and cholesterol (which is completely opposite of the eggs) and has a beefy look, feel and taste to it.  After lunch we went on a very informative tour of the facility.  The farm is strictly a show farm and does not raise any birds for slaughter.  As ostrich farming is one of the main industries in this part of the country there are many show farms open to tourists who can go in and learn about the birds and the industry.  Some of these are operated in conjuction with a commercial ostrich ranch while some, like the show farm we visited, are for tourism.  The commercial farms resemble our cattle farms back home.  We were introduced to a couple of the birds, shown the incubators where the eggs are hatched and Michael was able to stand on the eggs.  One ostrich egg is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs.  Apparently the best way to eat them is scrambled or in an omelette as they are very rich and high in cholesterol.  The female ostrich will lay one egg every two days and will lay up to twelve eggs before she will sit and incubate them (she has to have a full nest).  The ranchers remove the eggs from the females and incubate them artificially as this causes the ostriches to continue to lay.  The incubation period is 42 days.  The birds hatch and are raised and by 18 months they are slaughtered if they are meat birds.

Finally, the highlight of the day came when we were able to take a spin on a bird.  I had heard of ostrich racing before but never would have imagined that we would ever be the ones riding them . . . but it has now become a reality, we have ridden ostriches!  One more thing the check off the bucket list!  Julie finished the day off with a nice ostrich neck massage before we jumped back in the car and headed back to Sedgefield . . .  Tomorrow is a "do nothing" day while we pack our bags and get ready to say "goodbye" to Sedgefield and "hello" to the Pezulu Treetop Lodge near Hoedspruit.  Let the next leg of this African Adventure begin!!

February 18 - 22

February 18 - 22

Last Monday we drove from Sedgefield up into the Eastern Cape.  We stopped briefly in Nature's Valley, a small picnic / beach area in the Tsitsikamma National Park.  It is beautiful there, another area where a river meets the Indian Ocean and you find the contrast between the calm lagoon-like peacefulness of the river and the wild, untamed nature of the ocean.  From there we carried on through Port Elizabeth (quite frankly an ugly, industrial town which is a little bit scary) up to Addo Elephant National Park.  Addo is 180,000 hectares and is home to a multitude of wildlife species and birdlife including approximately 700 Elephants, Lions, Black Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Leopard, Spotted Hyena, many antelope species and the unique Addo Flightless Dung Beetle.  We checked into a very nice little Bed and Breakfast called the "Lenmore" and we housed in quaint little log chalets with a view of the Mountains in Addo and our own private lagoon in front.  They were very comfortable and cozy, with certain character.  We were kept company during our visit by Lily and Suzie, the resident Daschunds, as well as a number of geese, ducks, chickens and rabbits!

Monday evening we booked ourselves into the Addo Sundowner game drive, a two hour safari in an open Landrover through a small area of the park.  We were able to see many of the different animals in the park, including a Spotted Hyena who just happened to drop in during our evening "tea" break.  We then returned to the bed and breakfast and retired for the night.

 

We tried to book the Addo / Schotia all day game drive for Tuesday however they were booked solid so we ended up booking it for Wednesday.  That left Tuesday to be spent lounging around at Lenmore, which was fine as it is so peaceful there.  The morning was beautiful and we spent it sitting on the veranda of the chalet watching the various critters.  We wandered over to the Addo Wildlife Sanctuary and Rescue which is a very tiny privately owned and operated rescue for many types of African wildlife including birds and reptiles.  We were able to view and interact with many animals including a stinky little Meerkat (although very cute) and a Caracal, a type of African wildcat.  Athough small, pound for pound, the Caracal is Africa's strongest wildcat.  Tuesday afternoon and through the evening the weather took a turn for the worst and it rained throughout the night.  The safaris in Addo were canceled due to the weather so it was fortunate that we booked for Wednesday.

Wednesday morning the skies had cleared although it was still chilly and windy.  Our guide, Malcolm, picked us up at the B&B to start our day full of safari-ing.  Malcolm has been guiding for many years for the Schotia Private Game Reserve and he is perhaps the most knowledgable ranger there.  He has been watching the animals for so long that he knows all of their patterns and behavious, and he is familiar with many of them individually, being able to read their various moods and almost reading their thoughts.  Ironically, Malcolm is the same ranger that Joan and Michael went on a drive with four yearsago and they remembered him!  We began our morning in search of elephants in Addo.  Malcolm had warned us that the elephants would be very difficult to find due to the weather as they would be trying to stay in the bush and out of the wind.  He was right.  After driving many kilometres through the park, at the end of the morning we had seen two elephants, a lot of wart hogs and a couple of dung beetles.  How do you hide 700 elephants in an elephant park, throw in a little cloud and wind and some thick brush and they will disappear!

After a quick lunch stop we traveled on to the Schotia Game Reserve, still being guided by Malcolm.  Schotia is the oldest private game viewing reserve in the Eastern Cape bordering the eastern side of Addo.  They have over 40 mammal species and approximately 2000 animals.  It was the first reserve in the Cape Province to have free roaming lions and guarantees lion sightings.  We were in an open Landrover and were able to sit on the front "scouting seat" on the hood to scout for game.  

The afternoon was chalked full of animal viewing including the resident pride of lions!  There are nine lions in Schotia, the group consisting of one adult male, two lionesses and six youngsters, all about 18 months old.  In the morning the lions had killed a zebra and had been feasting on it for the better part of the day.  They devoured it and when we found them they were busy digesting their meal in proper lion fashion, asleep!

Schotia has the largest open air lapa (African outdoor eatery) where we stopped to have a traditional African meal, after which we continued through the park with spot lights to catch any nocturnal life on our way back to the main check-in area and back to our transportation back to our B&B.  We then jumped in our car and drove the 3 1/2 hours back to Sedgefield.

Thursday and Friday were spent lazing about, catching up from the events of the previous days . . . .