Camp Sandibe Day Two - PM

Food, food and more food. After a rest period we had high tea at 3:30 which include some great biscuits and some lemon curd sauce. Then we were off on our evening drive looking for a pride of lions that had brought down a giraffe earlier in the day.




It was a fairly long drive to get there, 1.5 to 2 hours depending on what we saw and stopped for There were more impalas and a few giraffes which are magnificant.












We did find the lion pride but they were no longer eating. One male lion was drinking water and 1 was walking away from the water into the bush. When the first lion headed into the bush we decided to follow a distance behind. As we drove down the path we found him lying in the roadway, such as it was. We took some pictures and watched for a few minutes.









When we started the engine again and as we moved toward the lion he moved out of our way. As we round the bush path there were 3 females and 2 cubs in front of us and the other male a few feet further on. There were 3 other trucks around the lions and there did not seem to be any problems at all. It was very entertaining.
















Then it was too dark to gake pictures so we headed home for the long drive. Back to the heated bed and sleep and early morning drive.

// Thanks Paul. // Ed.

Camp Sandibe Day Two - AM

Our first full day of safari and we are ready. In spite of being outdoors in winter we were all cozy in our beds and down comforters, helped by the hot water bottles placed in them before we returned from dinner. Early in the morning we heard loud noises outside our cabin and think the hippo was playing in the river in front.














We were woken by Gee, our driver and guide, playing the drums softly at 6 am. He returned for us at 6:30 and we completed a great breakfast by 7 and were on our way. It is certainly not warm in the morning and we had on all our heavy clothes plus they put a blanket and hot water bottle in the truck for each of us. What luxury! First we had to sort out where our 2 main photographers were going to sit, Geno and Paul, next was Lisa who was also taking pictures and I agreed to write down all the animals we saw.

First thing we did was return to the leopard. She was still there and so was the hyena, waiting patiently for his share to fall out of the tree.











Our first sighting was a saddle billed stork but shortly after came the elephants. They are such magnificent creatures but don’t make them mad or get in their way. Sometime during the morning drive we had a female elephant look like it was going to charge us but she did not complete the threat. We were ready to leave if she had come any closer.














We then returned to the leopard again. She was now eating again. She was still eating. The hyena got some, including all the hoofs. The leopard then finished the meal, and climbed down the tree to groom - in front of us, mere 10 paces away.











We also saw wart hogs, cape buffalo, plains Zebra which have brown on the mature adults, cranes, lots of impalas and baboons, Tsessebe antelopes, wildebeests, huge hippos with the occasional egret riding on their backs and several kinds of birds. It was a great morning!































We returned to camp for brunch, a shower and short nap and then were off for the evening drive.

// Thanks Nancy. // Ed.