Our last stop on this trip is Amaya Lodge in the Timbivati region of the Kruger National Park. Unfortunately the weather has turned bad, but we’ve still managed a couple of game drives. The lodges in South Africa are far more regulated than Botswana or Namibia. This means they limit any viewing to two vehicles with a standby system for additional people. The places that can be accessed are determined by access agreements because many properties are privately owned. There is a good variety of wildlife including birds, lions, rhinos, elephants and buffalo to name a few. Our first game drive started a little quietly, but soon the sightings piled up and our tracker even saw a chameleon.
We were then treated to a lion family with seven young cubs. We stayed with them for about twenty minutes before letting the next vehicle in for their viewing. It was fun to watch them trying to copy the adult lions and otherwise discover the world around them.
With the weather threatening we had a morning game drive the following day before the rain closed in for the day. We came across a couple of separate groups of the painted wolves. One group was huddled from the cold wind and the other were finishing off a meal.
We are still hoping for one more game drive and if the rain stops I’ll likely post some photos on the socials, but this seems like a good time to wrap up this blog as we make the long journey home tomorrow.
We have both learnt a lot about southern Africa, both the geo-political and conservation challenges. Learning about all the animals and places through the highly skilled guides over the whole trip has been a real pleasure.
This is a trip that has been on our radar for quite a while and we received such a great plan and some great advice from Lucy Beveridge and Annalise Scholtz from Go2Africa. I highly recommend them to design your itinerary should you consider a similar trip.
My highlights were:
- Exploring Capetown.
- Photographing all the animals, but in particular spending time with the leopards and lions in Botswana.
- Namibian scenery was spectacular.
- People in Africa were so friendly and accomodating.
Deb’s highlights
- Welcoming nature of people
- Learing about animals in their natural environment
- Quality and variety of food
- Location and quality of accomodation
Thank you for following along and please get in touch if you have any questions.
Until our next trip!
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