Edit: More Londolozi pictures are on smugmug
We left Joburg in the morning by Federal Air. Since we were flying on a little 12 seat plane, I’d not really been expecting much. But after leaving the bus terminal at the main airport, we arrived at probably the best airport waiting area I’ve ever been in. It was safari themed, of course, but it was very comfortable, and a nice place to be. The flight was about an hour, with one stop and one… disconcerting, descent.
On arrival we had a briefing about how things go at Londolozi, the daily schedule, don’t leave your room at night without an escort, etc. They keep you busy at Londolozi, which is why I haven’t been updating this as much, and why we haven’t been contacting anyone really. Every morning we get up at 5AM, ready by 5:30 for a quick coffee, then off on the morning game drive. This lasts about 4 hours, then it’s breakfast time. After that, there are optional activities, and lunch, another game drive at 15:30, then dinner. So far we’ve been lucky to make it through dinner without falling asleep.
After our briefing and lunch, we had just enough time to get a hint of the local wildlife that shows up right in camp. There were warthogs, nyalas, and monkeys hanging out on the front lawn. Actually the Nyalas are pretty much everywhere, and they barely notice people.
Then we were off on our first game drive with our ranger Talley and tracker Freddy. The drive’s mission was to find a cheetah that had been spotted nearby. On the way though, we came across some zebras saw and elephant herd off in the distance, and an elephant right on the trail.
But the star of the day was the cheetah.
He had been lying near some brush apparently after quite a large meal, because his stomach was distended. Cheetahs will eat this much sometimes if they have the opportunity.
After spending a while watching him, we came across an ostrich, the only one in the area apparently, and a very large herd of water buffalo wandering across the terrain. We finished up the night with a surprise dinner out in the bush. They had setup a beautiful dining area for all of Londolozi out among some trees hung with candles. It was quite a sight, and tasty as well.
I’ll probably hold off doing any more posts on Londolozi until after we leave, between the schedule and overloaded internet out here, it’s quite challenging to get the pictures uploaded.