Today we had a bit of a slow start. We started by searching for a leopard that had been spotted by the camp’s fence line. After a fruitless few minutes we moved on to try to find a leopard female and her cubs. While looking we came across a hyena which wanted nothing to do with us, a herd of chill elephants, and a journey of giraffe here and there (it’s only a journey while they’re walking, if still they are a tower of giraffe.) Like a couple hours before, it was just not a leopard day.
After returning, it was time for our obligatory covid test to return home. It was surprisingly easy, they came to our cabin, did a quick throat swab and emailed the results the next morning(negative). Very smooth! Matty and I then went for a hike to see all the camps. It’s really interesting how with design they were really able to give each camp it’s own feel. We came across at the end a group of Nyala female and a trip of vervet monkeys. They were fearless! We wandering into the groups and sat down, watching and enjoying their company until the flies drove us off. Then we returned for a tasty lunch and our Land Rover mates requested cocktails and I yet again got to pop into the bar.
Then back on the afternoon game drive, this time on the hunt for Lion cubs, and yes, you know where this is going… No luck finding the cubs, the lioness had stashed them somewhere well hidden in a dry creek bed. We looked and looked but no luck. We did however see quite a few leopard orchid, the logo for Londolozi. Finally we at least found the mother and she was doing what Lions do best, napping. Haha. We watched her for a bit hoping she’d lead us back to her kitten cubs but no luck. Then off to see a large male lion. He had a huge mane, giant powerful body, and you guessed it, he was napping. Sigh. The Sand Man had it in for us today! After that we were off to surprise location and along the way, I asked Tsepo our tracker if he could spot a chameleon for me. You can usually only find them at night because when they sleep the turn white and show up in the spot light. And by some miracle he actually found a little lizard, about the size of lemon. After numerous photo attempts I gave up, you’ll have to wait for one of Matt’s.
Finally we arrived at our surprise dinner in the bush, lamps and candles surrounding the clearing, hanging from trees, creating this beautiful honey light. We hung out by the fire for a bit, bonding as a Land Rover group and also spending some time hanging out with our friends from earlier. It was so lovely, a fire, champagne, and sparkling company.
We then went to our tables and were served a beautiful appetizer of pumpkin soup. Then over to BBQs they had set up and were serving Brai(S.African Bbq), chicken curry, and some fab sides. Our table got a little rowdier than the others, the swedish ladies Kat and Millie telling great stories and jokes. Barry telling us about his previous life in Luxembourg, and all of us teasing each other. There were a few epic attempts at high fives that went awry. Apparently that is an American thing, who knew? We had a ball, loud and laughing the whole time. We were the last to leave and had a quick but very cold drive back to camp. The next day we learned all the rangers had told Barry they were jealous that they weren’t at our table.
5/12/21