Just jump. Oh, and hang on.: This is Africa

May 24, 2013

It's what you picture when you think "Africa". It doesn't matter where in Africa, but mention the continent and everyone automatically conjures up images of giraffes, lions, and elephants all mingling with straw-coloured grasslands and perfectly-shaped acacia trees. That is Africa. And while I have attempted, and will continue, to show off other sides of the southern tip of this amazing continent, what would time in Africa be without a safari?

While Kruger may be the household name for safaris in South Africa, there are literally hundreds of National Parks/ Game Reserves in this country. For our first SA safari experience we thought we'd try somewhere a little closer to home, so we opted for Madikwe- closer to Joburg than Kruger, and known for having great game viewing opportunities.

Despite the lack of hot water or electricity, we had a phenomenal experience at Mosetlha Bush Camp; it really was the best of both worlds- being in the bush but also having our meals prepared for us and having access to a hot shower (even if it meant extracting the hot water from a donkey boiler and using a bucket shower...).

Here are some of my favourite shots from the weekend:

Once we entered the park gates we had the opportunity to do a bit of a self-guided drive en-route to meet our guide, and we spotted these guys hanging out in the sunshine and decided to stop and visit with them for a bit.

The animals of Madikwe: a collection of some of the creatures that call Madikwe home.

While cheetahs are mostly solitary creatures, they can sometimes form coalitions; we spotted this group of four cheetahs hanging out in the shade together and making their mark on a nearby tree.

Madikwe is known for having a very healthy lion population; we saw 16 lions on our two-day safari.

These two mothers were on the move with their six 11-week old cubs; the cubs were very curious about us and the mothers had to keep redirecting them as they strayed from the pack.

Two mother lions with their four "teenagers"; we saw this pride early in the morning, and later on we saw them again post-kill...see below.

We watched these guys feast on their kill for almost an hour; while not easy on the stomach, it was surreal to watch them in the element of such a natural (if gruesome) experience.

One of the benefits of going on safari in the winter is that since the water is more scarce in the park the animals tend to congregate around the watering holes making for awesome sighting experiences.