May 31 – Durban, South Africa – Thanda Safari Private Game Reserve

Weather – 24º high, 14º low

Steps – ??? watch is going bonkers with the safari truck going very slowly - looks like I have a lot, but in reality...not many

what we're hoping to see!

Humidity – little

The day started with an uneventful 4-hour drive to the Thanda Safari Lodge.

Not far off the highway, we were met by Taisa, our driver/ guide and Derek, our tracker and transferred to 4x4s on the Thanda Private Game Reserve property. We weren’t 5 minutes down the road to the lodge, before we encountered an ELEPHANT! That was the start of a fantastic afternoon and evening.

impala or inyala

Once at the lodge, a welcoming committee greeted us with cool scented cloths, and a strawberry/cranberry juice – very refreshing. We then went straight to lunch. My instinct is usually to go to the room first, freshen up and then get a drink or food, but everyone else wanted to eat straight away – that was the right decision. Once we were fed and watered, we were free for about the next hour before our afternoon/evening game drive.

giraffe

I need to back up to talk about the lunch. The 8 of us were seated at a group table, served wine and then the chef arrived. She described the 3 menu options – there was no written menu. Chris and I both had chicken curry, there was also a pasta option and a steak option. Cheesecake was for dessert. It was terrific – better than Regent IMO.

There are 9 rooms in total, our group is using 4, and there is a family of 3 in one other – that’s it, this place is peaceful and quiet only the sounds of the African bush to be heard.

Cape buffalo

It was then on to the rooms – WOW. I had researched online, so we knew sort of what to expect. The photos and videos I saw were exactly as advertised. Our private outdoor area is enormous with a plunge pool and fireplace. The decor is decidedly African.

African elephant

The indoor space is also huge. There is a living area, a double-sided fireplace, a bedroom with a enormous, netted bed (very charming), and an equally gigantic bathroom area – with both an indoor and outdoor shower of course. All of this overlooking the African bush.

I had every intention of taking an outdoor shower – I had my towel, and robe out there…then the monkeys came to our outdoor space. I put off the shower to watch them. We

the one and only warthog sighting

were on the other side of the screen door from them, but they were definitely watching us, watch them. I returned to the outdoor shower but saw a monkey in the tree right above the shower. I got scared off. I wasn’t worried about them watching me, I was worried about them joining me.

zebra

At about 3pm, the 8 of us (well bug sprayed mostly for bush ticks) convened at the lodge for our afternoon/ evening game drive. Late afternoon is a prime time to see wildlife, it’s

cooler and the animals are more active. It was a very busy 3 hours – we saw so, so much! Elephants, Cape Buffalo, giraffes, lions, warthogs, the backside of a rhinoceros, numerous birds, impalas, inyalas (type of antelope), zebra, and I’m likely missing some. It was mind blowing! On the first drive we saw 4 of the big five – tomorrow we need to find a leopard.

Cape bufalo

We drove along Thanda’s bumpy, bush lined, dirt, roads - Tasia at the wheel and me riding shotgun (I never want to pounce on what

seem to be primo spots (remember me riding on the back of the dog sled in Alaska???), but no one wanted it, and in the end it’s not exactly promo – Derek the tracker blocks some of the view and that seat is the lowest. All along the way, Tasia gave expert descriptions of what we were seeing and communicated with Derek sitting in his tracker seat looking for signs of wildlife. Tasia was also on the walkie-talkie with the other guides and staff, all looking for the best sightings.

African elephants

We thought we were pretty lucky to come across a herd of Cape Buffalo, then some zebra, then some wildebeest. We had no idea what luck we were about to have.

Taisa heard on the walkie-talkie that there was a herd of about 25 agitated elephants (Thanda has about 55 in total.) They were worked up by a pair of mating lions close by – I can’t believe I said that…MATING LIONS…

very close to the vehicle

CLOSE BY!!!!!

BIG

We just kind of hung out with the elephants for about 20 minutes. There was a 6-week-old baby that the herd was protecting. It was fascinating to watch them basically circle around the baby that was under its mother. At a few points we heard some of the elephants trumpeting their displeasure. Some of them also made grunting sounds. We were

sunset and elephants

incredibly close to them, in fact, one elephant came up to our vehicle and tried touching it. We were close enough to see directly up its trunk. Taisa and Derek both gently and then a bit more firmly, but still quietly said ‘No’ – then the elephant backed off…fascinating - they train the elephants this way to not touch the truck. Our luck continued – the sun was setting just beyond the elephants which made for some good shots.

lion ready to mate

We backed up, partly to see the lions, but also partly because our road was blocked by the HERD OF ELEPHANTS!

My pulse still racing from having just looked into the trunk of a 4x4 sniffing elephant, I had to focus on LIONS! The pair of mating lions that was pissing the elephants off was hunkered down in the tall African grass. We didn’t stay long as they were mostly hidden by the grass, but I got some fairly good shots.

still looking around

Thanda is huge – 15,000 hectares. I really have no frame of reference, but from driving around it is BIG.

Derek the tracker in the dark

Just as the sun was about to disappear, Tasia found a clearing at the edge of a cliff for ‘sundowners’. In less than 5 minutes, Tasia and Derek had a small bar set up on the front of the jeep. Most of us had gin and tonics. I’m not usually a gin and tonic fan, but here it seemed like the appropriate cocktail – it was. There were also snacks, including an

especially tasty biltong – a South African jerky that can be made from a range of meats, including beef or ostrich.

On the way back to the lodge, we were looking for more nocturnal animals like porcupines and leopards. We didn’t see any but caught the rear end of a rhino.

surprised us!

Lastly, we saw our first giraffes. We turned a corner and there they were, just on the side of the road.

beautiful room

At this point it was dark and clear…the prefect recipe for star gazing. Taisa, never ceasing with her explanations, took out the most amazing laser pointer that seemed to reach all the way to the constellations she was describing…the Southern Cross,

Sagittarius, Canis Major, The Milky Way, and the occasional satellite were some of the highlights.

outdoor shower

By now it was about 7:30 and we were back at the lodge for dinner. We stared with a glass of wine and snacks.

Then dinner – I had SPRINGBOK!!! It was delicious, lean and tender – they compared it to venison.

Didn't feel like showering with him

We were back at the room by about 9, sleeping by 10:30 for our 5:30 WAKEUP call.

BTW…although this is not a malaria zone, we are taking malaria pills. We went to our docs who took a safe than sorry approach. Especially because we haven’t had any adverse reactions to malaria pills in the past thought we’d take them.

soooo many!