As our children grow and go about their own lives, any time spent as a family is very precious and we were so lucky to have a 'gap' where just the four of us could get out of town together and enjoy each others' company. Our favorite place has always been the Bush so we woke up very early one morning for the long road trip to the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. Even though it is December and not peak game viewing season, the drought has been unkind to our landscape and animals were never far from a water source. After dropping our bags in our rooms and venturing out for tea and cake before our first game drive, we saw a lovely herd of elephant enjoying the lodge's watering hole.
And the resident bushbuck was never far from the perimeter of the (unfenced) camp.
And of course the WaterBuck are never far away
On the second morning as we were having our 5.30 am coffee before the morning game drive, this hippo made it's way across the open plain towards the water. Unfortunately he underestimated the depth and spent the whole day (about 40 degrees C) rolling from side to side trying to keep as much skin as possible under the water. Needless to say, that evening he moved on.
The area had had a little very late rain in the preceding weeks, and there were plenty of youngsters around. This leopard had two 3 month old cubs who were very shy and there was a bit of drama when she lunged for one of the trackers perched on the front seat of a game viewing vehicle, but it was all bravado and she was just very nervous for her youngsters.
Plenty of Wildebeest young too.
Not a great shot on a cloudy day, but the baby vervet monkey was very cute.
The lion sightings were, as is often the case, uneventful as they were doing what lions do best. There was some activity when they could sense that there were others in the area, but even the night air was hot and they didn't move around very much.
There was some activity at almost every body of water.
This hyena was having a lovely soak in the heat of the day. One can only imagine what the water tasted and smelt like after she had moved on.
A family of three rhinos were having a great time wallowing in the mud and using some large fallen branches as scratching posts for every part of their bodies, providing much amusement for the onlookers in the vehicle!
This female leopard had made a kill earlier in the day and other vehicles had seen her calling for her cub, but to no avail. Leopards leave their young for sometimes days at a time to look for food and sometimes the cub wanders off, or worse succumbs to hyenas or lions. We caught up with her when the hunger just go too much and she carried off the baby warthog to a shady area and ate half of it before carrying the remains back to the area where she had left her cub and made more attempts to find him. Unfortunately it was getting late so we all had to leave her and there was no news the next day as to whether she had found him or not.
Reluctantly we left the Game Reserve and stayed over in Dullstroom on our way back which is a lovely way to break the journey. Peaceful and serene, we took a (short) walk (even Dulllstroom was hot!) and spent a lovely afternoon drinking wine under the shade of the trees on the patio of the hotel.
Another road trip in January - can't wait. More photos to follow when I get back.
