Game Parks - Singita

Up at 'O Dark:30' this morning to catch a flight to Jo-Burg and from there on a private charter (1 hr) to Kruger Nat'l Park. The oldest and most famous park in South Africa, it borders Zimbabwe on the north and Mozambique on the east


Landing on the small Singita airstrip, we were met by our rangers, Mark and Shelly, and driven in 2 open top safari Rovers a short distance to the Singita Ebony Lodge, our home for the next 2 nights.. This luxurious but rustic lodge, rated one of the top in South Africa, far exceded anything I had expected. We each have a huge suite consisting of a living room and bedroom with connecting fireplace between them. An old-fashioned bathtub in front of floor-to-ceiling glass looking out on the Sand River plus an indoor as well as outdoor shower and expansive deck extending the full width of the suite complete the picture. Almost forgot that each of the 12 suites has a private plunge pool! Check out the website. www.singita.com Click on Ebony Lodge.

Unfortunately, I immediately fell victim to theft. As we were eating lunch in the beautiful open air dining room, I heard a scream from someone at our table. I never even saw the thief, but my hot roll was suddenly missing. An intrepid verterd monkey was the criminal!

Following tea at 3pm(1 hr after lunch!), we boarded one of 2 safari vans and took off on our first drive. The weather was sunny and low 70's - perfect! First sighting was another family of baboons, followed by a huge herd of female impalas guarded by one very competent male. As soon as a mischievious girl left the group, he promptly herded her back.

Since Singita is a private reserve as opposed to the public Kruger Nat'l Park, we do not have to use covered vehicles and can go off road as well as stay out after dark -- not allowed in the public parks. Our tracker, who has a chair perched on the front bumper, soon directed us through an open field and we began seeing groups of elephants(probably 30 in all). The youngsters were adorable! This photo was of one of the big bulls. Amazing how close they would come, but, if we stayed in the vehicle, which was required, they didn't see us as humans but rather as part of their environment.

The sun was now starting to set(it's almost winter) when we came upon a group of young lions finishing their daytime siesta. Apparently, most of the animals are active primarily at night and these were no exception. The light was getting poor and the photos weren't my best, but, when the tracker turned on a spotlight, the lions starting walking toward our vehicle. I was sitting on the uppermost back row (they are raised like stadium seating) and I promise that lion didn't turn away until he was about 6 feet from me! I kept thinking about all the warnings I had received not to let the lion eat me!

After that excitement, it was time for some wine and star gazing in one of the grassy areas. There's no way to describe what those stars looked like. Mark gave us a great lecture on the sky in the southern hemisphere and how to find the Southern Cross among others. Can't wait until tomorrow night to pick them out again.

We had driven about 10 minutes when we got a call that the other vehicle wouldn't start. As we were heading back to rescue them, our tracker spotted a jackel finishing off a meal that a lion had left behind. The other group wondered why it took us so long to get back to them!

After a brief tow, they were back in operation and we started back to the lodge, about 40 min. away. All of the sudden, our tracker signalled for the ranger to stop the Rover and everything became very still. Remember now, it's pitch black out here except for the stars as the quarter moon had already set. As our eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw a huge bull elephant completely blocking our dirt path and, apparently, not interested in moving any time soon. The ranger softly whispered that light makes them mad so all we could do was sit and hope he would decide to continue across the rode instead of charging us! After what seemed like an eternity, he started lumbering off, and we headed on down the rode before the other one behind him could blcok our path.

Back at the lodge and breathing a sigh of relief, we enjoyed a delightful wine tasting and learned even more about the history of South African wines and their recent growth in popularity. Dinner was fun as one of our group was celebrating a birthday, and the staff presented him with a beautiful chocolate cake. As he cut into it, we all began to laugh -- it was all elephant dung in the middle! Fortunately, a more appetizing cake followed.

Early morning tomorrow as we start out game drive at 6am!
From the African bush...
Linda