Day 3 Simbavati

This is our last full day here at Simbavati River Lodge. Tomorrow we go for a shortened morning game drive and then drive to Entabeni for our next safari experience.

When we started this morning, we caught the most glorious sunrise which we tried to capture on our camera. Our game drive this morning mostly consisted of tracking a leopard. He was a young one (20 months old) and was circling a herd of impala. Our vehicle literally drove next to him while his was circling the herd. Leopards sense with their tails so the guides know when his tail is curled up that he/she is sensing what is around. This leopard did not seem too hungry and, at one point, sat down and cleaned and groomed himself. Leopards are very teritorrial so our guide knew that this leopard had a mother and sister in this area as well. Leopards are incredibly beautiful with their huge spots, strong bodies, and big paws. When they hunt they track and circle their prey for a while and then need to sit and rest before they make their final attack. We decided to move on before he attacked, but we later learned that he didn't get the herd of impala that he was tracking.

We then came upon a dam filled with hippos and a large family of baboons playing on the side of the dam. This watering area also had a huge amount of birds. Our guides let us get out of the vehicle to get a better view. We could also see the catfish jumping out the water.

On this drive we also saw herds of impala and kudu (quite common), warthogs, an older elephant on her own, and a male giraffe. The male giraffe is a solitary creature and you can tell it is male by the 2 bigger horns on the top of its head.

Then it was time to stop for our coffee/tea/chocolate and biscuit stop that we do every morning prior to coming back.

For the evening game drive, we learned about a few of the local trees and more about the birds too. We stopped at one point for a "sun downer" which are drinks out in the bush. We switched guides for this ride and this new guide was very good at describing about the many trees, bush, roots, and birds that we came upon. We saw quite a few giraffe on this drive, a rhino, more impala, and then had a wonderful lesson on the constellations as the stars came out.

From this part of the world, you can see the Southern Cross and when you take the 2 stars at the end of the cross and run them diagnol to the ground that is due South. We were wondering how you knew the direction here since you can't see the North Star in these skies! We also saw scorpio which truly does look exactly like a scorpion as well as Venus. Venus is always the first thing to appear right now in the skies after the moon and is quite bright.

For dinner on this last night, we all sat around the boma (which I learned now means a barbecue but it was long ago an acronym for the British Office Managerial Association...or something along those lines!). When South Africa was under British rule they used to hold council meetings around the fire and barbecue so the boma was born. The fire is gotten quite hot, the embers spread out, and then our chicken and sausage were cooked. Delicious!

Sunset in the bush

This last meal we had a few performances before dinner. One by the kids who rapped a song, one by Bill who did this amazing fire dance and then the staff sang a lovely song to 3 people who had birthdays in our group. It was so wonderful to sit around the bonfire and enjoy the beautiful night air. This place was truly 5 star in every way.

I haven't talked about the mosquitos or insects as there really haven't been any to speak of. We never needed to put on bug repellent and the rooms had this air freshener that sprayed the room every few minutes (it was something natural so you never even smelled it). We joked that we were all getting spoiled by this first lodge since we know that the others won't be quite this nice!

Elephant and her baby

Leopard tracking the impala herd

Leopard taking a break