Motswari Private Game Reserve Timbavati Private Nature Reserve

The morning after hitting the club in Jo'burg we packed everything up and crammed it, along with a shitload of food and drink, into the back of our friend Kerryn's little Toyota. A great advantage to a person going travelling is to pack light, the less ***** you have the less labourious life is when moving to the next place. I ended up taking far more than i need as usual, but our good friend Danny ceratinly took the award for over packing ...

... morning walk to come tomorrow morning... can we top our first two days in the park?

The morning walk was fun and informative – coming on this we knew we'd probably not see any animals but it still was really good. Most of the walk we were following a rhino trial, we could tell this by most of the dung found along the way. We could also spot the trees that elephants had come along and eaten off the bark. We also managed to spot a hyaena paw print on the ground (and I even ...

... about to die squeal of a teenaged warthog. Without any hesitation, Van puts the car in drive and says "We're off." We drive through the bush, with the lioness still right next to our car until we pull up and see it. The other lioness is staring at us, with a still partially live warthog flopping around in her mouth. She then takes it over to the tree area, drops it to the ground, and kicks it a few times to wait for it to die.

Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, Kruger National Park, South Africa dc314

... a three or four hour game drive we would pull into one of the rest camps for a bio break. We would then head out for another two or three hour safari drive before ending up at that day's reserved rest camp. After a few hours of down time at the camp, we would head back out for a late afternoon game drive (also "prime time" viewing) before we had to be gated and locked securely back into our rest camp at 5:30pm (also known as sunset...keep in mind ...

... We thought we could hear, Dion and his wife Dagmar talking to these people. A car then left and headed back to the main road, it appeared to park at the entrance with the music still turned up high. Clearly there were also people still in the camp and things began to sound very heated and uncomfortable, our minds began to wonder from this point. Money being owed and Acacia, the tour operator, were mentioned lots of noise also. We didn ...

This morning was early - we are in training for Ketley Safari starts! My alarm went at 5.30 - it was still dark - I am finding it strange that it is dark in the morning and gets dark before 6pm! I was going to have an outdoor shower, but it was just too cold! We were aiming to leave at 6.30, but again things went pear shaped. Flora had another phone call from Erica who said they had tried to break in again - do they never ...

... cook Albert from Zimbabwe, was delicious as well. Things are really off to a good start - especially when compared to my previous nightmare of a tour. Speaking of which, I told our tour guide about my previous experience and he told me that that company (Acacia) is known for being a party company. Other people on my tour have also told me that camping tours tend to attract a younger - and therefore wilder - crowd. It all starts to add up now . . .

... Oxpeckers, Burchell's Coucal and best of all a family of Black-backed Jackals with pups. It was at this point that JD realised that she'd left the camera behind. Brown Snake Eagle, Lilac-breasted Roller and Mosque Swallow followed in quick succession and then we were out of the truck and listening to the safety instructions from the rangers. There were two rangers and both of them were armed. The rule in the bush is simple ...

... lunch one afternoon we watched three elephants come through for a drink, a giraffe, and a rhino just lay down in a dry river bed for a nap. The wildlife, scenery, and experiences from this holiday could not have been more incredible. Africa, despite its many problems, must be one of the most worthy travel destinations in the world. "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away" - anon.

... warned the park gates are locked at 6pm. We paid our entry fee $10 rand each plus $20 rand for the vehicle and headed off intending to travel the 72 km to the Paul Kruger exit gate, leaving us time to find a bed for the night and meet the 6pm deadline. The park was wonderful, getting there early was a bonus as we did not have to compete with other vehicle's having already scared off the animals, and we were almost immediately rewarded by seeing a ...