Garonga Safari Camp Makalali Private Game Reserve

I've just received mu luggage today, after South African Airways lost it on the way from Livingstone. Fortunately, I was able to buy some underwear and borrow some things from others in my tour group. This is a much more diverse group than the last one, with 14 travelers from England, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, the ...

... spending 2 nights here to relax in a two story suite. It is awesome! A huge thatch roof cottage with an outdoor shower with only the ...

... the managers of the reserve and they use it to determine if they can take on more high profile animals or whether they need to purchase more land for the reserve. Again, it's that complicated web. I like puzzles but this one seems pretty difficult from a layperson's point of view. We did two bush walks this week - to and from Bush Camp. The walk over there was crazy hot despite the overcast since the humidity was running high. When I took out my contacts, my glasses ...

... Adele, we climbed aboard and went looking for the lions. In the riverbed about 25 metres from where we'd heard the first roar was a buffalo carcass and close by were two lions. One massive male and a young female. We quickly took our photos. We then had to do our navigation skills test and were split into smaller groups of 4/5 and had to reach a point well away from where we knew the lions were. Back at camp we then set off back to the riverbed ...

Well the quiet relaxing stay at the Stumble Inn ended and we had recharged our batteries. Now on the 18th August 2008 we had yet again to set off to a new destination. So set off early, good job we did with all the traffic, back to Jo'burg Airport. Got there easy again (best navigator there is doing her job well), Avis was well organised, and domestic terminal very easy to negotiate (without porters asking for money if they help you). Plane to Hoedspruit ...

... and shopping of the local South African trade. (We picked up our nieces Erica & Helen some really cool toys!!!.........hopefully they won't weigh down our back-packs too much. I resisted the urge to buy the 1/8th size John Deere tractor (carved from wood) for Noah Lunsford..............just no room...............sorry Noah!!! Maybe if we find one in Capetown! and can ship it home...... Well, here are some of our pics from the Safari. Another great adventure!!!!!

... only one in South Africa. If you can at all help them, please donate some money to the foundation on their website http://www.vervet.za.org/ (even $10 would help) they will be able to purchase this land to improve the lives of these wonderful creatures and expand their facilities to prepare for incoming orphans. If you wanna learn more about the foundation you can check out the same website above. It has a tour of the facilities too so you can see what it is like.

We arrived at Tangala Lodge on the 28th after a 6 hour taxi ride having left Pretoria at 6am. As strange as it sounds, it worked out about the same price to take a taxi than to hire a car so we decided to take the easy option. Probably a good decision as it was a long but very scenic drive so we got to have a little sleep and admire the views on the way. The Blyde River Canyon that we passed was absolutely amazing! The safari lodge was on a ...

... I think all the other safari drivers were jealous of Dad, with two hot girls in the back, they we're stuck with car full of retirees. Dad spots three lionesses on the rocks napping, then in an instant we watch them jump off the rock and try to take down an impala, who runs across the road in front of car to escape. I can't say I was sad the impala got away, I know its just survival, but I was rooting for it to get away. Then we swing by the watering hole, catch some hippos ...

... after being rescued from a circus. Unfortunately, the ride was very bumpy making Sara feel nauseous so soon after the food poisoning. The tour ended with us stroking a two and a half month old baby cheetah. Picked up the 3 Aussies from our tour group who had obviously paid more so they had spent the night in bamboo lodges down the road. Then we headed to Orpen Gate to enter the Kruger National Park, where we started 3 hour game drive to Satara camp. No sooner had we entered the ...