Kruger Safari - Baobab Ridge Lodge




Less than 10 minutes into our first game drive, our driver/guide David drove us  right into the path of a  male lion who walked right across the road in front of our open Range Rover safari vehicle, before we even had our cameras out!

We left home at 6:00 in the morning on Thursday (6 Aug) for the 6 1/2 hour drive to the Kaserie Game Reserve in Kruger National Park, making one stop in Dullstrom for breakfast at Harrie's Pancakes and topping off the petrol for the car. We arrived at the Enkhulu Gate of Kruger Park at about 1:30.  

As soon as we went through the gate into Kruger, on our way to the lodge, we saw two huge African buffalo from our car, just inside the fence. At the Baobab Ridge Lodge, we were greeted by Sean and Diane Donnelly, our hosts. Sean introduced his wife to us as "Lady Di" and showed us to our amazing bungalow. What a place! Here are a few photos...

Our home for 3 nights at the Baobab Lodge, bungalow #3

Our bedroom, looking out into the bush

Our bed and bedroom

Lounge and mini-kitchen with sink and fridge



The lounge, open to the outdoors

Our leather recliner chairs in the lounge



 

Our incredible shower

Bathtub

The rafters and ceiling

The whole wall of windows in the lounge opens to the outdoors when the door and windows are folded in.  

What you don't see in the photos are the gray African vervet monkeys chattering and swinging through the trees and scampering across our metal roof, especially at night.

African vervet monkey

 

Martha was the first one in the Range Rover on Thursday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our driver guide, David Mathonsi, talks with Martha about the safari.
David has 16 kids and 6 grandchildren. His first wife died of cancer
after bearing 10 children

 

At 3:30, we boarded an open Range Rover with our guide David and 3 other couples and hadn't been on our drive even 10 minutes when a huge male lion stepped from out of the bushes directly in front of our vehicle.  

 

 

Down the road, a second male lion was enjoying the carcass of a buffalo they had killed yesterday, and at the watering hole, three lionesses, who had obviously eaten their fill of buffalo, were sound asleep fat, dumb and happy, on the bank while a huge hippo relaxed half-submerged in the water.  

 

The three lionesses - Fat, Dumb and Happy, sleeping off their buffalo meal on the banks of the watering hole...

...while in the watering hole, wide awake was Hungry, Hungry Hippo

 

 

Minutes later, we came upon a gigantic, lone bull elephant just in time to see him tear down a huge tree limb with his trunk and tusks.  

 

 

 

It was a beautiful, warm day (near 80 degrees), perfect to be out in the African savannah looking for game. We saw kudu and other antelope, including a couple of herds of impala. And we were in touch with Jason, the guide/driver of the other vehicle with the rest of the people in our group, as well as the guides in vehicles from the nearby Gomo Gomo Lodge. With their help, we also got to see a hippo out of the water walking around the savannah.  

Just after sunset, as it was getting dark, Jason radioed that he spotted a leopard, so David drove us over to join in the search, which became difficult after dark. But, with the help of search lights, We were able to find her in the dark, not just once, but twice, first along the river bank, then chasing a rabbit through the trees.  What an amazing experience, but it was too dark for photos. 

 

We saw all the "Big 5" (lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard) in one afternoon, except the rhinoceros... And we returned home for a delightful outdoor braai (barbecue) around the campfire in the boma (a sturdy, fenced enclosure to separate humans from animals) at the lodge. 
 

The boma in the day time, just beyond the lodge



Dinner in the boma with the Berg boys by the bonfire

 

The swimming pool in the daytime, just beyond the boma

 

Bundled up for our Friday morning game drive at dawn, with Elder Greg and Sister Sherrie Weeks in
front of us and Elder Bob and Sharon Berg behind us in David's Range Rover watching four rhinos

The next morning, Friday (Aug 7th), we all gathered for hot chocolate or rooibos tea prior to our 6:00 morning game drive. Barely 3 minutes into the drive, David saw fresh rhino tracks and led us right into a group of four white rhinos, and we were close enough we could practically reach out and touch them. We stayed and observed and photographed them as the sun was rising.  

 

 

 

One of the rhinos walked right over to our lodge to drink from the watering hole next to our swimming pool.



How close the rhino came to our swimming pool

Minutes after leaving the rhinos, we found ourselves totally surrounded by a herd of more than 30 Cape buffalo. So within 18 hours of our arrival, we had had close encounters will all the Big 5.  

 

 

Within an hour, we came upon a mother lioness protecting three 3-year old cubs, almost as big as she is, in the shade of a thicket. We watched them and photographed them for several minutes.  

 

A mother lioness stands guard over her cubs



Two of her three cubs in a thicket

 We returned to the lodge for breakfast, a bush walk, lunch and a free afternoon until the 3:30 game drive. After lunch, we opened up our walls and sat in our luxurious leather recliners, read books, took naps and enjoyed the sounds of nature (mostly total silence) until game drive time.  

We didn't see as many animals the second afternoon, other than antelopes, kudu and wildebeests, lots of amazing African birds and a baboon sitting up in the very top of a tree, but we learned so much from David about everything from aardvarks to termites to warthogs and how to track the various animals. Then, on the way back, at about sunset, we saw a white flash and something moving. As we drove closer, we saw a leopard (maybe the same one as the night before in about the same pace) stalking some poor small animal, looking to make a kill. We got some great photographs this time.  

 

That night at dinner, Sean said that was the first leopard they had seen in seven rhino rescue expeditions! He said the only thing more rare than a leopard spotting is the almost unheard of spotting of leopards two days in a row! 

 

 

We met the other group just a few hundred yards from the leopard for dinner in the bush. It was all laid out for us - steaks on a portable grill, potato salad, green salad and chocolate fudge cake - right out among the wildlife of Africa. We felt a little vulnerable, not being in a boma this time. We could hear the animals around us but none came near, at least that we saw.  

We saw even more animals in the dark on the way back to the lodge, thanks to the searchlight and David's tracking skills, even at night.  

We went to bed Friday night in great anticipation of Saturday's rhino rescue.