It's not every day you find yourself in South Africa, on a private game reserve, with the opportunity to get "up, close and personal" with some of the most fearsome killers in the Animal Kingdom.
This is exactly what happened when we stayed at the Nambiti Private Game Reserve back in February 2015.
Nambiti is just south of Ladysmith in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. It's a privately run game reserve that boasts the Big Five (African Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, African Leopard and Rhino). There are 22,000 acres of African bush to explore which is home to around 50 species of game.
The highlight of any visit to a game reserve are the "drives" - these are ranger led expeditions in to the bush with no guarantee that you'll see any game at all. Don't forget, this is not a zoo, this is the animal's natural habitat. Sure, the area is managed but this is to protect the welfare of the animals from poachers and disease. The animals don't get fed, they kill or get killed... more on that later.
So, at an ungodly hour, you board your truck / jeep and set off in to the bush. Now, it's a collaborative affair with one simple rule... If you see something, you yell "STOP!". This heightens the excitement because you always want to be the one that spots the lion. A bit of healthy competition never hurts, right?
Off we go... Within minutes of starting out we stumble across the most magnificent sight of an African Elephant basking in the early morning sun. Our ranger (Graham) said that this was the oldest elephant on the reserve and wasn't he a beauty? I'll leave you to decide.
Obviously we were all buzzing with excitement now. What a first sighting... What would be up next?
We bounced along in the jeep, feeling something like Bear Grylls and / or Indiana Jones. Every corner promises a fleeting glance of something.... The terrain has flattened out and become more lush... Wait, what was that in the distance? "STOP!" we scream... In the distance we see zebra and warthog grazing together. OK, not quite as impressive as the elephant but those warthogs look pretty fearsome close up and wouldn't really like to be on the receiving end of one of their tusks!
As we continue to bump along the roads we see lots of smaller animals and some pretty spectacular bird life. Our ranger gives us lots of interesting facts about each animal we encounter as we keep scouring the trees and bush for more elusive game.
The landscape opens up in to a vast plain with a huge watering hole in the middle of it... Hold on... what are those ripples on the surface? It can't be... surely not... YES! It's a family of hippos taking a morning swim. They keep bobbing their heads under the surface but eventually I get a long enough time to take a decent(ish) shot of them.
We stop for light refreshment, a heady mix of coffee, sugar and Baileys. Not my usual tipple at this time of the morning but it certainly did the trick and kept us all focused on the animal spotting
Suddenly, Graham kills the engine and we roll on silently. He's seen something in the distance and wants us to creep up on it... We could just about make out a dog like shape with something in its mouth... As we got closer and closer we could see it was a hyena who had managed to snaffle a buck moments before. Not sure if the hyena actually killed it or it stole from another animal but it was an impressive sight all the same.
Due to the distance and the lighting conditions it was hard to get a razor sharp photo but you get the idea from the shot above.
We'd had a fantastic morning's viewing so far, but there was one animal that was still proving to be elusive... the African Lion. As mentioned at the top of the article, there's no guarantees what you'll see and when. I know people that have done a number of game drives and still not managed to see lion. Secretly I think we were all crossing fingers, toes, etc that we'd be lucky this morning.
Just before we turned back for the lodge, Graham spotted something hiding in the undergrowth. It was perfectly camouflaged and to our untrained eyes there was nothing there. All of a sudden, there was a rustle and another rustle...
JACKPOT! Out of the straw coloured grass not one, not two but a small pride of lions just appeared to the side of us. Graham killed the engine and we just sat there in awe of these magnificent creatures. There were two males, a female and three cubs. They passed within feet of our vehicle and it was only then that you actually understand the size of these wonderful creatures. Graham thought they were on the prowl for some buck a little further up the hillside. They were bobbing in and out of the grass and then stopping. We waited and waited for the attack to come but alas the buck got scared off and ran in to the distance. The lions just turned back and melted in to the undergrowth like invisible ghosts.
All our hearts were beating like drums. Adrenaline was coursing through our veins. We'd been so lucky to spend so long with them.
We ended the drive right there, on a high. The chatter on the way back to the lodge was about what a fantastic morning's viewing we'd had. Even Graham said it'd been a particularly exceptional drive.
The final highlight of the day was spending some time at the cheetah sanctuary next door. The KwaCheetah project is a non-profit charity that helps to rescue cheetahs and train them to get back in to their natural habitat. The work that the volunteers do was nothing short of amazing. They train the animals to kill and how to interact when placed back in the wild. We were lucky enough to be able to get incredibly close to these beautiful cats...
That's all for now, thanks for reading. I'll leave you with one of my favourite shots of a South African bush sunset. Watch out for my next installment in a few day's time.
Note: all these photos are my own and are not for use anywhere else without permission from me. Thanks for understanding.