After our very unexpected horrible night, at the at least beautiful looking farm we packed our bags and left that place after breakfast. We went on to our next stop Mossel Bay which is a bigger town and the actual start of the 300km long and famous Garden Route.
Mossel Bay itself isn´t really the nicest town although there are a few things we liked. For example the fact that it is easy to spot the Hyrax or how the African people call them the Dassie. They´re really cute and reminded us at the australian Wombat. But surprisingly they´re related to the Elephant. Sounds strange I know but it´s a fact. They´re common here in south africa and can be found all over the Table Mountain as well.
This time we planned our trip really badly and had no real idea what to do in Mossel Bay. Luckily we always get awesome tips from friends and colleagues. On the second day we got a good tip about a Game Reserve just outside of Mossel Bay. A Game Reserves is a government or private sanctuary designed to protect wildlife species. Most of them here in South Africa are private and you can go on Game Drives that are basically Safaris.
If you´ve read my last post you know that I do not like to go to Zoos or pay for any animal interaction. This is different, as A) these animals are basically living in the wild and B) there is no way to ever see wild animals without going on a Safari. At least not the Big Five. It is everyones dream to see the 5 big wild animals that are the Elephant, the Rhino, the Buffalo, the Lion and the Leopard.
The animals here live on a 4.200 hectare reserve that is family owned and home to 4 of the Big five as well as many other animals like antelope, including rare black impala, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest (Gnu), hippo and more.
Spoiler Alert: Out of four that live here in the reserve we´ve seen three of the big five.
Before we started our drive in one of the many 4x4 trucks they got here I had the chance to take some shots of the beautiful birds here.
The duration of the drive is about 3 hours, we booked in for 2pm and started with a little delay. Our guide and driver was a pretty cool guy and after explaining some basics we started our wildlife experience. We left the Main Lodge and went straight to the first animals, the Wildebeest or better known as Gnu, as well as some other Antelopes like the Springbok and the rare Black Impala.
Ok that was a pretty cool start. First I was a bit skeptical that it´s only a tourist trap but the guide really loves his job and wanted to make sure that we see as much of the animals as possible. As the reserve is quite big there is no guarantee that you see certain animals. Everyone wants to see the lions so we made our way to find them. Before that, we ran into a lot of other beautiful creatures like the african Zebra and one of the Big five, the Buffalo.
One information the guide gave us really blew my mind. The horn plate on the buffalo's head is nicknamed the boss. The origin of the name comes from the mafia, where the oldest is also called the boss. The older a buffalo gets, the thicker this horn plate becomes until it finally becomes bulletproof.
Fascinating isn´t it?!
After another 15min drive we stopped at a closed gate, the gate to the lions area that is around 1.000 hectar. I think I don´t have to explain why they´re separated.
There are two females and one male in there. Every few months they release some Gnus in there so that the lions can hunt their pray.
It was a bit of a scary moment when the gate opened up and we drove in. After a few more minutes the guide drove a bit to the left side and stopped and I immediately saw why. He saw a footprint and luckily I saw it as well.
What an exciting moment. He then said that they must be near, as he can smell them. Indeed even we could smell the cats and then we saw them.
Unfortunately we haven´t seen the male lion as he was hiding in the bushes but the guide said that he´s very near and probably observing us. We had a little girl on the tour and she once starting screaming, one of the lions immediately reacted to that as you can see on the first shot.
I was really surprised that we´ve found them that quickly. It now was already worth the money we´ve spent, which by the way wasn´t that much.
After that amazing encounter we went out of their area again and had a little break. I took the time to make some shots of the reserve.
I felt a bit uncomfortable leaving the truck and go for a pee in the wild. :)
From here we went straight to the next animal and another one of the big five, the african elephant. We´ve seen them from the very far distance but skipped it to see the lions first. It was such an amazing moment to be that close to the giants. I´ve seen the asian elephant from very close in Thailand, but unfortunately in chains. Seeing them in the wild is so much better.
As time was running out and there were still a few animals left I would have loved to see I was excited what was next. It was easy for the guide to find the giraffes as the way they eat is depending on wind direction.
Seeing the giraffes and especially see them walking next to you is crazy. It looks kind of weird and elegant at the same time. Another breathtaking moment.
There was no chance to find the leopard that day but I was still hoping to see the Rhino but unfortunately the time was over. I guess seeing all big five on one game drive would have been a bit too much to wish for.
On the way back to the main lodge we passed the Buffalos again and near the lodge we saw some antelope like animals but I guess the guide was tired as well as he did not even say anything about them.
I really have to say that this was one of the best experiences South Africa had to offer so far and it was worth every cent. We then had an amazing dinner at their restaurant that was pretty good as well. So all in all a perfect day and I highly recommend this Game Reserve to everyone who wants to experience real wild life.
YOU WILL FIND THIS POST ON PINMAPPLE AS WELL
[//]:# (!pinmapple -34.030860 lat 22.138947 long Mossel Bay and the Botlierskop Game Reserve d3scr)
