Everyone wants to spot the Big Five when they go on a safari trip.

The Big Five refers to the five animals in Africa that are the most difficult to hunt on foot. They are the most ferocious when cornered and/or shot at. And they are the African Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Black Rhino and African Buffalo.

In this trip, we were in great luck and saw all Big Five. But for me, the excitement of a safari trip is not just about spotting the Big Five, it’s about the heaps of interesting encounters and the other “not so famous” animals that we get to see.

Like seeing a male lion with an injury. He must have had a fight with one of the other five lions we saw.

My favourite part of a safari trip is interacting with elephants. This boy was upset that we had gotten so close. He waved his trunk at us and trumpeted for a while before we calmed him down. He then proceeded to show us how he scratched an itch on his back by blowing a chunk of soil dust on himself.

And that’s a Jumbo looking right on.. isn’t that a face straight out of a cartoon animation?

In a safari trip, it’s like opening a box of chocolates because you never know what you’re going to get. Just as we approached a water hole, a trail of huge buffaloes came walking to it to drink. It all happened right before our eyes.

It was a magical moment.

We saw jackals lying on impala dung to keep warm against the cold earthy ground.

And hyenas wailed loud and hauntingly in the still of the night.

The finale of our trip.. just as we were 2 minutes away from our lodge on our final game drive.. we bumped into a pangolin. The guides told us this was the rarest of rare animals to stumble into.

Our gal must have brought us good luck, because we saw so many more animals this time and at a much more magnificent scale too. She loved the trip so much that she didn’t wait for me to download pictures and videos from my DSLRs, she downloaded hers from her small camera and made a video clip immediately out of the videos she shot. Check it out -

All posts on our safari trips at the Kruger National Park are here.
 

I recently found out that there were such holidays as a walking safari.

People would WALK instead of sit in a landrover and be driven around. Walk? Are they crazy? That was the first question that came into my head. I half swore I would never do it. What if we ran into an elephant, buffalo or lion?

It’s true, what they say.. never say never. In our most recent safari trip, I found myself with a very enthusiastic and gung ho guide and a very excited little gal. That combination and the sounds of lions roaring in the background landed me on my feet on the ground. Yeap, hunting for lions.

It was exhilarating to be walking, knowing that all kinds of wild animals could be around us. We were to walk in a single file behind the guide (the only one with a rifle) and were warned never to run away unless the guide told us to do so.

I could hear the lions’ roar and I had to chant repeatedly in my head, don’t run.. don’t run.. don’t run.

Our guide, Pieter was extremely knowledgeable. He taught us to look for footprints and look at dung.

I am always eager to learn about life in the wilderness. But I draw the line at analysing dung. Especially when it’s rhino dung. Eeeks!

Being on the ground instead of an uplifted high speed vehicle was refreshing. I looked at some of the flora in the bush up close. It felt good to be able to pause and touch stuff.

Our guide, Pieter and our tracker, Wiseman were super cool. They always looked steady and calm. I felt we were in good hands. Their enthusiasm and perseverance was contagious. They were so determined to find those lions.

Every time we saw the lions tracks, we knew we were getting closer.

After a few hours of tracking and over several km of land, we finally found them. There were 4 male lions chasing 2 male lions. We guessed it was probably a territorial dispute.

By the time we “stumbled upon” them, they were all panting and exhausted and taking a break.

Thank goodness we were back on our vehicle by the time we spotted them. I wouldn’t have been very excited to be on foot next to these giants.

Their roar was scary and powerful. If they are anything like their roars, then I want to stay on a vehicle and do the tourist thing every time I see them. Haha..
 
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All posts on our safari trips at the Kruger National Park are here.
 

If you’ve followed my posts on our first safari trip in June 2011, you would know that we loved the place we stayed – Kitara Lodge at the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve.

In fact, we had such a good time that we decided that we would take our gal there when she was here. And this time we stayed at the Nzumba Lodge, which is managed by the same team of people.

Nzumba Lodge is less upmarket than Kitara but it’s just as wonderful and even cozier. It’s perfect for families or a honeymoon couple.

The lodge rooms are beautiful, just like Kitara’s.

Our bed was actually two queen beds joined together. It was huge! And it faced the windows. We got to wake up to views of the beautiful landscape out there.

There were TWO bathrooms. One with a bath and one with a shower. We didn’t have to share!

In the common lounge, there was a wonderful area next to a fireplace where we could sip a cup of tea or chill and read a book. Or we could hop to a bar stool and have a glass of champagne.

Below this lounge was a gorgeous dining room.

But meals were served in a different setting every day.

Nothing beats coming back from a wonderful morning game drive to this. Breakfast outdoors.

I swear, it was totally blissful sitting there, looking out at the animals and having a full cold and hot breakfast.

The view was like this -

Yes, if you spotted giraffes in the previous picture, it’s because the animals do come very close to the lodge. There was a large waterhole just right there and the animals came to drink every day. The next two shots were shot by the hubby.

When we rested in between game drives, we would play Scrabble and wait for animals to come to the waterhole. Precious family time!

The folks at Nzumba Lodge treated us like royalty as soon as we arrived. They even prepared a surprise breakfast in the bush experience for us one morning! It was really nice.

A glass of mimosa (champagne+orange juice) and the wonderful food prepared by the chef, Patrick (that’s him in the picture). We were in wonderland.

We had such an amazing experience at Nzumba and were so well taken care of. It was hard to say good bye to such pampering. They gave us an incredible bush experience, and I will share more on that later.

Our gal had the time of her life. Her favourite holiday destination in the world used to be Whistler, Canada. She said excitedly before she left, “This place is my new Whistler!”

We are definitely coming back again. =)

The Klaserie Private Nature Reserve is located in the Kruger National Park and has three different lodges. For reservations information, check out their website HERE. They are approximately 7 hours by car from Johannesburg city.

 
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All posts on our safari trips at the Kruger National Park are here.
 

My favourite animal is the giraffe.

Check out those lashes. I bet no eyelash extension job can beat those!

Giraffe parents are super cool. Unlike the elephant mommy who guards Baby Jumbo like a hawk and starts throwing a fit when he even so much as steps away a little, the giraffe parents are way more relaxed and give their kids plenty of space.

If you spot a baby giraffe, you’ll usually see a mommy and daddy giraffe lurking nearby. The parents don’t panic when landrovers drive by or start chasing us.

But then again, if you piss off a giraffe, you’re pretty much screwed.

Those are powerful legs, okay. One kick and you’ll be flying like superman.

Or worse, if one of them trips and falls on you. You’re finished.

They seem to be good friends with the impalas. I guess it’s because they don’t eat from the same spot even if they ARE in the same spot.

Did you know that predators like lions struggle in attacking the giraffe? You’ll need an entire pride of lions to attack one giraffe. The lions would surround the giraffe, hoping to scare and confuse it. When the giraffe is standing tall, no lion can attack it. One kick and any lion would be sent flying.

BUT, if a pride of lions can confuse the giraffe and cause it to fall down. Then the giraffe is dead meat.

Check out this video I found online on a giraffe kicking the lions’ asses.

I want to be a giraffe if I have to reincarnate as an animal. Why not? At least I will have long legs and great looking lashes. Ha!

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All posts on our safari trip at the Kruger National Park are here.
 

Continued from What Is A Safari Trip Like? – Part 1..

Seeing the animals was fun on our safari trip. But the best bits of the trip were the breaks we took in between drives.

For morning game drives, the highlight of the drive was the stop we made every day for Morning Tea. It was freaking fun to park in a nice spot, set up a nice table and make hot drinks.

On a cold morning, that mug of hot liquid was like heaven. Actually honestly, it was a mug of heaven because of what they added in it.

A bottle of Amarula in every mug of coffee. Wahaha!

Amarula is South Africa’s version of Baileys. It’s freaking good.

I seriously looked forward to that mug of liquid heaven at 9am in the morning. That and some nice cookies, of course. Haha..

From where we had our morning tea picnic, we could look out to the river and spot crocodiles and hippos lazing.

Evening game drives were just as fun.

We would catch as much daylight as we can, and just as the sun started to set, we would find a nice spot and do Sundown Drinks. Woohoo!

This is the time where you will need a good fast lens. So you should bring a nifty f1.4 or f1.8 Prime lens. Or do what we did – we brought a compact camera that has a f2.0 lens that shoots well in darkness.

If not, it would be impossible to get a good shot once the sun sets.

Even if the shot was grainy, at least the moment was captured. =)

At Sundown Drinks, a variety of drinks was served. I always went for sparkling wine. Nothing like the good bubbly to complete the happy experience. Hee!

Everyone knows I will find any excuse to drink champagne.

When night fell, our tracker would use a large strong spot light to hunt for animals while our driver/guide drove us back to the lodge. Even when we could spot the animals, they usually got scared by the noise or light and were gone in a flash. Sometimes, one might stay really still for me to snap a shot.

And off it was gone again.

Night safaris were really exciting and fun. The land rover’s lights and the moon were the only source of light in the wilderness.

Oh, that and the full sky of stars. It was magical! If only I could snap a shot to document it!

Our safari trip was one of the best trips in our lives. It was incredible, thanks to the folks at Kitara Lodge. I hope I have a chance to go back again.. next time, I must find those leopards! =)

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All posts on our safari trip at the Kruger National Park are here.
 

Everyone dreams of going on a safari trip.

We grew up watching Animal Planet and reading National Geographic. We’ve watch hundreds of video clips showing animal migration and interaction. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to see it all in real life?

It certainly is. But one’s expectations should be managed and this is what this post is about.

I’ll share on what you can expect on a safari trip. What you should be prepared for. What you should be equipped with. And what one MUST do to have a fabulous trip.

First of all, you cannot be afraid of large trucks. Expect to get on a large land rover. This is going to be the vehicle that will take you close to the animals.. AND save you when the elephants come charging.

If you’re going for a luxurious safari trip with a nice lodge, chances are nice chilled drinks will be served as soon as you arrive.

My advice – drink up. Nothing starts a holiday better than with a bottle of cold beer. Plus, you get less nervous about being THAT close to the wild animals.

Know that your driver cum safari guide is your best friend. He knows when to stop for you to enjoy the view.

And he knows when to stay further away in case we piss off the animal and he gives us one good kick and sends us flying.

On most game drives, there would also be a tracker sitting on an open chair *gulp* in the front of the land rover. The tracker is freaking important.

He’s your main shield when the elephants come charging. And if the lion ate him first, then hopefully you won’t get eaten. Hee.. just kidding. =)

Nah, seriously, the tracker’s role is to spot animals. He has a sharp eye and he scans the bushes as the land rover moves. He also looks for animal footprint trails.

Do NOT sit on the tracker’s chair, unless you know for sure it’s safe and probably best when the vehicle isn’t moving. *grin*

There are two game drives each day. One in the morning, which usually starts at 6am or 7am till noon. And the evening one at 4pm till dark.

Always always have the following for game drives – a good hat, sunglasses, sunBLOCK (as big a SPF as you can get, being in the sun for hours is not funny), a good windproof jacket for cold days and a scarf.

I love morning drives because the animals would have woken up and are hungry and moving. They would also be likely to be doing their morning huddles (see Impalas) and you’ll see herds of animals together.

Bring your best cameras for the trip. You must have a long telephoto lens (I used a Tamron 18-270mm) and a wide angle lens (I used a Canon 10-22mm).

Know that even if your equipment is the best in the world, you cannot always expect to get great tack sharp pictures. Chances are, you’ll have a bunch of shots that are blurry.

The vehicle could be moving. Or the animals would be moving. It is VERY hard to always get a good shot.

But sometimes, one of those buffaloes do take pity on us and give us a nice front shot.

He usually looks at you for a split second and he’s gone. So my advice is – shoot in P, AV or TV mode. Where got time to fiddle in M?

This is the wilderness, not the zoo. The animals are partially hidden most of the time. Don’t despair. You can always go to the Johannesburg zoo if you want to know what they really look like in full view.

And be prepared to be surprised by the odd head or two that pops up to stare at you. Coz we are the noisy foreigners. =)

Know that you can drive for hours without spotting anything. The park is HUGE and animals don’t always come near to the road tracks. Sometimes when you spot the animals, they could be really REALLY far away.

That’s why it’s good to pack a binoculars. Or if you have a super long lens, that can act as your binoculars too.

Remember to look in the skies. There are beautiful birds and scary vultures and eagles hovering over you.

The Big 5 of Africa are the Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, Leopard and Lion. The last 2 are the hardest to spot because they are nocturnal animals.

So if you see at least 3 out of 5, consider yourself very lucky. Some people spend days in the safari and never see a rhino.

Chances are you’ll see what I call the Small 5 – the Impala, Kudu, Zebra, Warthog, and Giraffe.

And if you are very very VERY lucky, like we were. We bumped into two lions crossing the road while we were leaving the lodge!

We were freaking excited.

Until he suddenly stopped crossing the road. Turned and positioned himself like that and started to walk towards us. *GULP*

He looked like we had made too much noise and pissed him off. In such a situation, do not move. Do not stand up in the land rover. Stay still and breathe.

The lion did move away in the end. Heehee.. not like the elephants that chased us the day before (see Elephants).

More on what we do on safari trips and what a Night Game Drive is like in Part 2.. coming up!

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All posts on our safari trip at the Kruger National Park are here.
 

Did you know that elephants are very soft in nature?

Yeap, those giants are actually like women.

They go everywhere together and with family. They have really strong family values.

They are very soft hearted and emotional. Our guide tells us that elephants mourn the dead. When their mates die, they would use their feet and rub them.

Elephants are also very protective and defensive. They look out for their young. So if you ever see a baby elephant, watch out for the mother!

And when you are in a situation like this -where you are crossing the road, but you have half the herd of elephants on one side and the other half on the other side, do NOT drive through. The elephants panic when you put something between them. Wait till they’ve completed crossing the road.

We got impatient and didn’t wait. When we drove through, the elephants got pissed off and two of them snorted really loudly and then came charging at us!

I was so frightened as our guide sped away, that I forgot to take pictures. It was scary to look back and see two giants chasing us with their ears flapping and their moves going boom boom boom!

Like women, when elephants are upset with you, they would look right at you, flap their ears and make lots of noise. That’s a warning that you’ve come too close and you have to move away. Usually if you stay put or back off, they would move away quietly and continue with their business.

When an elephant looks at you and KEEPS QUIET, it means he’s so angry that he’s not even talking or showing you his anger. That means you’re in trouble and he can come charging any moment. Sort of when a woman keeps quiet, it means die liao, big trouble.

Sometimes, they just turn away and show you their asses and refuse to let you see them.

Aren’t they just like women? Haha..

And then just as we were saying that.. an elephant showed up at our lodge and flashed us!! Eeeks!

Who says I’m like women? I’m 100% male power, ok!

We’ve never seen an elephant penis before. It was so funny! Hahahaha!

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All posts on our safari trip at the Kruger National Park are here.
 

We’ve just stayed at the most amazing nature reserve lodge.

It’s called the Kitara Lodge at the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve.

Our friends, Fred and Manuela were our hosts and we were so wonderfully taken care of for the entire trip. They made my first taste of a real REAL safari incredibly special.

First, check out the lodge.

Our room was GORGEOUS!

If you’re looking for a place for a honeymoon or a romantic getaway, this is it. We fell in love with everything at the Kitara Lodge as soon as we arrived.

The bathroom was luxurious and came with both an indoor and an outdoor shower. Yeap, you can bathe and watch the elephants pass by your room.

Throughout the day, there were sightings of buffaloes, elephants and monkeys. It was freaking cool.

At one point, a small herd of elephants decided to check us out. These fellas were just a few steps from our porch.

In the morning, coffee and biscuits were served in a beautiful lounge.

After the morning game drive, we would return to a sumptuous breakfast buffet spread. Eaten on the deck.

After that huge *hic!* meal, we would adjourn to a leisurely afternoon of napping, reading or just taking a walk. Or we could hop into the pool and have a cool dip.

And then it was back to the lounge again at 3pm for afternoon high tea. And out again for the late afternoon/evening drive.

When we returned to the lodge again, drinks would be served and a fire would have been built, all ready for us to warm up in the cold of the night.

And right after, dinner would be served in a gorgeous dining room.

On our final night, a special African braai dinner was served in candlelight by a blazing fire with the bright moon hovering over us!

Hot coals were placed on the sand ground underneath our chairs to keep us warm. It was an amazing experience.

We had the most relaxing and enjoyable time. And didn’t want to leave!

Big thanks to everyone at Kitara Lodge for taking such good care of us. We will never forget this trip!

The Klaserie Private Nature Reserve is located in the Kruger National Park and has three different lodges. For reservations information, check out their website HERE. They are approximately 7 hours by car from Johannesburg city.

 
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All posts on our safari trip at the Kruger National Park are here.