Day 6 Bongani Reserve March 18, 2007
We had a 5:30 am wakeup call but I was already up at 4:30 am because I was so excited for our sunrise safari! It was pretty cool outside and the weather was just perfect for a morning ride.
We were served some coffee and tea before heading out. This time they made sure that our car was in mint condition!
Our goal today was to find the leopards, the buffalos, the elephants, and the rhinoceros. Lucky for us, we spotted 3 rhinos right away. These guys are huge!
Simeon’s actually quite knowledgeable about the different plants in the area so he spent a huge amount of time explaining the uniqueness of some of the plants we passed along the way.
Frankly that was a waste of time because I really wanted to see the animals instead
of learning about botany.
So we didn’t really see much this morning except more giraffes, impalas, and nyalas.
This is a buffalo carcass. It was killed by lions a few weeks ago.
This is a klipspringer.
Eric and I decided to go on a walking safari after breakfast. This was much more interesting because there was just me and Eric and Simeon as our guide. He had a loaded rifle with him as we walking inside the game park.
He asked us to walk in a single line and closely to each other so that we would appear as one unit.
At the beginning of our walk, Simeon picked up some marula fruits from the tree and mentioned that these are one of the elephant’s main diet.
When fermented, the marula is also the main ingredient for Amarulla…which is the African version of Baileys. No wonder African elephants always look drunk.
It was a very different feeling walking amongst the wild. In a way it was more thrilling than riding inside a vehicle because there’s always that sense of danger that is ever present all the time. Simeon pointed a lot of the animal droppings that we found along the way and approximately how fresh or how many days old they are and from which animal they’re from, what was inside the dung, which one was
old and which one was fresh. Yup….pretty interesting.
There was a tensed moment for a few minutes when Simeon spotted very fresh buffalo dung. Then suddenly 3 wild buffalos from out of the bush ran across our path at about 50 feet. Simeon quickly grabbed his rifle and placed his fingers on the trigger ready to shoot should the inevitable occur. He said that they have seen us and consider us as potential danger and that we should quickly leave the area or else they will attack us when they come back in a few minutes. Drama galore! Eric kept squishing me from behind and telling me to shush!
We continued walking and we saw some Giraffe tracks and when we looked up, we
saw a family of giraffes staring at us.
After a few pictures, we then headed back to the lodge for lunch.
In the afternoon, we headed out again for our last safari drive.
This time, Simeon was determined to find us some elephants. Reports came in that the elephants were on the other side of the mountain and so we then had to go through some serious off-roading. It was the bumpiest ride we’ve ever experienced! Unfortunately, the weather was too cold and the elephants were in hiding. But nevertheless, the ride itself was already an adventure especially when Simeon drove the Land Rover almost to the edge of the cliff on purpose in search of
the elephants.
So we just decided to have some wine and some refreshments up there before heading back home. We did see a herd of African buffalos and some rhinoson this ride though. We also saw a cobra slithering away onto a bush; and an owl, which kinda looked like a cat in the dark.
After dinner, we had arranged a masseuse to give us a massage in our room. I was also pleasantly surprised that they’ve prepared our tub with flowers and candles.
I had a very relaxing bubble bath followed by a very soothing massage…African style. What a great way to end the day!
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