Safari at Nungubane, Welgevonden Game Reserve

We are back from our safari at Nungubane (which means porcupine) and we've have seen the 'Big 5' again and so many other beautiful animals. Except the buffalo, we couldn't just find them. Searched for them a few times, and were close but just no luck this time.




I have never seen so many weaver birds in 1 tree!


The big 5 are referred to the Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Black Rhino and the Leopard. The phrase Big Five game was coined by big-game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot.
We even saw the Leopard! This is a hard to spot animal, and we were so lucky to see one immediately when we drove into the game park, but before I took out my camera he was gone... so sad to not catch it on my camera! He was sitting so nicely on a rock for us, and so close by but then when I moved my hand to take out my camera he was gone... :-(

The shadow of our Jeep while we were on a Sunset drive


When you go on a safari, you do 2 game drives of 3-4 hours. One at sunset and one at sunrise. Since then the animals are most active and easier to spot. During the day mostly they will sleep in the high grass or under some bushes, so then you can't see them. The drive happens in an open Jeep, so you are a lot of times really close to the animals. But as long as you sit in your Jeep you are farely safe. Although we met an Elepant bull, a huge one that was really nasty and chasing our Jeep and another one, picture below. We had to back up so if he would turn around we could escape easily. Elephants are fast runners and can be aggressive!



In between the game drives we relax at the lodge, have great lunches and dinners, but most of your days consist of game drives. The fun of these game drives is that you never know which animals you will run into. You can drive for an hour and not see anything and then suddenly you are eye to eye with a huge group of elephants, buffalo's, zebra's, wildebeest or impala's. It makes it so much fun! It's not like going to a zoo where you know what you will see in the next cage, no this is 42.000 hectare of nature and you just cruise around in the hope to see as much as possible. So these drives are very very exciting, worth doing at least once in your life time!!
Also nature is so pretty!



So here some pictures of the animals we have seen.


Wildebeest


And the remnants of a Wildebeest after the lions ate it... a skull!


Water bucks


Warthog






And now they had enough of us, so they showed us their nicely formed behind.. LOL









Kudu


Impala's, the fast food of the Bush... do you know how they call a baby Impala? a Happy Meal! LOL. Easy prey for most preditors












We had a great time with Phil our ranger, he could imitate most of the animals which made it fun, because he would call them and they would look up in our direction, and that makes a great picture!

The rest of the week the girls have still vacation, but we are just hanging around the house. The weather is nice, so they can go for a swim, play with the bunnies or just do some arts & crafts or play dates with their friends.

Have a wonderful day!
Mireille

We are going on SAFARI

The girls have a week off from school next week, mid-term, so we are taking a little trip and going on safari. We are hooked on safari's so each time we have a break we are exploring the different game reserves around us. Preferably the ones in malaria-free areas. I don't want to pump the kids full of malaria medication, so this time we are going to Nungubane Private game lodge in Limpopo province. Me and the girls have been in this huge game reserve already, in the beginning of this year when we went with my mom (maybe you remember, when we got attacked by the baboons). So we are going again, this time with Dirk. Same game reserve, different lodge. In January we were here.


Nungubane welcomes a maximum of ten guests in an atmosphere of intimate luxury. Guests are accommodated in spacious chalets, which command majestic views over the reserve from their individual decks.


Nungubane is known for the warmth of its welcome, the friendliness of its staff, and for its highly commended cuisine. Especially the cuisine I always look for! Lodge food is so superb, but some lodges are better than others. So I always choose the ones that mention their cuisine, because then I know it will be extra special!


The lodge is situated in Welgevonden Private Game Reserve. Which is one of South Africa’s most prestigious game reserves consisting of 36 000 hectares of pristine bushveld bordering on the renowned Marakele National Park.

Welgevonden is an International Biosphere Area. And is committed to maintaining the diversity of plants and animals through the conservation of biological resources, development of environmentally sound economic growth and the support of research, monitoring, education and information exchange related to conservation. Vegetation within Welgevonden is classified as savannah i.e. wooded grasslands. The Savannah Biome is home to a diverse range of plant and animal life with over 5500 plants endemic to Southern Africa.

Sounds good or what? I can't wait to hop on that open jeep and start exploring the reserve. Looking into the eyes of an wild animal, be one with nature, get pampered at the lodge and get some adrenaline pumping through our bodies when indeed you are eye in eye with a huge elephant, buffalo, rhino, see a flock of zebra's or a journey of giraffes.... can't wait!


I will of course show you some pictures next week!

Enjoy your day!
Mireille