Onward to Botswana

I can’t believe this is our last night in South Africa. We’re heading to Botswana tomorrow morning! Our checklist:

• The usual vehicle documents, passports, etc.
• Canned goods and lots of water
• Satellite phone for emergencies 
• Scorpion light
• Pepper spray for tires (discourages lions from chewing your tires)
• Air horn (encourages lions to go away in the morning so that you can exit the camper)
• Spotlight, headlamps, motion detector lights (all for obvious reasons)
• Toilet (the inside bucket because you never want to step outside for a wee after dark)

We’re spending our last night here in Joburg and, like everyone, we’ve been glued to the news, trying to figure out what’s happening with borders and the new covid variant. It looks like we should be able to get into Botswana and then head to the Kalahari without a problem, but we’ll just have to see how everything goes once we get to the border. 

We’ll be without internet access for most of December, but we’ll post updates whenever and wherever we can.

More soon!

Safari Pics

A few more pics from our game drives in Kruger:

Wild dogs

Hyena pups

The leopards were the hardest to find

Bush and River Beds

When we decided to splurge on a stay at Jock Safari Lodge in Kruger, we had no idea how much we'd enjoy the experience, and the company of the people we met. We enjoyed our first 3 days so much, we ended up staying a couple of extra nights. 

We left the tar road behind and explored bush and dry river beds with our guide, Jani. We ducked for branches and bounced over dirt tracks and rocks. We got up close to lions, wild dogs, leopards, rhinos, elephants, buffalo, hyena, and more. It was amazing to just sit and watch all of these amazing animals. 

Driving through the river bed

 

Digging for fresh water -- this little guy is trying to figure it out

Still trying for the water!

The lodge over looking the river bed

Dinner in the river bed; an elephant walked by at a distance and our ranger kept a lookout

Lions

One of two cubs— our first big lion sighting 

Two of the nine cubs we saw later

Well, as you know, I’ve been a little obsessed with  elephants. However, thanks to our amazing ranger here at Jock Safari Lodge, I am happy to report that I have a new obsession with lions. 

Over the last few days we’ve seen lions mating in the streets (see the scandalous video of ongoing fornication posted earlier), a male and three females lounging around in the grass with two curious cubs, and three very clever females keeping tabs on nine cubs—including one who started up a tree and clearly was *not* supposed to do that. Unbelievable to see them. If only they’d like a good belly rub.  But look at those paws and the heads of those males. they’re f*** huge!

Here are some pics with many more to come!

The first two cubs—one of them practiced stalking us 

The big guy sleeps while the cubs play

One of the females watching over the two cubs

Keeping track of nine!

Wait for me!

Making sure all babies are accounted for  

On the road — two females and the dominant male