The intent was to sleep in this morning after yesterday’s long travel day but the thunder storm around 3 had most of us awake. We did delay our safari start until 9:30 which turned out to be a great decision as it was still raining at 6:30. Besides the animals we had two stops for coffee and then lunch - our guides were very talented fellows indeed.
We have two great guides - Jason and CF. The drive started off slow and I’m sure everyone wondered if it was going to be a bust. In the end it was great with many rhinos found and and the two male lions and one female we spotted. No x-rated pictures but enough to know we witnessed the one male and female in a mating ritual which apparently goes on for days. Use your imagination!
The rhinos were amazing to see and we were up close! What a treat! Elephants, zebras, wildebeest, giraffes, hippo, kudus and of course impalas were also sighted along with a variety of birds.
Mother Nature was in play again in the evening and lighting lit up the skies along with lots of booms. We had another full day safari in the park. Because of the rain, the animal sightings were not great - many of them could be seen in the distance.
The lions continued to perform. When they mate they go at it for 5 to 6 days in a row - day and night with short rests in between. We did manage to see a variety of others as well as some very colorful birds.
That evening we enjoyed a braai which is South African for BBQ. Apparently saying bbq is snobbish as it implies using gas while braai is a wood fire bbq. It was in a boma, an outdoor eating area.
Our last morning offered another 5:30 am drive for those interested. Only 8 of us went and while it did not look hopeful it turned out great. Would you believe it - the lions were still at it!!! The highlight of the drive however was the up close rhino encounter of a mom and the 2 to 3 week old baby. We thought we had reached the jack pot until the elephants started arriving at the lodge pool for a speculative display. It was truly a magical moment and quite the send off to end our time with the animals.
The Black Rhino Lodge was amazing - all staff were exceptional. The rooms and grounds were beautiful and the food was great including the ostrich and apparently so was the impala -I couldn’t eat it - just too cute!
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