First Day at Simbavati Lodge

Our safari has finally started!  We traveled most of the day Saturday from Johannesburg to reach the Simbavati Lodge, in the Timbavati private game reserve.  We stopped at a few interesting places on the way, including a cool waterfall called Lisbon Falls, and "God's Window", an amazing vista point overlooking a huge valley.

Lisbon Falls

We arrived after dark.  Three open-top land rovers greeted us where the bus could go no farther, and Bryce and I got to ride in the dark, through the bush, looking up at the clear night sky. I saw a shooting star.

Arriving at Simbavati, the first order of business was to learn the safety rules.  We are out in the middle of a game reserve, and wild animals run everywhere. We are not to leave the grounds of the lodge, and at night, we need an escort to our rooms, even though they are 30 feet from the common area. Kids are to be accompanied by an adult at all times. 'Nuff said.

Game drives - where we driver around the bush and look for animals - are at 6:30 AM and 3:30 PM. The animals are most active at sunrise and dusk. Wake up is at 5:30 AM, which is challenging for our family of night-owls, but we resolved to go with it nonetheless.

The first night, Bryce got sick, and I opted to keep him company instead of doing the morning game drive. We both slept in, and when the rest of the group returned from the morning excursion, we were regaled with tales and photos of lions, elephants and more.

Elephant from the morning game drive

Bryce rallied for the evening game drive, and we weren't disappointed.  We saw a pride of lions feasting on a dead cape buffalo.  We saw a white rhino.  And best of all, our guides located a leopard who had just killed a kudu, and was ripping it apart.  Cool stuff.

White Rhino

Lion #1

A buzzard waiting for the lions to be done

Lion #2

Our flesh-ripping leopard

Video: Our leopard eating a kudu

One of the unexpected and slightly unnerving things about safariing here is that our open-air land rovers get super-close to all the animals.  We were 15 feet away from the lions and the leopard.  You can hear the flesh being ripped off of the dead animals, and the purring of the lions.  Supposedly, the animals don't realize that each vehicle contains 13 tasty human treats, and instead view each land-rover as a single, very large entity that is not to be messed with. It's as if the animals don't even notice us, and they just carry about their business as usual.

A Land Rover with some of our crew

The lodge itself is deluxe.  We have a big deck to hang out on during the day, which is a great place to spot more animals and birds.  We've seen baboons, hippos, an elephant, warthogs, and other assorted birds and animals from here. The bar is always open to serve drinks.  The food is delicious. Our room is comfortable, and even has heated mattress pads.  Ann, our trip leader, told us this may be the nicest place we stay during our entire safari, so I plan on enjoying every minute of being here.